National Half Marathon - Check!

This morning was the National Half Marathon run which starts at RFK stadium. A 5am alarm went off and surprisingly I was able to get out of bed easily.  Guess it helped to go to bed at 8PM.  D-Salazar came to pick me up around 5:30am and off we went.  34 degrees and dark ... lovely.

I was fairly intimidated by this event, as my training runs consisted of 4, 5, and 6 miles.  One time I went 9 miles.  I just wasn't sure what was going to happen attempting 13.  The whole reason for this run was a deal with D-Salazar.  I run a half marathon, and he rides a century (100 miles).  I definitely think that he got the easier end of the deal.

The first 3 miles were fairly uncomfortable.  It'd been 11 days since I ran and everything felt heavy.  I did like running with the crowd, hearing everyone cheer on the sides, and the energy in the run.   D-Salazar and Mickey were already ahead of me and getting further ahead.

Around 5 and 6 miles I was thinking this was about as far as I can comfortably go so I started getting nervous.  All of sudden, out popped D-Salazar from the side of the road to join me on the run.  He didn't manage his fluid intake very well and had to pee for the entire first 8 miles.  He bailed from the porta-potty line when he saw me running up.  He later found an empty alley around mile 8.

Surprisingly, miles 7-11 were absolutely blissful.  I have no explanation for this but it felt like I was soaring down the road, feeling no pain, and for the first time actually enjoyed the running.  I was actually thinking "How hard can a full marathon be?"  That thought didn't last long.

Around 11.5 I had to stop to tie my shoe.  When I took off again, p-ting!  My left calf got the same tweak that put my training on schedule on hold twice.  I was thinking oh-man!  The last couple miles took more effort than I have put out for quite some time .. possibly ever.  It was hard, and I knew that if I stopped then I wouldn't be starting again.  It hurt, but I made it to the finish line and got my medal (~10 minutes ahead of D-
Salazar!)  My pace was around 10 minute miles.

My running days are officially behind me.  Many miles ahead on my bike!

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Half-Marathon Training Week 7

7 weeks in and I've done a tremendous amount of running ... too much running in fact.  One of my goals during this endeavor was not to injure myself.  I've been fortunate to only have dealt with usual soreness and two left calf strains.  Calf strains seem to pop up when I'm pushing the run uphill.

My longest run was 9.1 miles from my house down around Lake Accotink.  It was just a wee bit to far for me at the end of week 5.  There was a little walking at the end, but the hills are very demanding at the end of the run. My follow up 5 mile run was really aggressive and that's when the 2nd calf strain kicked in, 1/4 mile from finishing the run.  I rested 1.5 weeks and ran 4.4 the other day with fine success.

I'm having a hard time finding motivation to keep running.  I have been spending considerable time on the bike rollers as supplement training. However, there's very little I can take from biking to running.

At this point, almost 4 weeks from the event, I've decided I'll do my best at finishing the training .. but there's going to be a price to pay on race day.  The longest run I expect to achieve will be 10 miles. Thankfully, all my training has been hilly, and the race is dead flat.  I'm hoping that works to my benefit.

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