i don't skip out on runs due to crappy weather very often...I think i'm pretty darn tough, I may whine about it, but i'll still do it...but today was just ridiculous!
It made it sting a bit more knowing Monday was sunny and clear but I couldn't do it then b/c of sick kids...so it got moved today and what did I get today? Well...let me tell you!....
-Snow
-Freezing rain
-Hail
-HARD winds
-borderline frostbite on my fingers
-SIDEWAYS freezing rain
-misery:)
Yup....that about sums it up.
Nothing much more to say. I can stand alot of weather elements but freezing cold headwinds combined with sideways rain beating against me is NOT one of them.
Nevertheless,it got done. PRAISE GOD.
I'm not gonna lie, when My coach told me today that the Boston marathon can have anything from Snow to 95 degree weather, it freaked me out. i am a bit traumatized from the 80 degree heat that ruined my race last year so i'm literally BEGGING God for no extreme weather in Boston.
My 20 miler was super easy pace...I actually never even looked at my mile splits til mile 17 and then picked it up the last few....last 2 miles were 7:32 and 7;16.
The 20 mile average pace was 8:08 which was way faster than how it felt. I was hoping for more like 8:30's which is what I thought I was running.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....today I picked up MY LAST training schedule before my 2wk taper:) it takes me to the end of march and I felt really emotional looking at it and realizing how close I am to running this HUGE Race. Not just b/c of the race itself but what it represents in my life and all the hard work I've put in. It feels like a everything is coming full circle.
I ran my first marathon last year and the results were very devastating. Everything that could go wrong, did: Heat, dehydration, getting super ill the week before, and a stress fracture in my fibula......I had to take 8wks off completely to heal and have been slowly but surely working my wy back:)
Looking back on my first marathon 10 months ago it is a good reminder of how I am doing things SO MUCH differently this time and how I will yield much better results:)
Mile 22, right after Steve took this picture I felt a SHARP pain in my leg. you can see the tape I had on my lower right leg...that is where my stress fracture occurred. I had bad pain starting 5 days earlier but just thought it was somethign I could run through. wrong!
Mile 25, in SO much pain....could hardly run 9min pace at this point....
Mile 26....barely holding on.....
Crossing the finish line....more than 15 min over my goal time...devastated.
eventually I got over it (temporarily) and collected my cup for being 7th female and 3rd in my AG.
but not a really great day.
Boston will be MUCH different! b/c of the following reasons:
1. I am not overtrained. I am not doing my 20 mile runs at 7:30 pace this time.
I am running higher mileage and yet doing easier less strenuous workouts
2. I will not put any EXPECTATIONS on myself. Regardless of the outcome, I will ENJOY the experience
3. I will arrive Healthy and UN-Injured:):)
- two 22 milers:)
- a 15 easy and a 16 mile progression
- 16 x 200m
-20 x 200m
-16 x 400m
- two 10 x 800m
-5 x 1mile repeats
-6 x 1 mile repeats
- two more 75 mile weeks:)
and a 5K race:)
I am SOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!
I have loved this training so much. I love that John combines 5K track workouts with higher mileage and i'm super stoked to see what it produces on April 16th.
I am STILL nervous whenever I look at the elevation profiles from people's garmins on Boston...so hilly:/ but I'm trying not to think about it too much.
I realize that my 3:15 might not be at Boston and I'm totally okay with that!...I just want to enjoy the experience, the atmosphere...the RACE! I think it is more realistic to try for a 3:15 on a flat fast course so I can always do that later this year:)
7 weeks til I get to run my GUTS out! I can't WAIT!!!!!!!!!!