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marathoner452I'm back from DC, for good this time. That's a good thing because the Bachman Valley 1/2 Marathon is in 8 days and there's still a lot to get done to be ready. Like tracking down orange cones and more water jugs, recruiting volunteers and assigning volunteers, coming up with a list of places where we might get donations (I hate cold calls, but I recruited someone else to do that), hoping the tshirts and trophies get here on time, buying food and drinks, baking cookies...you get the point. Organizing a race is a lot of work.
Meanwhile, I had an excellent long run this morning, though it didn't start out so great. Usually Team in Training starts at Sparks, but today of course they decided to break with routine and start at Monkton...leaving no open parking spaces. So I headed down to Sparks and parked up at the old elementary school so I could have a nice cooldown walk afterwards. I was pretty stiff to start too. Chalk that up to a marathon pace workout just a day and a half ago.
About 4 miles in, I met up with a couple of NCR Trail Snails and ran with them for the next 10 miles. It was great to have company. Long runs are essential to marathon training and they're good for you too, but they can get boring if you do them by yourself all the time. It was a perfect, chilly morning for a long run. It rained for about 10 minutes somewhere around mile 8 of 16. We passed a bunch of Army guys out for a hike south of Sparks. We ran 9:30-9:45 miles with just one drink break when we got back to Monkton (about mile 9 for me). Now I'm no expert and I'll probably pay for running that hard when I get out of bed tomorrow, but it felt good. Marathon training is well on it's way. A 4 hour marathon is in sight.
It was worth every one of those 162 minutes of running when I was able to just throw off that I'd run 16 miles that morning when a fellow NC High alum asked what I've been doing. I love the expressions on people's faces when I tell them how far I run. It's priceless.
Then I followed up that long run with chocolate bread pudding from Snickerdoodles (the bakery where my sister works) and Zatarain's red beans and rice. Yummy.
I think I've earned a nap now. A nap and a good book.
~Bethany
Meanwhile, I had an excellent long run this morning, though it didn't start out so great. Usually Team in Training starts at Sparks, but today of course they decided to break with routine and start at Monkton...leaving no open parking spaces. So I headed down to Sparks and parked up at the old elementary school so I could have a nice cooldown walk afterwards. I was pretty stiff to start too. Chalk that up to a marathon pace workout just a day and a half ago.
About 4 miles in, I met up with a couple of NCR Trail Snails and ran with them for the next 10 miles. It was great to have company. Long runs are essential to marathon training and they're good for you too, but they can get boring if you do them by yourself all the time. It was a perfect, chilly morning for a long run. It rained for about 10 minutes somewhere around mile 8 of 16. We passed a bunch of Army guys out for a hike south of Sparks. We ran 9:30-9:45 miles with just one drink break when we got back to Monkton (about mile 9 for me). Now I'm no expert and I'll probably pay for running that hard when I get out of bed tomorrow, but it felt good. Marathon training is well on it's way. A 4 hour marathon is in sight.
It was worth every one of those 162 minutes of running when I was able to just throw off that I'd run 16 miles that morning when a fellow NC High alum asked what I've been doing. I love the expressions on people's faces when I tell them how far I run. It's priceless.
Then I followed up that long run with chocolate bread pudding from Snickerdoodles (the bakery where my sister works) and Zatarain's red beans and rice. Yummy.
I think I've earned a nap now. A nap and a good book.
~Bethany
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Date: 2006-09-16 06:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-16 06:41 pm (UTC)~Bethany
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Date: 2006-09-16 06:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-16 06:54 pm (UTC)The only bad thing about the race is the 2 mile uphill at the end, but by that point you can smell the finish line so even that's not that bad.
~Bethany
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Date: 2006-09-16 06:56 pm (UTC)~Bethany
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Date: 2006-09-16 07:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-16 07:22 pm (UTC)You've got plenty of time to train for either. I only ran 8 months leading up to my first marathon.
~Bethany
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Date: 2006-09-16 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-16 07:41 pm (UTC)Most of what they do is gutting houses and mold removal, but they have other community projects for those who can't/don't want to do that kind of stuff. It's great work to get involved with and you really feel like you're making a difference.
I wouldn't recommend it around your first marathon/half-marathon though.
Hands On is a national network, actually, but all I really know about it is what they're doing down south.
~Bethany
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Date: 2006-09-16 07:33 pm (UTC)I'm about to start my own long stint of writing this afternoon. A nap and a good book afterwards might be a must as well.
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Date: 2006-09-16 09:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-17 12:59 am (UTC)Then about a month later, I saw some brochures on campus running with Team in Training to get ready for the Marine Corps Marathon. I'd only been running about 3 months at that point and could maybe run 4 miles, but I signed up anyway. I finished Marine Corps in 4 hours 52 minutes (about an 11 minute mile) in late October 2002.
I've run 5 marathons so far. This year I'm going to run NCR in under 4 hours. You can quote me on that.
Yeah, that was pretty much a novel right there, but I'm always afraid that I scare people off from exercise because marathon training is kinda over the top. I want people to know that it's not as difficult or out of reach as they think. I was the kid who was always picked last in gym class, who could barely run a mile in high school.
And you don't have to run marathons to be more active. That's another thing I like to remind people of. The important thing is getting out there.
~Bethany
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Date: 2006-09-17 01:00 am (UTC)~Bethany
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Date: 2006-09-17 05:30 pm (UTC)And one more week til the Red Cross job starts. I'll let you know how it is and then we can decide if you should be jealous :P
AND! Thanks for the history of your running. I'm not tooootally out of shape, but even running a mile makes me nervous. But we all have to start somewhere!
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Date: 2006-09-17 01:50 am (UTC)My long run tomorrow will consist of 5 miles. I seriously gotta be more consistent. And more organized. I think once I get my time management skills back up to par (I've been extremely scattered lately, as you've no doubt noticed), I won't be able to skimp anymore. Meanwhile, bravo on a great long run. I love Zatarain's, though I found a recipe on Foodnetwork.com yesterday that was a dead ringer for Ms. Antoinette K-Doe's red beans and rice, so I'm gonna try that sometime this week. I'll let you know how it turns out. It has a ham hock or two in it, but that just makes it that much more authentic.
Hope you enjoyed your nap--what's your current read? As for me, it's back to reading more Postmodern Theory. It's a great read, but it makes my head hurt.
This is what I get for being a philosophy/sociology nut/nerd. :-P
~Adam
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Date: 2006-09-17 07:26 am (UTC)I hear you on the Zatarain's. That stuff is like crack! :)
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Date: 2006-09-17 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-19 01:34 am (UTC)I usually start at paper mill though. You'll have to let me know when you're going next so you can laugh at how bad I am. :)