Weekend Review: Flying Pig Half Marathon

I woke up Sunday morning a little nervous about how my legs would feel after running the 10K and 5K the day before. Thankfully, they actually felt pretty good. I think I owe this to some awesome massages from HTB. I am a lucky girl.

We got a later start than we wanted to head downtown. Oops!

Unfortunately, this led to me not being able to meet up with Mary, who I ran the 5 and 10 Ks with the day before. It was stressful trying to get to the start and now knowing if we would be able to meet up. Thankfully, we both had good races so at least it worked out.

I was able to find Maureen at the start and we ran almost the entire race together.

We started out fast. Too fast, I thought. I kept telling her I was going to hold back, but she could go ahead. We'd slow down for a short time, then she would be back to her speedy ways.

I was very  nervous for the big hill(s). Miles 7-9 are basically a continuous hill, a lot of it is fairly steep. My plan was to hold back to make it over the hill, then take advantage of the downhill and rolling hills to try to make up time.

Apparently Maureen's plan was to run FAST (at least for me) the whole time!

At mile 11.5 I knew I had a chance to PR.

So I just went for it. I knew I just had to keep it steady.

I kept looking at my watch (I'm surprised this didn't cause me to trip) which I rarely do.

I was running in the 7's and trying not to speed up, just stay steady.

I knew my previous PR was in the 1:53s, but wasn't sure of the seconds.

The last half mile hurt, but all I could think was that I couldn't miss out on the PR now, I had come too far.

Post half marathon, pre Original Pancake House!

My watch said 1:50:50 when I crossed the finish line!

NO

FN

DIVISION

OVERALL

DIVPL

SEXPL

6.8MI

RATE

RANK

TIME

PACE

47055

Bethany

F 30-34

1130

60/1161

309/6948

59:28

8:42

1293

1:50:49

8:28

I hadn't run a half marathon since 2010 (Stomp The Grapes) and my previous PR was at the Pig in 2009 (1:53:51). Now it's time to break 1:50 - maybe on a flatter course!

Not sure why my head looks super ginormous...

Turns out it was a 3:02 PR! Woohoo!

It was a fun weekend of running. I really enjoyed the 3-Way Challenge and look forward to more similar races in the future!

 

Maureen and I post race

This poor woman put up with me yelling at her to slow down for 7 miles, then watched me take off to a PR. God bless her! She's also the woman responsible for setting me up with HTB!

 Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Now, how the heck am I going to run FASTER than that for TWICE as far?

To the track I go...

Race Week & Wedding Month!

Tuesday: 3.5 mile run outside, weights
Wednesday a.m.: 3 mile treadmill run

After work Kelly and I enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and 80 degree weather on a 3.5 mile run outside. Since this is race week, we tried not to overdo it, but I insisted on attempting to finish like it was a race, so my last half mile was faster than the rest.

Of course "faster" is all relative...

I couldn't believe how hot it was!

My face was bright red for a looooong time afterwards.

I broke a cardinal rule of marathon running and wore new shoes to work yesterday.

Somehow it looks like I have 2 left feet. Awkward.

 After HTB got home from work and devoured my lovely dinner of pork chops, green beans and mushroom risotto, we headed to the gym for some weight training.

Our weight routine has been good, but not stellar lately, so I am very glad we went.

The Flying Pig marathon events are this weekend. Yikes!

I better figure out my game plan.

I will be doing 3 races in 2 days and covering 22 miles!

I hope my legs are ready.

This morning I did an easy 3 miles on the treadmill. There is a fine line between resting my legs and keeping them loose. I might be wearing compression socks to work the rest of the week!

It's finally May - our wedding month! Woohoo!

Tempus fugit!

(It's the only Latin I remember from Jr. High - "time flies")

Three Way Time!

Tuesday p.m.: 3.5 mile treadmill run; weights

The plan was to run outside.

Then this happened.

Yep, I wussed out because of rain.

Mostly because I had a long drive home and was still planning to lift weights too. Running in the rain isn't so bad if you can get warm and dry and cozy for the rest of the night.

So I hit the treadmill for a quick 3.5 miles.

My friend Kelly was on the tread next to me, so we still got to talk and help the time go by.

Lifting felt very hard last night. Maybe because I haven't lifted since last Thursday? Luckily it was a fairly short lifting session.

 

So, it's not quite official yet because I haven't registered yet, but my plan is to do the 3-Way for the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon. I do plan on registering this week though!

What is a 3-way?

Via

Made Cincinnati-famous by Skyline Chili of course!

This is the 15th year for the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon, so they added on a few special challenges.

The 3-Way is completing the 5K and 10K on Saturday then completing the half marathon on Sunday. Sound fun, right?!

I feel this is exactly what I was looking for.

I didn't want to commit to a full marathon so that I can enjoy getting married and all the craziness that goes along with it, but one half marathon just wasn't enough for me either.

If I wasn't getting married I would be all about the 4-Way: 5K, 10K and full marathon!

I think this challenge was created just for me!

Spring Marathon Announcement

Tuesday p.m. workout: weights

We hit the gym last night for another weight workout and boy are my arms sore today!

Thank you, ActivTrax!

If you print out your workout, this is what they look like. Most of the time I just enter my on my phone to save the paper. #reducereuserecycle

You can go back and look at it online or on your phone though too, which is how I snagged this nifty jpeg to post!

So, on my run last weekend I think I came up with my spring marathon plan.

The plan:

Don't run a marathon.

At least not a full one.

In order to not stress and enjoy this happy time in  my life I am only going to run a half marathon (or possibly 2).

I will still run some high mileage (can't leave Maureen alone on her quest to train for Boston!), but at least I wont' have the pressure of HAVING to get a few 20 milers in. If I miss a long run, no big deal!

So, that's it. The spring no marathon plan.