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I'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
