Boston Marathon Recap

It took me five months to train for Boston, three and a half hours to run it, and now two months to blog about it. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, after all.

What is there to say about April 18^th, the 120^th Boston Marathon? Or better put, what isn’t there to say? The 24 hours surrounding the Boston Marathon were, hands down, the best day of my life. Everything about my experience running Boston was amazing, but it wasn’t just the race itself. Let’s start a little further back…

In October of 2015 I was accepted both to run the Boston Marathon and to fundraise on the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team to raise money for cancer research. Having already run one successful marathon, I knew what the training entailed and was confident in my ability to pump out the miles and gain strength. I was much more daunted by the prospect of raising $10,000. My parents flat-out said it couldn’t be done. But this was a truly important cause to me and I vowed to both run and fundraise as best I could.

The Dana-Farber team is an incredible network of passionate and driven people, committed to eradicating cancer. Their stories, reasons and motivations for fundraising and running Boston are inspiring. The majority of them live and train in Boston, and because I was in Connecticut, I was not able to connect with many of them. And so I trained out there on my own, and raised thousands of dollars—thanks to many of you. I did want to feel like a part of this team, however, so my parents and I attended the DFMC pasta dinner the night (or really afternoon, dinner started at 4 pm) before the race.

As I’ve said and written many times before, I have my own reasons for fundraising for Dana-Farber and felt strongly about making my first Boston Marathon about more than just myself. I thought that my movitation would be enough to get my from Hopkinton to Boylston Street. While I enjoyed my plate full of different kinds of pastas, I soon came to realize how much more of an impact Dana-Farber would have on me. Like me, there were many first time runners and fundraisers, about to toe the line and unsure of exactly how the race would unfold. And there were also runners who had volunteered five, ten or more years of their lives to putting an end to cancer. Their countless miles logged and hundreds of thousands of dollars raised set a fire within me. Naturally each of these runners had started because of a personal incentive, but throughout the years they realized that they were fighting a bigger fight. Even though I did not yet know any of these teammembers personally, I wanted to follow in their footsteps and continue fundraising and doing my part as well to help find a cure for cancer. Many of my teammates had also paired with a patient partner, a child being treated by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. During the dinner, the patient partner teams of runner and child came onto the stage for recognition and the kids each received a marathon finisher’s medal. For me, this was the most moving part of the whole event. Up on that stage could have easily been my brother, had he not been lucky enough to be cured. Up on that stage could easily have been my little cousin, who is being treated by DFCI right now for a severe cancer. Up on that stage could have been any number of friends and family members. I was so thankful that David is healthy, and in that moment I was heartbroken for all of these patients, as well as inspired. I would run for them! They would all be waiting at mile 25, and this is what would get me through the hills and hard moment of the race.

Heading into the pasta dinner, I did not have many goals; I wanted to raise $10,000 (which I did!), and I wanted to have a great race. After the moving presentations from so many teammembers and people affected in so many ways by cancer, I readjusted. I needed to requalify for Boston. I needed to run for Dana-Farber again. I needed to continue to help in any way that I could to find a cure for cancer. In a matter of hours, my finishing goal went from sub-4 to sub-3:35. And given that my training had not gone nearly as well as I’d planned, and I hadn’t done a significant amount of strength or speed work, I was not sure that I could physically do it. But I did know that my motivation has burgeoned, and nothing was going to stop me.

Unsurprisingly, the Boston Marathon is impressively well organized. My mom dropped me off at the cool hour of 8 AM in Hopkinton, where I waited just a few minutes in line for a porta-potty, and then hopped on a bus to the athlete’s village. From there, I jogged to the DFMC center, where the incredible volunteers had set up food, drink, first aid and phone charging stations. We took team pictures and milled about. I wasn’t nervous. I was just ready. Looking around the room, I saw so many yellow bibs—signifying charity runners. My bib was blue—wave 3—and there were only a handful of us. Once again I realized just how important my requalification was; if Dana-Farber didn’t have to pay for me to enter the race, they could pay for an extra person to do so, and thus have a greater fundraising impact. Finally it was time to head to the starting line. I walked over with another DFMC runner, we wished each other good luck, and found our respective corrals. In corral 2, I found a Oiselle volée teammate, and we comforted each other as we got ready to start. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so excited or smiled so much at the start of a race before.

Before the race

The gun went off and I crossed the starting line. The race course drops into a downhill almost immediately, so I reminded myself to settle in and not go out too fast. Of course there were thousands of people around me so for the first few miles I did have to stay really relaxed. My goal was to hover around 7:50 ppm as long as I could and hope that the hills wouldn’t destroy me. Prior to the race I had done my research and knew that going out too hard on the downhill in the first half of the race would kill my legs, and given that I did not know what to expect from Heartbreak Hill, I needed to play the game conservatively. And that’s basically what I did! After the race, a number of friends who were tracking me would compliment me on how evenly I ran the whole marathon, especially since many people struggled in the heat. I believe that because of my pacing skills I was able to manage my energy really well and that allowed me to run the exact race I wanted.

There were too many funny, incredible and memorable moments during the race for me to write them all down here, but I’ll throw out a number of my favorites:

• The honest sign at mile 2 that said “you’re not almost there”
• Making awkward eye contact with a man holding up a sign that said “keep running if you think I’m sexy” even though he definitely wasn’t sexy
• The Mormon missionaries dressed in their uber-conservative clothes cheering
• The Wellesley scream tunnel that did not disappoint
• Seeing my parents at mile 13 and knowing that the race was really starting at that point
• Finally starting to hurt around mile 16, just before the Newton hills
• Finding another Oiselle volée teammate just as Heartbreak Hill started, yelling “let’s do this,” and charging up the hills together
• The red ice pop that someone handed to me on Comm Ave. It was not in my fuel plan but it was too hot to care
• Feeling my legs starting to hit the wall and deciding that I would not allow it
• Seeing so many of my friends cheering for me from mile 20 and onward. Knowing that I had people at almost each of the last 6 miles made the pain of the third hour of running a lot more bearable
• Trying not to tear up as I approached mile 25, where DFMC was stationed. These people were the reason I was running, and why I was pushing my body way harder than it was happy about. The cheers that erupted as they recognized my neon yellow singlet gave me the motivation I needed to finish strong and under my qualifying time so that I could keep running for them next year
• Running my fastest mile of the whole marathon at mile 26, so desperate to be done with the race at that point
• Crossing the finish line at Boylston, slowing to a stop and letting the tears finally flow.

Official Finish Time: 3:31:42, only 35 seconds off my marathon PR!

After!

Despite writing my longest blog post ever about the marathon, it’s still hard for me to accurately describe all of the feelings and thoughts I have about my first Boston Marathon. I was so lucky to have the incredible support—emotional, physical and financial—of so many loved ones and I’m happy and proud that I was able to accomplish exactly what I set out to do. The best news is that I get do to this all again next year. Maybe by then I’ll have my thoughts together a little bit better and much sooner. I can’t wait.

My amazing friends and cheer squad

Math is hard, and its consequences: a race recap

Folks, an order of business before we get to your (somewhat) regularly-scheduled blog post: a Boston Marathon and Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge fundraising update! We are just one month out from Patriot's day and today I received my number (17512) and wave/corral (3/2). I'm feeling pretty fit at this point but this last month will be key for honing and maintaining my fitness and motivation. I'm headed to Boulder this week to train at altitude and gain some speed by osmosis from all the crazy fast runners up there. More importantly though, is that my fundraising is really coming along! Also today I hit $7,000 and I'm hoping to close the gap to $10k soon. If you haven't donated yet, I urge you to take a look at my fundraising page here and donate whatever you can to help raise money for cancer research.

Speaking of marathon training, let's talk about long runs. They're long and often take a lot of mental energy to even just begin. For this reason, "tune up" races are very attractive to those of us crazy enough to give up hours of our free time just put one foot in front of the other at a considerable speed. It was with just this in mind that a colleague and fellow Boston bound runner suggested that we tackle an "18 mile" race together. I said sure and didn't think much of it. Unfortunately for her/fortunately for her family, her son's hockey team made it into playoffs that day so I ended up flying solo.

I did not have big expectations for this race, Stu's 30k, and had a vague plan to negative split the run. I didn't anticipate going out fast but as I eavesdropped the conversations at the starting line, I realized that I could do better than I had initially anticipated. I headed out at a little over 8:00 ppm and settled in with a group of runners. Nothing particularly exciting to report from the first half of the race except for the running commentary (pun intended) by these men. First he mentions, to no one in particular I believe, an interview with some "little known" runner who is making her marathon debut at Boston. She runs for adidas, he said, but his mispronunciation of the brand both piqued my interested and pissed me off. He was talking about Neely Spence Gracey who, if you follow the elite running world in any capacity you would know, is not all that up-and-coming. A few miles later, I was leading this same man and one other in a triangle formation (I'd say that they were drafting off of me but both had a big height advantage on me), and the first comments to the second that I have great running form. "Yeah, she runs real tight," the second replies. (Okay, WHAT does this mean!?) The first responds that maybe he would run as spritely as I do if he were 50 lbs lighter. I turn around and flash a smile at them, and then take off.

It felt like I started to find my stride around 12 miles, when I was comfortably hitting 7:30-7:45 per mile. The weather had warmed up and the sun was out. I made sure to take water every chance I got, especially after I ate each GU. I could feel the end of the race coming up and was excited that my legs were really responding well. But here's when that starts to break down. Sharon, my colleague, had sold this race to me as an 18 mile training run. The race was actually 30 kilometers. As I tell my Spanish students frequently, I am not that good at math. I have, however, run for long enough that I can convert metric to imperial, and I soon realized that this finish line that I was chasing was actually significantly farther than I had figured. When at mile 15 I tried to kick for the last 5k, my legs started to resist. Together, we faced a long and winding hill, and as I rounded the corner at mile 18, I was dismayed not to see the finish line.

Reader poll: was I wearing shorts?

Do you know what it's like to coerce your body to continue to work and push after you thought you had expertly portioned out your energy over a certain, finite distance? I thought about using the remaining .7 miles as a cool down since this race didn't particularly matter anyways. On the other hand, I spied a woman in front of me (in orange in the photo above) and I was going to be damned if I lost an age group award to her by that small of a margin. So I pushed one more time (<-- that sounds like I'm giving birth...) and as soon as I crossed the finish line my legs cramped up. In my marathon last spring, mile 18 was where I very discernibly hit the wall, so I was at least grateful to postpone that feeling for a little longer in this race. I ended up not winning an age group award after all but I did manage to run an average 8:03 pace, which is just shy of my 8:01 marathon pace from Providence. This means that had I continued for the rest of the 12 kilometers, I would have still finished right around my goal time for Boston. See, I can do some math at least! And I walked (very slowly) away from this race with one lesson that I will take with me to Boston: it helps to know the course before you race; no one wants a surprise on race day.

Post race: proudly repping Dana-Farber

Sincerely,
Rachel "it's almost taper time!" Runner

Cheers to the chase

Not every goal will be met nor will every dream be realized, but it is the chase that makes life worth living.

As of Turkey day, I had been running for 9 weeks post-injury. As planned, I built mileage slowly and actually followed the 10% rule. Importantly, I held back and haven't attempted anything faster than tempo pace. That said, the number of "workouts" or more accurately, "up tempo runs", could be counted on one hand. 

1xmile @ 6:55

5k @ 6:45

2x10min @ 6:55

7,5,3,1 min @ 7:00

For mileage, my leg held up for a robust week of 52miles averaging just under 8:00 pace and all on a crazy work week. 

~Off to the races! ~

This year it was unseasonably warm for thanksgiving. The family rode the gravy train to a bunch of speedy times at the seacoast rotary turkey trot in Portsmouth. Bro ran a PR. Pa dipped under 7:00 pace at 60 years old. Ma restrained her racing blood and cruised in under 22 without so much as breaking a sweat. And I surprisingly managed to crank out a sub 20 performance (19:53) off of the "speedwork" listed above and another hellish work week. Considering this is technically only my 4th time under 20 - how'd that happen? - I'm thinking I'm onto something and therefore staying with the hip rehab (Myrtle hip exercises) + mileage for another block and sticking to the extra extra extra conservative reinstatement of speedwork. 

For perspective, my highest mileage week ever was in 2010 at 55, back when I was carefree and relatively injury-naive pre-stress fracture. I have tried various times to increase to that point but have been derailed by injury over and over. It felt like I'd defined my mileage ceiling and it was disappointingly low. It still might be, but the hip and core rehab have been tremendously helpful, so maybe it's different this time. 

The 3 weeks of mileage after thanksgiving are scheduled for 52, 57, 62...

I hit the 57 mark this week which makes for both a longest mileage week ever and longest run ever (14.3). I'm still feeling great and most of the work feels like quality miles and not too strenuous.

Stay tuned for how my body and mind holds out venturing into uncharted waters of 60+. 

Sincerely, 

Robyn "hare, taking a page from tortoise" Runner

Perhaps the most telling part of this picture is the dark scar on my knee from back in September.
Very thankful that my training has healed faster than my skin.

A Smart Race Plan Pays Off: Gansett Half Marathon Race Recap

So. Robyn is not the only who is swamped. I just emerged for air after finishing our fall term, coaching our last cross country race of the season, and wrapping up my own fall running. 

Before I get into the details and highlights of my running life lately, I’d like to take a minute to shamelessly plug my fundraising efforts for the Boston Marathon in 5 months (!!). I’ve set an incredibly lofty goal of raising $10,000 for Dana Farber Cancer Institutes to give back to the doctors and organization that helped my brother overcome his cancer last year. I'm so excited to run Boston and support my brother and Dana Farber, and I hope you'll support me as well.

Here's the link to donate. 

The real reason why I'm back blogging is that I ran a PR at my last half marathon! I wrote my last post about my training leading up to the Gansett Half Marathon and how well it went. As the training went on, I gained confidence in my ability to be competitive in this race. Between the long runs, hill workouts and strength circuits, I was in good shape. Not college or sub-20 good shape, but good shape nonetheless. I also wanted to try a new race strategy. I often preach to the girls on my team about starting out conservatively and taking down runners as you speed up. And yet, I don't often practice this myself. So this time around I told myself to actually take this seriously, and it really made a difference.

You know what else made a difference? The race started at 11 AM, which meant that we didn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn. Bestie, co-coach and training partner, Jillian, and I drank some coffee and headed down to Rhode Island. Among Jillian's many talents is that she can curate a killer playlist, so we blasted the tunes all the way into the Ocean State. After checking in, entering the raffle for a pie (which we didn't win), and warming up on the course, we were ready to go.

We even had time to braid our hair

The first few miles were like a short out and back peninsula before we headed out on the body of the course. My PR half marathon pace was about 7:38 but for the first few miles I really tried to control my pace and keep it at 7:45-7:50. I knew I felt good but I wanted to wait to surge. After the first 3 miles, I let myself go and slowly reined in the runners in front of me. The course took us right by the beach and as I passed by I had to remind myself to take in the beautiful scenery. Needless to say, I was focused. As I hit the halfway point, I came upon another woman who was moving at a good clip. I wanted to draft behind her but I ended up getting impatient behind her and passed her as I turned the corner at mile 8.

At my previous half marathon, where I was 4 seconds off my PR, I ran so well because I kicked it in for the last 5k of the race. This strategy felt good for both for my body and for my competitive spirit, so I wanted to do that again. There was a group of girls running in front of me, and to be honest, they didn't look like they should have been running as fast as they were. I'm not talking body size or shape, but rather because they were wearing leggings. This is one of my biggest pet peeves, when people overdress for running. It was almost 60 degrees and cloudy, ain't nobody got time for leggings! I set my sights on this group and used them as motivation to start dropping time. 7:22, 7:17, 7:27, 7:23, 6:57. At mile 11, I passed finally passed those girls, wished them good luck, and didn't look back. Then I came upon a total bro and we raced to the finish. I generally don't have a strong kick, but I just can't let myself lose to a guy. I'm happy to report that I did out-kick him, and in the process I ran a new half marathon PR of 1:38:26!

Yeah, I beat him

Before the half marathon, I knew my training had gone well but I didn't want to be overconfident. Honestly, staying calm and listening to my body helped me to run a smart race that happened to be my best time. It was such a great feeling to run a strong race and know that I still have some speed in me. Since the race I've been focusing on other parts of my life and work and haven't run as much. Once I start gearing up for Boston, I'll definitely call upon these feelings to motivate me to train and race harder.

Until the next race,

Rachel "appropriate running clothes please" Runner

By the numbers: Providence Marathon Race Recap

I can barely put into words the experience of my first marathon the other week. It was incredible, hard, fun, rewarding, painful, and everything in between. Instead of writing a blog post as long as the race itself, I am going to recap by the numbers.

18: the number of weeks I trained for the race.

563: the number of miles I ran, from January 1 to May 3rd.

55: the number of miles I ran during my highest mileage week.

20: Longest run pre-marathon.

3:03: How long it took me to run those aforementioned 20 miles. In the marathon, I hit 23 miles in exactly the same time.

3: the number of pairs of shoes worn for training. Mizuno Wave Inspire, Mizuno Wave Rider, Brooks Launch 2 Boston edition.

5:15: the time I woke up on the morning of the marathon. Rarely am I ever awake that early.

Is that you, sunrise?

15: the number of people I knew at the race. Jillian and Colleen ran the half marathon. Sharon, Amelia, Amanda, Than, and a Oiselle teammate Beth all ran the marathon. Robyn, Chris, Sarah, Sarah's parents, my parents and my brother were all there watching, cheering and taking pictures.

Chris, Robyn, Jillian, me and Colleen

Amelia (her first marathon as well!), Sarah and me

Dad and Mom

Me and Sharon

3 1/2: the number of GUs I consumed. In order: mandarin orange (my favorite!), triple berry, salted caramel, and half of a chocolate. By the time I tried my last one, it was so hot and the sugar was starting to make me feel sick. I held onto it for many miles and finally threw it away.

18: the mile at which I hit the wall. Mentally I was fine, but my legs tightened up like crazy. I felt like I slowed down considerably, even though in reality I was able to maintain a decent pace and even push through at the end.

22 and 24: the miles at which Robyn found me, first in pain and agony "deep cleansing breaths, like Deb taught us" and later in excitement and elation. Hearing her say "see you at the finish line!" helped me realize how close I was to finishing and qualifying.

"I can do this?"

"I can do this!"

7:59: my last mile. I was able to stay under 8:00 per mile for 18 miles before I hit the wall. As I approached the finish line, despite my legs being completely dead, I tried for one last rally. Sub-8 after 25 miles felt like a huge accomplishment!

164: My overall place. In a field of 1,107 runners, I was in the top 15%.

3:31:07: My official finishing time. Average pace of 8:01, and fast enough for a Boston Qualifier!

Full marathon results here.

Westfield Half Marathon: Honoring My Brother and Race Recap

It does not escape me that, except for a small incident last year, I have been very lucky with my running health. My sophomore year of college I finally got smart about my training and since then I have been healthy and basically injury free. I have been able to run when I wanted to and trained hard through multiple training cycles. Since college, I've tackled the half marathon, run some respectable post-collegiate 5ks, and even hit 50+ mpw in my marathon training.

Not everyone close to me has been so fortunate. Robyn has gone through many ups and downs in her training; she is relentless and patient. My younger brother, too, has had a hard few years. Without going into too many details, David missed most of his junior soccer season this fall due to some serious health problems. He's healthy now and back to playing soccer, but his hiatus from the sport he loves offered a lot of perspective for me about my running.

With my cross country girls every fall, we encourage each of them to dedicate their races to someone--to find a person whose memory or story motivates the runner when the race gets hard. It could be a parent or best friend, a relative, the student at our school that passed away this fall, or anyone else. We don't ask for explanations. Each runner has her own reason for choosing someone to motivate them. They write the names on their hands and arms and then toe the line.

A few weeks ago, I ran the Westfield Half Marathon as a tuneup race, 5 weeks prior to my first marathon. The race was hilly (actually a lot hillier than I expected), so I went into the race with a relaxed mindset. This doesn't mean, however, that I wasn't motivated. I'm a competitive person and I accept nothing but the best from myself, and this race was no different. I knew as soon as I woke up that Sunday morning, that my brother's strength and resilience would push me to run hard that day. The course of the race alternated between fast, flat miles and long, hilly climbs. I ignored my watch and focused on effort and reeling people in. Around mile 8, I got pissed that I was approaching another hill and thought about stopping but having David in the back of my mind kept me going.

The last 5k in the race was flat to downhill, and I wanted to make up as much time as possible from the ascents in the bulk of the race. I changed gears and started really moving. Another runner pulled up behind me and breathed into my ear, "hey girl, you're cruising." I didn't realize that I was going any faster than I had been, but his words encouraged me to really cruise. I dropped down to 7:00 for my 12th mile and tried to keep it up in the last stretch. This was one of the hardest moments of my racing career. I felt strong and good, but I also felt like I was working so hard and I didn't know how long I could last. I thought of my brother and what he went through this fall with his medical treatments and how hard that truly was. How strong he was throughout everything and how gracefully he handled it all. The pain and discomfort I experienced from doing something I love was trivial. I hit mile 13 in 6:55 and crossed the finish line 5 seconds past my half marathon PR.

For me, this race was not about a PR or the time; it wasn't even a goal race. I'm happiest with how I finished, because it proved my speed endurance and validated the training I've been doing. And because I'm proud of my effort, I feel like I honored my brother in the best way I could.

Life Update (& Race Recap): WCRC 4 Miler

4 years 11 months 4 days.
That's how long I've waited to say these words: I ran a PR. It's true, I could have earned a college degree faster than I was able to improve on a single one of my personal bests in any event.

Which is why I can now officially retire from competitive running with a clear mind.

The last time I ran a personal best was in the 1500m at NESCAC outdoor championships on April 24th, 2010. I came so close senior year to setting a PR in the 1000m during indoor track. So close in fact, that you might have to put an asterisk next to that 4yr mark. I actually ran my exact PR to the hundredth of a second (3:09.77), but a tie is not a better time, so the drought went on until now.
Don't worry readers, I'll still post on the blog about my new run for fun life!











Oh and if you actually believed that I'm retiring, HA. APRIL FOOL'S to you, you big fool!

Back on Track

It's a new year, so how about some new running goals? As I mentioned in my last post, I signed up for my first marathon. I know I'm capable of running 26.2 miles if I train properly, but the training is really daunting. I have a lot of hard work and many miles ahead of me. To get my butt in gear, I met up with a Boston area runner and coach. Lauren is super speedy and also represents Oiselle through their Flock program, so we connected through Facebook. We met at the starting line of the Boston Marathon (how have I never see that before? So cool!) and got in a great 8 miles before continuing our conversation at Starbucks for over an hour. Lauren has coached a number of people before and between how well we got along and the results her athletes have gotten, I decided to entrust her with my first marathon training plan! She sends me my training plans and checks in with me periodically. It feels great knowing that someone is cheering for me and keeping me in check. I'm even more excited for my marathon now!

But before marathon training officially started, I had a track race to run. Just for giggles I signed up for the USATF-CT championship track meet and entered the 3k. I haven't raced on a track since my senior year of college, and it felt good to try something different for a change. I got in two quality track workouts and good mileage over the winter break, so I was feeling pretty good heading into this meet. My goal was to run 12:00 or under, which would be squarely within how I ran in college, but given that it had been so long since I'd laced up on any oval office I really didn't know how it would go. I anticipated that I'd be in the mix of all the women racing. Turns out, I was the only woman, so I jumped into the men's race and quickly readjusted my goal: not to be last. The gun went off and the adrenaline kicked in. I wanted to run 46-48 per 200, and realized I was running 40-42 for the first few laps. I actually felt good but knew that I couldn't sustain that. I went through the mile in 6:12 and that's where things started going downhill. The lactic acid started to build up and I wasn't able to run the splits I wanted despite my effort. I was lapping some guys but I was slowing down a lot. I was able to kick in the end, and finished in 12:07. Slower than I'd hoped for but I was happy with it. The race was fun and I had gotten in a solid race after only a few weeks of purposeful training. And because I was the only woman, I won a medal!

Also, shoutout to Robyn for letting me borrow her track spikes! And speaking of Robyn, she and I were able to ring in the new year together! A good sized sampling of Colby XC/Track alum from the past 10 years gathered at Kat and DV's house for an annual celebration, although this was just my first year. It was so fun to see and catch up with so many friends. I'm already looking forward to next year's party, though I'm sure I'll be out running with Robyn and others much sooner than that. 

So much Mule Love

Race Recap: Seacoast Turkey Trot

Now that my family's running rank order is back in place (Kevin, Robyn, Mom, Dad), and with Kevin beating me by 2 minutes instead of 30 seconds, I'm feeling good about things. Although my 5K times over the last several months don't really reflect much of a change in my fitness, trust me, a lot has changed. I really don't mind that I keep hovering around 20:30 for 5K despite getting in better shape. There are a few reasons for that...

1. I feel good running! Sounds dumb, but I have not felt good running, lifting, walking, speedworking, or racing for months (a full year even?).
2. My asthma has returned to a manageable level.
3. I'm back on the track and starting to feel fast again. <3 track
4. I always always always plateau for ever and then have a huge breakthrough. Fingers crossed that's coming this indoor season.

I broke my 'sponsorship' rules and didn't wear anything LOCO at the turkey trot, opting for some classic Colby gear instead. Also, felt the strong urge to go ninja that morning. My actual race goal, no joke, was to run faster than Kat's marathon pace from Philadelphia. Which I probably would have done if the roads weren't so slick from the snowstorm, I was a few seconds too slow. Mad props/spirit fingers/snaps to her for keeping that up for 26.2; I'll stick with my 3.1 for now. Also, I'm not going to bother even recapping the Philadelphia marathon on here, if you know at least one runner from the New England area, you've definitely already heard all about the amazing feat accomplished by Dan Vassallo. I can't explain how incredible it was to be there and witness that race, surely will be one of my favorite running memories for years to come.
With that, I'm very thankful this year for having fast friends, of both the speedy and steadfast variety. (pun intended, gosh where do I come up with these things?)

Trotted my way to a decent time and a more than decent meal on Thursday.

Sincerely,
Robyn "wishing the water stops were gravy stops" Runner

P.S. Stay tuned for my post-collegiate track debut TBD at a December mini-meet at BU!

What happens when you don't think and just run: Newport Half Marathon

A proud Oiselle bird

A couple of weeks ago, I ran my fourth half marathon. I had almost everything going against me: a cold, hip issues, severe lack of sleep and colder weather. Because of all these factors, I abandoned my hopes and dreams of a new half marathon PR (that 1:35 keeps eluding me) and just decided to run what I could. This mentality ended up being quite liberating and I was able to really enjoy the run.

The race took us all around beautiful Newport, RI. We ran through neighborhoods of mansions and parks, by marinas and golf courses, and were treated with stunning views of the water for about half of the race. It was really windy but the day was nearly perfect, dry and cool, and as I took in all the scenery I wished I had my iPhone with me to capture the views. The beauty of the course helped to ease the pain in my legs as I pushed through.

As with most races, the first mile of the course was congested. Just a half mile in, I started to feel my hip hurt. A few days before the race I had been really worried that this would happen and even considered not running the race at all. In this moment, I thought about dropping out. I went through the first mile in 8:37, a good pace for a training run but not for a half marathon. I tried to pick it up a bit, and ended up dropping over a minute on my next mile: 7:28. I hovered around the 7:30s for the rest of the race, and once I forgot about my hip I felt really good. The course had just enough twists and turns to keep it interesting, and the hills really weren't that bad. I saw (and passed) a number of Oiselle birds, both Volée team members and some Flock members as well, and it was so exciting to have an instant bond with other runners. That's definitely one of the best parts of being a Oiselle bird now!

The rest of the race happened without incident. The hills got harder and I could feel my legs working. But I kept passing people and the thrill of moving up pushed me to keep at it. Once we hit mile 10, it was go time. I hadn't looked at the course map before so I had no idea where I was or what I had left. Ignorance is bliss, right? I kicked and even when I felt like I was letting up, I tried to maintain that kick. Luckily it was flat to down hill, and I was able to finish strong. I ran 1:41:37, and though it wasn't a PR, it was actually pretty close. I felt a good as one can feel racing and my splits were consistent. Aside from running my fastest half marathon time, I can't complain about my performance.

As soon as I crossed the line, my legs tightened up--a sign of a race well run. I looked at the marathoners who were only half way done and couldn't even imagine continuing to repeat what I had just run. Some day, for sure, but not this day.

Friends and colleagues

The week that followed was painful as well, and I wanted to take time off. On day 3, I wobbled down the stairs and stationary biked for 25 minutes. I had to talk to someone afterwards and hopped over to his office. I didn't even realize that my legs all of a sudden felt better, but getting them moving again and draining that built-up lactic acid was the key. I did mile repeats with my team the next day and have been running regularly since then. I'm still working with my PT to strengthen my legs and correct a number of imbalances that have appeared this year. I plan on running a turkey trot on Thanksgiving, so I've gotta get moving once again!