The nice thing about this run was that it started at 10am, which gave us plenty of time to wake up, have breakfast, and relax before heading over to Brooklyn.  We went to race headquarters (the Knights of Columbus) to pick up our race shirts and stay warm before the race.  Everyone was wondering how we were going to be timed since there were no timing chips or D-tags or anything.  It was fascinating to me because I’ve never been in a race smaller than about 2000 people!  And it looked like this was going to be closer to 200!

At 9:50, we went out to Prospect Park and started our Garmins, and everyone gathered for the race start (again, very unofficial).  The director of the Brooklyn Road Runners eventually came out and said “on your mark… get set… go” over a loudspeaker, and we were off.  I got stuck behind a lot of people for a minute or so, but I eventually broke free, glanced at my Garmin and saw that I was on a 6:45 pace.  I tried to reel myself in, but we were on a downhill and I felt fine, so I figured I’d go with it and slow down later.  I finished the first mile around 7:30 and started mile 2 closer to an 8 minute pace.  Toward the end of mile 2, we hit the big hill, so I struggled up it by managed to stay close to my pace and finished that mile around 8:05.  Mile 3 was a bit easier, with some rolling hills… I kept up my pace and managed to continue passing some people.  I sprinted it out to the end to finish in 24:04, giving me a 7:45 average pace.  Upon finishing, the race organizers manually recorded our time, name, etc, which seemed to work out just fine. My original goal was to break 25 minutes, and my secondary goal was to break 26, so I was thrilled with this number!

Afterward, we went back to the Knights of Columbus for bagels, bananas, and hot chocolate… delicious!  We stuck around for the award ceremony because it was such a small race that I figured there was a slight chance I could have placed in my age group.  …I didn’t, but I was still super excited to find out that I was the 13th woman overall (out of 96 women).

I know that I can run a faster 5K than this.  Last fall, I was running them on the treadmill closer to 22 minutes.  I’m very excited about training harder and adding more speedwork.  I have a feeling I might be looking for races that aren’t hosted by the New York Road Runners so that I have the chance to win some awards.  I mean, how fun would that be???

So there it is… I’ve finally run a 5K and I have a PR to strive to beat next time!

Additionally, we had a snowstorm this week which prevented me from running outside for 3 days.  As a result, I went running at the gym at our apartment complex, where the treadmills are all slightly uphill.  You may think I’m crazy to say this, but it’s true.  Running on those treadmills completely exhausts me, takes a ton of effort and gets my heart rate really high.  Oh, and it’s about 80 degrees in the gym on a regular basis… but hey, at least I still went running!

Normally I wouldn’t go running the day before a  race, but Drew & I had to go over to Brooklyn today to pick up our race materials, so we figured we’d stop by Prospect Park and run the course beforehand.  I heard that there’s a hill there that rivals some of the hills in Central Park, and I wanted to do one mile at goal race pace to see what it felt like.  So I ran a 2 mile warmup (9:14 pace – felt great!!!), and then picked it up to a 7:58 pace.  After a quarter mile, I hit the hill, and the rest of the mile was exhausting!!!  However, I still managed to push myself through (with a very high heart rate) and finish the last mile in 8 minutes.

As a result, I’ve adjusted my goal for tomorrow.  Give me 26 minutes instead of 25.  

I’ve never raced in a 5K.

For some reason, the New York Road Runners hardly ever sponsor 5K events.  Most races are either 4 miles or a 10K.  Therefore, I simply haven’t had the opportunity to sign up for a 5K in my area yet. Lately, I’ve been searching beyond NYRR, and came across the Valentine’s Day 5K in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park and impulsively signed up.

I’m VERY nervous about running a 5K.  I know that I’m not at the peak of my fitness, so I know I’m not going to run as fast as I’m capable of running.  Of course… I keep on telling myself that this is just a baseline… just a starting point.  I’ll set a PR in this race (the first race is always a PR, haha), and from there, I will have something to improve upon in the future.  I already know of several 5K’s in April if I want to try the distance again that soon.

My most important goal is to try to finish under 25 minutes, which allows me to run at a pace slightly over 8:00/mile.  I’ll probably start off and try to maintain a 7:45 pace for the whole thing, but ultimately (eventually), I want to run a 5K closer to a 7:00 pace.  And depending on how hard i end up pushing myself… I dream of breaking 20:00 in a 5K someday.  But that dream might be right up there with my dreams of Boston.  While I’m at it, I should throw in a dream of running 1 mile under 6:00.

Only time will tell, but I know one thing for sure… I’m looking forward to seeing what I’m capable of doing with this sport. 

Drew & I invested in some nice winter running gear and each purchased Garmin GPS watches.  It’s so fantastic to know how far we’re going while we run outside and our lap pace for each mile, etc.  The only problem is that we don’t always get the greatest satellite reception in NYC, so when we run along the FDR, there’s a lot of interference and it’s not always 100% accurate.  But the areas around Battery Park are good, and the West Side Highway is fantastic.  Today we’re going to try out Central Park for the first time, so I’m excited about that too.

I am hoping that January is simply a building block for the rest of the year, since it’s the first time we’re seriously training since Chicago, and we’re also adjusting to a new schedule of running first thing in the morning.  It’s not as easy to run fast in the morning, but I’m up for the challenge and looking forward to seeing my times improve.

Here are my January Totals:

DAYS OF RUNNING: 19 out of 31
DISTANCE: 77 Miles
AVERAGE SPEED: 6.5 mph
AVERAGE PACE: 9:14/mile
AVERAGE HEARTRATE: 153 BPM

Before the race, I was struggling with mixed emotions. We’d taken a ton of time off of running since Chicago and I didn’t feel very confident in myself, especially in the extreme Miami humidity. I was afraid that I was going to run even slower than my first half marathon in West Chester. I thought about treating it as a fun, casual, run… hanging back and jogging with Drew, taking photos along the way, and not worrying about time as well. But who am I kidding, I’m way too competitive with myself for that!

I decided that there was no chance I was going to PR (that 1:49 in the Philly Distance Run was at the peak of my training for Chicago), so I simply wanted to break 2 hours. Of course, plans were thrown a bit off when we found out that my uncle was in town and he invited us out to dinner at 6pm the night before the race. It was very extravagant and delicious… not our standard “race preparation” type of meal, but it was worth it. When I woke up at 3am for the race, my stomach was not very happy with me, and I could only eat half of my morning energy bar. By the time we arrived at the start, I’d decided that I didn’t NEED to break 2 hours, I just needed to beat my time from the Westchester Half (2:01:38), which was a 9:18/mile pace.

As we lined up, I decided to run with the 4:00 marathon pace group, because that should get me to the half marathon finish in 2 hours. However, as the race began, the congestion was pretty bad. Halfway into the first mile, I realized that the 4 hour pace group was on pace to finish this first mile in 10 minutes, which means we would have to pick up the pace a lot to continue on their target pace of 9:07/mile. I decided I couldn’t let them hold me back and took off on my own. I was doing pretty good of averaging the ideal 9:07 pace, but I soon realized that my Garmin GPS was reaching the mile markers earlier than the race course. Now I understand people’s frustration who say that the race course was farther than it should have been!

I was pretty exhausted by mile 7 or so, and daunted by the fact that there were still 6 miles to go. But I kept it up, and managed to come in at 2:01:22, 16 seconds faster than my westchester half, hahaha. Of course, my garmin says that I actually ran 13.3 miles instead of 13.1, giving me an average pace of 9:07.

I’m not disappointed. I would have been happier if I’d broken 2 hours, but considering all the circumstances (only 2 weeks of training, Miami humidity, crazy dinner, etc), I don’t mind it at all. It’s nice to know that I am at a point where I can run a half marathon on any given day and come close to a 2 hour time.

This race also resulted in some of the worst race photos of myself I’ve ever seen. Someday I’m hoping to actually look cute in a race.

Check out the amazing finish line montage as a stumble across, obsess over my time, and then look like I begin to scream.  In reality, I think I was taking a huge deep breath of exhaustion.

Miami was a really pretty race course and I would definitely recommend it.  I’m not sure I’ll run it again, though, one time may be enough for me.  And I wouldn’t run the full marathon because it’s so small compared to the Half, so I think I would get frustrated by the congestion for the first half of the race.  But it was a fun time for a good cause, and felt awesome to be racing again.  I’m anticipating all the racing that will be happening more frequently now that it’s the new year!

I ran a marathon!!!  26.2 miles!!!!!!

It’s already 3 months later, and this is still surreal to me.  Just the other night, we were sitting at home, and I said, “Drew???” and he said, “Yeah?” and I said, “…we ran a marathon!!!”  When I started running about 2 or 3 years ago, I thought about marathoning… and I thought that it was something

I’d like to do… someday.  I read stats about the average age for women marathoners was around 34 years, so I figured I was in no hurry at all.  And then I ended up running my first at 28 years old, already planning the one I’d be running the following year.

But yeah, back to Chicago.

It was cold.  One of the things I’d worried about when signing up for Chicago was that the weather could potentially be really hot.  In 2006 and 2007, they had extremely high temperatures (mid to high 80′s) and they actually had to close the course early because it became too dangerous to continue.  So in the end, I couldn’t complain that in 2009, the temperature at the start was around 38 degrees, reaching a high of about 45 by the time we finished.

I did fundraising for this event, in honor of my boss, Dorcas Casey, who passed away in July of 2008 after a tough battle with cancer.  I was amazed and proud by the fact that I’d endeed up collecting just over $8,000 for her cause, and I knew that this would help inspire me throughout the day.

Drew & I came prepared with our “throwaways”, a cheap sweatshirt & sweatpants that we would leave at the starting line when the race began.  We separated as soon as we reached the start corral, since I was planning on running with the 4:00 pace group, and Drew was looking for the 4:30 group.  About 10 minutes before the gun went off, everyone shed their throwaways and literally threw them toward the outsides of the coral.  I remember looking up and down the road to see 33,000 people and ton of sweatshirts and sweatpants flying overhead.

As the race began, we went under an overpass, the the spectators were everywhere… cheering and holding signs.  This was the moment where I felt the most pride.  “I’m actually doing this… I’m running a marathon.  In 4 hours, I’ll have done it.  Wow, 4 hours is a long time to run….”

The pace group felt easy, and even though I stopped at the port-a-potty twice before the race started, I knew that sometime in those 4 hours, I was going to have to go to the bathroom again, so i ran closer to the 3:50 pace group for the first few miles.  That way, I knew that I would have some padding to stop and use a port-a-potty sometime during the race.  Around mile 7, I was still feeling good, about 1 minute 30 seconds ahead of the 4hour pace group, and warmed enough to take off my long sleeved shirt and toss it to the side, so I ran in a sleeveless shirt and shorts for the rest of the race.  At mile 8, I stopped at the port-a-potty, and came out just as the 4 hour pace group was passing by, so I jumped in with them again and continued.

I think that I was over-hydrating during this race.  Being my first marathon, I had no idea what to anticipated, and I was afraid of the dreaded “wall” that runners hit around mile 20 or 21, so I wanted to make sure I had as much water and sports drinks (sugar) as possible.  As a result, I stopped at every aid station (essentially every mile).

…Not the greatest plan, because right at the halfway point (13 miles in), I got a severe cramp in my left side.  Not fun, and definitely not something that typically happens to me.  I walked for about a minute, massaging my side and watched as the 4hour pace group pulled ahead.  I started jogging again, pushing through the pain.  By mile 14, I was feeling better, and by mile 15, I was still in sight of the 4hour group.

Miles 20 and 21 came and went… and I didn’t hit a wall.    Around mile 23 or 24, I started thinking to myself, “Do I REALLY want to break 4 hours?  4:15 would still be totally acceptable.  After all, this is only my first marathon……”  But I reminded myself of all the people who’d be waiting to hear how I’d done… all the people I told that I wanted to break 4 hours…  and I pushed on.

Around mile 25 things started to become surreal as we ran down Michigan Avenue, everyone around me knowing that the 4hour mark was completely within our grasps.  There was no need to push it to the finish, just maintain this steady, constant pace, and we’d all make it.  We threw our arms in the air as we crossed the finish line, and I looked down at my watch to confirm that I was under 4hours.  This was the greatest feeling ever.  I collected my space blanket (even though I wasn’t cold at all) grabbed a beer from the tables just after the finish line, and someone congratulated me and put my medal around my neck.  I texted Drew to tell him that I was finished and wish him luck for his finish, and called my mom & dad to let them know that I’d done it.  I’d accomplished all my goals and I was completely happy.  Drew came in at 4:22 and we shared more beers, took pictures, and shared stories about the race.

Before we ran Chicago, Drew had said that he had a feeling that his favorite distance would be the half marathon, instead of the marathon.  He knew that he’d run a few marathons, but didn’t expect to enjoy them as much as the halfs.  So one of my favorite moments after Chicago was when Drew said, “I loved it.  I absolutely loved it.  More than any half marathon, it was my favorite race ever and I can’t wait for New York.”

The hills of the bridges on the NY course scare me, but with a year to train, I know that it can be a great event.  I’m also looking forward to New York because it means that for the first time, we can have friends and family along a race course cheering us on and greeting us at the finish.

Here are the official race stats:

Chicago Marathon
Chicago, IL
October 11, 2009
Age: 28
33,701 Finishers – 19,075 M/14,626 F
Chip Time: 3:59:27
Overall Place: 11,072
Gender Place: 2889
Age Place: 781

I passed the one mile mark in this race without seeing the marker, so I had no idea how far we were or how fast I was going, but I knew that I was eventually starting to feel exhausted.  But knowing that it was only 1.7 miles total made me continue pushing toward the finish because it had to be over sooner or later, right?

And it was.  I was pretty pleased that I finished in 12:33, putting me at a pace of 7:22/mile.  It was nice weather, a nice morning, and a nice race.

Here are the official race stats:

Norway Run
Central Park, NYC
October 3, 2009
Age: 28
1041 Finishers – 494 M/547 F
Chip Time: 12:33
Overall Place: 230
Gender Place: 42
Age Place: 13

…One week till Chicago!!!!!!!

I’m not sure how I feel about this race.  I’d been anticipating it all year long, but also dreading it.  In high school, I ran the mile between 7:45 and 8:15, always making sure to do whatever it took to get the presidential fitness award.  When I left for college, I had to run a sub-8:00 mile to join the soccer team, and I ended up closer to 8:20.  Rather than run the mile again, I ended up quitting the team (for a variety of other reasons as well).

In the summer of 2008, I ran a 7:00 mile on the treadmill for the first time.  Based on my history, I saw this as a great accomplishment, so I always looked forward to the Fifth Avenue Mile as a chance to show how far I’ve come since high school.  But at the same time, I’ve learned to love running long distances at a nice, relaxed pace.  I love distance running because it’s not a competition for me… it’s just me, racing against myself.  I don’t feel that pressure and anticipation that I used to feel as I waited on the starting line at a track meet before the gun would go off.  But I knew that the 5th Avenue Mile was going to feel much more like a high school track event than the typical races I’d been running.

As the gun went off and I sprinted down 5th Avenue, I enjoyed the race for about…. 3 minutes.  Reaching the halfway point shortly after that, there was the daunting thought of, “oh man, this is only halfway????”  I did slow my pace a bit for the second half, because the 1st half had been faster than I anticipated.  I finished at 6:34, with my lungs burning.

I was definitely proud, there’s no doubt about that.  However, at the same time, I was also thinking, “I hate this race!!!” and already dreading the next year (come on, you know I have to try to beat myself again next year!).  Due to the extreme exertion and the cold temperatures, I coughed for the following half hour, but eventually recovered.  I decided that my body felt worse after that 1 mile run than it had after running 13.1 miles at the Philly Distance Run.

Here are the official race stats:

Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile
New York, NY
September 26, 2009
Age: 28
3796 Finishers – 2168 M/1628 W
Chip Time: 6:34
Overall Place: 1613
Gender Place: 249
Age Place: 86
Age Graded: 63.8%

…See you next year, Fifth Avenue!

Drew & I didn’t know anything about the Philly Distance Run until after we ran the NYC Half.  The races were a month apart, and the PDR was only 3 weeks before Chicago, but we couldn’t help signing up.  We both knew we could do better than NYC (due to the weather and the hills of Central Park, and we were instantly enamoured by the nice flat course that the PDR takes along the river.

I think all I really wanted to do here was to set a PR based on the NYC Half, which I finished in 1:56:00 (8:51 pace).  Ideally, I figured that anything under 1:55 would make me happy, but I didn’t have a specific goal besides that.

Race day was beautiful.  A little chilly in the morning, but perfect race weather.  They did a nice staggered start which worked really well.  As I passed mile 1, the street in the opposite direction was around mile 7, which the elites were just approaching.  It was exciting to see Ryan Hall, Josh Cox, and the others pass by.

I enjoyed the scenery and let myself go at a comfortable pace.  I figured I was averaging around 8:30/mile for the first half of the race.  The course took us down by the water and I continued to be fascinated by how good I felt at this pace.

At the halfway point, I looked at my watch and started crunching numbers…  I thought to myself, “Wow, if I try a little harder, I could potentially even break 1:50!”  But then I thought, “Don’t push too hard… Just break 1:55 this time, and you can break 1:50 next time.”  At mile 10, I checked my watch again, and I realized I was even closer to a 1:50 finish time than I realized.  So I thought, “Forget it, I’ll go for it!!!”  I picked up the pace and started pushing toward the finish line, 3.1 miles away.

I came in at 1:49:04 and I felt fantastic.  My average pace was 8:20, and I hit the 60.4 percentile for my Age Grade percentage.  The medals for the race were really cool, and my favorite part was the beer garden where we sat in the grass and had some delicious early morning drinks before going out for a nice brunch in Philly.

Here are the official race stats:

Philly Distance Run
Philadelphia, PA
September 20, 2009
Age: 28
12,379 Finishers – 5932 M/6447 F
Chip Time: 1:49:04
Overall Place: 3314
Gender Place: 889
Age Place: 206
Age Graded: 60.4%

I can see this becoming an annual event where we go down to Philly and see what we can accomplish on this great course every year.

I have no idea who decided that the NYC Half Marathon should be held in the middle of August.  We were definitely worried about the weather for this event.  In the end, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it still hovered around 80 degrees.  Drew and I prepped well for this event though, making sure to hydrate all day on Saturday, and load up on carbs & salt (yes, wanted to be sure that we retained water).  I bought a visor to keep the sun out of my eyes and help pick up some sweat, but also to make sure that the top of my head stayed uncovered so that heat could be released. 

On Saturday, we went to a running store where Ryan Hall was signing posters, so I was pretty excited about that.  He signed the poster with “Erin, Discover what’s inside.” I even had my picture taken with him:

Since I hadn’t run a half marathon since the Westchester Half (where I averaged a 9:18 pace), I was confident that I could set a new personal record in this race, even though it was going to be hot outside and I’d have to deal with the hills of Central Park.  At the very least, my goal was to break the two hour mark since I hadn’t achieved that last time.  I knew that I’d have to run right around a 9:06 pace to do this.  As I ran Central Park, I kept the pace just under 9 minutes, which felt good since for most of my other races, I ran Central Park closer to an 8 minute pace.  After mile 7, we exited the park and ran through Times Square and then down the West Side Highway.  This was a really cool experience.  I can’t believe that the NY marathon doesn’t include running through Times Square. 

I got pretty tired by mile 11, but I didn’t give up and ended up finishing at 1:56:00 with an average pace of 8:51.  Considering the hills & the heat, I knew that I’d just set a 5 minute PR that I could beat on a faster course in better weather, so I was definitely pleased with my performance.

Here are the official race stats:

NYC Half-Marathon:
New York City
August 1, 2009
Age: 28
10,196 Finishers – 5051 M/5145 F
Chip Time:  1:56:00
Overall Place: 2932
Gender Place: 858
Age Place: 288
Age-Graded:  56.7%