NYC Marathon Recap: Pre-Race

Hey Folks!

For the sake of time, and also giving myself a break once in awhile, I have decided to do this race report in three different segments: 1) the weekend travel, including Saturday pre-race stuff; 2) the race itself; and 3) everything afterwards.  So if you don't wanna read about what happened before or after the actual race, you can skip the first and last post and just read the race report itself. :)

So I'll begin with Friday. We took a 7:20 pm flight from Cleveland to New York and...I'm serious...no delays, no problems...we even boarded early!  I took it as a good sign.  I had obsessively packed my bags, including packing all my racing gear in a carry-on (of course), just in case.  I even anally packed my duplicate pair of sneakers in case something happened to the ones I was supposed to wear on race day.

Got to NY without a hitch, and Mom and Jack picked us up at LaGuardia.  It was great to see them, as well as their new addition...a soft-coated Wheaton Terrier named Cody!!!

Isn't he frickin' adorable?  I mean, come on.

Derek and I were pretty hungry when we got in, so we had some bagels and just hung out with my folks for a while before going to bed.  (By the way, I was still working on the "dedications" page at that point, which I STILL have not finished, and I'll have to post it post-marathon now. Oh well, the sentiment is still there.)

Slept really well Friday night (I always do at my parents' house...you know how it is) and then Saturday morning woke up to a peaceful pitter-patter of rain.  This, to me, was both good and bad.  It was bad because a) I was supposed to do a 2-mile jog that day to loosen my legs and clear my head, and b) we were supposed to head into the city to get to the expo and lug all my crap around, and I hate walking around in the rain.  However, this rain turned out to be a good thing, because a) it forced me to wear my "backup" shoes around the city, thus not wearing out my newer pair or getting them soggy for Sunday; b) I didn't do my jog that day which I think was good because it forced to me to rest a bit more, which I needed; and c) the rain came and went on Saturday....which meant the weather forecast changed: no rain on Sunday!  YAY!  Whatever rain was predicted for race day came early.  Good job weather.

And, in fact, the rain even stopped by mid-morning, which is when Derek and I got out of the house and went to the train station at Croton.

Now, I should mention that traveling, and crowds, and having to schlep stuff anywhere for extended periods of time on a time-crunch situation, gives me anxiety.  Not just normal-level stress, but close to panic sometimes.  It's weird.  So anyway, I wanted to make sure it was as painless as possible.  Not really likely, considering I had to carry ALL my race-day gear with me all day, including my extra pair of sneakers, plus my purse, plus we were getting into Grand Central and the Expo was wayyy the eff out at the Javits Center, yet Louise's is on the East side.  So, you ask, why didn't I just drop off my huge bag at Louise's first?  Well, because then I'd have to go ALL the way back to the west side, and THEN back to her place because that stupid pasta party wasn't letting us get in with bags larger than a purse.  

That being said: all was painless, starting with the free shuttle from Grand Central to the expo (nice!), where we spent more than half the time waiting on a dumb line.  I got my bib, my bag & shirt, my pasta party tickets and got the heck outta there!!

This "quick & dirty" ordeal was followed by lunch at 'wichcraft in West Chelsea a short walk away from the expo (27th and 11th) where we met up with Andrew, Kristin, Kelly, and her boyfriend Bill.  Great sandwiches, soups, and cookies.  Yum!  Then Derek and I parted--he went to stay with Matt & Sarah in Brooklyn, while I took the train to the east side to Louise's!  I finally made it after two transfers!  Ugh, the subway...how convenient and yet inconvenient you are.

Louise and her hubby Britt were such great hosts, and gave me my own little room.  Louise had even set aside little marathon souvenirs for me (pace tattoo, postcard, poster) in anticipation of my arrival.   We hung out for a bit and then walked over to the pasta party to meet Maria!

I can sum up the pasta party (er.. pardon me, the "Barilla Marathon Eve Pasta Dinner at Tavern on the Green") in two words: it sucked.  Will never do that again!  Waited in line forever, then were shuffled through

the entrance and food lines like cattle, the music was so loud that we couldn't hear each other, and it was like a bunch of dance music.  The lighting was dark, and there were even go-go dancers making a fool out of themselves onstage.  I felt like this was more of  a victory party but without the dance floor.  After experiencing the TNT pasta party, I was expecting something more inspiring, maybe with a speaker or a video or at least some peace and quiet.  No, not at all.  At least we got a picture:

Even though the pasta itself was good, we were all still a bit hungry after we finished, but we really did not want to go back through the entire line again.  So we grabbed our freebies (weird juice with fruit bits in it, 100 calorie packs of some sort, apples which I will be sure NOT to eat until they are properly washed, and Italian Ices) and booked it outta there!

We got back to Louise's place (cabbed it this time), and the three of us girls got started setting up our race-day stuff.  We put stick-on letters on our TNT singlets, pinned on our bibs, and attached our D-tags to our shoes while listening to our favorite "running songs" on Louise's computer.  It was so fun being with them again!

We tried to get to bed early, and remembered to set all the clocks back one hour - extra sleep - not that we'd be getting much sleep tonight!!!  All ready for the morning!

Stay tuned for...the race report itself!

I did it!!

A quick post to say that I am at home relaxing the day after a kick-ass marathon!!!

Unofficial time: 5:08:13!!!

More to come soon, including the eventful weekend, the buildup to the race, and the marathon itself!

Freaking out!!

Ok, so it's Wednesday, which means in 2 1/2 days I will be boarding a plane to NYC!

My Team in Training buds Louise and Maria and I have been in close contact throughout these past couple of weeks.  Louise sent me this article yesterday about the course and Bob Glover's strategy for tackling it.  As I mentioned previously, I really admire Bob and Shelly-Lynn Glover's methods and I have a great book by them entitled The Competitive Runner's Handbook, which I used extensively in my marathon training.

This book was awesome and really helped all aspects of my training, including nutrition, rest, injury prevention/treatment, mental toughness, and race strategy and tactics.  Anyway, I was glad to read more of Bob's words of wisdom.  But it started freaking me out!

First of all, I know there are hills on the NYCM course.  Many hills.  Of varying sizes and lengths.  But I was mostly focusing on the bridges, while I now am coming to fear the ordinary street-based hills because those are the ones I won't be expecting.

Secondly, Bob mentioned that NYCM is not a great course for setting a PR.  Well, I knew that.  And to be honest, my last time was so slow that I am pretty certain I can beat it on Sunday.  But the whole "take your latest half-marathon time and double it" rule doesn't really apply...you'll have to add an additional 10 minutes or so on there.  So if I take my 2:20 time, doubled is 4:40, plus not ten but twenty minutes...that's...5 hours!  But am I really to believe that 5 hours is possible for a second-time marathoner who is, well...slow as sh*t? :)

Anyway, enough self-deprecation.  It is time to be positive!  To get excited!

This week's schedule is "great," but is also making me antsy because I am not used to running this little.  After my 8 miles on Sunday, I took Monday off and then did 4 yesterday (choosing to walk the huge Steelyard hill instead of running it, to preserve my legs a bit).  Today is off, although I am feeling weird about that.  Oh well, guess I have to just suck it up.  Tomorrow I will run 3.  Then, the last time I will run before Sunday is a quick and easy 2 on Saturday morning.

 So far, I have heard from a bunch of people who said they're gonna cheer.  Just to keep track of them in my mind, I'm going to list them here:

BROOKLYN

Miles 2-4 (Bay Ridge): Emily, Kirsten

Mile 6.5 (4th/11th): Judy & Lenny

Mile 7.5 (4th/Union): Derek, Matt & Sarah

Mile 11ish (Bedford Ave. Williamsburg): Trish

[Melissa will also be in Brooklyn, playing with a band, but I'm not sure where yet. Also, Allison is watching but not sure if she'll be with Emily or with Trish.]

QUEENS

Not sure where (or if they will be in Queens, but I heard from Nicole, Lauren, and Josh that they will be watching, and they all live in Astoria, so...??)

MANHATTAN

Here's where I start to not have any freakin' clue.  I know Derek will make it up here, as will Heather & Mike (and Kiera?), Kristin & Kathryn, and my parents.  This is what I do know:

Mile 14 (Aid Station 13, 1st Ave): Dorothy (volunteering at an aid station! Cool!)

So hopefully I will hear from these people and find out what's going on, so that I can make sure to look for them!  I think I'll have to write their names on my arm or something!

More at a later date. :)

The Last Hurrah

Today, I did my last "long" training run before the marathon - a measly 8 miles in Rocky River. :)

It's great how, around this time of year, every week is different and exciting, because the trees look slightly different.  Last week was a bit wet and soggy because of rain the day before, and I was a little worried about slipping and sliding.  Today was just gorgeous.  The only "wild card" was that so many leaves had fallen that it was sorta hard to see the ground (and any bumps, grooves, or fallen branches that might be hidden).  Luckily, I ran the entire thing without incident!

Another aspect that was different as a result of the leaf-laden paths was that sometimes the mile markers were also hidden.  Hence, the weird split times which I will share below.  Also, I feel that some of these miles are very long, and others are SUPER short.  Oh well.  I guess it all evens out.  You'll see this happen twice, as it's an out-and-back course.  And by the way, how sweet that I got to turn around so early...after weeks and weeks of doing anywhere from 12-20 miles on this same trail.

I wanted to do this at marathon pace or maybe a little faster, just to make the pace next week feel easier.  Again, the voices in my head were debating: push, or hold back?  I know that right now, it's best to play it safe...still, I couldn't help going for my goal time of an hour and 30 minutes.  Let's see how it played out:

Mile 1 - 11:14

Mile 2 - 12:26 (this was one of those "didn't see the marker" splits)
Mile 3 - 9:24 (and I obviously missed it about 1 1/2 minutes back!)

Mile 4 - 12:33

Mile 5 - 12:34

Mile 6 - 9:55

Mile 7 - 12:30 (again, just missed it so I estimated)
Mile 8 - 8:52 (hmmm.)

Total time: 1:29:32 - yes!, 11:11 pace (perfect for marathon or maybe that's a little faster)
First half: 45:39 /  Second half: 43:53 - yay negative splits!

The thought that kept going through my head was...this is it.  This is the last long training run for this marathon!  You've done it!  No matter what happens next Sunday...I'll know that I trained my best for this race.  I mean, there's always MORE we can do (like not eating like a pig? doing more weight training? etc.) but I think I did a pretty great job.  Now we'll just have to see what the day has in store for me.

On tap this week:

Monday - OFF
Tuesday - 4 easy
Wednesday - OFF
Thursday - 3 easy
Friday - OFF - travel to NY!
Saturday - 2 just to loosen up
Sunday - RACE!

Also, I am a carb-loading machine.  That's all.

Gotta have a goal

Well, it's getting down to the wire!  The NYC Marathon is just a week and a day away!

I've been pretty calm in most aspects concerning the actual race, and running.  My aches and pains have seemed to have all fixed themselevs (knock on wood!), and the taper has been great for me to feel refreshed and to go into each run with energy.  Had a 5-mile "easy" run on Tuesday, a great, final speed session on Wednesday behind Steelyard Commons, a rest day on Thursday, and a little faster than expected 3-miler yesterday around Tremont.  (I wore my garmin, and it just kept saying paces that were fast for me!  I kept having to force myself to slow down!)  Part of the briskness of yesterday's run was the fact that it was raining, so I just wanted to sort of get it over with and nobody likes standing around in the rain.  But it felt really nice, and that last mile passed by so quickly and I almost felt that I could do one more...but I didn't.  I need to not push so much!

Today, I was going to do 8 but I think I might save that for tomorrow and just do an easy 2-3 today...part of the reason is because it's again overcast (and supposed to clear up tomorrow), we had a lot of errands to run this morning (dry cleaning, laundry, bank, groceries), and, uh, let's just say I had a little bit too much fun with the wine last night at Rob & Claire's.  Ha ha.  Which reminds me, I totally did not stick to my original plan of not drinking a full month before the race...but I'm going to at least try to do a good 5 days before if not a full week.  (I read up online and nobody really says it's necessary to fully cut it out except for a couple days before so that you're not dehydrated.)

So, I am feeling "ready."  But how do you ever really feel ready for something like this?  Will it be easier than I thought?  Harder?  It's gotta be easier than Phoenix in that I actually KNOW I am capable of finishing, and that I trained smarter and harder than last time around.  But the course itself will be hilly!  Oh well, at least NY will have tons of crowds - and my friends and family - to pull me along.  Here's the course:

NYC Marathon Course

And here, for the first time ever...are my marathon goals!  (Drum roll)
I've heard it's smart to always make three goals: a reachable goal (like I finished), a somewhat attainable goal (like I finished having a great time without any pain, or I beat my time by a few minutes or seconds), and a harder to achieve, "stretch" goal.

Being that I only ran one other marathon, and my time was not that impressive (5:53:45), I truly feel that I can beat that time, even with the hills of NY.  I think last time, I was very tentative and was so scared of pushing too hard and hitting the wall (which, by the way, I did anyway) that I ran super slowly.  We also stopped for the bathroom a ton of times, which I don't really want to do this time if I can help it.

So Goal A: Beat my time by at least 10 minutes.

I don't really know what times to put for the others...I am thinking of "milestone" times, like 5:30 as the next goal.  I don't know why, but for some reason, the time 5:11 keeps flashing in my head.  Maybe it's cause it was my address in Madison....haha.  But I feel that that might be something to think about.

Going to the McMillan calculator and putting in my last half-marathon PR (2:17:12) gives an output of 4:49:21 for the marathon.  But that is crazy!  I don't think I am capable of breaking 5 hours...however, in that same page, the output for 5000m is 29:41...one second off my last 5K race time.  Creepy, huh?

So my super-secret goal, that I might be able to do if EVERYTHING worked out and the stars were aligned (weather, no clothing mishaps/chafing, no hitting the wall, fully hydrated, etc.) is to break 5 hours.


Haha!

Dedications to come in a future post...now?  An easy 3-miler!  (And I mean easy!)

Eye of the "Tiger"

Lalala...today is one of those days. Don't want to get into details as to why, but...let's just say it was hard.

This weekend, however, was great!

Did a "brisk" 10-miler on Saturday, and felt very good during it, even at the end (although really, who ever feels excellent at the end?).  First half - 59 minutes; second half - 56 minutes for a total of 1 hr 55 minutes.  That's good!  (Of course, it would have been harder to keep up that pace for another two or three hours! But still.)  One minor setback was that one of the water fountains I have come to rely on in the park was shut off!  BOOO!  At least I still had one, or else there would have been trouble.  It's crazy how much longer you can go in chilly weather though...I (almost) wasn't even that thirsty.

Then on to Sunday.  I had had a conversation with myself that went something like this.

Me: Should I do this Pumpkin 5k tomorrow?
Self: Why not?
Me: Well, I just ran 10 miles today.  What about that "no race and long run in the same weekend" rule?
Self: But 10 isn't really "long" anymore.  Remember you just ran 20 a couple weeks ago!  10 is like a walk in the park.
Me: I wouldn't exactly say that.  But I see your point.
Self: I thought you would.
Me: Should I run this 5k all-out, or what?
Self: Well, you can and you won't have to worry, but I know you, and you'll worry anyway.  So maybe run it at 75-80% of your 5k pace.  So you can relax, ya worrywart.
Me: Yeah, you're right.  Plus, I read recently on a running discussion board that running your best 5k two weeks before the marathon is kind of a bad sign.  You want to still be fatigued from training, and have been doing marathon-specific workouts, accounting for a slower time.
Self: I guess we are both super running nerds.
Me: Glad we had this conversation.

ANYWAY.  So yes, I did the Great Pumpkin Run on Sunday, and it was...great!  Many people were in costume, and it was a lot of fun.  They had good food at the finish, including yummy bagels, apples, bananas, and a bake sale (which I did not partake of).

I think that I ran a really good race.  I listened to my, uh..."self," and ran it almost all-out but not quite.  I especially held back in the beginning but was pleased to note that I passed TONS of runners in this race, including Wonder Woman and, of course, a Tiger!  Didn't run my best time, but still broke 30 again!!!!

And to think, my pre-race dinner the night before was none other than a Wendy's burger and fries (Derek and I went to see Kelly Clarkson (!) on Saturday night and stopped for fast food on the way home...ohhh how deliciously evil.)

Here are the splits:

Mile 1 - 10:09

Mile 2 - 9:34

Mile 3 - 9:00

last .12 - 00:51 (woulda been faster if the chute hadn't been so small...had to slow down a lot towards the finish because there were 3 girls running RIGHT ahead of me and we couldn't all fit in the chute at the same time!  Guess that only happens once in awhile.)

Finishing time: 29:36.

I love how my splits get progressively faster by 30 seconds each mile!  Yay!  And I was thinking during the last mile especially what a difference a couple of months makes.  This race had the same exact course as the Patrick Joyce Scholarship 5k in August, and the brutal heat & humidity in that race were awful!  That last flat mile seemed to take forever last time with the sun beating down...and yesterday, with the streets all shaded and the cool breeze...it felt almost pleasant.

Also, got my bib info today!!!  Will be in the green start, and the third wave.  Can't wait to see everyone there cheering!!

Taper Troubles

Oy vey.

Well, either what everyone says about the marathon taper is true, or I'm just paranoid about things feeling "off" that I am making it true.  Either way...this week has been quite annoying in terms of feeling "healthy."

After the half on Sunday, I was dead to the world.  Hurting everywhere, exhausted...nothing like the River Run 3 weeks ago or EVEN the 20 miler in Rocky River last weekend.  I don't know what the deal was.  I had mentioned I started feeling a little off on Saturday, but then I guess the half "washed it out" for the time being, but then the icky feeling came back with a vengeance.

Monday I felt stiff, groggy, and had a headache and jaw pain most of the day.  Kept taking Tylenol/Advil/whatever for it, but I hate taking medicine.  I was going to go to yoga at 6pm on Monday--which I've done before and has actually helped a lot after a long run or race--but then I had a baking mishap while making Derek anniversary cupcakes (Salted caramel filled chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting).  Everything started off fine, but then when it came time to make the caramel...WTF!?!?!?!  It took me three tries.  Finally, I got it. 

But by that point, the kitchen was a mess, I had chocolate all over me...and there was no going to yoga.  Oh well.

Derek did enjoy the cupcakes immensely though...

Anyway. I was a little on edge from not doing ANY type of working out on Monday, even though I didn't have a run planned.  Derek and I went out that night for our anniversary at Farenheit, which was fabulous. 

The only thing wrong was that my head started feeling gross again, and I couldn't get the smell of that caramel out of my mind...and all those dishes that had to be washed when we got home...

I did, however, enjoy a glass of my new favorite red wine, InZINerator, a Zinfandel (not to be confused with its trashy pink counterpart, White Zinfandel). 

I got exactly ZERO sleep Monday night, adding to the problems.  By Tuesday morning, I felt so tired.  I didn't know what to do about running, because I know I am tapering, but not that much, not yet!  I still have to do up to 80% of what I was doing last week, maybe even more since I didn't really do high-mileage throughout the training.  Ugh.

Got a flu shot Tuesday afternoon (the spell is broken; after getting my first flu shot I am no longer convinced that it will give me the flu -- but knock on wood), then did a measley 20-minute run by the Steelyard.  I just wasn't able to continue; too many things felt "off."

Wednesday the headache still wasn't gone.  I was getting really upset!  My tooth was still kinda hurting too (I have never gotten my wisdom teeth extracted, and so sometimes I bite my cheek and it hurts for a little while but then the pain goes away.  Dumb, I know, I should get them taken out, yadda yadda yadda.  I probably will.  In fact, I made an appointment this morning to see the dentist so I will see what he tells me).  I made myself go running, not only because I am stubborn but because I honestly did think it would make me feel better.  And it did, for a while.  I did around 5 miles and even tried to pick up the pace a mile at at time for a little makeshift speedwork session.  I decided not to take any meds all day, but then kinda gave up that idea around 6 o'clock when I had to go meet Derek and his boss for dinner at Outback Steakhouse.  I wasn't just going to go and feel miserable; I wanted it to be a pleasant experience.  I took some Advil...and...the headache went away and stayed away!!! YAY!!

I am thinking it was sort of like a migraine...I only get those at times of stress.  Saturday could have been the "aura" because I was feeling weird and lightheaded...and then the half put it off and then it came back.  Ugh.  I hate migraines.  I think the nausea is the worst part of it. Blecch.  So what's the stress?  I dunno...not knowing where I stand job-wise...while part-time is good, it's not what I really need in order to feel secure.  Been waiting to hear back from a couple places so we'll see.  Also, tapering is good put it is also weird...how much do I run, how many days do I take off, with what intensity do I do my workouts?  It's all kind of a mystery. 

Went to Hot Powerful Flow yoga today at Inner Bliss...it was awesome, just what I needed.  I am planning on doing 10 miles sometime in the next few days - maybe tomorrow, because I just signed up for a 5K for Sunday (or maybe just running 6-7 before the race?), then cutting back next week to two runs of 4 miles and maybe one of 3 miles...and then the week after that maybe 4, 3, and 2?  I don't know, I think I'll just wait and see what my body tells me.  As so many running experts will tell you, less is more in these situations.  I just don't want to lose fitness (hence the 5K and some other minimal speedwork to keep me sharp).  But I guess it's all just a mental thing right now; the hard part is done...now all I can do is TRUST MY TRAINING!!