a monumental 8 miler

Last week was a huge accomplishment for me - 8 miles. And it was solid. That was the best part. I did 7 miles a few weeks before that, but it was not good. The morning of the 7 miler I woke up late and ended running at about 11:30 am. Too hot. I was also completely dehydrated. The one thing that saved me life was that West Stride had set up a water station with water and gatorade available for people in training and also for anyone else who wanted some. I thought I was dreaming when I saw it. Refueling at that water station was the only way I got through that run. The course I ran was ridiculous too. Hills everywhere I turned. Part of the run was on a road with no sidewalk with cars rushing past me. It was bad. After that run I thought I was doomed for.

So needless to say I was scared about my 8 mile run last week. I decided that I would start that week off on better foot though. I committed to staying hydrated and drinking lots of water all week long. Also, I planned to have lots of carbs for dinner on Friday night before the run. I set my alarm, so that I'd be out the door by 8:30 am for my run (hey, this is early for me). I also planned a better course - something with much less hills. I don't mind running hills actually. I am pretty comfortable with them during my 3-4 mile runs. It changes things up a bit and just keeps the run interesting, but during a 7+ mile run you don't need a lot of hills. So, I searched for a better route. I use USATF to calculate my miles when I am running roads (which is what I almost always run). I found that if I parked my car near Memorial Park off Peachtree Battle (and close to my house) that I could run down Peachtree Street to Lenox Mall and back -totaling eight miles. It seemed like a long way, but I was excited about running Peachtree. I just really enjoy that road. I don't like driving on it so much, but the thought of running on it was fun for me.

So that morning I woke up early and the weather was perfect for a long run - overcast, low 70s. I was pumped. I had some new music for my ipod and I was ready to go. I remember that first mile feeling so much better than when I ran the 7 miles. I was hydrated. I'd had a carb-friendly dinner the night before. I found a course that had a few slight hills, but nothing too major. I also had a plan to stay hydrated during the run....about that:

After my awful 7 miler I read some more training tips for half-marathons and saw that I should be drinking water or gatorade at some point (re-fueling) if I'm going to be running over 45 minutes. The advice was "once you are thirsty and feel dehyrdated- its too late." So my new idea was to have some money in my shoe and buy a bottle of gatorade in the middle of my run. On peachtree there is a CVS and a Walgreens which I figured might even have machines outside where I could just buy a bottle, drink a few sips and then either run with it in my hand or toss it. Now granted, I knew this wasn't the best possible scenario. The best thing would be if West Stride could always just be there to have water and gatorade available on the side of the road like last time, but I knew that was just a chance encounter. A girlfriend of mine that ran a half had one of the these water-bottle-belt things, but I thought they were kinda crazy looking. I couldn't imagine myself running with one of those things on. I couldn't imagine that they'd be any kind of comfortable. Plus, come on. It's me. I'm not a REAL runner. Can't only real runners who are training for marathons and such wear these sorts of things? I didn't want to be a poser. Anyhow, this was my next best idea, so I went with it.

The first mile or so is through the neighborhood on Peachtree Battle. The next part of the course runs up towards Lenox Mall on Peachtree. So like I said, I was feeling good. When I took the turn onto Peachtree it was so exciting. There were a lot of people running on Peachtree. I like when I see other people out running. They were also people sitting outside of restaurants having coffee and reading the paper. Others were enjoying their coffee while shopping at the farmer's market at St. Phillps. I thought to myself, "huh, so this is what Saturday mornings are like?" I'm never usually awake for these kind of things. I was loving it. Plus, everyone is so friendly in the mornings. When I run after work everyone just kind of nods their head as they pass you. Most people don't even look up. I'll admit sometimes I hide under my hat. Hey, it's been a long day at work and all I want to do at that point is get the freakin run over with. But Saturday mornings are not like that. People are actually enjoying their runs and smiling when you pass by. Some even give you a slight wave. It was a different world.

Anyhow, I was halfway through the run (had already run to Lenox and then was headed back) when I remembered I should probably run into get some water. There was a CVS coming right up on my path. I figured I'd run in hand the guy my two dollars, run out, take a couple sips, and keep on running. I felt like an idiot pulling my sweaty two dollars out of my shoe and handing it to the guy at the checkout. "Sorry" I told him as I tried to catch my breath. He smiled back - "no problem". I assume he's probably seen a lot worse considering he works at a 24 hour CVS on Peachtree Street. Outside of CVS I took a couple sips and then headed back out with the water bottle in hand. Whenever I would get stuck at stop lights I would take a few sips. The best part was being able to pour it over my head and down my back. It was getting hot! It's amazing how pouring water like that seems to give me energy instantly.

The rest of the run was pretty good. I always underestimate how much time I have left when turning onto Peachtree Battle. It feels like I am so close at that point, but I really have about 1.25 miles to go. At the 7 mile mark I could feel the tightening in my quads and knees. I was just tired at this point. A couple of small hills later I could see my car in the distance. I got so excited. I had never run this far in my life. I just wanted to scream! And the cool thing was that I felt good. I didn't feel like I was going to die as I'd expected. I was amazed.

I knew I needed to stretch once I was finished, but I couldn't stand it - I had to get in the car and drive as fast as I could to the house (only a couple miles away) and tell David all about it! It was a great feeling and something I won't forget for awhile. When I saw David at the house I threw my hands up in the air in a victory pose and yelled "I did it!" He was so happy for me. I knew at that moment that I'd accomplished something big and that there was actually hope of me finishing this 13.1 in one piece.

Keeping up with a blog is hard!

Okay, so I have decided that doing the whole blog thing is kinda hard! It's tough enough to be committed to running, but then to come home and blog about it is a whole different thing...

Anyhow, I am going to see this thing through and try to get better at blogging. I know that this half-marathon is a big deal to me, so it would be nice to be able to look back on this blog and see how much I have accomplished once the race is over.

The last couple of weeks have been tough. Our family has had personal issues that have slowed my training down. For about 5 days I just stopped running because of all of the craziness that had been going on. The good news is that the past two weeks I have been back at it! I have to admit, that I am impressed with my progress.

It was hard around the 5-6 week mark. That's when all the personal struggles started that prevented me from running, but also I was in rut with my training. I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. I had run a 7 mile long run and it was miserable. I was exhausted after only 4 miles. I began thinking to myself, "How I am going to make it 13 miles at this rate?" I was on the verge of giving up after running pretty consistently for months. With all the personal drama coming to head at about that same time I was feeling defeated. I knew that it would just be easy to drop out at that point.

My husband came to the rescue, as usual. He told me that he knew I could do it. He encouraged me to get back out there and start running again. It was really the last thing that I wanted to do at the time because of everything else going on, but I took his advice and hit the streets. He was right. I felt pretty good. I was surprised that my running hadn't suffered from taking almost a week off.

That entire first week back went pretty well actually. With every run I was surprised that I was feeling so strong. And then August 20th came. A day that I had not looked forward to for so long. I had put this off until the deadline. It was the last day to sign up for the half-marathon before the price would jump up twenty more dollars. I knew I had to do it, but all along I had given myself an out. I told myself that if I didn't feel ready then I could always just run the Zooma Half in November. That would give me another whole month of training...

So there I was on August 20th - the deadline I had made for myself, the $55.00 cut off for the half. I thought about signing up several times throughout the day, but always managed to find something else to do. I figured I'd wait till I got home to ask David what he thought about me just post-poning and signing up for the later race. Inside though I knew that I didn't want to do the Zooma. Number one, I didn't want to run in November - its too damn cold to be running 13 miles. And number two, I was annoyed that at the end of the race they gave you a "finisher's necklace" and not an actual metal like other halfs. Even a girl who ran the zooma and later blogged about it felt like the necklace wasn't what she'd expected:


The blog also mentioned that the "perks" at the zooma were not very good. The only thing I did like about that race was the course - which starts at Atlantic Station and runs through downtown Atlanta. The route passes World of Coke, Centennial Olympic Park, Phillips Arena, the Georgia Dome, the Olympic Torch and runs under the Olympic Rings. That sounded cooler to me than the race course for the 13.1 in October -which was in Brookhaven - boring! (sorry, my Brookhaven buddies!). I liked the idea of running through the city with all tall buildings surrounding me and running under the Olympic rings. Well, that's what I told myself. I made it all seem so logical. I wasn't feeling ready for October and this race would give another month of training and a better course to run.

When I got home that night I told David about my new plans. He was not having it. He told me I would be ready by October to run the 13.1 and that I needed to just sign up for it. He said that this was the race I'd wanted to do the entire time and questioned me about wanting to change races all the sudden. "The zooma is so much better because of the great course through town." I explained. "What's the big deal about running through the city?" he asked. He reminded me that I'd already run races in the city twice over the summer. "Not through downtown though!" I told him.

He wasn't convinced. "What is really going on?" he asked. I finally told him that I didn't think that I was ready -that after that week off I thought I was behind in my training. He told me that I WAS ready and that I could definitely do it. Besides, I still had 7 weeks of training left. I showed him the details about the Zooma race and then he saw the finisher's necklace. "You don't want that when you finish your first half marathon Ashley - you want a MEDAL!"

"Yeah...." I knew that I did want that medal, not a cheesy necklace that I'd never wear. "Stick to your original plan" he said. "You got this!"

He'd convinced me. Not just because of the metal - (although I can't wait to have that around my neck), but because this is what I'd planned to do all along. He was right. With a little hesitation still left I told him I'd do it after dinner. So after dinner we sat at the computer together and I watched as he filled out my entry form. I have to admit that I was excited and a little nervous. After all the forms were filled out I saw the mouse hovering over the submit button..."here we go!" he said. My stomach started to hurt. And then he did it - "submit" - the confirmation page came up. I was officially entered. He hugged me and told me he was proud of me. Then I knew I had to it. Not just for me, but for him too. I knew right then how happy I was feeling and how even happier I'm going to feel when he'll hug me and tell me that very same thing when I cross the finish line in October.

So there it is. It's official. October 4, 2009 I will run my first half-marathon. 13.1 miles of running. Walking is not an option. Holy crap!

Night Runs

I really like running at dusk. It's so much cooler and the sun isn't beating down on you. Todays run was nice. Felt good. Breathing was steady and I never felt out of breath. I love EZ runs. I look forward to having these relaxing runs. I've realized that 3 miles is definitely not a big deal anymore. I have been doing my EZ runs up West Wesley and then down Moore's Mill. It has been a nice change because it is not such a hilly run. The hills on West Wesley and Peachtree Battle start to get old after awhile.

Overall, good solid EZ run.

Things I learned today: Running after the sun goes down is much easier on the bod, but the mosquitos! Yuck! They are everywhere here! Does anyone else have this problem? Next time I've gotta wear OFF if I'm running after 8:00 p.m. on a summer night.

Training Schedule for Week 4

My schedule this week
Monday: 3.0 Miles EZ
Tuesday: Rest or 3.0 Miles
Wednesday: 3.5 Miles
Thursday: 4 Miles
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 7 Miles
Sunday: 3 Miles EZ

This week I am trying to make up some mileage that I missed last week. Going out with the girls last Saturday night made it way to hard to attempt to run on Sunday, even if it was supposed to be an easy run. We will see if I can add the 3 miles on Tuesday as a make-up day. Thursday I have a girls dinner, so I will have to try and run in the morning. I hate running in the morning, but sometimes it's the best thing to do when I have plans at night. I don't know why people say that working out in the morning gives you more energy. I don't agree. I feel more tired...at least initially. My runs in the morning are never as good as they are at night. I feel like I am still asleep for the first mile.

Anyhow, this is my schedule for the week. Need to get in some good runs this week. I've got the big 7 miles as my long run on Saturday!