The other day I wondered if I was in the best shape of my life. I decided I am close. It's a difficult thing to define, though. What constitutes best shape? Is it lowest weight (no)? Is it PRing in a race? Is it overall fitness? Is it body fat percentage? Hard to define, as is everything. But I'm just going to continue on this journey until I can definitely know. And then I will continue again...
On Saturday I ran the Hartford Marathon. All summer I envisioned that it would be beautiful. I didn't look up much because it was raining. I love running in the rain so I was excited about the forecast. Unfortunately I didn't really pay much attention to the temperature; It was in the 40s and 50s. My legs (quads) definitely went numb. A skirt was not enough. I felt that I ran strong, especially at the finish. I still have not run a marathon without stopping, but I'm getting there. I definitely wasn't crawling across the finish line. I ran the last 3 miles very strong, the last 2 I was flying. I would bet i ran sub 9's. I can't confirm because my Garmin mistook my wet sleeve for my finger and deleted all of my history around mile 23 :-/. Anyway, the race felt really good. I never walked more than a few minutes, and I think that bodes well for my next.
Oh, I did something a bit whacky and ran a half the next day. New York Road Runners is the best thing that ever happened to my running, seriously. The Staten Island half was Sunday and when I realized this earlier in the year, I felt a strong desire to run it anyway. It is part of the five borough series and I wanted to run it. I asked my more senior running friends for advice and one of them told me to go for it, that I'd be fine. Lots of people do the Goofy Challenge at Disney (a half followed by a full), so I figured this would be similar. With respect to recovery, maybe a bit more risky, but 39.3 miles in two days is 39.3 miles in two days. So I signed up. My friend told me to take the races easy and run happy. I ran the marathon in 4:33, which is about "average" when I'm properly trained pending weather. I bag checked protein so I could start the recovery right away. I was a bit stiff on Saturday, but noticed that once I was moving I felt fine. I figured worse come to worse I would just walk parts of the half. It went better than I expected though! When I ran the first mile, I felt painfully slow, but I looked at my splits later and it really wasn't. I think I felt each step a little more than usual, but overall it was a good race. I actually never stopped in spite of the hills. And when I got to mile 13 and realize I could break 2:10, I went for it. I finished in 2:10:01 lol. I have a bit of pain in my left knee, but I am fairly sure it is not cause for concern; I think after running a marathon (and a half) something ought to be sore lol. I'm resting up this week, though, as I always do the week post marathon, so we will see how it feels next week.
The body is a phenomenal thing. We can do anything if we just try.
Happy resting.
On Saturday I ran the Hartford Marathon. All summer I envisioned that it would be beautiful. I didn't look up much because it was raining. I love running in the rain so I was excited about the forecast. Unfortunately I didn't really pay much attention to the temperature; It was in the 40s and 50s. My legs (quads) definitely went numb. A skirt was not enough. I felt that I ran strong, especially at the finish. I still have not run a marathon without stopping, but I'm getting there. I definitely wasn't crawling across the finish line. I ran the last 3 miles very strong, the last 2 I was flying. I would bet i ran sub 9's. I can't confirm because my Garmin mistook my wet sleeve for my finger and deleted all of my history around mile 23 :-/. Anyway, the race felt really good. I never walked more than a few minutes, and I think that bodes well for my next.
Oh, I did something a bit whacky and ran a half the next day. New York Road Runners is the best thing that ever happened to my running, seriously. The Staten Island half was Sunday and when I realized this earlier in the year, I felt a strong desire to run it anyway. It is part of the five borough series and I wanted to run it. I asked my more senior running friends for advice and one of them told me to go for it, that I'd be fine. Lots of people do the Goofy Challenge at Disney (a half followed by a full), so I figured this would be similar. With respect to recovery, maybe a bit more risky, but 39.3 miles in two days is 39.3 miles in two days. So I signed up. My friend told me to take the races easy and run happy. I ran the marathon in 4:33, which is about "average" when I'm properly trained pending weather. I bag checked protein so I could start the recovery right away. I was a bit stiff on Saturday, but noticed that once I was moving I felt fine. I figured worse come to worse I would just walk parts of the half. It went better than I expected though! When I ran the first mile, I felt painfully slow, but I looked at my splits later and it really wasn't. I think I felt each step a little more than usual, but overall it was a good race. I actually never stopped in spite of the hills. And when I got to mile 13 and realize I could break 2:10, I went for it. I finished in 2:10:01 lol. I have a bit of pain in my left knee, but I am fairly sure it is not cause for concern; I think after running a marathon (and a half) something ought to be sore lol. I'm resting up this week, though, as I always do the week post marathon, so we will see how it feels next week.
The body is a phenomenal thing. We can do anything if we just try.
Happy resting.
