This is going to be a short one – it was an abbreviated week of running, that I built into my training plan when I made it earlier this year. I knew that I would be spending this week in vegas for work, spending 8 hours a day on the show floor at a convention. Combine the fatigue of standing all day with work dinners and a three-hour time difference, and I knew that there would not be much energy left over for running.
When I was packing I put three running outfits into my bag – in an ideal world I was hoping I would get in 2 four mile runs, and one 8 mile run, but knew that realistically with the time the gym opened every morning (6 am) and the time I needed to meet me team each day (8 am) plus getting myself ready every morning, it was unlikely that I would have time to get in 8 miles before having to head out one day. But I was confident that I could get in two mornings with 4 mile runs and save my long run for once I was back in NY.
Saturday was mostly a travel day, and Sunday was the first day on the show floor. By the time I got back to the hotel room those nights my body clock was screaming for bed – I am not good at time changes. But with the early bedtime on Sunday night, I managed to get up very early on Monday, and get to the gym right as it opened – I snagged the last treadmill that was available and watched some T.V. on my phone as I made my way through a 4 mile run. It was warm in the gym, and I was sweating by the time I was finished, but I was pleased with myself for getting up and making time to run. That night the whole team went out to dinner, and I indulged in some excellent fettuccine alfredo.
Tuesday morning was a wash, after being out with my team a little later because of the dinner. That night my employer treated us to a show, and we all went and saw the Beatles “Love” Cirque Du Solei show – the athleticism that the performers displayed was honestly amazing, and I could not believe how big the cast was when they came out for the curtain call at the end of the show. We all opted to walk back to our hotel after, which was a little over a mile away, so that we would get a chance to see the strip at least once.
I headed to bed right after the show, so was once again up early enough on Wednesday to get in a run. This time I thought to bring my iPad along, so that I had a bigger screen to watch T.V. on while I ran. The hotel gym was just as hot as the previous run, but thankfully not as crowded. I was able to get a treadmill again and tried to give a little progressive push as I made my way through the miles. When the distance rolled over the 4 mile mark I slowed down my treadmill, and headed back to my room to get ready for the last day of the convention – I work in the industrial baking industry, and it was a baking convention that I was attending, so I may have indulged in a few extra sweets during the week – I couldn’t resist when they were being made fresh on the show floor!
Thursday was a travel day again, and I was up bright and early to head to the airport. By the time I got home it was after 6 pm, thanks to the time change adding a few hours on to our travel. I was pooped after a busy week, and really happy to be back in my own bed.
When I got home, my cat Binx seemed to have picked up a little cold while I was away. I mention this because I always get nervous when he is sick, since he has had some health issues in the past. I kept an eye on it, and made him a vet appointment for the following Monday, the first slot our vet had available.
I still had to head to work on Friday, and I was wiped out between the time change and the busy week. It was a rest day because of that, and after work I took it easy. I headed to bed early, because Mike, Michal and I had signed up for the great south bay half marathon on Saturday morning – our training scheduled called for 13 miles anyway, so we figured we may as well do our training runs in a race setting, with aid stations and all to practice for the marathon.
Unfortunately, I did not get the relaxing night of sleep I was hoping for. Instead, I was woken up by my Binx sneezing in my face at 2 am, and then spent the next hour worrying over him as he was sneezing lots and clearly not feeling well. By 3 am I woke up my husband, and decided to take the cat to the emergency vet – I pay for pet insurance every month, so I may as well use it rather than stay up stressing with no solution in the middle of the night. Three hours later, after some blood work and examinations, they concluded that it was just a cold, and sent us home with some medicine for the little guy. We got home right as I my alarm went off around 5:15, the time I had been planning to get up for the race.
Mike was planning to pick me up at 6 am, and after some back and forth I decided to go to the race. Worst case I could walk or drop out of I felt too tired, but I felt ok, and figured I could just take a fat nap post-race.
It was a chilly morning, and we found our friends Rob and Michal as we waited in line to pick up our race bibs. Once we had our numbers we headed back to the car, so we could keep warm as we waited for the race to start. The race was set to start at 7:30, and just after 7 I left my friends in the car and went to stand in the porter potty line. Mike and Michal found me near there, and the three of us headed to the start together.
We planned to just run by feel, and stick together throughout the race. The plan here was to use the race as a training run anyway, so no one was trying to PR or anything. The race started, and I struggled a little to get going. I set my watch to just show the time of day, and ignored it as it buzzed out with the pace for the first few miles, not talking much and just listening to Mike and Michal chat, glad that there were three of us so I could just hang out without contributing much. Eventually I settled in, and started to feel good – it was nice to finally have some “good” running weather, after a summer of hot and humid mornings. Somewhere around mile 4, Michal commented on our pace being good – I had been ignoring the pace, but gave into temptation and looked – low 10s, I was shocked. I dismissed the pace chatter, and told them I didn’t want to talk about it, as we plowed on.
Michal was carrying handheld water bottles, which is her plan for fall marathons, so she needed to stop to refill at an aid station. I felt like if I stopped running I would loose my groove, so when they walked to take care of a refill (and an untied shoe for Mike), I kept running and after a few minutes they caught up to me. The three of us kept chatting, and as we slipped into the later miles of the race, I was surprised at how good I felt. We kept that same rhythm of me running through aid stations and them catching up, until it happened around mile 10. I didn’t realize I was doing it at the time, but after a turnaround at an out and back, I realized that I had pulled further ahead than I expected to. I peeked at my watch, and saw that I was running a sub-10 minute mile…. And I felt good.
In the years that I have been running, I have always heard people talk about how the best way to “race” a half marathon is to keep a consistent pace for the first 10 miles, and then treat the last 3 miles like a 5k and leave it all out there. While I hadn’t meant to pick up the pace, I felt good – so I decided to go for it, and challenged myself to run the last three miles progressively faster. I ran my last three miles at a 9:49, a 9:28, and an 8:58. It wasn’t my fastest half, but I felt proud as I crossed the finish line – glad that I had shown up for the race and pushed myself at the end of it.
I waited by the finish for Mike and Michal to run through and learned that Mike even pulled off a PR that day! It was a good day for running all around.
It was a good morning for running, and then I went out with my husband, brother, and Sophie to celebrate Sophie’s birthday. The rest of the day was a bit of a wash, as I spent most of it napping after a hard effort that morning + a bad night of sleep the night before.
That half marathon was really a reminder of how much I love this sport, and it made me feel more like myself than I have in a long time.