Mill Race Marathon Week - The Marathon That Wasn't

Week 17. This was Mill Race Marathon Week.

Sunday 9/17 - Zero miles.

Monday 9/18 - 10 miles. Went back to the fitness center for the first time since they renovated the place and ran on the hamster track. Legs felt good and it was a nice run.

Tuesday 9/19 - 5 miles. Another indoor workout. Went to the fitness center and did a mile warm up on the track, then 3 miles on the treadmill, averaging 8:35/mile, then a mile cool down. Another nice workout. Didn't go to Run Club because I had to work in the evening.

Wednesday 9/20 - Zero miles. Got home from work close to 4 am and slept all day before going back to work.

Thursday 9/21 - 1 mile. So... the hot weather hit. Hit the Monon at 5 pm with the intent of doing a 3 mile easy run. It was pushing 90 degrees and I was sweating just walking out to the trail. Ran a mile in something like 11:00 and decided to walk a mile back. Hopefully it will be cooler on marathon morning.

Friday 9/22 - Zero miles. Drove to Columbus first thing in the morning to pick up my race packet at the Expo cause I had a laundry list of things to do and I wanted to get that out of the way. Later in the afternoon when I had a moment I started going through the packet. Really not much in there. My bib, race shirt, an info book, a pen, can of beet juice, some kind of sleep aid sample and some kind of laxative/cleanse sample. Seriously. What happened to the days when we got good goodies like Clif bars and such?

Sat down to page through the info book, mainly because I wanted to look at the map and plan out my water and fuel strategy, then looked at the parking information. THEN read that I needed to have a parking pass to park in any of the free garages near the start/finish line if I wanted to get in before 7:30 am. Well, since the race started at 7:30 am I pretty much needed a parking pass and F#%*!!! there was no parking pass in my race packet. Apparently you were suppose to know to pick up a parking pass at the Expo. Would have been nice if someone had told me that when they handed the race packet over to me at the Expo. I had to get G up to Carmel as soon as she got out of school because she was performing in Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre's season opener in the evening. Dropped her off there at 4:30 pm then had to deal with 5 pm traffic on I-465 and I-65 driving all the way back down to Columbus to pick up a piece of paper before the Expo closed down at 8 pm.

Finally got the required parking pass and headed back home. By then I was starving. I had a pre-race dinner all planned out at home but it required cooking it once I got home and I was beyond that at this point. Ended up placing an order into Pizza Hut from the car and got cheesy breadsticks for dinner.

Saturday 9/23 - Race day. Up at 4:15 am. Had my oatmeal and coffee, then out the door a little after 5 am. Had a banana and water in the car. Got in my desired parking garage by 6:15 am and found a primo spot overlooking the start/finish line. Then it was like 5 trips to the port-a-potty and going over the map and my water/fuel strategy until the race started.

Temps were in the mid-to-high 60's at the start. We had all received flyers at the Expo with a hot weather advisory. Basically said that if you thought it was going to take over 4 hours to run the marathon it was advised you switch to the half marathon and said that if the "wet globe bulb temperature" (which is some calculation involving the actual temperature, humidity, shade, etc.) reached 82 the race would be black flagged with all timing and scoring stopped at that point. The marathoners had the option to switch to the half marathon at the 12 mile mark which was where the half and the full split.

Quite honestly the temperature at the start was MUCH better than what I expected and the first part of the race was run in the shade of the downtown buildings. I decided I'd just run at whatever pace felt good to me and see how far I could get before it got too hot and make a judgement call at mile 12.

Got into my corral and spotted Trena... standing there with the 3:55 pacer sign! Trena was 6th overall in the women's race last year and I thought she was racing this morning so I was really surprised to see her standing there with the pacer sign. OMG! This was perfect. She would be there to sweep me in if I got in trouble. I thought she was an angel sent from heaven standing there with the 3:55 pacer sign. I made sure she crossed the start line in front of me but soon caught up and passed her in the first mile.

Mile 1 - 8:24.5
Mile 2 - 8:35.7
Mile 3 - 8:36.8

I realized pretty quick that I was running much faster than I intended to, however I also felt very comfortable running this pace so I settled in and decided I was fine as long as I didn't go faster than 8:30.

Somewhere between miles 2 and 3 a young man also started running next to me and chatted me up. He wanted to know what race I was running, how long I'd been running, what my times were, etc. Then he shared that he was a high school runner. He had run a mile in 4:47 but this was his first half marathon and he had never run this far before. His goal was to break 2:00 and hopefully finish in the 1:50's. I noticed he was running without a watch. He wanted to know how we were doing. I told him we were way under 2:00 pace and that I was running around 8:30's. Also told him 9:00 pace would get him under 2:00. While we were talking I noticed we were speeding up. My watch said we were now going 8:18 so I backed off. He ran on ahead...

As a side note, when I race I set my watch to time the current mile pace - so it's the pace for the mile I'm in, NOT the "at the moment" pace. I think my times are more predictable this way.

Mile 4 - 8:33.2
Mile 5 - 8:29.9
Mile 6 - 8:32.8

Shortly after mile 6 the course takes a turn and you run directly east for about 1.5 miles - straight into the morning sun after enjoying the downtown shade for the first part of the run. As soon as we made the turn I had the sense that the entire field around me slowed. I tend to want to run the same speed as the people around me but this was a noticeable slow down. I reasoned with myself these were all the half-marathoners slowing down because, well, lots of half-marathoners slow down when they hit their half-way point. Told myself to continue on MY pace... then became conscious of the fact that I was blowing by people.

Mile 7 - 8:31.0
Mile 8 - 8:33.6

I saw the kid from earlier in the race up ahead. He was slowing. I was going to start giving him some words of encouragement when I caught up to him when I came up on the water stop which was a couple blocks earlier than I anticipated. I fumbled around to get a gel out and down in time, got my water, started looking around for the kid again, when suddenly my friend Ben showed up next to me. Where the heck did HE come from? He had a bib on so he didn't just pop in from the side of the road but I couldn't figure out why he was back here with me. He said he was doing this as a training run and figured he'd run with me for awhile to keep me on pace. I was over joyed. So now, not only did I have Trena to potentially sweep me in, I had Ben to run with until the marathon split. Life was perfect.

Mile 9 - 8:43.2
Mile 10 - 8:39.9

Somewhere around mile 10 was an aid station where I had planned to get water. I ran through the whole station asking for water and no one had any. I don't know if they got behind or if this station just didn't have water. I finally stopped to get a cup of PowerAde from the last kid standing there with a cup. Really really strong PowerAde at that. I sprinted out of the aid station. Ben told me to slow down and that I was running 7:30 pace. I looked a my watch and it said I was running 8:43 pace. We pondered the difference and I felt like mine was more accurate as it was for the whole mile.

Anyhoos... shortly after that I noticed I was breathing hard. Like WAY harder than I should be breathing 10 miles into a marathon. Plus I realized how HOT I felt...

In retrospect, I think I may have had an anxiety attack. I have never had cardio be an issue in a long race like a half or full marathon. It was always my legs going flat and tiring that slowed me down. I've never had an issue where I got out of breath in a long race. But now I was breathing like I was in mile 3 or mile 5 of a 5K or 10K. WAY WAY harder than I should be breathing. I think I freaked out.

I told Ben I was bailing out of the marathon.

The second half of the course is out by the airport. I've run many races out there. It's flat and wide open. Not a scrap of shade anywhere. It's open and lonely. The race had started under a green flag, then gone to yellow, and now red. I think it was more the anticipation of what was to come that made me want to stop running than anything else. All I knew was that in that moment I just wanted to be done. Had I not had the option to run a shorter race I may have recovered. Now I get to wonder about the might-have-beens until my next race.

Mile 11 - 8:53.0
Mile 12 - 8:56.7
Mile 13 - 9:08.3

Official finish time - 1:54:13

I felt stupid the moment I stopped running. I was perfectly fine. My times had been ridiculously fast. To put things into perspective...

- My Boston qualifying time is 4:00. That's 9:09 pace.
- My goal pace for this marathon had been 9:00. That gives me a 3:55:58 marathon. 4:02 under BQ is a pretty safe cushion so that had been my goal.
- My marathon PR is 3:51:47. That's 8:50 pace.
- At 10 miles, my average pace was 8:34. That's almost 5 MINUTES ahead of 9:00 pace for that point in the race.

I could easily have slowed my pace for a couple miles to recover my breathing and still been OK time wise... or could I have? Would  I have recovered? Did I go out too fast? I honestly don't think so. I felt perfectly fine and then suddenly I was out of breath. Usually if I go out too fast my legs start failing... Did I not have enough miles in and my cardio went? I really don't think so either. I think I plain had an anxiety attack at mile 10 in anticipation of what might have been and chickened out because I didn't want to potentially suffer for another 16 miles.

Now I get to wonder until Monumental Marathon in November about how fast I can run. Interestingly, I feel weirdly confident.

I had brought my marathon shirt to trade in for a smaller size at the post-race street party anyway so I traded it for a half-marathon shirt. Note to self - I am a youth large. This race only has shirts in men's sizes and the men's small is too big for me.

29 miles for Week 17... of Monumental Marathon Training.

Mill Race Training Week 16 - The Week Before The Week Of

In 2014 I ran my 5K PR in my last road race before my BQ attempt at the Derby Festival Marathon. In 2015 I ran my 10K PR in my last road race before my BQ attempt at the Napa Valley Marathon. I didn't feel close to PR shape this year but figured I might as well run one more road race before the Mill Race Marathon this coming weekend. Saturday I hit the Indiana Timing circuit again and raced.

So here was my week before the week of the Mill Race Marathon...

Sunday 9/10 - Zero miles. A well deserved rest day after the 20 on Saturday... plus I had to go to work.

Monday 9/11 - 6 miles. Easy shake out run on the Monon.

Tuesday 9/12 - 7 miles. Run Club workout. 2 miles warm up and then 400's on the track with a 200 jog in between. Goal was 8-12 400's. I ended up doing 10. Also finally figured out how to use the lap timer on my Garmin (Thanks Trena!)

400 sprint           200 jog
1:48.1                 1:32.8
1:51.1                 1:33.9
1:54.2                 1:35.3
1:52.6                 1:34.8
1:52.3                 1:39.9
1:52.5                 1:42.2
1:49.3                 1:45.1
1:52.4                 1:44.6
1:52.0                 1:48.4
1:54.2

I'm actually amazed at how consistent the 400's were considering I couldn't see the individual lap times. I knew the Garmin was recording the lap times every time I hit the timer but all I could see was the overall running time until I downloaded the data. I basically ran on feel and tried to keep up a hard effort but a sustainable pace. 1.5 mile cool down after the track work to get me 7 miles.

Wednesday 9/13 - Zero miles. Rest day.

Thursday 9/14 - 4 miles. I couldn't decide what to run today. Long run? Pace run? Hit the Monon and thought I'd run pace. This went well for two miles. 8:48, 8:45, then I became aware of how hot and humid it was. 8:55. The weather had changed again and the cool temps were gone. I was actually sweating walking out to the trail and that should have been a tip-off. I struggle-bussed through a cool down mile 4 and decided I was done for the day.

Friday 9/15 - 6 miles. Again, I felt like I should do some kind of long run today but realized even before I started running that I was really really tired. At first I didn't even know if I'd make 6 and thought about turning around at the 3 mile turn around but crossed 75th Street and kept going south. Finally started feeling somewhat better and managed to finish 6 but no more.

Saturday 9/16 - 5 miles. I decided to run the Seeds of Love 5K in Columbus, IN. I figured it would be a good run through for race morning next weekend. So... up at 5 am... and laid in bed til 5:30 am. Ugh, I am SO tired. Finally got up so I could eat my oatmeal and drink my coffee. Out the door at 6:15 am. I was still so seriously sleepy that I considered turning around and driving back home at the Edinburgh exit... but I kept driving. Got to Columbus a little after 7 am so I could register for the race and get a one mile warm up in. Took a glance at the course map which wound through multiple neighborhood streets and figured I'd just follow someone. Happy to see Jane and Magda and Debra there. At least I'd have some gals to run with.

The race started and there were two girls (as in teenagers) that toed the starting line and took off. The first one took off and I never saw her again. In the back of my mind I felt I had a chance of breaking 24:00 but knew I needed a 7:20-7:30 first mile, then to hang on after that, if I were to have a chance.

Mile 1 - 7:28. I could feel myself reeling the girl in front of me in. Passed her before the 2 mile marker and gunned it to the next corner.
Mile 2 - 7:50. Now I was running alone which made it harder. I knew Jane and Debra were behind me somewhere but where were they? It was a twisty course through small neighborhood streets so I kept my head up and made sure I ran every tangent.
Mile 3 - 8:18. I really needed someone to push me. I knew I should run sub-8:00 to get sub 24:00 but I lost my motivation. I could feel myself slowing but I didn't see any shadows or hear any footsteps behind me either so I got a bit complacent. But... where the heck was that 3 mile marker?!! I was starting to really slow down and knew I'd get caught if I didn't hurry up.
Last 0.1 - 0:37. I saw the finish clock read 24:06 as I came down the straight away and knew I didn't get my time, then put my head down and ran through the finish line.

Official time - 24:13.

I walked through the chute and turned around... and found Debra right behind me. Whew! I almost got caught. I didn't know she was so close behind me.

Magda, me and Jane

Overall, it was a pretty solid race and I felt like I had earned my medal this week. Only low point of the day was the UGLY rumor that I heard... the weather next Saturday shows highs in the 90's...

Trying really hard to stay positive and not go into freak out mode this week!

28 miles for Week 16.

Mill Race Training Week 15 - Hope

Yesterday I ran my last long run before the Mill Race Marathon. Crawled out of bed at 5:30 am so I could eat and simulate race day. Then I drove to Eagle Creek Park to meet up with my training group to start the run. Driving up, and even after I had paid the park entry fee and parked my car, all I wanted to do was crawl back in bed... turn around and go back home... do this run at a more reasonable hour later in the day...

But, I was here and went through the motions. Next thing I knew I was lining up to start the run. We ran from Eagle Creek Park to Zionsville and back. There were water stops at miles 4.5, 8, 12, and 15.5. I carried a GU for each water stop. Initially I had planned to start at marathon pace (9:00 is what I decided) and run some distance at pace before dropping down to a cool down pace. Coach Matt on the other hand had different advice. His was to take the first half easy, then run marathon pace on the way back... but, I was told, this course was harder (hillier) than Mill Race so it might be harder to hit marathon pace. In my sleepy state yesterday I had no arguments. In fact, I just wasn't feelin' it. I didn't feel like running fast. Maybe I'd just take it easy the whole way and just get the miles in. Just, just, just... one of the worst words in the English language.

Well... I started out nice and easy. Once I woke up out of my fog I noticed it was actually a beautiful morning. Temps in the 60's. Shady. The Park was beautiful. Ran the first 5 miles ranging between 9:35 and 10:04 pace lollygagging along. Then I charged an uphill. It felt good. Next thing I knew my watch beeped an 8:58 mile 6. Went through mile 7 at 9:04. I wasn't even halfway done at that point so I tried to put on the brakes. After reaching the turn around I still didn't feel like intentionally speeding up so I decided to run a steady state where I continued to feel good. This lasted until mile 15 when suddenly it felt hard. 15 and 16 were tough. I went through the last water stop and decided I'd try to hit marathon pace for the last 4 miles. 8:49, 9:17, 9:01 and 9:01. Not too bad.

Average pace for all 20 miles ended up being 9:26. Quite a bit faster than I anticipated. Ran the whole thing 26 minutes faster than I did last week. Maybe there's hope yet for me at Mill Race. Then again, I only ran 94 miles the whole month of August... who an I kidding? Oh... but I hope...

So here's how the rest of the week went...

Sunday 9/3 - 5 miles. Ran the county road mid-morning before going to work.
Monday 9/4 - Zero miles. Way tired in the morning then worked all day.

Tuesday 9/5 - 10 miles. Run Club workout tonight was a hill circuit. 2 mile warm up. The hill circuit is 1.25 miles long. Did 4 loops and tried to hold a steady pace. Actually didn't commit to running the last loop hard until halfway. 5 miles of hills total at 8:47, 8:36, 8:48, 9:15 and 9:13. 3 mile cool down. Not a bad work out.

Wednesday 9/6 - Zero miles. I couldn't move.
Thursday 9/7 - 10 miles. Easy pace on the Monon.
Friday 9/8 - 5 miles. Really tired and pretty sore today so considered not running at all but hauled myself out on the Monon again because I felt like I had to get some shake out miles in before attempting 20 on Saturday and turned out OK.
Saturday 9/9 - 20 miles.

50 miles for Week 15.

Mill Race Training Weeks 9 to 14 - August... the Lost Month

Hello. I'm back. I didn't know if I'd be back or not...

August was a horrible month. Between the end of July and the beginning of September I lost 6 weeks of training. I really debated whether to run Mill Race at all... but here I am, seeing what I can salvage.

I had all kinds of problems. First, it was the weather. Hot. Humid. Days and days and DAYS of 90 degree weather. Normally when I can't stand the heat I'd retreat to the hamster track. Well... my fitness center decided to upgrade the whole facility... and was closed for the last 3 weeks of August. At first I figured it would be good for me to get out and heat train out on the roads. Running around my house is tough. It's all rolling hills. I used to run them all the time cause that was all I knew, until I discovered the indoor track and the flat shady Monon...

Second, I got scheduled a boatload of shifts at work. Most days I got home late at night so if I was going to get a run in, I'd have to do it in the morning. It makes sense you know - hot weather, morning runs - except...  I'm so so SO not a morning person. I just could NOT get up early enough to run while it was cool and then go to work. After a late night at work I was dead tired in the morning. I came to the conclusion that I didn't want a BQ bad enough. I remembered getting up at 4:30 am all those days to get to kettlebell class in January the last time I was trying to BQ. I've done it. But not this time. I just didn't want it that bad.

Other family stuff too. My mom got sick. My older daughter went to college. My younger daughter is busy as ever pursuing a professional dance career. I was dead tired and getting pulling in a hundred different directions. Looking at my training schedule and seeing all the runs I was missing just added to the stress.

I decided to practice Subtraction Happiness. Subtraction Happiness is a minimalist principle I came across a while back. The basic tenet is that most people think they will be happy if they obtain stuff - material or not, if they get that one more thing, they will be happy... but you can accumulate all the stuff in the world and still not be happy. With Subtraction Happiness, instead of trying to gain stuff, you get RID of the things that make you unhappy. I love the simplicity.

Well... all the runs hanging over my head everyday was making me unhappy... so I decided not to run for awhile. Come what may.

September 1st brought a cool cloudy day. Mid to high 60's all day long. It was the perfect day for a run. I ran 20 miles and decided to run Mill Race. Getting a BQ will be a stretch at this point but I'm going for it. If I fall short I have Monumental on November 4th.

Here's what the last 6 weeks looked like...

Week 9
After a 50 mile week in Week 8, this was supposed to be a "down" week for me so I allowed myself to take it easy.

Sunday 7/23 - 5 miles
Monday 7/24 - 6 miles
Tuesday 7/25 - 8 miles. Run Club workout. 2+ mile warm up then 3 laps of a hill circuit that was approximately 1.25 miles. Lap 1 pace 8:29/mile; lap 2 pace 8:33/mile; lap 3 pace 8:41/mile. 2+ mile cool down.

The workout felt good but I was DEAD afterwards. By the time I had showered at the Y and picked up G from dance I was starving. I messed up by not having any food with me. By the time I got home 2.5 hours after my run I felt so bad I couldn't eat.

Wednesday 7/26 - Zero miles. I basically "broke" myself Tuesday night. I felt horrible all day.
Thursday 7/27 - Zero miles. Drove all day to Philadelphia.
Friday 7/28 - Zero miles. Spent the whole day sight seeing in Philadelphia and watched G perform in the evening for the end of her summer dance intensive at The Rock School for Dance Education.
Saturday 7/29 - Zero miles. Checked G out of her dorm in the morning then drove to New York City. Went out to a nice dinner at Lattanzi, then saw Cats on Broadway.

19 miles for Week 9

Week 10
This was supposed to be another 50 mile week but here is where it all started falling apart.

Sunday 7/30 - Zero miles. Spent the day walking all over New York City so LOTS of walking miles but no running miles.
Monday 7/31 - Zero miles. Spent the whole day driving home.

Tuesday 8/1 - 9 miles. Run Club. We were suppose to run mile repeats. I decided I wanted to run a steady state run instead. Ran the "warm up" with the fast kids - 8:32, 8:40. Everyone else stopped after that to get ready to do the repeats but I kept going to try and keep this pace - 8:50. It was HOT. I couldn't keep the pace so I decided I'd alternate jogging and running the miles - 11:01, 8:37, 9:00, 12:22, 8:41, 11:18. Pretty much felt horrible by the time I got done. Both this week and last week it was so hot and humid that all my clothes were soaking wet - like I had jumped in a pool wet - by the time I got done running. I did remember food this week.

Wednesday 8/2 - Zero miles. Worked all day.
Thursday 8/3 - 6 miles.
Friday 8/4 - Zero miles. Worked all day. Up at 4:30 am for the morning shift but still got home too late to run.
Saturday 8/5 - Zero miles. Worked all day.

15 miles for Week 10.

Week 11
Obviously I didn't get any big miles in during Week 10 but I told myself not to panic. I felt like I needed the extra down week. I was tired from traveling and working, plus my younger daughter went back to school that week and she had an orthodontist appointment and I had had a doctor's appointment to squeeze in. This was going to be my big mileage week.

Sunday 8/6 - Zero miles. Worked all day.
Monday 8/7 - 6 miles.

Tuesday 8/8 - 10 miles. It was still hot but not quite as humid. The whole family was going to be home this evening which is a rarity so I decided to skip Run Club in the evening and ran on my own mid-morning. Went down to Morgan Monroe State Forest and ran the Low Gap Trail.

I hadn't been trail running in over a year. I love the trails but I hate mud. It had been too rainy in the Spring to even think about hitting a trail. Plus, the highway has been under construction FOREVER! I have to drive it every time I go to work in Bloomington but I've been avoiding it as much as I can. Today was a beautiful day though and I felt like a trail run would be good for me.

So... about 1.3 miles into the run I got my right foot caught on a tree root and fell. Landed hard and skinned up my left knee. Nothing cut up enough to bleed though so I gathered myself and kept going. My right foot is still bothering me. I must be dragging it just a bit because I caught my right foot on something three more times and stumbled, but didn't fall. The foot was throbbing by the time I got done. Plus, there were huge trees down everywhere along the trail. They had been down long enough that I could make out paths around them but when I got down to the creek bottom I ended running in the dry (thankfully!) creek bed looking for landmarks until the trail left the creek because of all the trees that were down. Took me 2 hours and 20 minutes to run it; so about 20 minutes slower than usual.

Wednesday 8/9 - 5 miles. Quads were pretty sore from running the downhills on the trail but managed to run.
Thursday 8/10 - 5 miles. Ran after work. Huge accomplishment.
Friday 8/11 - Zero miles. Thought about doing my long run in the morning before work but couldn't get out of bed. Worked til midnight.
Saturday 8/12 - 12 miles. I had 20 on the schedule but I just couldn't do it. I got too hot. Ran a 7 mile loop back to my house and felt pretty good but when I went out again I had to stop after 5. I had all day to run but, quite honestly, I just didn't want to keep running.

32 miles for Week 11. Way short of the 50 I had planned.

Week 12
Sunday 8/13 - Zero miles. I was still wiped out from the 12 on Saturday.

Monday 8/14 - 12 miles. I was going to miss Run Club on Tuesday due to work so I thought I'd get some tempo work in. Hit the Monon just before 5 pm and decided to see how far I could get with "marathon pace," except I wasn't quite sure what my marathon pace might be. 9:00? 8:50? 9:00 would get me 3:55:58, pretty solid BQ (I need 4:00). 8:50 would get me 3:51:36, a PR by 11 seconds. Definitely not in PR shape but lets see what happens...

It was freakin' HOT. Started at the Y on 86th Street. 8:43, passed on water at 96th Street because it had only been a mile. 9:04. Got passed by the Carmel girls' cross country team and passed on water at the Monon Center because it had only been 2 miles. 8:49, 8:49... this was getting HARD and I was SO cooked. 8:48. I was done. Completely overheated. Pretty much crawled another mile to the next available water stop which was just before 146th Street and doused myself with water before shuffling back another 6 miles to the Y. So... 5 miles, averaged 8:51 pace, then 7 miles of crawling back.

Tuesday 8/15 - 6 miles. Mid-morning run by my house before going to work in the evening. Hot hot hot.

I was done after that. Pretty much what had been happening for the last couple weeks was I'd overheat on my runs. I'd be down about 5 pounds after my run. It would take me about 2 days for me to regain that weight and I'd feel like hell. I felt horrid on Wednesday. I didn't have to work for the rest of the week but I didn't run either. Subtraction Happiness kicked in and I decided running made me feel too bad, physically and emotionally.

Moved my older daughter down to Indiana University on Wednesday then spent some time working on a blanket she wanted for her dorm room the rest of the week. It was $600 on Etsy so I made her one instead for about $50.

18 miles for Week 12.

Week 13
Worked Monday and Tuesday and didn't feel the urge to run again til Wednesday.

Wednesday 8/23 - 6 easy miles on the Monon.
Thursday 8/24 - Zero miles. Worked all day.

Friday 8/25 - 9 miles. Actually started feeling better and the weather finally cooled down a bit into the 70's so I tried another tempo run on the Monon. 9:07, 8:48, 8:43, 8:43, 8:53, 8:40. I was running a 3 mile loop. Averaged 8:49 pace for 6 miles, didn't feel like death, then did a 3 mile cool down. Hmmm. Maybe a week off did some good.

Saturday 8/26 - Zero miles. Spent the day celebrating my dad's 80th birthday. I made most of the food for the party so it sucked up my whole day.

15 miles for Week 13.

Week 14
Sunday 8/27 - 5 miles.

Monday 8/28 - Zero miles. A frustrating day. I actually wanted to run but a plumbing issue at home sent me on a wild goose chase for a replacement bathtub faucet that we ended up not needing anyway and I lost my time window to get a run in.

Tuesday 8/29 - 9 miles. Went back to Run Club after 3 weeks off. Workout was 800 meter repeats. 2 mile warm up, then 6-10 800 meter repeats with a 200 meter recovery jog in between, then a cool down. Goal was to run all the repeats at the same sustainable pace. Once again I had the dilemma of what my pace should be. If I did all 10, they would be sorta like Yassos, but maybe a little harder since Yassos allow you the same amount of recovery time as what you ran the 800 in and these have less recovery time. If I did 10 and ran 4:00 each that would be a pretty good indication that I could run a 4:00 marathon. But... I didn't think I could maintain that pace. I settled on trying to hit 4:15.

So... 4:08.7, 4:07.8, 4:08.1, 4:06.4, 3:55.2, 4:00.0. The first 5 felt good. Six was hard and I sped up at the end to get it over with. Then I hit a wall and felt like throwing up. 4:29.9. Maybe I'd stop at 8. 4:19.0. One more. I didn't look at my watch and ran by feel. 4:11.4. What the heck, might as well do one more and get all 10 in. Again, I didn't look at my watch but ran as hard as I could. 4:05.5. Averaged 4:09.2 for ten 800's. Well, at least I might be able to run a 4:10 marathon. I wanted to lay down on the track after that. I was the last one done. Crawled another mile back to my car.

Wednesday 8/30 - Zero miles. Got home from work at 1 am.
Thursday 8/31 - Zero miles. Got home from work at 2 am. It was horrid.

Friday 9/1 - 20 miles. Today was decision day. If I was running a marathon in 22 days I needed a 20 miler this week. Today was my day off. I was scheduled to work for the next three days as Labor Day Weekend is my holiday to work this year. I had to run 20 today if I was running a marathon.

It turned out to be the perfect day for a long run. I slept in in the morning on account of getting home so late from work. I woke to gray skies, gusty winds, and temperatures in the 60's. Hallelujah! It wasn't hot. I ran 20 miles on the roads by my house. It wasn't fast. Took me 3:34:08, so 10:42 pace, but I FINALLY got a long run in.

Saturday 9/2 - Zero miles. Worked all day.

34 miles for Week 14. Not bad for 3 days of running.

Now it's 20 days to race day. Not sure how much ground I can make up but I'm back to trying.