Sound Advice from a Legend

I feel like anyone running marathon within a month of Chicago has taken pause to come up with a contingency plan if the weather doesn't cooperate on our big day. It's smart to do regardless of seeing it actually happen to thousands of people (including the elites) in one of the largest marathon races in the world! Frank Shorter wrote a great little Op-Ed piece that pretty much summarizes a lot my thoughts and discussions with my running buddies since the weekend. I recommend checking it out!

Exciting!

I have a new freckle! I just discovered it while brushing my teeth in the bathroom at work! How exciting! I thought it was a coffee splash near my necklace, but it won't come off! It's a new freckle!

Record Setting

So as the temperature rose on Saturday, October 6, 2007, so did my half marathon time. i attempted Grete's Great Gallop in Central Park on a 90% humidity day, and I fell apart. I started too fast for the 3rd long distance race in 3 weeks on a morning when the temperature and humidity were record setting for the NYC region. Before the first loop was over I was contemplating not finishing. Then I caught up with my teammate, Caroline, and she helped coax me into running and then walking through the water stations from mile 5 through mile 10. And then I walked until just before mile 12. I did manage to run the last ~1.5 miles at a 9 minute pace and I finished at 2:10 something. I got all choked up as I passed my Hellgate team and Eamonn cheering me on to the finish. Suzanne, my dear friend and team captain, ran me in the last 0.1 miles shouting words of encouragement. I was so embarassed and that was so silly! I know what I have accomplished, and I know what I am capable of, and I know it's ok to have a bad day.

Caroline and I warming up pre-race.

I think I needed to break that 2 hour barrier. As Eamonn said, it's better to have a bad race now than at the marathon. I needed to feel the way I felt on Saturday so I realize the importance of going out at the right pace and possibly adjusting that target pace on race day because of the weather. And it's not the end of the world to still finish a 13.1 mile race at a 10 minute/mile pace. I think as you train for a marathon you think that 13 miles isn't very long when you are constantly facing 15, 16, 18 and 20 miles. However, 13 is a long run. It's nothing to sneeze at. Especially when you do a great paced 18 mile race the week prior!

It's not possible to have a great race every time; you can't PR every race. And this has given me a goal of returning to Grete's Gallop next year and conquering it! I PR'd on the exact same course during the More Half last March. I know I can own that race and that distance. It's too close to the marathon to get down about it. I have to focus on feeling good at doing the 18 miles, nursing my ITB, and keeping healthy for the next 2 weeks and 5 days. Que sera, sera.

Finally Friday!

I'm so happy to have made it through this week! I thought my head was going to explode with rage on Tuesday afternoon and for pretty much all of Wednesday. I've managed to bring it down to a simmer and I don't feel quite as sensitive to an imminent eruption. Work has been incredibly depressing and frustrating over the last month. So frustrating that I actually had the urge to get out of my chair in my drab Cube and go for a intense, fast run with the intention of tiring myself out so as to not have the energy to be stressed out. I was so pent up, I wanted to run!

I couldn't believe it! I wanted to run! I haven't felt that way since pretty much the marathon last year! It felt good to want to and not have to for a change. Unfortunately I couldn't leave The Cube, and I had to return to my exploding universe of dunderheads.

Ahh well, I have managed to survive until Friday. I have decided that since I completed all of my tasks well and kept my poise and played nice despite sitting with matches on a gunpowder keg, I am going to walk out of The Cube for lunch and not return until Monday. I rarely feel a sense of satisfaction at work, but when I get on that elevator in about 10 minutes, I'm going to feel incredibly satisfied.

(San Fran Sept. 07, visiting Eamonn's brother)