Mobile Bay Runner

A Blog by Sam Yeager-Allen

Year: 2019

Race Recap: Indy Monumental Marathon

Posted on by Sam

Well hello!

I am coming at you today with a long-winded race recap of the CNO Financial Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. Let’s just hope that the post is less windy than race day in Indy! I don’t really even know why I am back on the blog writing this, but perhaps, “I just felt like writing.” If that last sentence conjured up some sort of mental image of Forrest Gump saying, “I just felt like running,” in your brain, then you are my people. I mean, have you really even lived if you haven’t referenced Forrest Gump in a post about running on the internet? You’re right. You really haven’t. Now, where were we? The short version is that I felt like running a marathon and subsequently felt like writing about it.

I’m finding that it’s a tad tricky to just jump back in with a race recap blog post without filling you in on some of the details along the way. I will try to be brief, but if you have read a single one of my blog posts in the past, you know that is not really my style. I seem to be flipping and flopping back and forth about whether or not I want to write about my life, training and races on the interwebs. As of right now, the answers seem to be no, maybe and yes, respectively. Ha.

Life

Seeing as how I JUST said that I don’t want to write about my life on the internet, I will actually keep this part brief. A lot of things in my life are still the same (same wonderful family, same friends, same job, same adorable doggo) and a lot of things are … well … different (new boyfriend (although he’s not really all that new at this point 😉), new home, new goats and an entire new outlook on life). I’ve always been a bit of a perfectionistic, people-pleaser and while I am sure there are still a few remnants of that hanging around, I really feel like I have started to let go of other people’s expectations about what my life should or should not look like. I am happier and more confident in myself than I ever have been and honestly, it feels REALLY GOOD.

Training

After a disappointing (yet completely expected and understandable) race at Boston, I started thinking about the idea of a fall marathon. My coach suggested Indy as a goal race and that was really all it took for me to jump on the wagon. I was even able to secure a spot in the “elite” field, which was such a wonderful experience. It should be noted that they had so many applicants for the elite field this year that they actually had to lower the time qualifications along the way. If I hadn’t signed up in May before they changed the standards, I likely wouldn’t have been accepted into the field.  

Even with a marathon on the calendar as my primary goal race, I wanted to spend the summer months focusing on speed and racing some shorter distances before building the volume up and easing into marathon training. I ran a 5k in June (my last blog post!), a 5k and a 2 mile race in August and another 5k in September. I ran 17:37, 17:36 and 17:21 for the 5ks respectively a 10:58 for the 2 mile race. I was satisfied that my speed was where it needed to be, but I knew that the bigger challenge was going to be getting my endurance up to par. Over the last couple of years, it has become increasingly evident that speed is my strength, while endurance tends to be a bit of a struggle (which is obviously not wonderful when your goal race is a marathon).

During September and October my workouts got longer as the focus shifted towards working on my stamina and being able to comfortably sustain marathon effort. A few of my key marathon pace workouts went really well, but I had a few flops too. The key ones that stand out as “good” now were 12 miles with 8 miles at marathon pace (6:09 avg.), 17 miles with 10 miles at marathon pace (6:03 avg.), 18 miles with 12 miles at marathon pace (in the form of 3 X 25 minutes (6:17 avg.)) and another 18 miles with 12 miles at marathon pace (in the form of 2 X 6 miles (6:11 avg.)).

I also had a few really, really strong threshold workouts. The threshold workouts really seemed to be my sweet spot throughout this cycle. I really wish I had gotten to do a 10k this fall because I know my threshold work had me set up for a big PR. I was supposed to run a 10k in October, but I had a minor hamstring niggle and also got a cold shortly thereafter, so I didn’t end up doing the race. I remember telling my coach that I wasn’t as disappointed about missing the race as I thought I would be because I KNEW that my fitness would be back to this same level in the future. That was a mental turning point for sure. Last fall, I distinctly remember always feeling like I would never be this fit again in my life. Getting back to that same level and even a little bit stronger this fall helped me realize that perhaps the best is still yet to come!

A few of my key threshold workouts were 12 miles with 8 miles at threshold pace (in the form of 4 X 2 miles (5:44 avg.)), 10 miles with 7 miles at threshold pace (in the form of 4 miles, 2 minute rest, 2 miles, 1 minute rest, 1 mile (5:49 avg.)), 9 miles with 6 at threshold pace (in the form of 4 miles, 3 minute rest, 2 miles (5:50 avg.), 11 miles with 10 X 1k at threshold (5:35 avg. (got a little carried away on that one)). I also did a 16 X 400 meter repeat workout not once, but TWICE during this training cycle (5:10 avg. & 5:16 avg.). Holy moly. Those were some REALLY long track workouts!

My hope going into all of this was that my fitness would reach a level that would put me in a good position to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials. In order to do this, I needed to run faster than or equal to 2:45:00, which is the women’s B-standard for 2020. My previous personal best was 2:53:05, so I needed to take just over 8 minutes off of my time. My training indicated I would be really close and I was ready to take a swing and see what happened!

Race

I mentioned earlier that I was accepted into the “elite” field in Indy and what a huge blessing this was! As it turns out, McKirdy Trained (my coaching group) had 15 athletes in the elite field and the majority of these were women. We were given bottles to use for our fuel and I was able to meet most of the other women the day before the race at either the shakeout run or at the elite athlete meeting. I really enjoyed the team vibe that we had going!

The race did a really good job hosting a whole heap of elite athletes. There were 62 women and 60 men in the elite marathon field. There were also elite fields for the half marathon as well as the 5k, so it was A LOT of runners to accommodate. I believe this was actually the first year that the entire race itself sold out with 19,000 participants! Wowza. We were asked to give a predicted finishing time for seeding purposes and I ended up with bib #61 out of 62. Ha. Like I said, got in the elite field by the skin of my chinny chin chin. For whatever it is worth, I predicted a finishing time of 2:50:00 and I’m assuming almost everyone else predicted closer to 2:45:00, as it seemed that just about everyone was gunning for an Olympic Trials Qualifier (OTQ).  

We had an elite meeting Friday evening to go over a few of the last-minute logistics (most of it had been communicated via email already). The main thing that we did at the meeting was drop off our water bottles and learn how we would actually locate them during the race. They set up 10 tables at the 10k, 20k and 30k marks. Each table had 12 bottles, 6 bottles for women on the left side and 6 bottles for men on the right side. The tables were well spaced out and the bottles on the tables were also well spaced out. We were all assigned a specific table and bottle position. I was table 10, position #1, which meant that each time we came to a fluid station, I was always going to grab the first bottle from the tenth table.

In addition to meeting several of the McKirdy Trained crew, I also got to meet up with a couple other “internet friends” that I have followed on various forms of social media on and off for years, which was wonderful. Sara and I messaged a good bit before the race and planned to pace together. After the meeting, I also got to meet Elizabeth! We had a wonderful, early dinner and then headed back to the hotel so that I could lay out my paraphernalia (and believe-you-me, it was A LOT) for the next day and get some rest.

The temperature race morning was in the twenties and it actually never got above freezing during the race. The majority of my training was done in temperatures in the seventies, so this was quite a stark contrast and shock to the system. I feel like one of the biggest challenges of the race was actually figuring out what to wear. Minor details … running 26.2 miles. Major decision … WHAT DO I WEAR?! While I originally planned to wear a crop top and shorts, I also was not anticipating running in temperatures that felt like the teens when I was planning that. I ended up with a singlet instead of the crop, shorts and basically any and all sorts of extra “warming accessories” I could get my hands on. These included things such as gloves with hand warmers inside, ear muffs, a neck warmer, arm warmers, sunglasses and an extra set of hot hands tucked into my sports bra. The sunglasses helped to keep my eyes from watering (and the tears subsequently freezing on my face). I also wore a throw away jacket for a mile or two, but tossed it earlier than I expected.

The elite athletes had access to a very nice, very warm building before the race, which was nice, especially given the frigid conditions. The plan was that we would be “escorted” to the start line fifteen minutes before the race, but I was in line to go to the bathroom when they came and got everyone. I ended up making it to the start line with less than five minutes to spare, which on one hand was a teensy bit stressful, but on the other hand meant that I was in the warm building for a little bit longer than I would’ve been otherwise (and I was definitely A-Okay with that). Thankfully I was still able to find Sara, Tawny and few other women that I was planning to run with before the gun went off and it was time to get the show on the road.  

Pace-wise, my plan was to start out between 6:20 and 6:25 and gradually drop it down every six miles (or every 10k). It was supposed to look like something along the lines of 6:20 to 6:25 for the first six miles, 6:15 to 6:20 from six to twelve, 6:10 to 6:15 from twelve to eighteen and 6:00 to 6:15 from eighteen to the finish. Fueling-wise, I planned to take a gel at miles three, nine, fifteen and twenty-one as well as have my bottles (with water and fuel) at miles six, twelve and eighteen. Support-wise, I had someone to look for at miles two, six, ten, seventeen, twenty-two and twenty-six. I really like how my plan had everything spaced out, as I basically had something to think about every few miles … whether it was taking a gel, seeing Richard or his mom and dad, grabbing a bottle, dropping the pace, etc.

According to my data, our average pace for the first six miles was 6:13, but according to the race data, our average pace was 6:19. My splits were a tad wonky, so I am assuming that the race data is more accurate. While 6:19 per mile isn’t much quicker than my range of 6:20 to 6:25, in hindsight I think I really needed to be at the upper end of the range at least for the first 10k. I took a gel somewhere around mile four. I was planning to take it at mile three, but I honestly got so caught up in the race that I completely forgot! I saw Richard at mile six and was supposed to get my first bottle shortly thereafter.

This was my first time having my own bottles provided at a race and also my first time trying to grab said bottles off of a table whilst running by at a decent clip. I actually did try to practice this at home, but my version was definitely the “you might be a redneck if” version, as I was grabbing my bottles off of a step ladder and of course, there were no other bottles on the ladder. When I went to grab my first bottle in the race, I misjudged how much the hand warmers stuffed into my gloves would affect my grip. My palm (err well, the hand warmer) hit the bottle before I thought it would and instead of grabbing the bottle, I knocked it over and wasn’t able to grab it. In hindsight, I should’ve just slowed down a tad to make sure that there were no fumbles, but … oh well. I knew that there was a possibility that I would miss one of the bottles and I still had plenty of gels and other fuel ahead, so I didn’t worry too much about that one.

One of the other girls even offered to give me some of her bottle, which was incredibly kind. I didn’t know what she had in it and I didn’t want to mess up her fueling either, so I politely declined. I was still with the pack and I was feeling really good. The miles were clicking by really smoothly and quickly. There were several times where we would come to a mile marker and I would be completely surprised that we were already there. I kept thinking we were a mile or two behind where we actually were. It was always such a nice surprise … think you’re at mile eight? Nope! You’re at mile ten! Sweet! I really didn’t look at my watch at all during the race. I didn’t want to obsess over the pace or splits or how far we had been (or rather, how far we had left to go).

According to both my data, our average pace for the next six miles was 6:14. Again, while 6:14 per mile isn’t much quicker than my range of 6:15 to 6:20, I likely still needed to be at the upper end of that range. I took a gel around mile nine as planned and was extra careful when I grabbed my bottle at mile twelve. I successfully grabbed the bottle this time! However, when I tried to drink the contents, nothing came out. I don’t know if it was frozen or if I mixed it too thickly. Perhaps it was some combination of the two, although I didn’t hear anyone else say that their bottles were frozen … so maybe that wasn’t it at all. I tried my best to get anything I could out of the bottle, but I was not having much luck and it was honestly more exhausting than helpful, so I ended up just tossing the bottle.

We still had a pretty decent sized pack when we came through the half in just over 1:22. This was technically a half marathon PR for me, which seems crazy, but going into the race I knew that I would potentially be running one, if not two, half marathon PRs en route to what I hoped would be a full marathon PR as well. I didn’t do any longer races during the training cycle, but I really think that my half marathon fitness would’ve been right at or just under 1:20 if I had raced a half leading up to the marathon.

Our pack slowly started to dissipate somewhere around mile sixteen or seventeen. I felt really strong all the way to seventeen, but then I got a terrible side stitch around mile eighteen. It was bad enough that I actually stopped to stretch it out for a minute, which helped, but I couldn’t ever get back into a good groove after that point. If I hadn’t stretched it out when I did, I think it would’ve just gotten worse and potentially caused me to slow down even more. I’m still not entirely sure what caused the cramp, but I think that lack of fluids might have something to do with it. I drank a few sips of water along the way, but definitely not as much as I planned to had I been able to drink both of my first two bottles.

According to my data, my average pace for the six miles leading up to the cramp (miles twelve to eighteen) was 6:24. This means that I ran eighteen miles at 6:17 average, which oddly enough is the EXACT pace that I needed to run in order to get the OTQ. Granted I didn’t know this at the time, nor would I have been able to hold that pace if I had known, but still … it’s at least promising that I did what I needed to for that many miles.

At this point, I was running pretty much alone. Every now and then I would either pass someone or get passed by someone, but I was never in a group again. Unfortunately, it also got pretty windy at this point as well, making things even more challenging. I needed someone to block the wind for me, but I didn’t have any luck with that. I had been decently warm up until this point as well, but once the wind came out, I got really chilly. Miles nineteen to twenty-six were all about survival.

I knew that I wasn’t going to get the OTQ, but I also knew that I could probably still get a PR if the wheels didn’t fall off too badly. I averaged 6:46 for these miles and I’m really proud of that. When I got the side stitch, it would’ve been really easy to just “give up” and jog it in (or you know, not finish the race like I did in Boston), but instead I kept fighting! I ended up working with a couple of other girls during the last two miles, which was really nice. One of us would lead for a bit and then another would pull ahead for a bit and so on. I didn’t know these girls, but in my mind, we were working together. My hamstring also started to get really tight during the last two miles as well, but it wasn’t debilitating. Again, I just knew that I had to keep on fighting.

I fought my way to a 4-minute PR and a sub 2:50 marathon (official time was 2:49:16). I was SO HAPPY when I got to the finish line. This was like one of those on cloud nine, over the moon, super-duper elated happies. While I didn’t get the OTQ I was hoping for, I did run a faster marathon than I ever have before and I gave it my very best effort on the day that I was given. I am simultaneously thrilled with my race and excited to take the lessons that I learned and put them to good use.

What’s next you ask? Oh … you didn’t ask … well, let’s just pretend, shall we? I am planning to run the Louisiana Marathon in Baton Rouge on January 19, 2020, which is actually the last day that you can earn a qualifying time to run in the U.S. Olympic Trials for 2020. I feel like I have nothing to lose at this point and as long as I can stay happy and healthy during the training, I might as well give it one more shot. Who knows what the standard will be 4 years from now and who knows where my life will look like 4 years from now?! For now, I stand by my sentiment from earlier that the best is still yet to come.

Race Recap: Hot Trot 5K

Posted on by Sam

Hello, hello!

Coming at you today with a recap of the LuLu’s Hot Trot 5K! This was my 7th year of hot trotting!

Here’s a quick summary:


2012 – 19:56
2013 – 19:35
2015 – 20:50 (long)
2016 – 19:05
2017 – 19:01
2018 – 18:57

The race starts at 7:30 a.m. at LuLu’s in Gulf Shores. I picked up Jessica and Rebecca en-route and we arrived around 6:30. We were able to get our packets, meet up with Lizzie, go to the bathroom (nice, indoor bathrooms at that … it’s definitely a nice plus when you don’t have to do the pre-race porta potty thing in my opinion) and run the course beforehand as our warm up. I also did a few strides about five minutes before the start.

My pie in the sky A goal for the race was to be as close to 17:00 as possible. Based on my training, my coach felt like this was within the realm of possibility, but it would be still be really hard to pull off. From there, my B goal was to go under 17:30 and my C goal was to get under 18:00. Pretty big ranges for a 5K perhaps, but I don’t think there is technically a right or wrong way to set personal goals, so … those were my goals.

When I talked to my coach earlier in the week, we settled on a plan of starting out just over 5:30 pace, working down close to 5:30 in the second mile and “going to the well” with whatever was left in the tank during the last mile. I knew that the heat and humidity would make it tough, so I knew that I would also have to be okay with whatever the day gave me. We actually had a slight reprieve from the heat earlier this week it seems, but I can’t say that it seemed to be too much better than usual by Saturday morning.

The course is as flat as any course could possibly be. It is essentially an out and back course, but there is a little side loop that is added on the way back. There is some shade along the way, but there is also a good bit of sun and there are times when you think you are likely going melt right into the pavement. Sounds lovely, no? Oh … no, it actually doesn’t … you’re right.

I chatted briefly with Cody as we lined up on the start line and we realized that we would likely be trying to run close to the same pace. I think we were both excited about the idea of having someone to work with! Plus a little friendly competition never hurts. I must say that Cody definitely did the majority of the work on this one. After the fact he did confirm that having me right there behind him helped him to push more than he would have otherwise. So thank you, Cody, and you’re welcome. Ha!

There were about 4 or 5 runners in our “pack” through the first half mile, but after that it was just Cody out front and me trying to do my best to stay on his heels. We came through the first mile right under 5:35, which was exactly where I hoped to be.

Just after the one mile mark we came to the turnaround point. I always enjoy this portion of the race because you get to see and cheer for all of the other runners as you run back by. There were lots of friendly, encouraging faces out there and I loved seeing everyone. It’s crazy to think that I haven’t done a “local” race since last November. I’ve run in Mississippi, Florida, Massachusetts and Louisiana, but it was surely nice to be back racing in Sweet Home Alabama.

Things started to get a bit real at about a mile and a half in. Going into the race, I knew it was going to hurt, but I wasn’t sure exactly how far I would get before the pain set in. I focused on Cody’s yellow singlet and tried to stay as close to him as I could. My split for the second mile was 5:30 on the dot. Whew.

I was supposed to “go to the well” at this point, but as it turns out, the well was DRY! I couldn’t find an extra ounce to tap into whatsoever. I knew I was *almost* done, but Cody pulled away from me and it was all I could do to hold on and hope that I didn’t completely crash. The only thought I remember having during the last mile was that “pain is temporary, but race results are forever.” Weird. You really never know what thought is going to pop into your brain during the mid-race haze.

My last mile was a somewhat disappointing 5:48. Not disappointing in general, but more just that it was so much slower than the first two miles. Oh well. John and I had actually talked about this beforehand and we knew that there was a chance that I would not be able to hold the 5:30 ish pace for 3 miles. Even if I blew up, it was a risk he wanted me to take and I had absolutely nothing to lose. The goal now is to get stronger and get that last mile more in line with the first two!

I did manage to find a tiny little extra gear for the last tenth I “kicked” it in at 5:30 pace for an official time of 17:37. Considering that this is about (err well … exactly) a minute and 20 seconds faster than I have ever run this race before, I am happy with the result. I got a Visa gift card and a sweet coffee mug that holds A LOT of coffee, so of course I am pumped about that! I always enjoy this race and this year was no exception.

Race Recap: Power Mile (PR!)

Posted on by Sam

I ran the Power Mile in New Orleans on June 1st! I don’t even remember exactly how this race came to be, other than that I was looking for a semi-competitive one mile race to do this summer and somehow stumbled across this one. I figured that since I had somewhat recently just tried to run a marathon (unsuccessfully I might add), I might as well go back to the drawing board and start over with a one mile race. Surely I could finish that! This is just a little self-deprecating humor in case you weren’t picking up what I was putting down. Sometimes you just gotta laugh at your life.

Anywho … I found this race and figured that I might be able to recruit some of my running girl gang to accompany me to New Orleans. As it turned out, no one else was really interested in racing a mile (and yes, they are the smart ones), but they were interested in going just for the fun of it. Sweet! I let them take the reins on the planning. Anyone else out there super obsessive about about everything in their life except for their travel plans or is that just me? Jessica found a beautiful hotel for us in the French Quarter. Since we were splitting the room four ways, we were able to splurge a bit on the accommodations. We all booked spa appointments for Sunday morning and just like that, our trip was set.

The race was at 7 p.m. Saturday evening, so this gave us plenty of time to spend time with our human friends, human children and furry children before leaving around lunch time. We are about two and a half hour drive from New Orleans, so we got there with plenty of time to get checked in at the hotel and relax for a few minutes before we made our way over to the race.

I’ll admit, I didn’t really do a ton of research on the race itself (which seems silly seeing as how I was traveling a couple of hours to run it, but whatever). There was a link to a Strava course map on the website and I briefly looked at that, noticing that it appeared to be two loops. I thought to myself, “Surely not.” Well, surprise! It was two loops of a city block in New Orleans. I gotta say, it was not the fastest of the courses that they could’ve chosen. I would’ve actually preferred an out and back course to this, but regardless, I’m still very glad that I raced.

My pie in the sky A goal for the race was to go just under 5:00. Based on my training, we felt this was within the realm of possibility, but it would be still be hard to pull off. From there, my B goal was to go under 5:10 and my C goal was to get a PR (which would’ve been right under 5:20). It’s really nice going into a race knowing that even your C goal is going to be faster than you’ve ever run before. I like it!

It’s a bit strange lining up on the start line in a different city, not knowing who you are racing against … who flies and dies, who is the steady pace setter, who is the actual competition, etc. There was really no need to worry about this too much, but admittedly I was a bit more nervous than I would’ve been on my “home turf.”

I didn’t take my splits at each quarter or anything like that, so I don’t have too much data to share from the race. I am pretty sure that when I started the second loop, the time was between 2:30 and 2:35, which is just about where I expected to be, if not slightly over. If you’ve never all-out raced a one mile race, I will tell you this … IT HURTS something FIERCE. It’s a different kind of pain than a marathon for sure, but I honestly don’t know which is worse. One is far more intense and one is just a gradual, agonizing kind of pain. Why is it that we do this again?!

Things got a bit real on that second loop and even though I knew that I was almost done (because let’s face it, you are almost done when you are standing on the start line to begin with), I just couldn’t find any sort of extra gear to dig any deeper or to pick the pace up at all. I was the second place female for the majority of the race, but I got out-kicked at the finish line. Crikey! I had no idea there was a girl anywhere near me, but I honestly don’t think that it would’ve mattered. She finished strong and I was just trying to hold on.

My official time was 5:10 and I got $100 for placing third! Pretty sweet. How many times can you say that you earned $100 for 5 minutes of work? I mean, that’s $1,200 per hour! Wut. I need a new career. Okay, let’s not really go there.

After the race I got to meet up with Grace, who I have been following online for years, and she introduced me to several of her friends. I ran my cool down with her crew, which was an added bonus! As it turns out, the first and second place girls ran at Georgetown and LSU, respectively. At least I was in good company.

Speaking of good company, I am so thankful for my wonderful friends who made the trip with me. We had a great 24 hour getaway. We had a wonderful dinner after the race, got a solid 8 hours of sleep, were up before the rest of the city for coffee and beignets, got some spa relaxation in and did brunch before heading home. These are my people!

Training Log – 06.02.19 & 06.09.19

Posted on by Sam

Hey friends!

I’ve got a double the pleasure, double the fun, two part training log post for your viewing pleasure today. Try to contain your excitement!

Here is what training looked like the week of 05.27.19 – 06.02.19:

Monday AM – Easy: 9.5 miles (9:57 pace) + PM – Easy: 3.25 miles (8:24 pace)

Several of my running buddies and I participated in the Memorial Day Flag Relay. Local runners carried the flags all the way across Baldwin County. There were signs of fallen service members with pictures and some information about them all along the route as mile markers. It was a humbling run and great reminder of the true cost of our freedom.

I was supposed to do 12 miles total with a few hill repeats at the end of my run Monday, but my portion of the relay was less than 12 miles and flat as a pancake. I went out later in the evening to tackle a few short, 6 X 15 second hill strides. Nothing too crazy, but I got it in when it would’ve been easy to just skip the hills so I am calling it a win.

Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles (8:55 pace)

Rebecca and I got in an easy 8 at our regular dark:thirty time Tuesday morning. Both of us were feeling a little tired from Monday’s run, but we survived!

Wednesday – Quality: 6.5 miles

Wednesday morning I had some speed work on tap. The workout was a 3 mile warm up, 8 X 200 w/ one minute walking recoveries and a 2 mile cool down. 200s are a great go-to race week workout to get the legs turning over quickly without taxing yourself too much. I love 200s in general, so I was happy to see this one pop up on the schedule. Splits are below! This was by far my fastest 200 workout to date and it gave me some good confidence going into Saturday’s race.

Thursday – Easy: 5.25 miles (9:10 pace)

I went over and ran with Jessica Thursday morning. Our runs tend to more closely resemble therapy sessions than runs at this point and I’m not sad about it.

Friday – Easy: 5.75 miles (8:49 pace) 

Friday morning Jessica came over to meet me. She had some hills to do and I kept it easy and flat while she did that.

Saturday AM – Easy: 2 miles (9:23 pace) + PM – RACE

I did a short shakeout run Saturday morning with the local running group to keep my legs from getting stale before heading over to New Orleans for the Power Mile! Race recap coming soon (hopefully!).

Sunday – Easy: 8 miles (8:05 pace)

I took it easy like Sunday morning after the race and eventually hit the road for a few miles once we got back from New Orleans. I was supposed to do 12 miles, but hey … sometimes you just do what you can and don’t stress about the rest.

Total – 52.7 miles

Here is what training looked like the week of 05.27.19 – 06.02.19:

Monday – Rest

Tuesday – Quality: 10 miles + PM – Pilates

Tuesday’s workout looked like a bit of a doozy on paper, but ended up going much better than anticipated! The workout called for a 2 mile warm up, 4 X 1 mile w/ one minute walking recoveries, 8 X 200 w/ one minute walking recoveries and a 2 mile cool down. The mile repeats were at threshold pace, which made it more manageable. I did this portion of the workout on the treadmill (splits were 5:54, 5:48, 5:45 and 5:42) and then headed over to the track for MORE 200s! Yay! Splits weren’t quite as fast as the week before, but they were actually pretty close and I had more miles on my legs before starting the 200s, so I was happy. Coach John was very pleased with this workout as well, which is always nice to hear. Hopefully I am setting myself up for a decent 5K on Father’s Day weekend!

Wednesday – Easy: 8 miles (8:50 pace)

Wednesday was Global Running Day and so of course, it only seemed fitting to celebrate exactly how we do just about every other day.

Thursday AM – Easy: 8 miles (8:15 pace) + PM – Easy: 5 miles (8:16 pace)

I started off the day with an easy eight on the treadmill and needed to burn off some steam after work, so I ventured out for an easy double. I don’t even recall what said steam was related to, so obviously the run served its purpose! Ha.

Friday – Easy: 8 miles (8:54 pace) 

I went over and met Rebecca and Jessica Friday morning. This run was also like a mini therapy session. I’m noticing a trend here …

Saturday – Quality: 10 miles

Saturday’s workout was unique! It was a 3 mile warm up, 5 X 600 w/ two minute walking recoveries, 4 X 300 w/ one minute walking recoveries and a 3 mile cool down. 600s and 300s are less common than say 800s and 400s and I tend to enjoy these odd (not literally) distances at the track. I knew what effort I was supposed to run, but I didn’t really have a set time in my mind for each interval, if that makes sense. The 600s were supposed to be done at close to 5K pace and the 300s were supposed to be done at one mile race pace. I got a little carried away with the last couple 600s and ended up running those closer to one mile pace, but oh well! It was a really solid effort and I was huffing and puffing by the end of it. I did my cool down with the local running group, which worked out perfectly!

Sunday – Easy: 13 miles (8:18 pace)

I decided to seek out some hills for my long run Sunday. My watch did something silly during the middle of the run and basically said that I was walking, so I’m not thrilled about that. Hopefully it was just a fluke.

Total – 62 miles

Have a great week!

Training Log – 05.26.19

Posted on by Sam

Hey friends!

I hope you are enjoying a long weekend! It’s hotter than blue blazes out there. On the training front, this week was pretty chill with one major workout. The mileage was a bit lower than it has been. I’m doing a one mile race NEXT WEEKEND and I’m SUPER excited about it!

Here is what training looked like the week of 05.20.19 – 05.26.19:

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (8:35 pace)

Tuesday – Pilates (45 minutes)

Wednesday AM – Easy: 9 miles (8:43 pace) + PM – Easy: 3.5 miles (8:51 pace)

Wednesday morning I had an eight mile easy run followed by 6 X 20 second hill repeats. I got the easy miles done on the treadmill and made my way over to my designated hill once it was light enough outside. I don’t think there was anything too remarkable to report about this other than that 20 second hill repeats are MUCH easier than one minute hill repeats (which likely goes without saying) and my average pace was 5:50 (as opposed to 6:45 last week when I did the one minute repeats).

Wednesday evening I met a few friends (some old, some new (but none borrowed or blue)) for the “inaugural” Wednesday evening group run! Karen started a local running group for anyone that wants to come join. I’m so glad that she took the initiative to do this. It’s something that I had been tossing around in my brain for a while as well, but oftentimes it seems that I get so hung up on the details of something (admittedly thinking about how to make it perfect) that I don’t even attempt to do whatever it is that I am thinking about doing in the first place … paralysis by analysis if you will.

I have no idea what I was looking at, but since the pup and I are looking in the same direction … I like it!

Thursday – Quality: 11 miles (7:19 pace)

Thursday’s workout had some threshold and interval work included. Specifically, it called for a 2 mile warm up, 2 miles @ threshold pace, 6 X 400 @ interval pace (with 75 second rest in between each interval), 2 miles @ threshold pace and a 2 mile cool down. Goodness. Luckily it worked out that Jessica could come over again this week so that we could do part of our workouts together!

There was a significant amount of pre-planning that went into this one and we both agreed that once we had figured out what time we both needed to start and where we were meeting and seeing each other throughout the workout, the hard part was basically complete! Ha. If only …

I started a tad earlier on the treadmill and then we both went over to the track to do the majority of the workout. My goal pace for the threshold miles was 5:54 again this week. The goal paces are based on your VDOT score, so unless that changes (based on a race result or increased fitness, etc.), your workout paces stay consistent from one week to the next. I hit the first two threshold miles in 5:58 and 5:51. I was drenched in sweat after the warm up and those first two threshold miles on the treadmill. I think it actually felt hotter inside than it did outside. Once I got outside and got some air flow going, it actually felt better! So maybe this is the trick to making summer running not feel quite as brutal. Run on the treadmill first and then outside will be a (literal) breeze.

After I got to the track, I went straight into the 400s. My goal pace for those was 5:26, which would’ve been 81-82 seconds per lap. I really focused on running the lap I was in and not worrying about the remainder of the workout. My splits were 80, 78, 78, 78, 78, 78! I was really happy with the consistency there. Now all that was left was two more miles at threshold pace. After running interval pace for the 400s, threshold pace actually seemed very manageable. What a nice surprise! Because of GPS limitations on the track (i.e., the watch records data every few seconds and then plots your path between the data points), my splits are a little wonky on those last two miles, but I know my total time for the full 8 laps was 11:44. The splits were something like 5:50 and 5:54. They show as 5:42 and 5:46 on my watch, but it took me 16 more seconds to get back to the “finish line” on the track, so I spread those seconds out evenly over the two miles.

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The big dawg is done! ✅ Workout was 2 mile warm up, 2 miles @ threshold (5:58, 5:51), 6 X 400 (80, 78, 78, 78, 78, 78), 2 miles @ threshold (5:50, 5:54), 2 mile cool down. Holy smokes. That one was a bit of a beast! I’m THRILLED with how it went though 🙌🏽💪🏽 Immediate side effects of a big dawg workout include the desire to drink all the drinks and lay on the floor for prolonged periods of time 😂 Longer term side effects include the desire to eat all the food and prolonged periods of increased productivity! I’ve already done some laundry, washed dishes, vacuumed and mopped 😬 Now just a regular work day ahead! Happy Thursday friends! #summerofspeed #powermile #mckirdytrained #endorphinsarethebest

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Friday – Easy: 8 miles (8:42 pace) 

Saturday – Easy: 10.5 miles (9:04 pace) 

Sunday AM – Easy: 5 miles (8:21 pace) + PM – Pilates

Total – 54.9 miles

Have a great week!

The Update Post

Posted on by Sam

As promised, here is a bit of an update post for your reading pleasure …

I basically tried to disappear from the Internet for a few months. Every now and then I think we likely could all benefit from a little break. In my case, I was going through a very stressful life change and I didn’t want people coming to my blog (or Facebook or Instagram or whatever) to try to snoop around and figure out what was going on.

I mentioned a while back that my now ex-husband and I were kinda sorta thinking about starting a family. So yeah … I guess you could say that we essentially ended a family instead of starting one. I don’t plan to share too much about this, partly because this is supposed to be a running blog and mainly because it doesn’t affect just me.

It wasn’t an easy decision, but I truly believe that it is ultimately for the best. It became very apparent that we weren’t on the same page whatsoever regarding much and neither one of us was truly happy. Granted, only one of us was willing to admit this at the time, but seeing as how the the other one is already in a very serious relationship, I would venture to say that we are likely on the same page with that now too.

Edited one year later to add: We are both remarried now and while I can’t speak for anyone else, I would venture to say that everyone involved can now agree that everything that happened was for the best and that everything worked out how it was supposed to.

Looking back I can definitely see that when we first met, I had a lot healing left to do. We got married too young and too quickly (blah blah blah (I know it’s the same thing a lot of people say)). We didn’t consider some very important issues on the front end and to be fair, we didn’t even know that certain issues would even be issues. I have done A LOT of work over the last 4 to 5 years and I am in such a better place now. I could honestly write an entire book about some of these topics and one day I just might. If I do, I’ve already got the title or at least one of the chapters names picked out. It will be, “I’ll love you forever, but I’m going to need that ring back.”

At this point I am trying to learn from my “mistakes” and am very much trying to retrain my brain to view mistakes not as mistakes at all but instead as “learning opportunities.” Everything that has happened up until this point has shaped me and made me who I am today. I am using my past experiences to guide my future. There is no looking back … only forward. Basically now I am just looking for a human who will love me as much as my dog does. Is that really too much to ask? I mean, Brooks has set the bar very high, but I feel certain that someone will come along that can fill his shoes.

I’ve gotta say, work has been such a blessing during this chaotic time in my life. In the past I would’ve likely said that work was one of the most stressful areas of my life, especially during January to April. Well this year … work really seemed to be one of the only stable and least stressful things in my life. I am so incredibly thankful for that because I really don’t think I could’ve taken any more stress. I didn’t cry once because of work this tax season, which may seem silly, but is actually quite a good way to measure how the season went. My employers (a husband and wife team) have been incredibly understanding and have gone above and beyond to show their appreciation and gratitude for the work that I do.

Whew. Now that we’ve knocked out the major “life” stuff, let’s get back to talking about all things running, shall we?

Race Recap: Gate River Run 15K (PR!)

Posted on by Sam

Are you familiar with the old adage “better late than never?” Good! Because this recap is quite late, but I want to remember it forever! We are doing a “race recap bomb week” over at Salty Running (check it out!) where we are posting recaps for any races that got missed along the way. The Gate River Run 15k took place during my blogging “hiatus,” which makes it perfect material for a catch up post now.

If you don’t know about the Gate River Run 15k, it’s a wonderful event in Jacksonville, Florida that is also the USATF 15k National Championship. In March I was given the opportunity to race Gate as part of the elite women’s field. Having never raced as an “elite”—and believe me, I am using that term very loosely—I was both excited and a little apprehensive about the whole experience.

When race week rolled around, I was SO. EXCITED. I really felt like a kid not-so-patiently awaiting the arrival of Christmas morning. I knew I was in good shape and I was very interested to get an actual gauge of my current fitness level.

I ran a marathon in early December, started training for Boston in early January and didn’t run a single race until Gate in mid-March. For a former serial-racer, this is very out of character. By contrast last year I ran four 10ks and a 5k during the month of March alone. Hello, overkill! Looking back, I can see that I wasn’t doing myself any favors by racing that often. I was never truly on top of my game and I don’t think I was ever truly recovered either. It was definitely fun, but this season of minimal racing has been a nice change of pace, so to speak, and feels more appropriate.

Jacksonville is about a five and a half hour drive from where I live in Alabama, so I opted to drive to the race instead of fly. At the time the drive didn’t seem too bad and would surely be cheaper than flying. Some of the “elite” runners had their travel and hotel stay comped, but my travel wasn’t covered. My hotel room was, though, which was really sweet and definitely unexpected! I was even able to take a day off work (during tax season, no less!) to travel.

There was a mandatory USATF athlete meeting Friday evening at 5 p.m., and I tried to pretend I knew what I was doing, but I most definitely did not. Sitting in that big room with all of the other elite athletes was truly surreal and I could barely pay attention. My two takeaways are that drugs and pacers are not allowed, but GPS watches are allowed, which was a relief as I had definitely planned to use the latter, but not the former. Ha!

A 7:00 a.m. race start on Saturday means an early wakeup, but when you’re “elite” it’s not nearly as bad. We were bussed over to the elite athlete staging area near the start, which sounds very fancy, but was basically a room where we could have coffee, stretch and just chill pre-race. I had a cup of coffee in the hotel before getting on the bus and had another once we got to the staging area. I also drank 20 oz. of water with two packs of Generation UCAN pre-race. Since the race was relatively short (less than an hour), I didn’t plan to take any fuel during the race.

The elite women started six minutes ahead of the elite men, who start with the entire rest of the field. I was really hoping that I would be able to settle in with a group and work with some of the other women, but since my elite status came with quotation marks I also knew there was a very distinct possibility that I would get dropped like a hot potato in the first few minutes of the race. Even so, I was determined to not start out too fast, at a pace that I wasn’t comfortable with, as I didn’t want to completely fall apart later in the race.

I got to meet fellow McKirdy Trained athlete, Stephanie Andre!

As it turned out, the hot potato scenario was pretty darn accurate and I found myself close to dead last for about half to three-quarters of a mile. It was unsettling. If the entire race had all started at the same time it wouldn’t have felt so strange, but it was definitely not a position I am used to being in.

But as I learned, starting that far back in the pack means I had reserves when others didn’t. I’m happy to report that I passed a few women along the way and finished 32nd!

Splits: 6:11, 6:03, 5:56, 6:02, 5:51, 5:59, 5:58, 6:17 (up the “green monster” bridge), 6:12 and 5:32 pace for the last few tenths.

My official time was 56:39, which was a 15k PR for me by about five minutes actually, but I’ve only raced one other 15k and it was years ago. There were 15 bands along the way, which was awesome!

Somewhere around mile 5 I got engulfed by the elite men, who had started 6 minutes after us. They surrounded me and flew past me in a perfect V formation, just like a pack of birds. “Oh wow!” I thought, “I’ve seen this happen on TV and now it’s happening to me!”

Overall, I must say that I am happy with the way I ran and quite pleased that I didn’t get caught up in trying to start out at a pace I had no business running. This is one of the strongest races I have ever run and I am so glad that I had a good race during my Boston buildup, especially given that the marathon didn’t go exactly as I hoped. The Gate River Run was a wonderful event and I am SO thankful to have been included in the elite field. It is an experience that I will never forget!

Training Log – 05.19.19

Posted on by Sam

Hey friends!

Here is what training looked like the week of 05.13.19 – 05.19.19:

Monday – Easy: 6 miles (7:20 pace)

Since my workout on Sunday was later in the afternoon, I decided to sleep in Monday and ran after work instead. I am almost exclusively a morning runner at this point, but I gotta say, there is something about an evening run that is quite lovely. For one thing, my legs are much looser and more ready to go and my comfortable “easy” pace is much quicker than it is in the morning. Side note: my VDOT “easy” pace range is currently 7:10 to 7:50, but most days I do not come anywhere close to that!

Another thing is that it is nice to get out and burn off some steam after a stressful day. While morning runs set you up for a great day, an evening run can help you decompress after the day is otherwise done.

Tuesday AM – Easy: 7.5 miles (9:22 pace) + PM – Pilates

Joy and I had a great run Tuesday morning and I went to Pilates Tuesday evening!

Wednesday – Easy: 7 miles (7:40 pace)

I slept in Wednesday morning (you know … until 6 a.m. instead of the usual 4 a.m. wake up call) and got my run in after work. Two evening runs in one week?! Who am I?! The only thing somewhat noteworthy about this run is that my phone somehow managed to FaceTime an entire group of people from my text messages while I had it in my Koala Clip. I honestly have no clue how this happened and only realized something was fishy when my music stopped playing. Luckily it was just my running girls group! No harm. No foul.

Thursday AM – Quality: 10 miles (7:23 pace) + PM – Easy: 6 miles (8:34 pace)

Thursday morning I did actually drag myself out of bed and managed to get a workout in. Major score! The workout called for a 3 mile warm up, 8 X 2:00 at interval pace with 2:00 recoveries and a 2 mile cool down. My current goal pace for interval work is 5:26. I did this workout on the treadmill, but in hindsight, it actually started to get light enough that I would’ve felt comfortable outside. Don’t you just love this time of year? So much light in both the mornings and evenings! Anyway … maybe I’ll get outside next time, but the treadmill worked just fine.

When I do timed intervals on the treadmill, I make sure to adjust my pace up to goal speed during the last 10 seconds of my recoveries so that I am already up to speed once the interval starts. Otherwise, you shorten your intervals a bit as the treadmill adjusts to your pace. I was definitely working hard during this one, but at the same time, the work felt manageable and I didn’t ever feel out of control with the pace. Sometimes I am hesitant to do speed work on the treadmill because it can feel a bit out of control, but it seemed to work just fine for me this time. I also ended up averaging 5:26 for the minutes on (which was the exact goal), which is pretty funny, seeing as how there isn’t an exact treadmill speed that correlates to that pace and I didn’t even do all of the intervals at the same pace.

Friday – Easy: 8 miles (8:40 pace) 

Friday was a dark:thirty run with my girls! I love starting my day that way.

Saturday – Easy: 10 miles (8:39 pace) 

I ran with Jessica and Joy Saturday morning. Jessica had a 75 minute run with some 20 second hill pickups and I decided to tag along.

Saturday afternoon we got to go out on the boat for the first time this year! Brooks had a blast (I enjoyed myself as well :))!

Sunday – Quality: 14 miles (8:38 pace)

Sunday’s workout called for a 9 mile “warm up,” 10 X 1:00 hill repeats (with 2 minute rest in between each set) and a 2 mile cool down (so basically just a long run w/ some hill repeats thrown in at the end). The prescribed pace for the hill repeats was to run “hard as hell,” so not really a quantifiable, pace per say, but more of a qualitative, effort-based pacing strategy. Ha!

I am more of a rhythm runner than a strength runner and hills tend to be hard for me, but I know that it is beneficial to of add hills into your training. Hills are “speed-work in disguise” and they help you build strength, stride power and running economy. I had a plethora of hills to choose from and I settled on one that seemed steep enough, but not mountainous (as if we have mountains in lower Alabama). My Garmin shows that I climbed over 900 ft. during the duration of this run, which seems decent. My average pace for the hills was 6:45 and I’ll definitely take it! Hill work is all about effort and I put the effort in!

Total – 68.5 miles

Have a great week!

Training Log – 05.12.19

Posted on by Sam

Hey friends!

I’m back at it (both with blogging and with training)! I am thinking about jumping in a one mile road race in New Orleans in a few weeks, just to push myself and find out where I am speed-wise. In general, I am planning to shift my focus to shorter distance training over the next few months and then planning to shift back to marathon specific work in the fall. I’ve got my sights set on the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon in November, but (obviously) that’s still 6 months away so we’ll just see how it all plays out (i.e., we’ll just see how life goes).

Here is what training looked like the week of 05.06.19 – 05.12.19:

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (9:47 pace) + PM – Pilates

I’ve been doing Pilates once a week now for several months and I really want to go two times a week, but it is so expensive! Major bummer. I found a local studio that offers classes for much cheaper than the cost of a private session (definitely makes sense). This seemed like a potentially good solution. After talking to the owner, I went to the studio Monday to meet the instructor so that she could “evaluate my ability” and see if I was “good enough” for the classes. As it turns out, my abilities are not very good and I am not good enough for her classes. Well then … I honestly wasn’t expecting that (like at all). I know I am not a Pilates superstar by any stretch, but I definitely figured I could hop in a class or two without any issues.

Not only did she poo poo on my form and ability in general, but she also said that I was built like one of her other students … in her words “tiny but with a little bit of a belly pooch.” UM. I’m sorry … even if that’s what you are thinking, there is NEVER a need to comment on anyone’s body like that. I could likely write an entire post about that. She offered for me to come back to another one-on-one session and then *maybe* join her classes, but I was all “thanks, no thanks … sorry, not sorry.”

Side note: I absolutely LOVE my current instructor and would’ve continued with her regardless, but I was just looking for a way to get a little bit more strength work in and a little bit more bang for my buck.

Tuesday AM – Easy: 6.5 miles (9:49 pace) + PM – Easy: 4 miles (9:00 pace)

Wednesday – Easy: 7.5 miles (9:20 pace)

Thursday AM – Quality: 9.3 miles + PM – Easy: 6 miles (8:34 pace)

Thursday was my first “official” workout back after Boston!

I say “official” in quotations because I did go out and *attempted* to do a few quicker than normal miles on Friday of last week just to see how that felt. I knew I had my first workout coming up this week and I was not entirely convinced that I could run anywhere near the prescribed paces. Logically, it seemed like I should take the legs out for a test run to see what I was up against. My test run was a 2 X 2 mile progression run of sorts. I was planning to do all four miles consecutively, but after struggling through the first two miles in 7:02 and 6:45, I made the executive decision to take a breather and regroup. I wish this strategy had worked for me during Boston, but we won’t rehash that again. It worked this time! I was able to comfortably drop my pace down to 6:09 and 5:59 for the next two miles. Those last two miles gave me confidence that I had maintained a decent level of fitness.

So anyway … back to this week’s workout! The workout had some threshold and interval work built in. Specifically, it called for a 2 mile warm up, 3 miles @ threshold pace, 6 X 1 minute @ interval pace (with 1 minute rest in between each interval) and a 2 mile cool down. The treadmill was my best option for the threshold work and that is purely from a safety perspective. Occasionally I will run by myself outside, but never in the dark and rarely for a workout. I knew the intervals would be a little too fast and a little too short to effectively execute on the treadmill though, so this workout took a bit of pre-planning and almost became a relay of sorts. Jessica had some intervals to do as well, but her workout was a bit shorter than mine, so I started earlier on the treadmill and then we did the intervals and cool down together outside. Maybe not ideal, but it worked well and I was so thankful to have her with me!

My goal pace for the threshold miles was 5:54 (hence the above-referenced pre-workout uncertainty). I asked Coach John if the pace was maybe a bit rich, but he told me not to worry about it too much (ha!) and to just try to work my way down as I went. Seemed fair enough. I found some good music (my definition of good music is likely debatable) and got to work. Once I actually started running, the pace seemed totally doable and somehow three miles just really didn’t seem that far. I’m assuming this is some sort of residual side-effect of marathon training. My splits were 6:09, 5:59 and 5:46. I was very pleased!

All that was left now was 6 more minutes of running, which also seemed totally doable in the moment. Granted, the goal pace was a bit quicker (5:26 for the intervals). I had the intervals programmed into my watch, but I had to first save my activity and then switch my watch from the indoor run setting back to normal. I knew that the one minutes would roughly equate to 300 meters on the track, so I tried to use that as my gauge of whether I was close to my goal pace. I don’t ever look at my watch during timed intervals, but it was nice to have a frame of reference. My average ended up being 5:16 for the intervals (I calculated this after-the-fact) and again, I was very pleased!

Friday – Easy: 8 miles (8:54 pace) 

Saturday – Easy: 7 miles (8:50 pace) 

Sunday AM – Easy: 5 miles (8:38 pace) + PM – Quality: 6.2 miles

Sunday’s workout called for a 5 mile warm up, 10 X 200 minute @ repetition pace (with 1 minute rest in between each set) and a 5 mile cool down. We woke up to some major storms Sunday morning and there was no way I was getting outside to do a track workout before church. This worked out quite well because I got to spend some quality coffee time with my sweet mom on Mother’s Day instead.

I did hop on the treadmill to get a few miles knocked out, as I didn’t see myself wanting to do a long run with a workout later in the day. I was still planning to get the speed work in, but it would need to be part of a shorter run instead.

This plan worked out quite nicely and I headed to the track around 5 p.m. to run some 200s! The mile race that I am eyeing is in the evening, so it’s probably good to get my body somewhat used to running fast later in the day. 200s are my favorite track workout, so I was weirdly excited about this workout. I did a 2 mile warm up, changed into my “fast shoes” and knocked those 200s out. I also did a 2 mile cool down, so I got my total miles in for the day, but it was just slightly varied from the actual plan. I wouldn’t want to make a habit of that, but every now and then you just do what you gotta do to make it work in the circumstances. I averaged just under 36 seconds (35.8 to be exact) for the 200s and all of the splits were within less than a second of each other. I was very pleased with that consistency for sure! My coach was pleased with it as well, which is always nice.

Summer of speed is off to a very good start indeed (I made a rhyme :))!

Total – 67.3 miles

Have a great week!

Race Recap: Boston Marathon

Posted on by Sam

I have run close to 200 road races over the last 15 years and this year’s Boston Marathon brought my very first DNF (did not finish). After spending a little bit of time reflecting on the race, I am honestly not even upset about it and I’m not just saying that. I’d like to think that I did a good job of placing realistic expectations on this race, but in typical all-or-nothing fashion, I knew it would either be a huge success or a huge flop. And although my training seemed to indicated that it had potential to be the former, ultimately it was the latter.

I prepare tax returns for a living, which basically means that I work more hours during the first four months of the year than I do during the remaining eight months of the year combined. I actually don’t mind this and I definitely appreciate the down time after busy season, but my schedule from January to April isn’t very conducive to a successful marathon buildup.

My training went really well, which is a victory in an of itself. I’ve never been able to “seriously” train during tax season and this year I was able to. Progress! I was able to hit paces in workouts that I never dreamed of and I had a really solid 15k race during the training cycle. While I felt good physically, my mental state was another story. I knew I was on the edge of mental bankruptcy. As we all know, racing can be as much a mental exercise as a physical one, and I just didn’t have the reserves I needed when the going got tough.

The good news is that all this was not for naught and I will still benefit from all the work I put in during the training cycle. Even though it didn’t pay dividends in the short-term, I’m looking at this one as more of a long-term investment.

On the way

I left for Boston Saturday morning, with my handy-dandy participants guide for in-flight reading material. The fact that I hadn’t even bothered to look at the guide before I got on the plane is very telling of how overwhelmed and hectic my life was during the months leading up to the race. Usually I am one of those always prepared, ridiculously on top of things people, but I was neither prepared nor on top of things for this race. In fact, I didn’t even realize that your clothing and personal effects don’t get transported back to the finish line anymore. I was going to need throwaway clothes, but I hadn’t packed any. Eek!

After a couple of flight delays, I arrived in Boston Saturday evening without my “carry-on” bag that I was forced to check upon arriving at the airport Saturday morning. Oh well. No big deal! I figured I would either get myself some new clothes (don’t have to twist my arm too hard) or my bag would arrive eventually. Thankfully it arrived! I could’ve done without the three wake-up calls sometime after midnight asking me to retrieve my bag from the lobby of the hotel, but otherwise, this wasn’t a big deal. Just a slight hiccup really.

Sunday morning we did a thirty minute shakeout run then headed to the expo. It was very crowded, but it was still fun to look at all of the gear. I told myself that I wasn’t going to get one of those dang Boston jackets, but of course, I changed my mind once I saw how beautiful it was. I am now the not-so-proud owner of a finisher’s jacket from the first race that I ever dropped out of (insert facepalm here). I’ll probably still wear it though, because it really is beautiful and because I worked my butt off to get to that start line.

I unpacked my bag and took a nice nap Sunday afternoon and tried to get myself mentally prepared for what I was about to do. Then, after an early dinner I actually got some really good sleep (one of the perks of being exhausted I guess). I started to think that I really just might be able to do this thing.

Race Day Morning

The logistics of race morning at Boston can be tricky and, in my opinion, it really doesn’t set you up well for a good race. Don’t get me wrong, the BAA does a great job arranging everything and handling all the runners, but there is a lot of hurry-up-and-wait and the process involves a lot of time to be up and on your feet before a goal race. I was scheduled to board the bus between 6:00 and 6:45 a.m. and my race start time wasn’t until 10:02. I planned to get on the bus as late as possible to minimize the amount of time spent in the cold rain at the athlete’s village.

Right around 6 a.m. there was an announcement over the intercom system of our hotel informing us that part of the hotel was being evacuated and that we should wait for further instructions. Excuse me? You are evacuating some of the guests, but the rest of us should just sit tight and wait to see if the building blows up or burns down? No thanks. I was not completely ready at this point, but luckily I was ready enough to leave immediately.

For a brief moment I thought about taking my phone with me, but I really didn’t want to run an entire marathon with it. I decided to leave it in the room. The elevators were shut off, so I made my way down sixteen flights of stairs, hoping for the best but expecting the worst. I honestly still don’t know what happened at the hotel that morning, but I suspect it was more along the lines of someone burning her pre-race bagel than anything bad.

Still, it’s hard to keep your mind from going to the worst-case scenario in the moment, so I was feeling nervous and frazzled when I boarded the bus, and the ongoing thunderstorm was not helping. The bus ride ended up taking us close to two hours, and we had to exit the interstate several times along the way because of severe weather. There was no air and the windows were up because of the rain, and it was hot … I was burning up. I had warm clothes over my race clothes, as it was chilly outside, but I stripped all the way down to my race clothes on the bus and was still drenched in sweat when we finally arrived in Hopkinton.

By this time we had just over an hour to wait until it was time to begin walking to the start line. That hour felt like an entire day. Everyone was huddled underneath the tents because of the rain and there was very little personal space. As someone who really dislikes being in a crowd, I was really starting to feel overwhelmed and anxious. The morning was off to a rocky start and I hadn’t even started running yet! Yikes!

At 9:30 the runners in my wave started to make our way over to the start line. Thankfully the rain had stopped at this point and the temperature was really nice: cool, but not too cold. Good racing conditions, if it lasted. I started in wave one, corral three amidst a sea of thousands and thousands and thousands of other runners.

On the Course

My plan was to start off around 6:30 per mile pace. I knew it would be hard to hold back since the course has some decent downhills in the first few miles and it can be easy to get caught up in the crowds. After the first 10k my plan was to pick it up to 6:25 per mile and then in the third 10k, my plan was to target closer to 6:20 per mile. I would slow down on the Newton hills and then hopefully speed back up for the last 10k. This was the plan that my coach gave me “for ideal conditions” based off of the workouts I had completed and my current fitness level.

I knew very early on that the conditions were not ideal.

The weather changed so many times that an entire post could be dedicated entirely to race day weather. Thunderstorm! Cold. Hold up … hot. Sunny! Wait … throw in some wind! More rain. It was CRAZY! And I was coming in at the end of a difficult work season. And the bag. And the hotel evacuation. And the bus. And the crowds. And it just plain was NOT going to be my day.

I adjusted my pace goals from the gun and I never got below 6:30 pace. The average pace for my qualifying marathon was 6:36, so I really expected to be able to settle into crowd with people running close to that pace, but it really felt like I was getting passed by every. single. runner. Not dramatic at all.

I came through the half marathon at exactly 6:36 pace, a result which which I was very pleased. Even so, and even though my training dictated I should feel comfortable at this pace, unfortunately I just didn’t have it. During the next five miles I struggled to maintain a pace under 7:00. At that point, I figured I would try to enjoy the experience as best as I could and try to make it to the finish line without casualty … always a good goal!

It should have been easy. For me running is usually fun! Even when I am pushing myself during workouts and races, I am happy and truly enjoying each moment. But something happened out there on the course Monday and I just was NOT enjoying any of it. I stopped to walk a few times, thinking this would help me regroup and gain my composure, but each time I stopped to walk, I started hyperventilating. I couldn’t catch my breath at all.

Now if you’ve never run a marathon before, let me just let you in on this one little secret … being able to breathe is pretty important!

You would think that stopping to walk would enable me to breathe a little easier, but it was definitely not working for me. My heart was racing, I was getting dizzy and I was gasping for air. The fact that I couldn’t catch my breath was terrifying and made breathing even more difficult. It was not a good place to be.

I had two episodes like this during miles 19 and 20, and at that point I decided that it wasn’t worth it to keep going. I stopped in the medical tent at mile 20 and made the decision that I would not finish the race.

I didn’t even struggle with the decision much at all. Sure, it stinks to have a DNF on my record, but it would stink a lot more to have done permanent damage or injured myself somehow. Sometimes you absolutely need to push through a little bit of physical discomfort, but this was much more than that and I think I made the right decision.

Unless I retire from my current profession (and I don’t see that happening anytime soon), I don’t think I will be back to Boston; it’s just not the race for me. I found the whole experience to be a bit much: the crowds, the hype, the fanfare … it’s all just too much. Still, I know many runners really and truly love it and that makes the decision to not return even easier. I appreciate its history and its role in the running community, but I would rather appreciate it from afar than participate directly.

While Boston may be known for its infamous Tea Party, it is simply not my cup of tea. Lame jokes, apparently, are my cup of tea!