Watertown, NY- Saturday afternoon I picked up my race packet before driving the course backwards back to my hotel. I noticed there would be no shade, a hill around mile 11 and 2, a few turns, mostly flat with some very gradual downhills. I found my typical pre-race shrimp and pasta dinner at the Olive Garden across from the hotel and got into bed early. The next morning I had some trouble getting up and ate my breakfast later than normal before racing. This didn't feel so good during my warm up! The temperature was great, 60 degrees, however the humidity was close to 100%. As the race started I really didn't feel like "racing" and wasn't sure if I was just going to try to get the win or what.
Mile 2 was slow and I wasn't sure this was going to be my day. The course got pretty empty and I could only see 2 guys ahead from miles 3-9. Around mile 6, I started to race a little more. I eventually caught the one guy just after mile 9 and the other guy around mile 11. I knew during this second half I was feeling good and could go after a PR. The last few miles I worked hard and kept the same average pace I had been running for the entire race, although the last couple miles were a little tricky. The race has an 18 mile option and a lot of that race adds on at the end of the half course, so there were multiple turns where the half went one way and the 18 miler went another. As it was starting to get close to the finish, I knew I would be close to breaking 1:18, a barrier that I had my eyes set on. I started thinking why I had to go for it. Achieving a 1:17 half is something NO ONE could take away from me. I didn't really care to run another 1:18, I already knew I could do that. I had been dealing with an unexpected event recently and it made me realize that people can come in and out of your life whenever they want. I wanted something solid. Something that was mine that no one could take away. That 1:17 was mine. And that's when I started to pick it up until I crossed the finish line in 1:17:46. I did it, I ran a 1:17 and will always have that to my name, it can't leave me, it's stuck with me (until I PR again)! I got the win for the day, second place overall, set a course record and ran a 42 second PR.
I got in 69 miles for that week (a little low because the 2 days before the race), but had a solid workout earlier that Wednesday and XC run Monday (where I apparently set a course record for the race that included the water crossing). I drove back home and then had a couple days of easy running to recover.
The next week we took fairly easy around 70 again to recover. At the end of the week I got in 24 miles (on a Friday at 5:00 a.m.) and was so surprised, but absolutely thrilled to have so much company!!! Hannah, Matt, Jaime, Bryan and Rich all joined for the run, it was great. What wasn't great was finishing the run, going home to shower, grab my bags, make a quick smoothie and head to the airport all within 30 minutes! I flew out to California that morning for a wedding and actually felt pretty good during and after the flight. The next morning was a super short run since we had to meet to get ready at 6:30 a.m. and had the rehearsal dinner the night before, I was exhausted! The wedding was a ton of fun and I felt good during a 10 mile run the next morning along the ocean. Sunday evening I flew up to San Francisco and was scheduled to bump back into the 90's that coming week. I had a workout Monday which was kind of hard to do, not only because I wasn't in a familiar place, but between the hills, traffic and people it wasn't ideal. I still managed to get some good miles under my belt during the workout for a total of 15 that day. Tuesday I doubled and Wednesday I flew home. I did 10 miles around SUNY in the dark late Wednesday night, but it was okay because I was finally on California time. :)
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| Dinner in Sonoma, so good! |
Thursday I had an awesome workout and felt great. Friday, I ran with a friend and then did some foot and bounding exercises after with him. Saturday I had a 22 miler with progression at the end. During my progression, my right knee started to bother me, then it was sharp pain. I managed to finish the 22 miles where I needed to get pace wise, but it hurt. Sunday, I was hoping that knee pain would be a feeling of the past, however, it wasn't I felt it again. I took Monday off and tried again Tuesday, at mile 5 there is was. I tried Wednesday, same thing. I clearly freaked out on Sunday and had already been on the phone with my friend Craig who is a PT in Colorado that took care of my runner's knee the last time this happened almost 2 years ago. I had a massage scheduled and PT here in Albany. I decided to aquajog on Thursday, rest Friday and try again on Saturday. This time I stopped before it got bad. So here I am less than 3 weeks out from Hartford and I am in the absolute best shape of my life with a stupid knee issue that came out of nowhere. I have felt so great this entire cycle without any issues, other than my foot. Was it bringing my mileage back up into the 90's when I was out in California, was it getting on the plane after a long run, was it all the walking around in San Fran, was I running funny because my foot (bunion) hurt from the walking, was it the stupid bounding exercises I did, or a combination of everything? Does it matter, no. I need to get healthy NOW. I know I am in sub 2:43 shape and as long as I get to that start line 100% healthy I will do it. Nothing now really matters as far as workouts, so I am to rest. I will not run tomorrow, but meet Emily in the pool to aquajog (thank you, Emily!), nor will I run Tuesday. Wednesday will most likely be a test run.
Fingers crossed.
"When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal, you do not change your decision to get there."
