My tenth half marathon - Philadelphia Half Marathon 2011

2 hours and 40 minutes. 23 minutes slower than my PR in this same race in 2009. I have a goal to get back to my PR (or better) in 2012. Count on it.

Today's race was fun nonetheless. I knew I'd be slow and accepting that makes all the difference. I crossed the start mat 24 minutes into the race. I got a high five from the mayor and off I went. I purposely elected not to start out with any of my phillyfit friends. It's not that I don't love running with them - quite the contrary. However, I knew that at my current level of fitness I would not be able to keep up with any of their run intervals. As it was for the first 5 miles or we leap frogged a bit but I resisted the urge to latch on to anyone. I needed to keep my own pace in order to finish.

I decided to forgo the 3 and 1 intervals this time. I just had a feeling that I'd get too comfortable with the walk portions. I decided to run and just walk for one minute at water stops and/or mile markers. I ran to the first water stop (2.2 miles) and took my first walk break. Did the same for water stop #2 and #3. By now we were just past the 5 mile marker. I knew the next water stop was 2 miles away so I made sure to walk at the 6 mile marker and more or less kept up a run for a mile walk for a minute interval after that.

Philadelphia Half Marathon

On Sunday I will run my (calculating.......) wow 10th half marathon. I didn't realize that until now. Hmmm.

Well my training is what it is so the race will be what it will be. How's that for profound? Seriously, though, I am aiming to just get through this one happy and in one piece. Although of late I've been feeling better and running better, I'm still way behind in my training. So my focus is on enjoying the 13.1 miles and then heading out onto Kelly Drive to cheer in the Phillyfit folks who are running the full marathon. I even have my sign all figured out but I can't say it now in case any of them happen to read this before Sunday. :)

After that it will be a week of no running. Instead I'll be enjoying a week off work; painting the living room and of course walking in the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Then it's back to work and planning for next year's running season. More on that later.

A Duh moment

First, you have to know that it reached 72 degrees today. Ten days ago it snowed. Weather is fascinating!

Now back to my "duh" moment. I had a great 5k on October 30th and an even better 10k on November 6th. For both I did something I haven't really done much - stretch before running. I've paid too much attention to the warnings that stretching cold muscles is dangerous. On October 30th it was freezing (no exaggeration) and I had arrived early to the race start and was trying to keep warm. I walked and jogged around a bit and stretched. At the November 6th race, I was also early. It wasn't cold but the plantar fascitis was bothering me and I thought stretching my calves would help.

Tonight I walked out the front door and started running. I felt stiff and clumsy. At about 2 miles I was stopped at a traffic light and decided to stretch. The last 2 miles were awesome. DUH.

2011 Bridge Run

The weather for today's bridge run was gorgeous. It started out cloudy and ended up bright sunshiny. I'll spare you having to read the whole post and say now that I had an awesome time.

I arrived early. I was in the parking lot around 6:45. I did that on purpose remembering from two years ago that the traffic backs up quickly on Cooper Street leading to Campbell Field. I woke up at 6 am; grabbed my bagel and water and got in the car. I ate the bagel and drank the water to pass the time while I waited in the car. Around 7:30 I headed over to the stadium. There were quite a few phillyfitters running this race; John C, Kristie, honarary member Jamie, Jim, Roy and Julius. Sophorn elected to save her legs for the 50 mile run she is doing on November 19th. Maggi woke up sick.

I headed to the field and immediately spotted John C's orange hat. Roy was there with him. We stayed there through the opening ceremonies which featured the best rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" I have heard. I don't like the song - but I have to admit this woman sang it very well. Among others, Carl Lewis spoke for a minute or two and reminded everyone not to go out too fast. Then we began the walk to the base of the New Jersey side of the bridge. On the way over we saw Sophorn and her camera. She returned my gloves that I had loaned her last week when she did her 30 miles in the snow and glop. They were toasty warm from being in her pocket and I was glad to have them. I saw Julius and his friend Karen when I arrived at the bridge.

Three days in a row

For the first time in a long time I ran three days in a row this week. There's nothing magical about 3 days. It's just a fact that I haven't run three days in a row for a long time. More often than not for the last 6 months I've NOT run 3 days in a row.

3 on Tuesday; 4 on Wednesday and 3.5 today. I took walk breaks tonight when I thought I would run straight through but I'm still ok with that. I have 10.5 miles for my first week of "Pile on the Miles". Not bad.

I'll take off tomorrow and Saturday and then do the Run the Bridge 10K on Sunday. I ran this race in 2009 in 1:04:04. It's not realistic to expect to do that well this time. That happened while training for the Goofy Challenge. I was in way better shape; running much more than I am now. I'll be happy with a finish and to have fun. Finishing in under 1:10 would be pretty awesome.

Pile on the Miles

A week or so ago I signed up for a November challenge called "Pile on the Miles" It was brought to my attention by Jamie. Another blogger challenged folks to pile on the miles rather than pounds during November. The goal is to log your miles running or walking and report them each week. Anyone who puts in more than 5 miles in a week is entered into a drawing for prizes. I signed up and the organizer promised to notify is November 1st with instructions and links to the place to record our miles.

This morning I woke up tired - a common occurrence these days. I also felt kind of flu like and was quickly writing off my after work run. Then I opened my email and saw the message that today starts "Pile on the Miles". Ok I couldn't give up before I started. I decided I would go out tonight even if it meant walking.

Long story short, I ran 3 miles comfortably and feel great! Go figure.