See Sarah Run

I keep thinking I should call this blog entry the most expensive $6 sale ever. Because the main reason I purchased a lottery ticket to the 2014 New York City marathon is that they were on sale for $5 instead of $11 on December 31^st, 2013. I had completed the Hartford marathon in October 2013 and I knew I wanted to run another one. Many of my friends were buying the lottery tickets and I thought, what the heck? Imagine my surprise when I was one of the only ones in my little gang to get in!

When I bought that lottery ticket, I had only run Hartford, but last spring I trained for and ran the Providence marathon. The Hartford-Providence combo really got me hooked on marathons, but also on running a faster marathon. In the lead-up to Providence, Coach Cowboy and I decided to cement our training relationship for the next training cycle, which would be for NYC. Right from the beginning, he said that he wasn’t sure NYC was a great marathon for running fast, that there would be crowds, that lots of people run NYC for fun. We talked about it for a bit and I said, well, NYC is the race I’m running and how about if I run it fast? Coach Cowboy responded in typical fashion: “Hell yes!” so that was the plan.

On the Saturday before the marathon, the Incredible Mervus and I took the train into NYC with Triple M (Mistress of Martinis and Mischief).

The weather was not good. Cold, rainy and windy. At least the rain was supposed to let up by the next day. We got checked into the hotel and headed for the expo. I was so excited and nervous! I just wanted to get my hands on that bib! I nearly teared up when they gave it to me!

Happiest Mugshot Ever:

The expo was huge and a little overwhelming. I love running expos in theory. So many runners! So much gear! But, in reality, I tend to feel a little lost. So many people! So much stuff! I generally wander around aimlessly feeling like I should be buying stuff but unsure what to purchase. Often my cheap side comes out and I leave with nothing. This time around I definitely wanted something and found a nice shirt. And a book signed by this guy!

That’s Bart Yasso himself!

And I also got to say hello to Elizabeth Comeau from Runner’s World. I met her two weeks ago in Bethlehem and she’s awesome!

Very excited for New York City!!!!

Is New York City ready for me?

After the expo, we went back to the hotel. I put my feet up and did some additional carbo-loading:

Yes, I had pancakes at 5pm. I’m not even sure what meal that was, but the Moonstruck Diner was right across the street from the hotel and they had some mighty good pancakes!

Then we headed out to meet Knight Runner from my online Facebook running group, the Sub-30 Club. Sub-30 is an amazing group. The most supportive place on the internet for runners as long as you don’t mind a little bit of Suck It Up Princess and a lot of talk about bacon. Knight Runner was at Carmine’s having dinner with her family. She was in NYC for the first time and had seven people travel to the city to watch her run!

After a drink at Carmine’s, we found Triple M for some dinner. Then headed back to the hotel for final race prep and early bedtime.

I’m not sure where this tradition came from, but folks in Sub-30 lay out their race clothes the night before and take a picture. So, here is “Flat Sarah” ready to go!

And here is the massive collection of other stuff that three dimensional Sarah will take with her to the starting line to survive the crazy logistics and insane wind:

And here I am the next morning ready to head out:

I woke up Sunday morning to an email from the NYRR that because of windy conditions they were not putting up all the planned tents and signs. Instead extra volunteers would be sure no one got off course. Gulp. I sent a quick text to Coach Cowboy for encouragement. He said I was ready and just to go run. I decided not to let the wind get to me and texted something back along the lines of: “Fuck the wind. Some people are going to run well today. I plan to be one of them.” It’s a big deal for me to have that much confidence, especially before a huge complicated race like this one. A big difference from 12 months ago when I panicked at the starting line for Hartford.

The logistics of the NYC marathon are pretty insane. Somehow over 50,000 runners have to get over to Staten Island early in the morning. They run through the city and end up in Central Park over the course of the entire day. I was assigned the ferry option rather than the bus so Incredible Mervus and I took a cab down to the ferry terminal. From here on out, runners are on their own.

Inside the terminal, it was sardine city. Right away the international nature of this race became clear. Runners were talking in all different languages as we shuffled toward the ferry. Eventually they herded us all aboard and I found a seat. I chatted with two women about my age during the trip over. Bonnie and Alex were both experienced marathoners but running NYC for the first time, like me. We mostly talked about our various strategies for keeping warm in the 20 mph wind. I ducked outside quickly to get a couple of pictures, but the wind out there felt like it would rip the phone out of my hands so I quickly came back in. The views from the ferry were stunning.

Once we arrived at Staten Island, it was lemming time again. We were all herded off the ferry into the incredibly long line for the buses to Fort Wadsworth. This was definitely the most uncomfortable part of the journey.

We waited quite awhile to get on the bus and the wind was insane. In addition to throwaway sweatpants and a sweatshirt, I had “rented” a long wool coat from Goodwill for about $15. I’m SO glad I did. With the coat, plus my hat and gloves, I was really ok. I saw people wearing bathrobes, pajamas, parkas, everything you can imagine to keep warm. Alex and Bonnie said I was the most elegant in my rose-colored wool coat! Finally we got on the bus and out of the wind. I ate half of a peanut butter sandwich and tried not to think too much about how badly I needed to pee. The bus ride seemed to go on forever, but eventually we arrived at the starting village and I found a port-a-potty. Whew.

I had hoped to find Knight Runner at the start, but couldn’t locate her. I sent a couple of last minute texts, but then my phone died. I settled down to wait with my People magazine and another half of a sandwich. I could see the Verrazano-Narrows bridge overhead looming over us. Then I heard the cannon and the next wave of runners started over the bridge. Everyone cheered! SO exciting! We knew that would be us very, very soon! I had barely checked out the best-dressed celebrities from the week before when they announced that wave 3 was off and it was time for wave 4 to head to the starting corrals. I got organized, packed what I needed to take with me and trashed the People magazine. In line to get into the starting corral I talked with runners from Scotland, England and Austria. Apparently the race is 2/5 non-American citizens with France sending the most runners after the US. The entire staging area for the start was incredibly well organized. It wasn’t too crowded and there were lots of volunteers to answer any questions. The piles of discarded clothing were huge, even with most runners still wearing quite a bit as we lined up. I said good-bye to my sweat pants and my lovely coat as we entered the corral, but kept my pink sweatshirt for awhile.

To be continued…..

On July 23 I ran our local 5K. This race is called the Citizens Bank “Not Your Typical 5K”. It starts on Main St., heads up the hill to campus, then immediately back down the hill, then back up the hill, around a short loop (with another hill), and back down again. Also, it takes place in mid-July in the evening in Connecticut so you can count on temperatures around 85 degrees. A friend recently called it the Death Race. But it’s right downtown! They have pizza at the end! There are circus performers at the beginning! So, of course I run it if we are in town.

I’ve run this race three times. The first time was in 2011. It was maybe the third 5K I’d ever run. It’s SO EXCITING [!!!] running a race at home!! There are so many people in the race who LOOK LIKE REAL RUNNERS!!! And I KNOW them!!! Apparently that is what I was thinking the first time I ran it because before I even got to the first hill, which is about 100 yards into the race, I was pretty sure I was going to puke. I looked at my watch and it said my pace was 7:xx, which I have no business running in a 5K. Yet, I was completely unable to slow down. I alternated that entire race between running absolutely flat out and walking because I was sure I was going to barf. I started dumping water on my head at all the water stops. I’ve never been more out of control in a race. Finish time was 29:46, basically a testament to adrenaline and insanity.

Finish line waiting to be crossed!

I ran this again in 2013 and my main goal was to beat my previous time. I was a little cocky about it because my previous race had been so manic. By 2013 I was a little more seasoned. Of course it was absurdly hot again and raining as well. I ran hard, felt like crap, walked some, and finished in 29:27. Beat my old time, but not by much. Turns out adrenaline and insanity are not a bad way to approach a 5K!

This year I was quite sure I could beat my old time and I was almost certain I could run it in under 29 minutes. I thought under 28 might be possible, depending on the weather. I told Coach Cowboy I didn’t want any extra pressure about this race because I was fully capable of making myself crazy about it all on my own. In the end, I did want to talk to him about it though. I told him about the heat and he said something about how heat isn’t that much of an issue for shorter races. I told him about the hills and he reminded me that I am running hill repeats every week now. His advice pretty much boiled down to: for a 5K, you had better warm up. Run the hills hard, run the flats harder and don’t bother with water stops. Remember you’re in much better shape this year than last year. Ok then.

Lots of friends at the race!

A hometown race means tons of friends hanging around the start. In addition to my whole gang, we ran into Maple Leaf Trail Runner and her kids. Fast Friend and I had planned to meet up. We haven’t been running together as much lately so it was awesome to see her. We also found Little Engine and chatted with her. When they started the kids race, I suddenly remembered I was supposed to warm up, so I went to do that. Good thing too, because my knee still bugs me a little if I don’t warm up so I was glad to have that out of the way. I lined up with Fast Friend, we wished each other a good race, and we were off!

Me and Fast Friend

Rose, Little Engine, and me

This time I think I actually saw 6:xx on my watch on that first straightaway, but I didn’t panic. That is definitely not my 5K pace, but I knew I’d slow down on the hill. The first time up the hill wasn’t too bad. I did remember all the hill repeats! By the second time up the hill, I was thinking of all the problems with our hill repeat hill. It’s too steep. It’s not long enough. Maybe we just need to go up it more? Because running up hill for the second time was losing its charm for sure. By the third much smaller hill, I was really wanting to walk. Just for a minute. But instead I just thought, screw that, new goal is not walking in this bloody race so let’s get on with it. On the way down the last hill, I was mostly thinking, I am going to stick to marathons from here on out because 5Ks just suck. But I was running pretty darn fast! When I turned on to Main St, I could see the clock and I knew I would be very close to under 28 minutes. I ran like a fiend, but the clock said 28:03 when I crossed the line. So close!!! I was also 8/43 in my age group, which is pretty cool.

I feel good about this race. I got a course PR by more than a minute. More than that, I ran a much more controlled race and I didn’t walk! Fast Friend and Little Engine also had really great races – Little Engine got a course PR by more than 5 minutes! She’s running PRs all over the place right now, which is how she earned that nickname!

At the finish line, my daughter Rose piped up with the question “What was the course like?” Hysterical! Guess she’s been listening to our runner chat. Then she started running around me in circles to demonstrate her incredible speed. Adorable! We all enjoyed the post-race pizza!

Training for a marathon and trying to move and children in summer camp – these things mean there is not a lot of time left over for blogging. But I couldn’t let this chance slip by. I’m part of a great group on Facebook called the Sub-30 Club. The idea is to run a 5K in under 30 minutes. We haven’t all done that and some in the group are much faster than that, but we share an approach to running and life that makes the group a lot of fun.

The founder of the group, Ted Spiker, writes a column for Runner’s World. This week his column featured tips from our Sub-30 Club on how to improve your 5K time. So, see what he has to say and especially check out the section called Intangibles!
Ted Spiker’s column “Chase the Rabbits”

I started training for the New York City marathon this week. I’m so excited about this race! It almost seems unreal that I’ll be running it in just about 16 weeks. I did my first long run on Sunday. 10 miles with an average pace of 9:43. Feeling pretty pleased about that. My knee didn’t really bother me. I ran pretty hard. I’m excited to get started training for marathon #3!

The start of a new training cycle leads me to reflect on the start of training for marathons #1 and #2. #1 was exciting and challenging. I wasn’t sure I could do it or what it would be like. I had become a bit bored with the half marathon. I was inspired by Boston 2013. I loved training for marathon #1. It pushed me to do things like run 11 miles alone on vacation. It got me asking colleagues to run with me at conferences. I took on distances I had never fathomed before. I loved nearly every minute of the training. I didn’t care for my finishing time.

Marathon #2 was sort of a revenge event. Or maybe call it redemption because that sounds better. I read everything I could find about how to get faster and run a better race. I joined a gym, got a better training plan, started working out 6-7 days a week instead of four. I teamed up more seriously with Fast Friend and Snarky Girl. Thank goodness, since it ended up taking both of them to get me through marathon #2!

Marathon #3 is all about getting faster. I’m working with a coach for the first time so that is very new. I also suspect that I got many of the “easy” gains last time around. This is going to be a lot more work. I’m super excited about the possibility of running faster. I also expect I will get to know some new people this time around. And at the end, a marathon in the Big Apple!

Two days after I ran the East Hartford Memorial Mile, I decided to face up to the inevitable. My knee has been bugging me off and on ever since I ran the Celebrate Life Half Marathon on March 9^th. The Maestro at Select Physical Therapy helped me manage it for a couple of months and I got through the Providence Marathon fine. I thought it would go away when I cut back on mileage after the marathon, but it didn’t. So, back to the Maestro who gave me a stern talking to and said no running for a week. Gulp. Of course I hate that, but I’m listening because I want to be ready to start training for NYC on July 1.

Well, it’s TWO WEEKS later and still no running, per the Maestro’s continued instructions. However, I’ve been doing a lot of cross-training, especially swimming. When I did my first swim, I posted about it in the sub-30 facebook group I participate in. One of my friends on there said in a sort of off-hand way, “Oh, you’re almost at a mile, you should go for it!”

That got me interested. I had been feeling pretty down about not running and just going to the pool and swimming back and forth felt kind of boring. But swimming a mile felt like a challenge. I think I went 36 laps that first time. Which, it turns out, is the wrong vocabulary. Because you are supposed to say “lengths”. And furthermore, swimmers talk in terms of distance (just like runners!). So rather than 36 laps, real swimmers say 900. 900 what? Either yards or meters – in the pool where I swim, it’s yards. However, swimming a mile is more complicated than that. A mile has 1760 yards, which in my 25 yard pool would mean 70.4 lengths. But swimmers don’t swim or talk about miles or 1760 yards for that matter. They swim 1650s. Which is pretty close to a mile and works out to 66 lengths.

Two days ago (June 10^th) I swam 66 lengths! I’m really excited that I managed it. Here are some things I’ve learned other than the whole business about how to talk about swimming:

1. Just like with running, it is possible and even likely to start quite a bit faster than you intend to go on. Slow down after that first crazed lap, uh, length.
2. Also just like running, there will be good days and bad days. Last Friday I swam 60 lengths (oops – 1500 yards!) and thought I was going to die. Tuesday I swam 1650 and could have kept going. Best to just accept that some days are good and some are less good.
3. It is way, way more difficult for me to get to the pool on time than it is for me to show up for a run on time. Sorry running friends who are being kind enough to swim with me!
4. Swimming or running – new gear is always good.
5. On the other hand, if you have pink goggles, as I do, at least your boy children will not steal them from you. Watch out for those girl children though.

On May 26, I ran the East Hartford Memorial Mile. This was part of the Fit for Summer program I am participating in at Innovative Fitness. The idea was to have as many people from your team participate in an organized event and this just happened to be the one that fit our schedules. Fit for Summer is supposed to be about losing weight, but my main goal, other then the marathon, was meeting more people at the gym and having fun so this race was perfect.

The actual logistics of the race were far from perfect, however. We met at someone’s office but a couple of people were late. We drove in two cars to the race, but we couldn’t find the registration and we got completely blocked by the parade route that was closing streets. Sometimes an adventure is more of an adventure when a few things go wrong, and that’s how I felt about this. Fast Friend turned on her garmin at some point so we could see that we ended up walking over a mile in our attempt to find either the registration or the starting line or the other half of the group. Finally a friendly police officer got us headed in the right direction and we managed to locate the starting line.

I planned to run this race but most of our gang wanted to walk. I had never raced a mile before and was kind of curious what that would be like and how fast I could go. Coach Cowboy, of course, said to race it. Fast Friend is not running right now because of some health issues so I couldn’t talk her into it, but one of my favorite guys at the gym was game so the two of us moved into the pack of runners rather than hanging back. They had a veteran with a starting pistol to start the race, which was pretty fun.

The race started and we took off. Coach Cowboy had said to try for under 8 minutes. I was pretty sure that was possible, but otherwise had basically no idea how long this would take me. I felt like absolute crap and we hadn’t even reached the first quarter mile marker. I thought, uh oh, it’s not going to be a good day, but then I glanced at my watch and it said 6:36!! I just laughed mentally because I don’t get 6:xx anything on that watch ever unless I am working hard on a downhill. So, first insight, even in an incredibly short race, it’s possible to go out too fast. It felt weird to do it, but I slowed down a little. My gym friend slowed too and that’s when I thought, oh, he’s going to stay with me so we can run this together. Cool.

I tried to settle in to a sub-8 pace to the extent that you can “settle in” to anything in a race that is going to take less than 10 minutes. I was often around 7:30 so that was making me happy. I had no idea if I was passing people or being passed because I just wasn’t paying attention. I knew my friend was with me and we passed the quarter mile marker, then the half-mile marker. Time at the halfway mark was something like 3:30 so I was pretty sure sub-8 was in the bag. Around the ¾ mile marker, I started wheezing like crazy. My friend said something like “It’s not much longer!” Again, I was laughing in my head because I knew I sounded so awful, but that I was going to be fine, but no way could I tell him all that.

We crossed the line together in 7:19!!! Wow, I was super excited about that!!!! If I had had to guess, I would have said I could run a mile on a good day in 7:50, maybe 7:45. 7:19 was not in my wildest dreams. Running a mile race ended up being super fun and I would absolutely do it again.

I woke up in the middle of the night just like after the Hartford marathon. I can’t seem to eat enough after a marathon to sleep through! So I thought I would just write down some thoughts and memories before they all slip away.

I ran a great race today. I feel so proud of what I’ve done and kind of amazed. I really wanted some redemption after Hartford and boy, I got it. Lots of time at the gym, faster running, more miles. It all paid off. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

It does feel like this race started one second after Hartford ended. I really wanted a better time. That led to joining Innovative Fitness and Wellness. And convincing nearly all my friends to join. And a more ambitious training plan. And three fast half marathons this spring. I have raced five times in 2014 and PR’d at four of those races at three different distances. It’s been quite a year.

As for this race, the lead-up was certainly marked by Fast Friend dropping out. We had trained together since January and I was so excited to run it with her. Though we weren’t planning to stick together, we would be together at the start. She had run the half at Hartford and we’ve raced a lot together. She’s perhaps the best training partner I’ll ever have and I was eager to do this together. It was not to be, however, and lucky me, Snarky Girl said she would run in Fast Friend’s place. Ridiculously, I fretted about this, but it hadn’t been part of the plan. In the end, it was fabulous to run with Snarky Girl.

The Wiliarty gang headed to Providence the night before the race. The kids were adorable – super excited to be in a hotel. They all went swimming while I headed to the expo and picked up the bibs.

Rose after a swim in the pool

My friend Nicole from Running While Mommy and from the sub-30 facebook group had invited us over for dinner. We got to her house around 6pm. Both kids and grown-ups hit it off immediately! Nicole had also invited Beth (from Beth Runs in RI) and her husband Dave and it was fun to meet everyone. Delicious macaroni with gravy! Which is Philadelphia-speak for pasta with red sauce! It was a super fun night and a great way to relax before the race.

Nicole and me

Beth, Nicole, and me. We did not plan the purple shirts!

Back at the hotel, I got final preparations under way. I had texted with Coach Cowboy earlier in the afternoon and he made me inventory everything I would have with me for the race. This was actually a great idea because I kept everything together and then also double-checked the list I had made for him so it made the evening preparations much easier.

Ready to go!

Got my stuff settled and got the kids settled and hit the hay around 11pm. I took a Tylenol PM and slept pretty well.

I got up around 5:45am and started getting ready. I had gotten a bowl from the restaurant to make my oatmeal. They had a microwave in the snack bar so I used that. Worked great! Also had coffee and two salt tabs. Also wrote Coach Cowboy’s three mantras on my arm: You are tougher than you think you are. Never give up. Move your ass.

Then I grabbed my fuel belt, phone, and the bibs and headed out to meet Snarky Girl. She was right in front of the Convention Center with Mr. Snarky Girl and the kids. We said good bye to her family and headed to the start. I ended up feeling thirsty and hadn’t brought water. Usually there’s water at the start but not this time. So, we poked around trying to find some and finally got some at a hotel restaurant. Also ran into Sasha and her dad Bruce. Very fun to see them! This race was SO much smaller than Hartford. We were all lined up at the start and it was still very casual, plenty of room.

Snarky Girl and I at the start

I have to say, I liked this small race way better than the sardine scene at Hartford. They played the national anthem and we were off! Right away someone was yelling Sarah! Sarah! From the sidelines! I couldn’t figure out who it could be and even when I looked, I wasn’t sure at first. Then I realized, of course, that’s Nicole! She was running the half and had managed to spot us right out of the gate! Very fun!

We are on the far left – I’m in the purple hat!

The first few miles of the race passed really quickly. After a mile, we focused in on our 9:50 pace. Snarky Girl knew that’s what we were aiming for and she had her watch set to tell us if we were on track. She didn’t quite understand the watch, but mostly this worked out fine. The idea was to aim for 9:50 running pace, to give ourselves some leeway with water stops and such. Our goal time was 4:30 and that’s a 10:18 pace. We stopped at every water stop except the first one, which wasn’t really set up yet. We think maybe it was for the half because there was another one pretty quickly. It was warmer than I expected and I wondered if we were going to be in for a hot one. Before we knew it, we were at mile 4, time for the first Gu. Snarky Girl had water and Gu at mile 5, which was silly – double slow down – so after that we tried to coordinate better.

We also saw the families at mile 5. Snarky Girl’s son came running towards us and then turned and raced back to the rest of the gang. They were cheering and yelling and giving us high fives. It was so fun to see them. Snarky Girl dropped her long sleeved shirt and we were on our way again. Later we found out that they all headed back to the hotel for a swim. They had plenty of time until we would see them again!

Snarky Girl and I have run literally hundreds of miles together. We’ve run in the dark, in the rain, in the snow, we’ve run on the roads, we’ve run on the trails, long runs, quick jaunts, you name it. We actually ran together in the dark for a few weeks before realizing that we had met before because she was one of Rose’s first swim instructors. Our families also spend a lot of time together. The kids get along great and Snarky Girl and Mr. Snarky Girl have been our home improvement gurus. So, it was a surprise to realize that in all that time and all that running, we had never gone over our romantic histories! That turned out to be a fun topic and got us through to mile 10 or 11.

Beautiful course!

Of course, when you’re running a big race like this, you see some of the same people over and over again. We passed one woman who was sort of moaning and gasping with every breath. This was VERY early in the race! I thought she was never going to finish – she really sounded bad. Well, around mile 10, she caught up to us again. Another woman was running her pace almost exactly and quipped to us “I just can’t take it anymore! I have my iPod turned up as loud as it will go!” We laughed really hard about that. Joked that the woman sounded like she was having an orgasm, or who knows what. Anyway, despite her gasping and moaning, she was clearly running fine and it gave us a good laugh.

I hadn’t been sure how long I was going to talk to Snarky Girl because I’m used to racing with music. I knew this race would be hard and that the music would help, but I also didn’t want to be rude. And, we were keeping a good pace. I decided to at least hold off on the music until the half, which we crossed at around 2:15. I had been aiming for 2:10, per Cowboy Coach’s suggestion, but figured 2:15 had to be close enough. It was a little warm, but at least it wasn’t getting any warmer. We saw a thermometer around mile 3 that read 60. On the way back in at mile 23, it said 64.

I had had Gu at miles 4, 7, and 10. I should have had one at 13, but got excited about the halfway point and forgot. I don’t forget to fuel very often, but I didn’t let it rattle me. Around mile 14, I started to feel what was the beginning of a cramp. I was taking a salt tab with every Gu, so missing the Gu meant missing the salt. I took one right away, just in case. Just to make this list complete, after that I had 1.5 bananas at mile 15, Gu and salt at mile 18, banana and salt at 21 and that was it. After 21 miles, I just wanted to finish.

At mile 15, we took our longest “break” because we decided to use the port-a-potties. Snarky Girl had had to go earlier, but had been a great sport when I said every line was too long. At mile 15, I knew they would have bananas and that I would want one. We had also jumped ahead of the 4:30 pace group (!) so there wasn’t a line and we decided to go for it. Snarky Girl said it was very funny because she was peeing in there while drinking her Gatorade at the same time! I had 1.5 bananas and some Gatorade. I just mixed it up with Gatorade and water on the course, but we stopped at every single water stop and I tried to drink two cups every time. That is for sure more water than I drank during Hartford and I bet that helped keep the cramping at bay.

The 4:30 group passed us during this stop, but we caught them up again fairly quickly and passed them back. That was the last we saw of them. I confirmed this with Snarky Girl once on the course, but I really didn’t want to think about them. It would be a huge accomplishment to beat 4:30, but in the end, we were just over 4:30 and they were quite a ways back. I bet the wind got them.

By the halfway mark and definitely by 15 miles, we were both starting to feel tired. Not unmanageably so, but fatigued for sure. Snarky Girl even said something about it and it’s hard to wear Snarky Girl out. I felt like our pace was slipping and it was taking more focus to stay on pace. So, at mile 17 I said I was going to put my music on and see how it went. We could still talk but I wanted my tunes. This was an immediate pick-me-up. I know elite runners don’t use music and sometimes it feels like a crutch. But damn, it also really works and I love running and listening to music, so what the hell. For this first stretch, I put on the playlist I made for working out at the gym. I like all those songs but it isn’t my race play list. I was saving that.

At mile 18, we got hit with the wind. Wind had been predicted, possibly even strong wind, and this was pretty bad. I am SO glad we had a lot of the race behind us already. It didn’t come up slowly. Just all of a sudden, huge wind. Running in the wind is not very fun, at least not to me, so I’ve become able to judge how hard the wind is blowing pretty accurately. This was at least 20 mph, maybe stronger. It was some of the worst wind I’ve ever run in. And, of course, always a bloody headwind. It felt like my bib was going to blow off. A friend said she closed her eyes some of the time because she thought the wind would blow her contacts out. It was crazy. Thank goodness, we sometimes were sheltered from it, but a lot of this section of the course is along the shore and we were totally exposed. Running by this shoreline was awesome on the way out. So, so incredibly gorgeous. It was still beautiful on the way back, but now there were huge whitecaps and I just wanted to get to the end of the shore to have more shelter. We also had to run one long bridge in that and same thing – just get to the end of the never-ending bridge to get out of the wind.

Before the wind got truly awful, though, we had one more highlight, which was that our families were meeting us at mile 21. We thought about mile 21 starting at mile 15 and seriously from mile 18 on. Just three more miles and we would see the guys and the kids. Snarky Girl’s son was out in front again, sort of a scout, running up to meet us. The Incredible Mervus and the kids had the huge signs they had made for Hartford. Everyone knew this time around it wasn’t going to be about snuggling. They had bananas and Gatorade for us. I grabbed a bottle of Gatorade and ran with it for awhile. Had a banana too.

The plan was to turn it on after mile 20. Make that mile 21 because there was a big hill at mile 20 and families at 21. However, after we left them, I switched to the race playlist and I was ready to go. I definitely still had something in the tank at this point and even wondered if we should have run the first 21 a bit faster. I started speeding up and Snarky Girl right away asked what was up. I told her this was the plan, that I could hold the new pace, and she didn’t have to come with me. She was worried about cramping, but kept up and after a speedy mile, I backed off just a bit. Then, we hit an area along the shore and that damn wind. Then it was just a fight and I was glad to have a little extra energy to throw at the wind. The last five miles were hard, but they are supposed to be hard, right? It was mostly not soul-crushingly hard. It was a bit like a cartoon where you are moving your legs as fast as you can and holding still because of the wind. I did doubt myself during these miles but it helped that Coach Cowboy had said to expect that. So, I just took the doubt as normal and kept running. Snarky Girl was a badass hero. She ran ever so slightly ahead of me and kept a close eye on our pace. I was done talking by this point. She said a bit more but mostly it was just work. There was one very steep hill that we agreed to walk up. Snarky Girl prefers to walk on steep hills and this was very short and right before the bridge where the wind was going to hit us hard, so I didn’t mind.

I could tell on my watch that we were going to be right around 4:30 but couldn’t tell if we’d be over or under it. Without the wind, we would have been under for sure, perhaps well under. With the wind it was going to be close. However, I felt pretty damn elated about this. 4:30 plus or minus a few minutes is still a hell of an improvement from 5:27 and it was really clear we were going to be very close to 4:30.

We passed a lot of people in the last five miles. A lot. Many people were walking. I mostly didn’t feel like walking. Both Fran and Coach Cowboy had said something about wanting to walk in the last five miles. Cowboy had made it very clear. “You will want to walk. Don’t.” Ok coach. We didn’t. It was hard, but we ran that last five miles very very strong and that felt good. That “Work Bitch” song came on and I listened to it twice. Also heard “Happy” during the last five and it made me SO happy to think of Chris from Tell Me I Cant’t; I’ll Show You My Will and Nicole and how  we’ve become such good friends and how much I knew they were rooting for me. Finished up with “Girl on Fire” – can’t get more appropriate than that.

This finish line came into view after a corner, but it wasn’t a long stretch then. I was SO happy to see it. Ran like crazy and I suspect my finishing pictures are awful, but oh well.

Could be worse, actually. Happy to be done!

Snarky Girl and I finished together which was sweet, just sweet. And we found the families right away. Lots of hugs and Gatorade and trying to find a place to stretch. Finish line blur. Many pictures. The stupid tracking app was a disaster so no one knew how the race was going. I posted quickly to Facebook. Final time: 4:33:03! I’m thrilled!

I had a wonderful quick phone call at the finish line with Fast Friend who said “Now you will want 4:15 and sub-4!” How well she knows me. It was great to talk to her even if we couldn’t run together. And, then, time for food and some ice cream for those great kids!

Snarky Girl and I at the finish. Rose photobombing.

Marathon moms and daughters

Snarky Girl, me, various children

Finish line smile!

Best support crew ever!

I’m running my next marathon in two days and I’ve been pretty focused on that so I haven’t posted much here. I did want to include this report I did on my long run in Spain though. Running abroad is great fun, but running 20 miles while in a foreign country for work, involves a bit of planning. So, here’s how and what I did:

Run from April 13, 2013

This run was not like my usual running away from home. At all. The training plan Fast Friend and I are following is from SmartCoach (available at runnersworld.com) and it gave us three 20 mile runs to do. When training for Hartford, I only did one 20 miler, but I wanted a more ambitious plan this time around, so here it was. I could see way back in January that the last 20 mile run would happen while I was in Spain. Otherwise, Fast Friend and I have done all the long runs together and most of the shorter ones for that matter. I knew I would miss her.

Last fall I was in Berlin while training for Hartford. I had to run 16 miles and that went brilliantly well. I was able to recruit a couple of political science friends to run the first part with me and one ended up sticking with it for 10 miles. I think that was a new distance record for her, which was amazing, and we had a fabulous time running together and chatting. Berlin is a city I know really well and we ran past most of the major landmarks. I finished the last 6 miles in the eastern part of the city alone, but with lots of memories from the years I’d lived there. I ended the run at a former roommate and good friend’s apartment and he supplied me with yogurt, bananas, and a jacket to wear home so I didn’t freeze on the subway. Plus, I speak German and Berlin has excellent public transportation. I was never more than a few hundred yards away from a bus stop or subway station that would let me bail if I needed to. The successful 16 in Berlin last fall gave me the confidence to contemplate tackling 20 miles in Salamanca, but I was still a bit daunted when it came down to it.

I was really hoping to rustle up some friends for at least part of this adventure. I’ll do a separate blog post about the great joy running with colleagues has brought me. This time around, though, political scientist runners were hard to come by. I eventually arranged to meet KC and LM. They had planned to run about 6 miles with me but it ended up being much closer to 3, I think because of the heat.

The heat was a bummer but there wasn’t anything to be done about it. I saw thermometers while running that read from 26C (78F) right up to 34C (93F). We only had Sunday afternoon off from workshop programming though. The 20 miles had to get done some time between the end of the workshop around 1:30pm and dinner at 8:30pm, including lunch and recovery. The hottest part of the day, ugh. On the way back from the workshop to the apartment, we got stuck on the wrong side of a Palm Sunday parade and really felt the heat. Also, wow, the Spanish take Holy Week very seriously:

So, a hot day, only a little companionship, no obvious great route (I ended up more or less just going back and forth along the river) – I figured I’d follow my own rules: go slow, cover the distance, take lots of pictures. Coach Cowboy had somewhat different ideas. I started getting texts like “Do the damn run like you mean it!” “80% effort!” and something along the lines of, “What kind of pictures do you want to have on marathon day anyway?? Crap ones? Then go ahead and take a lot of snapshots now!!!” Looks like this run was not going to be a lope around the city with friends or a sort of combo photo session-jog, but something a bit more serious.

This is as good a place as any to list what I took with me to Spain for running. I should have at least taken a picture of the gear since I didn’t take a lot more of Salamanca! Running 20 miles on a trip takes some planning though, so here’s what I brought:

• Four complete running outfits (short sleeves and shorts – had to dig these out of the basement) for four days of running
• Running shoes, obviously!
• Running cap
• Sunglasses
• Hand held water bottle
• Fuel belt
• Hydration backpack
• 8-10 Gu packs
• 1 pack sports beans
• Body glide
• Salt tablets
• Banana (purchased in Spain, duh)
• Protein shake powder (pre-measured in a ziplock bag)
• Compression socks
• Garmin 405
• Charger for Garmin
• Knee strap
• Ice pack
• iPod shuffle and charger

I saved my water bottles for the first few days of the workshop and put them in the freezer in the apartment kitchen so I could do an ice bath.

Ready to go!

I ended up carrying the hydration backpack and also the waist pouch on the run. For fuel, I had a salt tablet at the beginning, then Gu and salt at miles 4, 7, and 10. A banana at mile 12. Another Gu and salt tab at mile 15. My hydration pack was completely empty at mile 15 so I had to stop and buy water. I was so glad I had money with me because I could not have continued without more water. Got another 1.5 liters and drank almost all of it by the end of the run. I thought about having another Gu and/or more salt after that, but I also just wanted to get finished so I didn’t bother. If I’d had to go 11 more miles after mile 15 I would have had them of course and maybe another banana.

I also put some thought into pre-run fueling which was hard to control under these circumstances. On Saturday and Sunday at the workshop, I tried to drink a small bottle of water for each paper that was presented – each paper got one hour and one bottle. At dinner Saturday night I ordered pizza so I would be sure to have enough food. Spanish food is a bit of a mixed bag for vegetarians. It’s delicious but the choices tend to be limited. I ate an awful lot of “tortilla” leading up to the run, which is pretty much a potato frittata. On Saturday and Sunday, I switched from plain tortilla to tortilla sandwich to get more carbs. All of this worked great and maybe I should run on tortilla sandwich more often.

So, how did the run go? I feel pretty pleased with it. I started a little after 3pm. Since I wasn’t planning to take a lot of pictures, I just ran the same route from Friday, more or less. Through the park, along the river, on the bike path. I started by running as far west as I could along the river, until the path veered away from the water and the surroundings just became ugly. I went back east as far as I could. Crossed the river at some point to run on the other side for awhile. The Spanish are not quite as good as the Germans at providing good paths along every waterway, but it wasn’t bad. On the far eastern edge of my run, they were setting up some permanent-looking tents that were going to be cafes for the summer or something.

I’ve never run that far alone before and I’m a quite social runner. Without friends to chat with, I listened to some Another Mother Runner podcasts for the first hour or so. I always feel like my ears get tired of listening to podcasts after awhile so about an hour into it, I switched over to music. During this time, I tried to drink while running, but I stopped for Gu and salt. I tried to keep my pace between 10 and 10:30, which seemed reasonable, given the heat. I had hoped to meet up with my friends at 14 miles so they could finish the run with them, but with the later start and the slower running, I was only around 12 when I got to the Plaza Mayor.

It turns out KC and LM had been doing an evening run plus some calisthenics most nights and they wanted to repeat that. Our paths overlapped for about 3 miles then I let them head off to their push-ups and tricep dips in the park while I finished the run. First I had to buy water. Luckily, the Spanish seem to agree with the Germans: if you’ve got a nice river with a nice path, you also need a nice outdoor bar right at the side of the river. So, buying water was no problem. It came in ½ liter bottles and I drank the first ½ liter at the bar. Got a second bottle, went to the bathroom, and bought a third bottle. The bartender probably thought I was crazy, but damn, it was hot! Actually, by now it was late enough that it was cooling off a bit and other runners were starting to show up on the bike path. I ran back west again and explored a somewhat different road with no gas stations. I really didn’t want to have to screw around with more running once I got back into town so I went out far enough that I was sure I’d have 20 done by the time I got to the apartment. For the last five miles, I probably walked every 1.5 miles or so for a few seconds just to have water because I really wanted to be sure I was drinking enough.

I didn’t have too much cramping but it wasn’t zero either. I guess I have to both drink a lot and take the salt and maybe cross my fingers as well. The hills were getting harder by the end but I kept thinking of the 8 million squats we do in circuits and that was pretty helpful. I also put on my half marathon racing playlist for the last five miles and that was great. I have a really fun collection of songs that help keep me running at a reasonable clip. “Top of the World” came on at the end and I even sprinted right up the last hill to the apartment!

All done!

This is the third time I’ve ever run 20 miles, not counting the marathon. Despite the heat, I definitely felt the best at the end of this one, compared to the other two. Leaves me feeling pretty hopeful for the marathon!

Run from April 11, 2014

On Friday after our first full day at the ECPR Joint Sessions I did my second run in Spain. I’m normally a morning runner but a few trips ago, I started running in the post-conference and pre-reception/dinner time slot. There’s a six hour time change between Connecticut and Western Europe that makes getting up for a 6am run pretty rough. Plus, after sitting in a conference room all day, I’m often really ready to be outside and clear my head. An absolutely delightful development is that I’ve discovered a collection of running political scientists so if I can run with a colleague, I will, but today I ran alone.

For this run, I followed almost all of the rules I set out in the last entry. I was able to tell my roommate more or less where I was going and when I’d be back. I found a bike path that started in a park and then ran along the river.

Salamanca has a beautiful old city but the streets are very twisty and completely full of people in the early evening so the bike path was a much better option. I took my usual collection of stuff with me. For longer trips like this, I’ve just given up on the idea of jamming all my stuff into a suitcase that I can check. Somewhere I’ll list the ridiculous amount of running gear I took with me to Spain. It was much hotter than it’s been in Connecticut, around 70 when I started to run, so I was happy to have my sunglasses, my handheld water bottle and my hat.

I am currently training for a marathon so I was a little more ambitious with this run than I would have been otherwise. If I’m not on a training plan, I pretty much head out and run five miles. Following the training plan this week has been impossible because of travel, but the short mid-week runs were supposed to be more like 6 or 7 miles so I thought I’d aim for a bit longer than five, depending on how it was going.

Well, this turned out to be a fabulous run! I followed the bike path through a small park on the eastern side of the city and then down to the river and across an old bridge. I later discovered that bridge is really old. It’s Roman!

The river runs along the southern edge of the city and there are plenty of athletic facilities there full of people. Obviously, the people of Salamanca also think Friday evening is a great time to get outside and do something active. I saw people: walking, running, biking, fishing, roller skating, playing basketball, and playing handball. Plus lots of people strolling and picnicking.

 I even found a track:

I felt great on this run. It was much hotter weather than I’ve run in for months and months, but I could also tell that my mileage this week has been really reduced. Since running the half last Sunday, I had three days completely off from running and then did just about five miles in Madrid. Clearly my legs were ready to go and I was hitting a sub-10 min/mile pace most of the time without working for it even in the heat. I ran 3.5 miles out and back, taking lots of pictures along the way.

Run from April 10, 2014

One of the best things about running is how portable it is. Bring your shoes and your running gear with you and you can run practically anywhere, even when you’re away from home. I started running while traveling for work and vacation a few years ago and these out-of-town runs have a special quality all their own.

This morning I ran in Madrid, Spain for the first time. I realized while running that I’ve worked out a sort of formula for these runs that is different than you might expect so I thought I’d write about it here. This is a mixture of practical and safety ideas about how I approach running while on the road, especially in Europe, where I am lucky enough to go a couple of times a year for work.

In terms of safety, if you read general instructions on running while traveling, they will inevitably tell you two things. First, tell someone where you are going. Second, tell someone when you will be back. I have found neither of these terribly easy to follow. It’s almost impossible to predict your route in a foreign city and if I’m alone, I don’t have anyone to tell when I’ll be back. If I have a roommate, I certainly let her know. Otherwise, I sometimes tell the concierge, but I also sometimes just go.

I do have my own collection of rules for running safely, however. I always carry my phone. I always carry my passport when running outside the United States and my driver’s license when running in the United States. I always carry enough money for a taxi back to the hotel and the hotel’s address. The address of the hotel is a surprisingly easy thing to forget. I always carry a map. Carrying all this stuff means I have to remember to bring my fuel belt with me on the trip. I trust my instincts. If a neighborhood looks at all dodgy, I avoid it. Finally, I always tell myself that I will get a Road ID first thing when I return home, but I have yet to follow this rule. Maybe this public confession will shame me into it.

I actually fear getting lost enormously more than I fear getting attacked if I’m running away from home. I carry a map, but it is sometimes the crappy tourist map available at the train station or the hotel that doesn’t have all the street names written on it. And, while it would be great to follow a planned route, that almost never works. Roads that look great on the map in the hotel room turn out to be horrible in person. Side streets and intriguing buildings prove too compelling to ignore. This morning I realized I have a different strategy. I plan a general route by looking at major landmarks and larger streets. Then when I’m running, I focus on remembering which direction I’m heading in. I do not have a naturally brilliant sense of direction, but it’s surprising how well I do when I am relying on myself to get me back to my accommodations.

In Madrid, I started by running west from our apartment. I stuck to the major streets partly to avoid getting lost and partly because Madrid seems to be a city of large significant buildings rather than twisty tiny streets. I was also able to go early in the morning. Running in a city in the early morning is a wonderful way to get a glimpse of a place. Not only is there much less traffic, but I always see people heading to work or taking their kids to school. I love to see the city waking up.

I turned and tried to head north, but that only worked for a few blocks so I went east instead. When I’m running in Europe, I always look for either waterways or parks. That is where the other runners will be. There weren’t any major rivers in Madrid so I headed east to the Buen Retiro Park. Sure enough, it was filled with runners. I ran north up the side of the park and felt like yes, if I lived here, I’d come run in this park! It was lovely. FLOWERS! It’s been a rough winter in Connecticut and I felt like my body and soul were slurping up all the warm air they could get. I tried to imagine what the Spanish runners were up to. Were some of them training for a race? Did they meet their friends for a morning run like I do?

Then I ran back west and the short distance south to the apartment I had rented with a friend. I ended up doing my planned route backwards, but it helped a lot to know things like the names and directions of the major streets and the location of the park.

Just before stopping, I checked out the early morning scene at the Plaza Mayor. Hard to believe how busy this place gets later in the day. Nothing but delivery trucks at 8am.

Two additional rules I generally follow when running away from home: run for time, not distance or pace and take as many pictures as you want. Because I often don’t know exactly where I’m going, I spend a fair bit of time on these runs looking at the map. If it wasn’t clear by now, I am very careful not to get lost! Also, these runs take me places I’ve never gone before and may never go again. If I see something interesting, I will stop to take a picture or run down a side street to get a closer look. I generally run early in the morning so if I’m on vacation with my family, I can find things that are fun to do together later in the day. You cover ground a lot more quickly running than walking so I can get the lay of the land pretty quickly. All that looking at the map also means that by later in the day, when it’s time to play tourist, I can generally find my way around pretty well.

If you’re reading this and thinking I’m really brave for running alone in foreign cities, don’t get the wrong idea. There are some things I don’t do when running away from home as well. I don’t run at night. I don’t run in neighborhoods that feel at all uncomfortable or even isolated. My best traveling runs are in Western Europe where the cities are extremely safe, but I’ve seen some great stuff in the United States as well, just being a bit more cautious about where I go.

In summary, things I take along:

Phone, map, money, identification, hotel name and address

Rules to follow:

Try to tell someone more or less where you’re going and when you’ll be back

If you feel at all uncomfortable, go somewhere else

Plan an approximate route ahead of time – this will also force you to study the map

Look for waterways and parks. These are havens for fellow runners!

Run for time, not distance or pace

Take lots of pictures and explore interesting side streets!

Even when running away from home, don’t forget to ice what ails you when you’re done