Marathon Mom

This was the inaugural year of this new race and it included a full/half marathon, 20 miler and 12K. Smaller race with about 2000 combined in all four races with about 500in the full. I tried training with the Pfitz 18/55 plan and things were going well until the stress reaction about 6 weeks ago which led to almost 4 weeks off and basically a 6 week taper. The lack of training changed the way I ran and changed my goals for the race. My plan was to enjoy the run, start slow and easy, run a smart race and have fun. Early morning and up at 4am to eat and leave, we parked at the lot within walking distance to the start and made the wrong choice of following everyone in front of us who took the very long way to the start, about 40 minutes and a very long set of stairs later we were there. Took a quick Gu, hit the porta potty and headed to the start. I found the 4:00 pacer and lined up to prevent starting too fast. The start was really crowded with all the runners and spectators who thought...

Living in Minnesota my entire life I should be used to this, but it always surprises me. Last weekend we had frost warnings Saturday night after that windy, cold half marathon and woke up Sunday to frost on the grass. Last night I had a sluggish run only to find out afterwards that it was 92F during the run at 6pm! We hit record highs of 97F yesterday. It was a great night for ice cream on the deck after running, but I'm not quite ready for this heat yet. The ritual weather obsession for this weekends marathon is in full swing, but of course the forecast changes daily. Guess I can expect anything from 40s-upper 70s with sun, clouds or rain. Wouldn't it be nice if we all had jobs where we could be wrong all the time?

The beginning of my training went really well, the best I had ever had until 6 weeks ago when I found out I had a stress reaction in my right tibia. I ended up not running for almost 4 weeks and and have only been back with minimal mileage the past couple weeks. This race is only a couple miles from our house and on some great paved trails through parks and along a lake. Wokw up at 5:30am to gusting winds (20 mph sustained with gusts) and temps in the upper 30s, I think it was low 40s during the race. It took me about an hour to decide what to wear, finally decided on shorts, winter socks, 2 tech shirts (one long sleeve and one short sleeve), a jacket, gloves and headband. It was so nice to only leave 30 minutes before the actual race start. We lined up on the track for one lap before heading out. My plan was to run comfortable and stay behind the 1:45 pace leader, he wasn't a very good pace leader, he kept stopping at the mile to catch up on time since he was running way too fast....

Tomorrow will be my first race since last Summer and even then I wasn't running at my best. I had great expectations and high hopes when this training season started. That all ended in early April after my last 20 miler and the tibial stress fracture. It has been 5 weeks since any real training. I have kept low mileage for the past couple weeks since being back. The total I have run since the injury is less than I normally run each week. Last weekend I managed a 10 mile run with a short walk in the middle and 5 miles is the longest continuous running distance before walking. Not sure how this weekend and the marathon next weekend will go, but I plan to finish. I plan to take it easy and make myself walk the water stops, next weekend is my goal anyways. Ideally I would love to run under 1:45 tomorrow, but not sure if that is realistic. Course Map Elevation Profile: Looks a little hilly

It's been awhile since I posted and few things have happened in that time. The biggest being finishing my Master's program which took up much of my time and added to the lack of writing. -About a month a go I ran a great 20 mile training run which started with a tightness in my right shin that went away after a couple miles. The following day I woke with increased pain and my next run was cut short due to the pain. After 1 week off running and the pain getting worse I saw my sports doc and got an MRI which showed a stress reaction in my right tibia. I missed the Earth Day 20 miler and ended up taking a full 3 weeks off. I discovered a pool treadmill and was able to get in a run on that which helped a lot. -The 100 mile Ironman Bike Ride was miserable. Cold, wind, rain and sleet lead to numb hands, soaking socks and gloves and us cutting the ride short. -I have now been back to running for almost 1 week. 3 pain free easy runs of 3-5 miles. The plan is to continue with the every ...