Day 33 of 365
Day 33. Me and my friend Sun having dinner at Kome with the other mothers in our kids’ class.
Day 31 of 365
Day 31. This is the car that rear ended me on my drive home from work today. I am fine. The person who hit me is fine (despite air bags deploying etc). My car is bruised, but driveable. So, all in all, not a disaster. But maaaaan, I could have done without this happening!
January Running Update
I ran 83 miles in January!
I have been thinking about my running goals for 2012, and came to the conclusion that I’d like to target to run 10% more mileage in 2012 than I did in 2011. My 2011 mileage came in at 815 miles, so 10% increase would be 896.5 miles, which rounds up nicely to 900 miles.
If I’m going to run 900 miles this year, my average monthly mileage target is 75 miles, so I’m just ahead at the moment. But of course, right now I am neck deep in marathon training and doing a lot of higher mileage long runs. The marathon is next month and I anticipate that I’ll want to slack off a bit after that. Then it’s gonna get hot. So…I don’t think this is an “easy” goal, but it should be manageable provided I stick with it.
3M Race Report
I was feeling very uneasy going into the 3M half marathon. I was on day 8 of a 10 day course of antibiotics, had been down with a nasty stomach flu the weekend before the event and endured a rough evening at the Dell Children’s ER with Suzanna and her split lip on Friday night. I felt over-stressed, under-prepared and generally not in the right head space.
And yet, the 3M race ended up being great for me.
The weather was perfect – cold, clear and sunny, with little or no wind. The course was kind – mostly downhill or flattish, with just a few hills here and there (it is Austin after all). My Galloway beeper and Garmin both behaved themselves properly. My race outfit was comfortably and, if I may say so myself, cute too.
My friend Catherine picked me up at my house a little after 5.45am and took me to the Embassy Suites up near the starting line. I was able to stay warm inside the hotel lobby and use a real bathroom before lining up at the start. I met up with Nora and Laura at the hotel and we all lined up together at around 6.30am and shuffled slowly towards the start.
The race started on time at 6.45am, and we moved forward with the crowd, crossing the starting mat around 6minutes after the starter’s gun went off. I hit my Garmin as I crossed the start, and wheee! we were off at last!
I stayed with Nora and Laura for the first 2 miles, running continuously, but opted to follow my Galloway based race plan when we hit the 2nd mile marker. I started my Galloway beeper, which was set to 3:1 ratio (3mins run, 1 min walk) and prepared to go it alone. But in a race like 3M, you are never really alone. There’s always something or someone to look at.
For example, I played my own game of “cat and mouse” with 3 girls wearing Minnie Mouse baseball caps (who I named Eeny, Meeny and Miney – Mo was nowhere to be seen) for the next few miles, where they would pass me each time I took a walk break, and then I would pass them when I started running again. That kept me amused for a while.
It was hard to make myself walk at the beginning. I felt good and fresh and I wanted to run, but I tried to throw that energy into making my running segments a bit faster, and it paid off. I was easily averaging under my goal pace of 10:40/mile, and with each mile that passed, I felt more and more confident that I could keep it going.
By the time I reached the stretch on Great Northern, I was nicely warmed up, running a decent pace and generally enjoying life. I had my first CliffBlok and finished off my water. Then I saw Mark, Alexander and Suzanna who were cheering me on near the Far West pedestrian flyover. And then Katie appeared like a tiny red-headed angel and ran the next couple of miles with me. She took my gloves and my buff, since it had warmed up and I didn’t need them any more and chattered at me which was a pleasant distraction, and then she took my water bottles and ran ahead to refill them for me so I wouldn’t have to stop at an aid station myself! Talk about good service! And I was on my own again.
Except, not for long! Shortly after I left Katie, I slowed down and started a walk break when I noticed my friend Deb running past me. I ran through my walk break and into my next run stretch with her, but quickly decided that I needed to stick to my own plan, because I needed to run faster when I was running in order to be able to continue taking my walk breaks. I was still easily hitting/beating my 10:40/mile goal pace and I was extremely keen not to mess that up! So I said good bye to Deb.
After I left Deb, my entertainment came from eavesdropping on the people around me and watching the crowds go by. There were some really fun signs this year. Some of my favourites were “Worst. Parade. Ever.” and the couple who had signs that read “Don’t stop now! Keep on going!” next to a sign that said “That’s what she said.”! Heh.
As I headed in to Mile 11, I decided that I was feeling good enough that I would just run the last 2 miles outright, without walk breaks. I could see that I was on track to run a good time, and I wanted to see just how good I could make it. Skipping the first walk break was easy. Skipping the second was not so easy. Skipping the third was downright difficult. But I pressed on.
At some point, I fell into step with some random guy and we ran alongside each other for about a quarter of a mile before one of us spoke, and we exchanged some mutual encouragement. And suddenly, I had my own personal running coach. Each time I slowed slightly or fell out of step, my new coach would tell me to keep on going. So I did. I stopped looking around and concentrated on just keeping up, putting one foot in front of the other. My self-appointed coach must be a Rogue runner, because all the Rogue people near the finish line were cheering for him. It felt a bit like running with a celebrity! At one point I said “If you’ve got gas in the tank, then please go for it. I can take it from here.” but to no avail, he wasn’t leaving me. We were in it together. So I pushed on towards the finish and crossed the line feeling fast and strong and…..ready to stop. My new friend turned and gave me a fist bump and a high-five and I thanked him profusely for running me in, and then we went our separate ways.
I finished 3M in 2hrs 17min, which is an average pace of 10.30/mile. I ran my last mile in 10.02, which is fast for me. My overall time ended up being a PR by 7 minutes! I was thrilled. I’m still thrilled!
I picked up my medal, got some water and a banana and made my way over towards the Bob Bullock museum to meet up with Catherine and head for home.
Good race.
Day 29 of 365
Day 29. Half marathon victory!Ran the 3M half marathon in a PR time of 2:17:34. I am pleased.
Day 28 of 365
Day 28. Trip to the San Antonio Model Railway exhibition. Alexander and Suzanna are loving it. Model trains, lego trains and even a mini monorail!
Day 27 of 365
Day 27. Trip to the ER with Suzanna, who fell and bit right through her bottom lip with her top teeth. She got 2 stitches and she’s going to be fine. Poor Suze.