Skunk Recap

Sunday I ran the Skunk Cabbage Classic. I guess it is named for the Skunk Cabbages along the course - only somehow I missed them. God knows there was nothing else to look at so I'm not sure how - maybe because I don't have the slightest idea what a skunk cabbage looks like but no matter. There was a pretty sweet pheasant farm we passed twice...but I digress. The race was pretty small but it seemed like there were some fast runners there. There was a 10k as well as the half and that started 15 minutes beforehand. The race started late - 10:15 so there was plenty of time for me to eat breakfast (pb, banana, honey on a sandwich thin) and have coffee, find the start and get registered without waking up insanely early. Before you get bored, my finsh time was 1:48:27, pace 8:17. So I made my sub 1:50 goal! Okay, I realize it may not look that impressive to some of you, and may look great to others, but this was a pretty good run for me. I hadn't done a lot of distance lately and this is almost 7 minutes faster than my previous half-marathon PR which was 1:55 and change. Granted, I've only actually run 2 halfers - not counting the 2 halves of the full I did, but still a significant improvement. And, I faxed in my time to Chicago so hopefully I'll get into a corral for the Chicago marathon. I think it will make me feel better just because the race is going to be so giant that even though there would be 4000 people in my corral that is better than not being in one.

This is one of the hardest races I've done - I think partly because of the distance and while the hills weren't anything major - they did wear me down after a while. I think the other reason was because they didn't allow ipods as the roads weren't closed for the race. That was a long freakin' time for me to run on my own with no music - and the race was out in the country so there was nothing to look at. It was mind-bogglingly boring and hard to stay in it mentally. But I kept going and got through it at my goal pace. I'd love to get this pace closer to 8s for a half in the fall - and I think I could run faster on a flatter course but all in all I'm very happy with the run.

I also kept my splits pretty even - it was nice not to go out too fast and see really slow splits at the end of the race. I think the gradual uphill start helped - mile 4 was actually my slowest mile of the race and I think I ran the first and second halves in almost exactly the same time. I took a couple clif shot blocks and some gatorade, starting right before mile 7 which I think helped too. Although, I still need to perfect my eating/drinking while running technique. I wanted one more clif shot instead of the gatorade but didn't get a water so, oh well. Whatever.

The other good news is I'm recovering a lot faster than I did from the hilly 10 last weekend. I ran 4.5 today with 5 quarter intervals and felt pretty good. I'll have to get my splits from that up but I'm tired so for now here is what Garmin had to say about my race: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78568965 That's it, I'm out!

It's on!

Okay, I'm still sick but I did manage to get in my 10 miler yesterday morning. I'm going to try and link to the garmin data - check out the hills: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/76949805

I've been having some trouble with my garmin finding satellites - I think I ran about .6 miles before my garmin connected - it does not like getting up early! I actually think the buildings "downtown" at the beginning of the run got in the way when I first turned it on. So, I think my run was just about 10 miles even though the Garmin has 9.32. Time was 1:18:34 (8:26 pace). The run felt hard although I didn't really feel like I was going that fast - so I was pleasantly surprised with my time being as good as it was. Like I said - my goal for the race would be sub-80 but I'm sick and certainly was having problems pushing it, and I was chatting for part of the run and stopped at a water stop so I still think that is a reasonable goal.

How do you guys deal with water stops? I typically do NOT like stopping completely but got trapped behind people yesterday and had to.

Also notable, I did not use my ipod at all. I tend to depend on my ipod for runs but this one seemed fine without it, I had it with me and just never ended up using it! I know I should get used to running without it but sometimes I need that extra push. Do you run with music?

So - based on my performance yesterday, I think I'm going to try and do that half next weekend. I just need to focus on sub 1:50 and not try and go out too hard. I feel like I should be able to do this, I think I could have done another 3 or so miles yesterday at the same pace if they were flat miles. Hopefully I'm not completely off base there!

In other news, the Yankees ( I love AJ Burnett and am ready for him to have another great year) AND UConn both won yesterday. An amazing sports day for me! I'm a Syracuse fan but since they are out I am cheering on the Big East all the way! I also really admire Kemba Walker and would love to see lead the Huskies to a championship! We had friends over yesterday for the game and it was really fun. We're trying to entertain more - and I think we also need more "couple" friends to hang out with. We all really clicked yesterday and it was a fun vibe. We did chili and pulled pork so no stress about dinner cause everything could just stay in the crockpot and be ready whenever. Lots of food and good times :) Now I'm just trying to take it easy today - maybe work a little and get over this cold. I'm planning on a speed workout Tuesday and maybe 2 other runs, somewhat easy this week and then the race is next Sunday!