Week 10 of Training (March 7- 13)

Monday: Power Vinyasa Hot Yoga – 1 hour
I haven’t taken a hot yoga class in almost two years and this was a great core and arm workout. I was very sore the next day!

Tuesday: Speed Session on Treadmill
I must have some good treadmill karma after last week’s suffering because this run wasn’t too bad. It was challenging and I had to push myself, but it was much more tolerable than either of my runs last week. The only bad part was toward the end when two guys started running a few treadmills down from me. One of the guys smelled atrocious – a combination of stinky feet, bad cheese and vinegar. Yuck. It was disgusting and bordered on nauseating.

1 mile (10 min/mile)
1 mile (8:30 min/mile)
-3 minute walking rest
2 miles (8:30 min/mile)
-4 minute walking rest
2 x 800 (8:30 min/mile, 2 minute rest between sets)
1 mile (10 min/mile)

Total: 6 miles

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Tempo Run on Treadmill

1 mile (1o min/mile)
5 miles (9:20 min/mile)
1 mile (10 min/mile)

Friday: Power Vinyasa Hot Yoga – 1 hour

Saturday: 19 miles (3:12)
The first thing I noticed when I woke up Saturday morning was the sound of rain, and my first thought was that I did not want to run in this weather. So I dilly dallied a little; I made waffles for John and myself, watched a little TV,  made the bed, and slowly packed my running gear. I was running about an hour and a half behind schedule, but I finally got all of my stuff ready to go.  As I was in my car and about to leave, my dad called and said that he too did not want to run in this downpour. He suggested postponing it to next weekend, but John and I are celebrating our 3 year anniversary next Saturday and I don’t want to worry about squeezing in a 19 mile run. So we decided to suck it up and do the run.

I felt like I was driving though a car wash as I drove to Bellingham, and I had a sense of dread throughout the entire 80 mile drive. I did not want to run for 3+ hours in this weather. Amazingly, as soon as I pulled off the freeway in Belllingham, the sky cleared and the rain basically stopped. I thought that maybe, just maybe, we were gonna luck out.

We followed the same route as our 17 mile run, but tacked on a little at the beginning and the end to make it 19 miles. It was a rather uneventful run; neither one of us broke down or hit the wall, and we lucked out on the weather. There was wind at times, but no rain! I shared with my dad something that my yoga instructor had said the night before that I thought was applicable to marathon running. She said that the root of all pain is thinking that we are alone in our suffering. It’s important to realize that we all go through the same human experiences and that we all suffer. Toward the end of our run, dad and I reminded each other multiple times that we were suffering. Knowing that you are not alone in your pain is very comforting. Running 19 miles is hard, and it’s normal and expected to suffer just a little.

Sunday: St Patrick’s Day Dash + 2 miles
I woke up Sunday morning and once again, the first thing I noticed was the sound of rain. Ugh. It was also early in the morning (7:30, which felt like 6:30 because of Daylight Saving Time), so running did not sound all that fun. But I had made a commitment and I was going to run this thing with my friends. I got out of bed, ate some breakfast, and figured out how to get to the race. I had planned to take the bus, but I realized that the bus stops were messed up because of the race. I  realized I was only a mile from the start so I decided to run to the start line. I felt like an idiot as I ran down Dexter in my silly attire (specifically, the green bow tie). To make matters worse, as I approached Mercer street, the first wave of runners had started the race. So, as I ran up Mercer to get to the start, a sea of green runners came running down Mercer. I felt like the biggest loser as I ran up Mercer against race traffic. I ran as fast as I could – it was really embarrassing. 

Before the Run!

As you can see, my bow tie was quite dorky. We hung out under cover for about 15-20 minutes until it was our turn to start the run. And then we were off!

Start line

I have no idea at what pace we were running or how long it took us to finish the run. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t care about pacing or distance or anything. I’m following  a plan with three runs a week that are each designed for a specific purpose. Running is very formulaic – I have to run at a certain pace for a certain amount of time to achieve a certain goal. So it was fun to not worry about pacing, to not worry when we walked, and to just enjoy the experience (even if it was pouring rain).

After we finished the run, we went in search for the beer garden. It was 10am and drinking a beer didn’t sound good at all. I’m not a huge fan of beer and the sausages cooking on the grill smelled way more delicious, but I thought when in Rome…

In the Beer Garden

After about an hour (and one beer), we all decided that we should head home. I had originally planned to have John pick me up, but I decided it would be easier to  run home. This experience has solidified my love for running. A year ago, I would have never chosen to run an extra two miles, and I would have happily waited for John to pick me up. Now, running an extra mile or two isn’t a burden; it’s something that I will happily do.

Total: 5.5 miles

Total: 37.5 miles
Cross Training: 2 hours