Tag Archives: training

Philly Love Run Recap 2016

14 Apr

Philly Love Recap

I do NOT recommend not running for weeks and weeks and then stepping up to the starting line of a half marathon.

While I don’t recommend it, that’s exactly what I did.

I signed up for the race (to be my third running of it) back in December, not only because I enjoy the race and have been doing it since it’s first year, but also as inspiration to get out and run more regularly. I’d fallen into a funk and I knew that running would help me out of it, I just needed to get out there.

Well, that funk was bigger than I thought because I only ended up running the first handful workouts from my training program. 32 of 400 training miles, that’s it! I just didn’t want to, that was it. Sure I made up excises about time but they were only half truths.

As race time grew closer I knew that there was no way I’d be running my usual speed so I decided that I’d run with Bill. He’s a couple minutes slower per mile than me so surely I could keep pace with him for 13 miles. I actually was excited at the prospect of running together with him and not worrying about that ever important PR. I’m enough of a realist to know that you don’t PR a half marathon without training and if I couldn’t PR I’d just have fun with it.

Philly Love Recap

I smiled as I ran through the streets of Philadelphia, taking in the sights around me and letting my mind wander to other things. I sang along with my music. I chatted with Bill. Things were going great.

Until they weren’t.

Around mile nine my body started to give out. By mile ten I was sunk. I stopped to walk and it didn’t take long before Bill noticed I wasn’t right behind him and he came back to push me along. There I was, sobbing in pain, “running” down MLK Jr. Drive. I’m sure the cops we passed were wondering if they needed to intervene.

The next three miles were spent in agony, some of the worst pain I’ve had in my life and I’ve seen some pain. I walked, I ran, I cried, I walked some more. My right hip and knee were on fire. I think at one point my IT band tried to escape my body entirely. I altered my stride. I tried to favor the left but I was questioning if I would finish. In fact, had it not been for Bill I probably wouldn’t have finished at all.

Finally, mile thirteen, only a tenth of a mile to go. I blasted my music so I couldn’t hear anything else and turned on the afterburners. I hauled ass up that last hill and across the finish line. Looking back it probably wasn’t nice to leave Bill in my dust after he had helped me make it through, but the competitor in me had to finish strong. I was going to be hurting anyway so go big or go home, right?

Philly Love Recap

See the pain and elation all over my face.

The stats:

My official time: 2 hours 32 minutes 52 seconds (11:40 pace). That’s something like 50 minutes slower than last year’s time but I’m only a little disappointed. When I take my lack of training into account I’m actually quite proud I finished at all.

How do I feel?

For the Thursday after the race, pretty damn good. I was a stiff the last few days and pretty sore but now just the injuries are bothering me. Yep, the injuries. It’s not like I thought I’d escape not training for 13.1 miles without a scratch.

My right IT band is not feeling to great and because of the issues I had with my right side, I was a little too hard on my left and now my left foot/ankle is bothering me. I’m not worried about the IT band, I’ll get that back to normal before long but after all I went through with my right ankle, I’m a little concerned about this pain on the left. For now I will rest, ice, elevate and use the electro-stim machine.

So there you have it. Do NOT attempt a half marathon without doing some training first.

Philly Love Recap

Always earned, never given!

I run for the bling!

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For The Love Of Running

10 Jan

Mommyland

At the end of 2013 I let running take a back burner. Bill was traveling a lot, the holidays were coming and I was finding it hard to fit in the hour plus needed to hit the road.

I missed it. I missed the feeling of gliding over the pavement. I missed the mind freeing, stress reliving feeling that running gives me. I just missed going out and running.

The New Year is always a good opportunity to get things back on track so I seized that opportunity and have slowly started to get back out there.

On October 31st I ran 7.1 miles with ease, and on January 2nd 4.2 was a challenge. It’s amazing how quickly you can fall out of shape. Two months isn’t really that long, there are people who suffer injuries who are out longer than that. That’s OK though, I’m four runs into the year and I’m already feeling stronger.

Mommyland

So what’s the plan for 2014?

As I was messing around with my Nike+ app I noticed that there is now a Coach section where you can have the app coach you for anything from a 5K to a marathon. I thought that this year would be a great year to try a half marathon. I ran The Broad Street Run last year, and hope to run it again this year, so what’s another 3.1 miles?

I’m fortunate enough to live in an area with lots of half marathon options.

My first goal is to complete the 12 week half marathon training program on my Nike+ app. After that I would like to actually run a half marathon, I’ve had my eyes on the Love Run here in Philadelphia. That’s at the end of March so I’ll have a little downtime before The Broad Street ten miler in May.

That’s about it, three little running goals for 2014. I want to stay healthy and just get out and run for the pure love of running.

Are you a runner? Do you want to be?

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