I registered for a marathon! I was trying to give that a Garth Brooks, “blame it all on my roots, I showed up in boots,” sort of vibe, but I don’t think it worked. Oh well. You win some, you lose some!
I sat down to write a post about how I’m ready to go ALL IN for a season and see what happens. I want to do all of the elusive things that you are supposed to do and yet somehow those things seem to never quite materialize. And then it hit me! I’ve written this post before. It was the summer of 1969 2018 and I was about to embark on a similar journey.
The destination deviated wildly that year and yet here I am 5 years later wanting to do basically the same exact thing. I don’t know whether to be comforted or troubled by this realization. What have I been doing for the last 5 years?! There is definitely not a simple answer to that question and a lot of LIFE happened, but running … well, running had to take the backseat for a couple of years.
Why now you ask? I think the better question is why not now? We are all one swift kick of the vacuum cleaner away from being sidelined for 6 weeks, or for 6 months or for even longer … so training starts now! I’m going to spend the summer focused on speedwork and turnover and then gradually build into a marathon specific training block in the early fall.
I’ve got several races picked out to do along the way. I’d like to add another 5k & a 10k in the fall, but for now a tentative schedule looks like this:
06/17/23: Hot Trot 5k 07/04/23: Shark Run (4 Mile) 08/12/23: Satsuma 2 Miler 10/08/23: Northshore 10 Miler 11/19/23: Battleship 12k 12/03/23: CALIFORNIA INTERNATIONAL MARATHON!
I wanted to pop in and say happy deadline day. Perhaps you guys aren’t quite as thrilled about this day as I am. Regardless of whether you celebrate it (with a refund!) or not (with a payment!), the day is here! For me this day has a New Year’s Day vibe to it. My mind is swirling with the possibility of things to come. I will finally have a little bit of free time to tackle things that I don’t have capacity to manage during the season … things like pilates! and blogging! and sleeping!
This was my 15th tax season as a human (14th if we don’t count last year when I was out on maternity leave (and definitely not feeling like a human!)), but my 1st tax season as a mother. The whole working mother gig is no joke. I had no idea how challenging it would be until I experienced it for myself. I feel like I owe all of my working mom friends an apology (or perhaps a congratulations!). I had no idea how tough it is and how tough you are. If you are out there doing the things … running the miles, working the jobs, momming the children … I see you and you are AMAZING!
While I haven’t posted about it, I’ve been running! I know you are SHOCKED! Ha. I haven’t raced since the half marathon I ran in January. I had plans to do another half in February, but that didn’t work out. I honestly don’t even remember exactly what happened (there was sickness involved (gotta love the daycare crud)), but it just didn’t make sense at the time. Eventually I will learn not to try to plan my life more than 24 hours in advance. For whatever reason racing also just doesn’t quite have the allure that it used to. I still thoroughly enjoy the training, but I’m being super selective with racing these days. I don’t even know what I am training for exactly at this point. Maybe a short race over the summer?! Only time will tell.
I’m coming at you to day with a smorgasbord of a post. We’ve got a training update, a race recap and lots of ramblings in between! Last weekend I ran the Mobile Half Marathon as a tune-up race for the Mercedes-Benz Half Marathon that is coming up in Birmingham next month.
The plan was to tackle this one as somewhat of a workout with the first half (ish) at current half marathon PR pace (6:20 ish) and the second half (ish) at goal half marathon pace (6:10 ish).
My nerded-out, color-coded pace plan!
I haven’t raced a half marathon since the fall of 2018. Life got a little squirrelly at that point … you know … getting divorced, remarried and then having a baby all in the middle of pandemic. Fun times! Bottom line is that it had been a hot minute since I raced a half and I felt like I probably had a shot at an *official* half marathon PR. I technically ran a faster half marathon split in the Indy Monumental Marathon than my actual half marathon PR, but I don’t think that really counts. Either which way, I thought I could run faster than both of those times. I was also in contention for a state record for my age and a course record at this race. So yeah … I had lots of goals to work towards!
I fell back off the weekly training log bandwagon somewhere in the beginning of December, so I’ll do a bit of an update here. Side note: I don’t really think the weekly posts are necessary or helpful. I do think a bigger picture training update post could potentially be beneficial and helpful. Maybe I’ll work on that in my free time [sarcasm]. Heck … I really don’t even have time to be writing this post right now, but you know what, sometimes I just really *need* to write. It’s cathartic even when I’m not sharing something super profound.
After running the Turkey 10 Mile race in November, I shifted my focus towards the half and started a twelve week training block with Mercedes as the goal race. The half in Mobile fell seven weeks into that training block. My weekly mileage averaged out to 60 miles per week of running and 10 miles per week of walking with the stroller. The stroller walks are quickly becoming one of my favorite things. Ward loves it, so of course I love it too! There is something special about those slower paced “nature” walks. They are definitely beneficial from a mental health perspective, but I think they might actually be beneficial from an overall training perspective as well!
Most weeks have four easy run days, two workout days and one long run day. Of course it doesn’t always work out exactly as planned (especially now that there is a baby in the mix!), but that’s the general idea. I had two weeks of no workouts (the week after Turkey 10 and the week after Christmas (thanks to COVID)), but otherwise things went smoothly. My “long run” has stayed in the 12-14 mile range.
Strava links to workouts are below (basically if you are interested in this stuff, follow along on Strava … that’s where all the juicy details are found):
This was my 12th time running First Light (while that is technically not the name anymore, it will always be First Light in my heart). This race tops my list of most run races over the years (with Spring Fever coming in a close second).
Past results (in case you are interested!) are as follows:
2008: Half marathon 2:00:43 (a personal worst) 2009: Half marathon 1:41:39 2010: Half marathon 1:42:07 2011: Full marathon 3:24:12 (my first marathon) 2012: Relay! 2:57:17 (female champs and a course record) 2013: Full marathon 3:23:26 2014: Relay! (female champs) 2015: Relay! (female champs) 2016: Relay! 2:54:52 (female champs and a course record) 2017: Half marathon 1:24:44 2018: Full marathon 3:14:12
I used the Featherstone Nutrition carb load calculator to determine that I needed 400 grams of carbohydrates the day before the race. Side note: Richard asked if I was sure it didn’t mean 400 calories of carbohydrates. Ha! I can’t speak highly enough about Meghann Featherstun! She helped me nail down my nutrition needs for training while breastfeeding and I’ve learned SO MUCH about fueling from her bi-weekly podcast Fuel for the Sole. The basic gist is that I under fueled for performance for the first two decades of my running career. I’m eating between 3k and 4k calories per day at this point (and yes … I know it sounds like a lot!) and I’ve never felt better on the run. I am also still breastfeeding, so that’s where a good bit of extra caloric needs are coming into play. 400 grams of carbohydrates sounded intimidating at first, but once I started doing it, I discovered that it was actually not much more carbohydrates than my typical daily intake at this point. Apparently my entire life is a carb load! Who knew?!
On race morning, I had a cup of coffee, some water with Nuun, a banana and a bagel on the way to the race. Otherwise, I didn’t take any gels or other fuel out on the course. I was fully stocked up at that point!
The race started at 7:30 in downtown Mobile. I got in a one mile warm up before the race. We had perfect weather! It was around 50℉ at the start and warmed up to about 60℉ by the finish. The humidity was about 75%, while perhaps not ideal, is certainly not bad for the Gulf Coast.
After the initial start line chaos sorted itself out, I found myself in no man’s land (of course!) behind a lead pack of 10 or so men. In the moment I was very torn about whether I should try to stay with them or let them go. It’s not very often that I have other runners to work with during a race, so part of me really wanted to go with them and see what happened. Fortunately, the logical part of my brain triumphed over the impulsive part of my brain (for maybe the first time ever?!) and I stuck with the initial plan. I reminded myself that I would most likely catch some of them in the later miles.
My plan was to negative split this thing and I had a feeling that some of the guys in the pack might be in a bit over their heads (as I would’ve been had I gone with them).
Start line chaos! Why you guys all gotta sprint off the line?!
After the first mile, two of the guys had dropped back from that initial pack and I focused on them. I didn’t necessarily want to catch up to them immediately, but I wanted to at least stay an equal distance back from them. I didn’t look at a single split on my watch from mile 2 to mile 10. I had a feeling that I was running a tad faster than planned. However, if I looked down and saw that I was running slower than planned, I would’ve felt defeated and if I looked down and saw that I was indeed running faster than planned, I would’ve felt scared. It seemed like a lose, lose situation, so I decided to run purely by feel.
Happy as a little clam in no man’s land!
I passed one of the two guys that I had been chasing in the third mile and caught up to the other one in the next mile. I ran with him for a few miles, which was nice! As it turns out, he is also running Mercedes next month. At one point my curiosity got the best of me and I asked him what his goal was so that I could try to gauge if I was running close to the pace I was supposed to be. I don’t remember exactly what he told me his goal was, but he did tell me that he thought I was “close” to where I needed to be pace-wise. I was really set on not checking my pace, splits or overall time at that point.
We eventually parted ways (i.e., I sped up a little bit) and I continued to reel in other runners. Granted, it wasn’t *that many* runners because there were only about 10 or so ahead of me to begin with. I would say I passed one person every mile and a half or two miles. I loved having some people to chase down. I lost count of how many people I passed, but I had a feeling I was going to end up near the top 5!
One of the best parts of the entire race was seeing my wonderful support crew along the way! I saw Mom, Dad, Richard and Ward out on the course three or four times (five or six time if you count the start and the finish). My dad hopped in and started running next to me with the stroller several times. Ward was grinning ear to ear and my heart was so happy! I really wish I had been able to capture one of those moments with a photograph from my viewpoint. It was truly one of the most special things I have ever experienced. And, my dad was running FAST! I had to yell out to him to slow down at one point because I was having to sprint to catch up to them. Ha!
I did finally look at my watch when it beeped for the mile 10 split. At that point, whatever the watch told me was going to be fine as I felt really strong and I knew I was about to make the final turn onto Dauphin Street and head for home! The mile split was 6:10 and my elapsed time was right at 62 minutes. 6:10 was right where I was supposed to be and 62 minutes also seemed about right. At that point I made a conscious decision to pick up the pace ever so slightly. My last three miles were the fastest of the day at 6:00, 6:01 and 5:56! Whew. And yes, I looked at each of those splits as they happened. After I looked once, I couldn’t *not* look!
So where does that leave us?! Oh yes! The finish line. I crossed in 1:21:10, which was a personal best, a course record and a state record for 37-year-old females. I was also the first female and fourth overall! Woo! It was a good day to have a good day.
And since I didn’t give you a play by play of the splits as I went (I didn’t know them!), here’s the full breakdown:
I took at bit of a down week with just one short workout after the race to let my body recover. Now we are just four weeks out from Mercedes! I am definitely feeling very nostalgic about running Mercedes, as it was my first *ever* half marathon in 2005. This is also the last year of the race, which is sad. I haven’t done it since 2006 (a casual 17 year ago … when did I get so … old?!). I’ve been ruminating on a post about how much *LIFE* has happened in the 18 years since that first half marathon. 19-year-old Sam had quite a lot coming for her!
Hi there! Here is what training looked like this week:
Monday – 6.3 mile run (8:35 pace)
Temperature: 71℉
Humidity: 62%
Gotta love a good 70+ degree day in late November! Dressing for warm running is just so. much. easier. Throw on shorts and a tank top and you are good to go.
I ran from home in the afternoon before picking up Ward from school and before picking up our CHRISTMAS TREE! In the past I’ve not gotten super into decorating and shopping for Christmas, but this year I am all. about. it!
Tuesday – 9.3 mile run (7:50 pace)
Temperature: 64℉
Humidity: 98%
I headed out for a sailboat loop Tuesday morning and finished the run up with 6 X 30 second strides.
I was freezing inside before I headed outside to run and as a result, I was way overdressed for this one!
Wednesday – 11.0 mile run (8:15 pace)
Temperature: 79℉
Humidity: N/A (indoors)
Wednesday’s workout was a two mile warm up, five miles at marathon pace, a five minute recovery, four by 200 hard with 200 recoveries and a two mile cool down.
We woke up to terrible storms Wednesday morning, so the treadmill was my best (i.e., only) option.
The idea was to ease back into speedwork with some marathon paced (MP) work. The goal pace for the MP miles was 6:20-6:25, which was based off of a 1:20 half marathon. Sub-1:20 is my big goal for the half marathons I have coming up! After the 10 mile race I ran a few weeks ago, I think this should be a fairly reasonable goal.
My splits for the MP miles (which I believe are a tad quicker than actual due to inevitable treadmill variances) were 6:21, 6:19, 6:17, 6:14 and 6:13. I felt smooth and controlled!
200s on the treadmill are quite tricky. I basically just cranked the treadmill up as fast as it would go and ran for 40 seconds. I did a minute and twenty seconds for the recoveries and started speeding back up to my pace after one minute each time so that the treadmill was up to full speed by the time the interval started.
Thursday – 8.0 mile run (8:10 pace)
Temperature: 57℉
Humidity: 34%
I got in another sailboat loop on Thursday afternoon. It’s nice when the traffic allows me to venture out passed our road. The back and forth can get a little bit monotonous.
Friday – 7.0 mile run (8:10 pace)
Temperature: 46℉
Humidity: 87%
I ran at the mall Friday morning. Again, very nice to vary the route up even a little bit. My legs felt nice and recovered from Wednesday’s workout. If I’m going to be sore post-workout, it usually hits me two days later instead of the day after.
Saturday – 8.0 mile run (8:20 pace)
Temperature: 65℉
Humidity: 92%
Saturday’s workout was a three mile warm up, 3 X 800, 4 X 400, 3 X 800 and a two mile cool down.
I hadn’t been to the track in a couple of weeks and I was happy to be back! The track always just seems to make me feel fast. I love it!
My goal pace for the 800s was 5:50-5:55 and my goal pace for the 400s was 5:25-5:30.
After running a bit quicker on the 400s, the second set of 800s felt so much easier!
Sunday – 6.0 mile run (8:10 pace)
Temperature: 71℉
Humidity: 80%
I ended up bumping my long run back a day. We were out late (for us!) Saturday night and my motivation to get up early and get a long run in just wasn’t there. Rebecca was sick too, so I decided to capitalize on the opportunity to sleep in (well … as much as you can with a 9 month old).
Weekly Total – 57.8 miles (7:45 pace)
Thanks for following along! Talk to you guys soon.
Last week was a cutback week as far as workouts are concerned. I was thinking about running a half marathon this weekend, but I’ve decided against that as I want to give my body some time to recover from the ten mile race before adding too much quality work or racing back into the mix. I’m still planning to do a half marathon at the beginning of January and now hoping to add one in at the beginning of February as well.
Here is what training looked like this week:
Monday – 6.0 mile run (8:40 pace)
Temperature: 62℉
Humidity: 27%
I got in a few hilly driveway miles on Monday afternoon.
Tuesday – 8.0 mile run (8:20 pace)
Temperature: 60℉
Humidity: 67%
I got in a few more hilly driveway miles on Tuesday afternoon.
Wednesday – 9.5 mile run (8:15 pace)
Temperature: 53℉
Humidity: 95%
Wednesday morning I got out early (for me!) to run at the mall before meeting friends for coffee.
Thursday – 8.5 mile run (8:05 pace)
Temperature: 59℉
Humidity: 76%
I got in more hilly miles on Thursday by running from my in-laws house! The first mile is a 190 foot climb. Heavens!
Friday – 8.5 mile run (8:10 pace)
Temperature: 56℉
Humidity: 95%
Friday was basically the same route as Thursday. I think the only different was that it was raining! Nothing too exciting to note in the training log this week, unfortunately.
Saturday – 8.0 mile run (8:20 pace)
Temperature: 50℉
Humidity: 95%
Same song, slightly different verse on Saturday before heading back home from the Thanksgiving holiday.
Sunday – 9.3 mile run (8:35 pace)
Temperature: 53℉
Humidity: 88%
I ran with Rebecca on Sunday. Yay! While neither of us had a super long run, we definitely enjoyed the miles that we got together.
Weekly Total – 57.9 miles (8:20 pace)
Thanks for following along! Talk to you guys soon.
Hi! Coming at you today with a recap of the Turkey 10 Mile race in Creola, Alabama.
This is a super low-key race and people tend to either love or hate it. I happen to fall in the love it camp! Low key is the way to be. It is a flat, out and back course with a couple turns to break up the monotony. I always enjoy out and back races because I love feeding off of the energy of other runners after the turnaround. Everyone encourages each other and it’s pretty much just the best thing ever!
The race starts at 8:00 a.m. in Creola, Alabama, which is about a 45 minute drive for me. I got up at 5:30 a.m., had a cup of coffee, pumped (gotta love that #motherrunner life) and got dressed in time to leave the house by 6:30 a.m. I ate a banana and a bagel in the car on the way to the race. I still had to register for the race when I got there, so I cut it a little bit closer than I meant to. Thankfully I had time to register, go to the bathroom and get in a quick warm up. I only had time for a one mile warm up, but given that my training hasn’t really been endurance focused, I wasn’t really needing to do several miles before the race anyway.
The conditions on race day were pretty much perfect! It was 42℉ with 80% humidity. There was a slight wind, but nothing crazy.
The race plan was to start a bit conservatively and try to pick it up as I went. Pace wise, it looked like this:
Mile 1 – 4: I planned to ease into it and settle into a good rhythm during the first mile. The goal range was 6:20-6:25.
Miles 5 – 7: I planned to drop the pace down some with a goal range of 6:15-6:20.
Miles 8 – 10: I planned to drop the pace down a little bit more if I could. No specific ranges here! Just whatever was left in the tank!
This was my first race with double digit mileage in almost three years. I felt really good about the plan going into the race. I was actually planning to do a ten mile race in Louisiana six weeks ago, but then … life … happened and I wasn’t able to go. My pace plan for that race was going to be 6:30s, 6:20s, 6:10s for each third of that race. Over the course of the last six weeks I made some very tangible fitness improvements and it was cool to see that pre-race when talking through the race plan with my coach.
My paces for the first few miles were pretty much right within the goal range. The splits were 6:22, 6:18, 6:18, 6:20. I moved into second place overall (first female) during the second mile and stayed there the rest of the race. The first place male put about 20 seconds per mile on me in the first two miles, so while he was in sight, we were by no means working together. I tend to always find myself in no man’s land during races, but I’m used to it at this point, so it’s no big deal.
I was feeling super comfortable during the first four miles. On one hand, I knew that I could just keep it right there and have a good race, but on the other hand, I wanted to push myself and see what happened. I had to make a conscious decision to drop the pace down. I ran mile five in 6:11, which was a tad quicker than I meant to, but I was pleasantly surprised at the fact that I still felt very comfortable after speeding up! This was definitely a good sign of things to come.
As I mentioned above, the best part of the race {in my opinion} is right after the turnaround. Not only are you halfway done, but also you start to meet the other runners head on. The energy is palpable! My pace dropped down fairly significantly in miles six through eight, which wasn’t specifically in the plan. I got and gave so many cheers. I was loving every minute! Miles six through eight were 6:04, 6:05, 6:02. Whew!
Around mile eight you make the final turn back towards the finish. I was still feeling great, so I decided to go with it and let it rip. Miles nine and ten were 5:57 and 5:42. Holy Moses. I was NOT expecting to see 5:anything at the end of this race! I had a pretty massive negative split. The first half was 31:29 and the second half was 29:50. I got an extra 26 seconds by not running the tangents well. That is always something I need to work on.
My overall time was 61:45, which is a lifetime PR (as opposed to a postpartum PR). I’ve heard that women can get faster in their late 30s and early 40s and also can get faster after childbirth, but there’s no way to know for sure if that will be the case. After today’s race, I am really starting to believe that my fastest days might be ahead of me. I’ve had a few glimmers of this in training, but being able to execute a good race seems to solidify the belief a bit more.
I really enjoy the 10 mile race distance and this race in particular. I am definitely digging the Thanksgiving vibes after this year’s Turkey 10 Mile! The bottom line is that I’m just thankful. Thankful to be healthy. Thankful to be alive. Thankful to run. Thankful for any of you who are taking time out of your day to read my ramblings.
I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving week!
Hey friends! Here is what training looked like this week:
Monday – 6.0 mile run (9:00 pace)
Temperature: 63℉
Humidity: 44%
We were finally back in town after several days away. We had a great trip to Kentucky to celebrate my sister-in-law’s 40th birthday, but being home is always the best. We stayed in a house with a lot of other people, which was a lot of fun, but was also fairly draining. Plus traveling always takes a lot out of me in general. The good news is that my legs felt great after a bit of a cutback week.
I went over to see my mom and dad in the late afternoon so that they could see the little man for a bit. I was able to run while he hung out with them. He changes so much week to week that they are always blown away when they see him. He got his first tooth and started crawling while we were away, so there was a lot to catch up on!
I love running from their house as this was my “home turf” for quite a few years as well. It’s so beautiful there.
They took Ward out for a stroll while I was running and I ran into them around mile 5. It was fun to get to see a few Ward smiles mid-run. There isn’t much in my book that tops a Ward smile!
Tuesday – 10.0 mile run (7:20 pace)
Temperature: 75℉
Humidity: N/A (indoors)
Tuesday was a workout day!
The workout had a 3 mile warm up and a 3 mile cool down with 23 minutes of a cutdown fartlek tempo that looked like 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minutes “hard” with 2 minutes of easy running in between each set. The only goal was to try to drop the pace down as the intervals went down. Otherwise, it was just go by feel. I’ve been doing a lot of unstructured speedwork (i.e., fartlek workouts) and I’m really enjoying that. No pressure on pace, but just run what feels right!
We got a good bit of rain on Tuesday, so I took this one to the treadmill. If I’m going to run on the treadmill, I’d much rather it be a workout than an easy run. I can stay very focused and my mind is much more occupied during a workout than an easy run on the treadmill. I get a little bit bored on those easy days.
Average paces per interval were 5:59 for the 5 minutes, 5:47 for the 4 minutes, 5:31 for the 3 minutes, 5:20 for the 2 minutes and 5:07 for the 1 minute.
Doing this one on the treadmill felt a little bit like cheating because I had to choose the speed and I knew exactly what I was running, which is typically not the case for a fartlek.
Either which way, I was happy with how it went and felt like I accomplished the intent of the workout, which was to get a little bit of speed in without overdoing anything since I had a race coming up on Saturday!
Wednesday – 10.0 mile run (8:35 pace)
Temperature: 57℉
Humidity: 58%
I am sad to report that I’ve become a bit of a weeny when it comes to cold temperatures. Perhaps it’s a bit like summer running and I’m just not acclimated yet … we’ll go with that. I waited until mid-afternoon when the temperature was at its peak to get out the door. Gotta love a good work from home “lunch break” run!
I ran back and forth on our road and ended up with 800 feet of elevation gain.
It was super windy out. I’m pretty sure wind is my least favorite element to run in. Unless of course it is a point to point race and the wind is at your back the entire way.
This was my first mid-week double digit easy run since returning to running postpartum. My workouts go into the double digits every now and then, but the easy runs haven’t until now. A silly little milestone perhaps, but one that makes me happy nonetheless.
Thursday – 6.3 mile run (8:30 pace)
Temperature: 40℉
Humidity: 76%
I went to the office on Thursday, so I did have to get my little booty outside while it was still chilly. As long as you are dressed appropriately, it’s really not so bad.
Side note: There used to be a Runner’s World “Cold Running Calculator” that you could use to input all of your conditions and it told you what to wear. I tried and tried and tried some more to find that this week, but was unsuccessful. If anyone still uses that, please send a link!
I went with tights, long sleeves, gloves, a hat and an outer windproof light jacket. That seemed to work well for an easy run. I would’ve been overdressed for a workout or a race.
Friday – 4.0 mile run (8:25 pace)
Temperature: 59℉
Humidity: 25%
Friday’s run was a short little shakeout run before Saturday’s race. I tried to keep it nice and easy and felt pretty good.
Saturday – RACE: Turkey 10!
Sunday – 8.0 mile run (8:35 pace)
Temperature: 42℉
Humidity: 79%
I ran with Rebecca on Sunday! We didn’t get to run together the whole time Richard was away on deployment, so we had plenty of things to catch up on.
It’s always nice to wrap up the week with a run with a good friend!
Weekly Total – 58.5 miles (7:55 pace)
Thanks for following along! Talk to you guys soon.
Hey friends! Long time no see! Things got a little bit crazy over here.
I’m pretty sure everything, including kitchen sink, has been thrown at me in the last couple of months. I planned to write a detailed post about some of that stuff, I am mentally exhausted and am having trouble evening forming words. We’ve been dealing with a lot of sickness, work deadlines, work travel, depositions for a [completely unavoidable and slightly ridiculous] lawsuit over a driveway easement, testifying at a parole hearing and a few other little things that *seemed like a big deal at the time* but are slipping my mind at the moment. Combine all of that with my husband being out of town for a 30 day hurricane relief deployment and I have been in literal survival mode. I told Richard that my only goal while he was gone was to keep all the living things alive. Spoiler alert: I didn’t. We lost a couple chickens. However, a few baby chicks also hatched while he was gone, so I’m thinking we’ll just call it good. It’s the circle of life.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, then A. THANK YOU! and B. you can probably guess what the parole hearing was about. This is the thing that I want to write more about, but don’t want to think more about. If only I could write without thinking! Ha.
This was news to me, but apparently most inmates are eligible for parole after they’ve completed one-third of their prison sentence or 10 years time, whichever is less. However, individuals who have been convicted of violent and severe Class Afelonies until they’ve served the lesser of 85% of their sentence of 15 years. Let that sink in for a minute. What in the world?! This is a United States Department of Justice rule and is not specific to the state of Alabama. The man who attacked me has been in jail for 15 years (less than his sentence) and per this rule became eligible for parole in October. I knew about the 85% rule, but I definitely didn’t understand the whole “lesser of” or the 15 year part of it.
As the victim, I was able to protest his parole. Victims can protest in writing by sending a letter to the Bureau of Pardons & Paroles or in person by being physically present at the hearing. After a lot of careful consideration, I decided to do both. The whole experience was more painful than I expected. I’ve done so much work to move on with my life, but this process basically forces both the victims and their families to relive it all over again.
The letter was supposed to provide some context for how the crime has impacted my life. Deciding whether or not to write a letter was not a hard decision. Granted, the actual process of writing it was not fun. Deciding whether or not to attend the parole hearing was a much harder decision. I talked to a lot of people on the phone before the hearing, but I never felt like I had a very clear picture of what exactly was going to happen that day. As someone who likes to plan and know what to expect, this was really difficult. I hate to think how much mental energy went into this from my side. It was a lot.
I was also able to contact the state attorney general’s office to find out how many “disciplinaries” he has gotten while in prison (i.e., has he been a good inmate or not). It was several. This gave me a bit of hope. Surely if he hadn’t been on his best behavior, he wouldn’t be granted parole.
At the hearing two people from each “side” are allowed to speak for two minutes each. Basically you present your case of why the inmate should or should not be granted parole. I spoke on my own behalf and Richard also spoke on my behalf (more on that shortly). The inmates are not present at the hearing and the victims families are kept separate from the inmates families at all times. We didn’t know this ahead of time, but no one showed up to speak on behalf of the inmate in my case. It appears that the hearings go somewhat in the order of when you arrive the morning of, so if you ever find yourself in this scenario (and I pray that you don’t!), plan to get there early. I was one of the only “living” victims present … so yeah, most of the families were there to support their loved ones who were murdered. I can’t even imagine.
When it was my turn to speak, I was very matter of fact. I explained that there was no way I could summarize how this crime has impacted my life in two minutes. I referred them to the letter that I wrote, pleaded that they not release the inmate and begged that they would delay his next parole consideration for the full extent that the law will allow. When it was Richard’s turn to speak, he [unexpectedly] very emotional. He started with, “I didn’t know Sam when this happened to her” and then there was a very, very long pause. I was sitting there thinking, “Well … this is not going to be extremely helpful.” However, after he regained his composure he went on to give a very helpful and heartwarming speech. He told the parole board that I was supposed to be the one to cry, not him, which of course made everyone laugh.
Part of why I am writing this now is so that I can remember what to do next time. And yes, spoiler alert: parole was DENIED. Parole can denied for up to 5 years, so this process will repeat every 5 years until either parole is granted or his sentence is served in full. All of this happened shortly after Eliza Fletcher’s murder. She was on my mind constantly. I heard that the man that murdered her was out on parole (I didn’t fact check this). In my mind, I kept thinking, “this one’s for you Eliza.” I want to do my part to ensure that the man in my case is NEVER able to hurt another woman.
Now that we’ve got that stuff out of the way, let’s catch up on training! I’ve got a few races on the calendar, which makes me REALLY EXCITED. I’m planning to do a 10 mile race (this weekend!), a 5k next week (Turkey Trot!) and possibly two half marathons (either in early December and/or early January). At this point, I’d say that there is at least a 50% chance that any of these races will actually happen. Ha. Is it just me or does life seem completely unpredictable to anyone else at the moment?!
Hopefully a quick bird’s eye view summary will provide some context when I start updating my training logs weekly again …
Week of 09/04/22 – 66.5 miles
I did two workouts and a long run this week, which I would say is fairly standard.
One workout was 12 X 1 minute on/1 minute off, which is such a sneaky little workout! I averaged 5:25 pace for the minutes on.
The other workout was two sets of 8 X 400 w/ 200 recoveries, so basically just 16 X 400. Splits were 86, 84, 84, 84, 84, 84, 82, 84, 81, 83, 83, 83, 84, 83, 81, 80.
Week of 09/11/22– 39.0 miles
The only notable run this week was the 8 mile run at 4:30 a.m. to “finish Eliza’s run.”
I got a horrible stomach bug that weekend and was worthless for a few days.
Week of 09/18/22– 44.1 miles
There were no workouts or long runs this week, but I did do a 5k on Saturday. I got a sinus infection and an ear infection after recovering from the stomach bug, but ran the 5k anyway because … #stubbornness.
While I didn’t run the time I would’ve wanted to if I had been completely well, I am glad that I participated. My husband is a volunteer firefighter and the race supported his department.
My splits were 5:42, 5:49 and 6:05. Ugh. I typically race much smarter than this, but it was tricky as I really had no idea what to expect given the sicknesses. I was done with my antibiotics at this point and I actually felt good for the first mile and a half or so, but I ran out of steam after that.
Tasty teething trophy!
Week of 09/25/22– 63.7 miles
Things seemed to be back to somewhat of a status quo state this week and I got two workouts in.
One workout was 6 X 800 at threshold pace with 70 second recoveries. I did this workout on the road and averaged 5:52 for the 800s.
The other workout was within the long run and included a four mile warm up, a 2 X 3 mile tempo with a half mile recovery and a four mile cool down. Paces were 6:32, 6:33, 6:12 and 6:30, 6:27, 6:09.
Week of 10/02/22– 63.4 miles
I did two workouts and a long run this week.
One workout was 6 miles of tempo effort alternating between 6:10 and 6:50 every half mile. Paces averaged out to 6:41, 6:23, 6:28, 6:36, 6:27, 6:38. I really enjoy any workout that has varying paces throughout!
The other workout was 10 X 200 (ish). I say “ish” because I did this one on the road instead of at the track.
I did 14 miles on Sunday with the last two being a “victory lap” for Victor, a beloved member of our local running community who we lost incredibly too soon.
Week of 10/09/22– 59.1 miles
I got two workouts in this week.
One was a fun little 5-4-3-2-1 [minutes] fartlek with 2 to 3 minutes of recovery in between the harder efforts.
The other workout was within the long run and included a three mile warm up, a 3 X 1.5 mile tempo with half mile recoveries and a three mile cool down. Paces were 6:10, 6:06 and 6:03.
Week of 10/16/22 – 60.5 miles
I did two workouts and a long run this week. As I am recapping this, I am realizing that my training has been much more consistent than the rest of my life has been and I’m not quite sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing …
One workout was 10 X 1 minute on/1 minute off. How do the minutes on take twice as long as the minutes off?! Ha. I averaged 5:35 pace for the minutes on.
The other workout was 8 X 800 w/ 200 recoveries. Splits were 3:01, 3:02, 3:02, 2:59, 2:55, 2:54, 2:54 and 2:49. I also had the best cheer squad ever at the track! All of the grandparents were incredibly generous and helpful while Richard was gone. I truly couldn’t have done most of this without them!
Cheer crew!
Week of 10/23/22 – 63.1 miles
I got two workouts in this week.
One was a ladder fartlek of 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1 [minutes] with 2 minutes of recovery in between the harder efforts.
The other workout was within the long run and included a three mile warm up, a 3 X 2 miles at half marathon effort with a half mile recoveries and a three mile cool down. Paces were 6:15, 6:14, 6:28, 6:33, 6:11 and 6:10. I was on some gentle rollers for this run and the splits are a very accurate portrayal of the terrain.
Week of 10/30/22 – 62.5 miles
I got two workouts in this week.
One was 6 miles at marathon effort. I had to run on the treadmill and am estimating my average pace to about 6:30-6:35. Average pace per my watch with the foot pod was 6:19, but that tends to be slightly aggressive.
The other workout was within the long run and included a four mile warm up, 4 X 2k with 400 meter recoveries and a three mile cool down.
Week of 11/06/22 – 66.6 miles
I got two workouts and a long run in this week.
One was a fartlek workout of 4 X [2:00, 1:00, 0:30].
The other workout was one of my favorites in recent memory! It was a track workout with 4 X “broken” miles followed by 4 X 200. The broken miles were run with the first 800 at 5k pace, 400 at marathon pace and the last 400 at 3k pace. The mile splits ended up being 6:01, 5:51, 5:45, 5:46! It’s wild to be able to run these splits with one of the laps at what feels like a fairly easy effort. My 200s were also really strong at 37, 37, 37, 36. These were my standard pre-pregnancy 200 splits, so I was ECSTATIC to be seeing those again!
Week of 11/13/22 – 53.3 miles
This week was a bit of a cutback week with one workout and no long run. The week was structured this way because 1) it had been a little while since I’ve had a cutback week and 2) we were traveling over the weekend.
The workout that I did have was a doozy! It was a two mile warm up, a three mile tempo with a half mile recovery, a two mile tempo with a half mile recovery, a one mile tempo and a two mile cool down. On the tempo portion, I averaged 6:14 for the three miles, 6:08 for the two miles and 5:58 for the one mile. The goal was to drop the pace down a little bit each set. Done and done!
Okay friends, we are officially caught up on the training front! Perhaps this will be the week where I get back on track with my weekly training logs and hopefully some race recaps too. Ward will be 9 months next week (how?!) and I really want to write a post about these first 9 months of postpartum training. It’s been a wild ride, but the human body can do some amazing things.
I ran much later in the day than I typically do. My legs felt very heavy!
It rained pretty much the entire run, but I was just happy to be out there regardless of the conditions. Every now and then, a good rainy run kinda feels soul cleansing.
Wednesday –10.0 mile run (7:20 pace)
Temperature: 80℉
Humidity: Indoors
Listened to: Music!
Wednesday’s workout was written as a two and a half mile warm up, 2 X 2 miles at half marathon pace with 4 minutes recovery between sets and a three mile cool down.
The goal pace for the first set was 6:20 and then if I felt good, the plan for the second set was to drop it down to 6:10.
We have had so. much. rain. It’s slightly ridiculous! Thursday morning was a treadmill run after dropping Ward off at school.
I really enjoyed this podcast episode. There were several things that Jonathan said that really resonated with me (so much so that I almost want to go back and listen again just to tell you what they were).
He talked about the elite athlete mindset.
He talked about how the option in most circumstances is to either give up or keep going.
Friday –8.25 mile run (8:10 pace)w/ 6 X 30 second strides (5:12 pace)
I ran at the mall Friday morning after dropping Ward off at school. I haven’t run at the mall since school started back in our area. I wanted to test it out and see what the traffic situation was like. It wasn’t horrible, but it also wasn’t great. It was better than running back and forth on a half mile stretch of the road we live on though!
I did a few strides in preparation for Saturday’s workout.
Saturday’s track session was written as a two mile warm up, 5 X 1k with 400 recoveries and a two mile cool down. The goal was to run the 1k repeats at close to 5k pace.
My splits were 3:34, 3:29, 3:31, 3:31 and 3:29. That ranges from 5:35 to 5:45 pace, which is a 17:25 to a 17:40 5k. I’ve got a 5k coming up in a few weeks, so I’m interested to see how well this workout translates over. I’d be thrilled if I ran somewhere in that range!
Sunday –13.0 mile run (8:45 pace)
Temperature: 73℉
Humidity: 95%
Got in another Sunday long run with Rebecca! I met her at her house this week.
Weekly Total – 61.80 miles (8:00 pace)
Thanks for following along! Talk to you guys soon.
I ran later in the afternoon on Tuesday and given how hot it was, I decided to run on the treadmill.
The podcast helped to pass the time, but easy runs on the treadmill are not my favorite.
Wednesday –9.0 mile run (7:20 pace)
Temperature: 76℉
Humidity: Indoors
Listened to: Music!
I ran on the treadmill again, but this time because it poured rain all day long!
Wednesday was a lactate threshold workout. The workout was written as a two and a half mile warm up, 5 X 1200 meters at threshold pace (goal pace was 6:10) with 70 second jogging rest and a two mile cool down.
The idea was for the interval itself to be short enough that you are done before the lactic acid builds up too much and then the quick rest gets you going again before you are fully recovered.
My paces were 6:09, 6:07, 6:00, 5:54, 5:48. I was wearing my footpod, so the paces are probably slightly inflated. Based on effort, I’d say that they are fairly close to actual. I ran 0.1 mph faster on each interval.
The time seemed to pass by much more quickly on the workout day than it did on the easy run day!
I got sprinkled on briefly, which was fine. No complaints here. Thankfully I still had Rebecca’s visor that I rescued from the middle of the road in my car. I washed it for her afterwards!
Saturday –9.0 mile run (7:10 pace)
Temperature: 85℉
Humidity: 81%
I got lucky with some overcast skies and a slight breeze!
Saturday’s track session was written as a two mile warm up, 8 X 400 at 5k pace with a 200 recovery, 8 X 200 at 1 mile pace with a 200 recovery and a two mile cool down.
My goal 5k is currently somewhere between 17:30-17:45, which is close to 5:40 pace. The idea was to run the 400s at slightly faster than this pace (83-85 seconds per lap). My goal one mile time is somewhere around 5:15. The idea was to run the 200s as close to this as possible (39 ish seconds per 200).
My actual splits for the 400s were 83, 84, 83, 80, 82, 81, 81, 81. My actual splits for the 200s were 36, 38, 39, 39, 39, 38, 39, 37.
The last couple 400s were definitely tough. I got a little carried away after the first few repeats and paid for it slightly on the last few. I always feel like I can gut out some quick 200s at the end of a workout. It wasn’t the most pleasant thing in the world, but I got the work done!
Sunday –13.1 mile run (8:50 pace)
Temperature: 74℉
Humidity: 97%
Got in another Sunday long run with Rebecca! She met me at the mall this week.
Weekly Total – 62.3 miles (8:00 pace)
Thanks for following along! Talk to you guys soon.
