Post Boston!

Wow, I thought for sure I'd be able to consistently post on here, and I was wrong.

A recap:

- Boston = hard. Don't think I'd recommend it as a second marathon -- you should get a couple under your belt first.
- PR'ing at Boston = very hard. I scraped a minute off, barely. My friend Heather brought hers down by six minutes, which is incredible.
- Wear sunscreen and sunglasses even if the weather seems inappropriate for such. It might change.
- Wear a sports bra and shorts. Deal with being cold. Before mile 10, you'll be warm. If it's still too cold, you should have picked a different race.

I ran a 3:32:01, which re-qualifies me for Boston in 2009, so I could run no more marathons this year if I so desired. Or totally bomb the one I'm planning for in the fall. (Hey, Miranda, I think it's the same as you. Party in the hizzy.) Either way, it put me in the top third of the field ... a field of amazing runners. I should be happy, although I had hoped for better and am still a little disappointed. Hopefully some goal-reaching in some upcoming shorter races will even things out.

The women's olympic trials were incredible. I want that. Watching those awesome ladies made me reaffirm my desire to work my tush off to get there in 2012. Only 180 women qualified for the last go-round.

Awesome job on those who ran in Louisville today, and good luck to everyone going to Cincinnati next week!

More later. Really.

Two weeks of nail-biting

With only 12 days to go, I am essentially a nervous wreck. There's not much I can do at this point to ensure success, so I'm fretting over all the things that are left - what clothes I want to wear, for example.

Boston is not the most predictable of climates: in 2004 it was sunny and 86 degrees for the marathon, last year it was rainy and in the 30s. I'd be happy with anything not rainy and between 40-50. If it falls below 40 or above 50, I have to give more consideration to what I'm wearing during the race. I don't think I really have the right shorts for a hot-weather marathon, and I'm in a little bit of a panic because I'm not sure what I'll do if it gets hot. I'm going to just plan on wearing my capris and hope it's not hot. Upper body, who knows. Gloves, probably, if it's under 60.

I am ready to get this over with.

PJ 10 Miler race report

This is the first race I've really done since Memphis, and it was nice being in a race atmosphere again. We did PJ as a training run, my last 20, with 5 miles before and 5 after. Our plan was to run 7:40 pace, my goal marathon pace for Boston (three weeks!), for the 10 miler. No dice. Rolled through just under 7:20s the whole way, with a sub-7 final mile and a few close to 7. Awesome run considering Iroquois hills and the fact I was never running hard. I talked the whole time, probably much to my training partner's dismay.

PJ was good again this year, well-staffed and friendly. I still dislike the finish -- too much time running on the squishy grass. It did give me an opportunity to catch a girl who had passed us in Iroquois. My competitive streak makes it hard to do a race as a training run -- we did the same thing during our first 20 miler in the summer. I went into a 5k thinking of running slow and easy, just a smidge faster than usual long run pace ... so maybe 8 minute miles. I did a 23-minute 5k, somewhere in the 7s. Oops.

Definitely felt good today. Had a weird ankle thing going on late last week/early this week, but it appears to be all gone. I'm heading into happy taper time!

It's funny to remember at this time last year I hadn't even run a 10k.

Lessoned learned

Do not help your friend move her entire second floor apartment across town to a third floor apartment, in a four hour move-stravaganza, then go for a long run. Bad idea. I could tell early on I was tired -- who knows how many stairs I climbed, plus I didn't get lunch -- but was alright until around mile 15. It was those last three that weren't much fun.

And talk about not fun -- should have seen me on Monday. My arms (where I have recurring bouts of tendonitis in my wrists and arms from typing) were amazingly sore, so much so I couldn't hold a pen. My back hurt, my neck hurt, my legs hurt. I hobbled around like an 80-year-old woman all day.

So Monday became the logical off day, especially since my work schedule shifted a little this week. Tuesday I banged out 10x400 with 400 recoveries, all of which I ran faster than I thought I would, averaging 1:31 for the efforts.

I have two more 20 milers left, one this weekend and one March 29, as part of Papa John's 10 miler. Just under six weeks to go until Boston!

Weather!

My goodness, what a crazy week. Monday it was bright and sunny, a seemingly blistering 70 degrees. Tuesday it decides to be freezing again, and windy. (Plus we did 9x800 with 200 recoveries. Ouch.) Wednesday, pretty nice weather. Friday, blizzard. Saturday, blizzard. Sunday, warm and sunny.

Pretty good week for me, although feeling a little tired after hitting 60 miles last week. Got to 46 this week, hope to be back around 50 the rest of March.

I'm pretty excited about Papa John's coming up, we're planning it as a 20 mile run. Five mile warm up, 10 miles at marathon pace, five mile cool down.

OH! Think I am doing an ultra in June, in Indiana.

Too tired for more!

I <3 Mizuno

I got my apparel shipment last week, which took the better part of the day to go through - since, obviously, I needed to try on every piece. Shorts, capris, sleeveless tanks, shimmels, t-shirts ... And it all matches!

My stepdaughter started track this week, too, which I'm very excited about. She's never been on a sports team, so I commend her for picking up a sport as a high school freshman. Even if she doesn't like track, I hope it encourages her to try other things.

I am deep, deep in training right now -- probably doing a little too much. I haven't taken a day off in 11 days, but I think it's time for one. I was feeling okay until Monday, when my legs were just kind of sluggish. They weren't any better at speed session last night, which was discouraging. So probably an easy run today and Friday, with Thursday off.

Pretty hard run coming up, as my training group tackles the Iroquois "Hard 10" loop on Saturday and follows it up with an 18 miler on Sunday.