Race Recap: Charleston Distance Run- America's 15 Miler

Last Saturday I ran the Charleston Distance Run for the first time. I remember hearing about the race when we moved to Charleston and I couldn't really fathom why anyone in there right mind would run 15 miles in a row. And now, here I was, 15 years later prepared to run 15 miles.

Prepared I was. This race fit perfectly into my training schedule for the Chicago Marathon. I would have to add on 5 miles once finished to get my long run in for the week.

On Friday evening I picked up my packet, skipped out on the spaghetti dinner, and opted for dinner with my mom instead. The race fee was $35 and included a t-shirt, hat, and a drawstring backpack. Also, in the  bag was this nifty business sized pace chart.



When I registered, I listed my anticipated finish time as 2:15. I think I was optimistic when I put that down though. But based on pretty much all of my training runs, it wasn't out of the picture. I even told my mom I wanted to finish in 2:15. I usually don't say these sorts of things out loud because they suddenly become known, and there are all the what if that can result in not obtaining the goal.

Friday was a busy day for me and by the time I got home, I was super tired, but I knew I needed to lay my clothes out and finish my playlist. I got a pretty good night of sleep and got up on time for the race. I was there about 30 minutes prior to the 7:30 AM start. Perfect timing to avoid really long bathroom lines. Before I knew it was 7:30 AM and the race started!



East Nasty for Life!

Miles 1-3.3 were relatively easy and mostly flat. I was actually running too fast and running 8:30/mile. And I totally had some major dreams of finishing under 2:15. Start slow folks, start much slower than you want to run! Around 3.3 we made a left turn to head up to Corridor G. I think I groaned when I saw the sign for "Capitol Punishment Hill." I have probably driven this road over a thousand times, but never run up the 1.4 mile hill. It was rough. There were people walking and my pace slowed to the 10:00/mile range. Finally I reached the top and was greeted by the "End of Capitol Punishment Hill" sign. I was relieved because I was done with that hill, but I was now entering the South Hills neighborhood. This neighborhood was no joke and lived up to it's name. I definitely walked a few hills and though I would never get out of there.

I saw my mom and her friend at the corner of Louden Heights and Bridge Road between mile 6 and 7. I can't believe I was actually able to smile for the camera AND that she was able to get a picture of it.



Mile 8 was mostly downhill and I actually went surprisingly slow on this part. As we were running back into downtown, I remember looking right and having a great view of the Capitol over the Kanawha River.

Mile 9 had us run through downtown and the Historic East End which is also where I went to junior high. Roosevelt Rough Riders!

Mile 10 was through the Capitol grounds and back to where we started on Kanawha Blvd. Miles 11 and 12 were a repeat of miles 1 and 2.

We ran past the mall and The Charleston Civic Center, where I saw my first concert ever. I found myself next to the King Center and the tennis courts where I played tennis on the junior high tennis team. I saw "King Center Courts" written on the wall and thought of my old coach who passed away a few years ago.

At this point I had run 13.1 miles or so and my half time was under 2 hours. A finish of 2:15 seemed within reach. Miles 14 and 15 were kind of boring and in a less scenic part of town. It was really hot and I was just sort of ready for it to be over. Before I knew it, Laidley field was in view and I knew the finish was near. We ran onto the track and the last part of the race was half a lap around the track. At this point finishing at 2:15 was just out of reach but I knew I could possibly finish under 2:16. I sprinted that last half and finished just under 2:16. 2:15:56 to be exact.



Mom with another action shot for the win!



5th in my age group out 22!



226 overall out of 572 runners.

This was by far one of my favorite races to date. I am sure a lot of it has to do with the feelings of knowing I finished a race I never had any desire to run in until a few years ago. There was water and gatorade at almost every mile. Packet pick up was a breeze. Registration cost was beyond reasonable. (I think I have paid $35 for some 5ks.) At the end of the race they had cold wet towels for all participants. There was also plenty of beverages and fruit at the end of the race. And also pizza! I highly suggest this race to anyone looking for a half marathon distance.

I met up with my mom post race and my plan to run 5 miles immediately following the race changed slightly as the temperature increased and I ate a few pieces of pizza. I went home, changed clothes, and finished my run with a slow 5 miles around Kanawha for complete tour of Charleston.



At the finish.

Family Pictures...Revisted

You might remember my previous family photo post taken around Christmas last year. This past weekend we were ALL together at the WVU/Marshall game and it was the perfect time to grab an updated family photo.


We were all Mounties on Sunday.

And because my brother and I rarely have our picture taken together:


Of course we couldn't leave out the cat Sox. Once we got home, I decided Sox also needed to share the Mountaineer pride. If she didn't hate me for the Christmas pictures, I am pretty sure she would be ok never seeing me again.

Sox with the WVU bandana.



Sox looks so happy to have her picture taken!



Actually, I am not sure who looks to be in more pain in the pictures. My brother or Sox?

12 Weeks

I am 12 weeks into my marathon training schedule. 12 weeks! 12 weeks of a hot, humid, southern summer. With training conditions like these I feel like I am ready for anything.  A full sized version can be viewed here. My training plan has been based on the Hal Higdon Novice 2 Marathon Training Plan with a few modifications.



I just counted and in 12 weeks I went to 31 yoga classes. I still can't do all the arm balances I want to, but I am so much stronger. I definitely think yoga after long runs has helped a lot. On  the far right side of my chart is my weekly mileage. My first run over a half marathon distance was almost a month ago. It is still hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that a "short" run is half marathon distance to me now.

Now that my mileage is increasing I am starting to focus on a nutrition plan for this bad boy. Thankfully I know how my body reacts to certain things, now I just need to map it all out.

On Saturday I will be running in the Charleston Distance Run. I can honestly say I never, ever thought I would run this race. Why would anyone want to run 15 hilly miles? This is a perfect training run for me and will help me calculate times and works a few things out like clothing, etc.  On Saturday when my training buddies are running the streets of Nashville, I will be running the streets of Charleston!

When Your Best Just Isn't Good Enough

For the past 11 Tuesdays I have ran at Summer Speed Sessions. I have been up before 5:30 AM each of these Tuesdays except for the one morning where it was, no joke, one of the loudest storms I have ever heard and decided it would be safer to run in 90+ degree heat later in the evening than deal with lightning and thunder. I have been at the track before 6 AM to get my warm up. I haven't done the dynamic drills though...a bootcamp teacher that I didn't quite see eye to eye with loved dynamic workouts a little too much, thus making me hate them. I have completed all of the workouts to the best of my ability. My one goal for Summer Speed Sessions was to finish a mile under 7 minutes. Anything under 6:59 was fine by me. And I did that on my very first mile. Barely. Halfway through we tested our progress. And I improved,  improved in the sweltering heat no less. 

On Tuesday we ran another timed mile. I gave it my best and my best wasn't good enough. Not only did I do worse than my second time trial, I did worse than my first time trial. It took me 7:02 to run a mile. I was incredibly disappointed with this time, however there are a few things to take into consideration. I almost hate to mention them because I feel like I am making excuses.

• I ate more this past weekend than I probably ate the entire month of July. Probably a bit of an exaggeration, but I ate a lot. 
• I also drank a lot. You know those buckets of margaritas? I pretty much polished one off my myself over the course of 2 nights in addition to beer...
• And probably the biggest thing, I fell while playing in the river on Sunday evening. In the picture below in the left hand corner a little lower than center, see that rock formation that is perfectly scooped out with two larger flat parts on each side? I fell right in the middle of that hitting my tailbone hard. It was one of those falls that completely knocked everything out of me. I sat there for a few minutes stunned at what just happened. Then I rolled over and almost wanted to throw up it hurt so bad. So this was still hurting on Tuesday.

Even with all of the variables that came into play for my mile on Tuesday, I wanted to do better. I tried to do better and I just couldn't. I looked down at my watch as I crossed the finish line and was bummed. When people asked how I did, it wasn't too hard to tell them I didn't do as well as I wanted to and that technically I got slower. 

Would I change anything? If I could, the only thing I would change would be the fall. Everything else about the weekend was great. Time spent laughing and exploring with great friends. I ate amazing food. I went whitewater rafting. I hike 4 pretty awesome trails and even saw some waterfalls AND a black bear. To improve my mile by X amount wouldn't have been worth it if I had to give up everything I did last weekend. I need to realize that running fast isn't the most important thing, it's that I was simply out there running.