Run #67

26.2 miles, 5:01:03, 11:29 pace, 169 average heart rate.

28.2 miles this week, 414.2 miles total.

Hey, I ran a marathon today. The weather was perfect (for my Minnesota blood). It was in the low 40's with a mild breeze when the race started at 8:00. The sun was out for a bit, which warmed it up nicely, but then clouded over around 9:00, keeping it cool for the rest of the race.

I woke up at 5:30, had a bagel, banana, water and Gatorade in my hotel room. I've had a slight head cold the past couple days, and added in some stomach troubles this morning. That was rather worrying, but didn't have any problems during the race. Just had one bathroom stop around mile 20.

Generally, the first 22 miles weren't too bad at all. I was averaging around a 10:45 pace, which meant that my parents and sister missed seeing me at mile 13, but I saw them at St. Thomas. A big thanks also to Justin, Jessi, Dave and Jackie for coming to the race. Seeing all you added a big boost to my energy. My left knee did feel a little shaky at mile 17. Not sure why, but it stopped acting up after about one half mile.

The hill up Summit Avenue definitely kicked my butt, though. Around mile 23 I had to walk for about five minutes. By then my running pace was over 12:00, too. I probably walked about one mile out of the final three. That's what you have to do in order to finish, I guess. Once I had reached mile 23, though, I knew for certain that I'd finish. My legs were close to wasted, but my lungs felt fine.

I was able to run the last half mile toward the capitol. I tell ya, the last 2/10 mile felt like they took ten minutes. My family made it to the end, as well, though I was totally focused on crossing the finish line, so I didn't see or hear them.

I've read about people feeling overwhelming elation when they finish a marathon. Knowing myself, I didn't expect to have that reaction, and I certainly didn't. I was just glad to be done running. It's kinda weird how I went the whole race without my muscles feeling that tight, even when I walked through all the water stops and stopped a couple times to stretch, but as soon as I knew the race was over...damn, super tightness. I met my family near the steps of the capitol, which was a brutal uphill walk. Getting into my sister's car was a challenge, too.

After the most amazing shower ever, we went for brunch at Key's in Minneapolis. After an hour, I started getting some function back to my legs, though my calves are still a bit tight now, six hours later. Should be fine tomorrow morning.

So, overall, not a bad day. The marathon advertises itself as the most beautiful urban marathon in America, and the route definitely is scenic...around the Chain of Lakes, across Minnehaha Creek, up and down the Mississippi River, past all the old mansions on Summit Avenue, and ending up in downtown St. Paul. As I finished the race, I thought, "Not doing this again," but I may have different thoughts after a couple days. We'll see.

:)

Run #66

2 miles, 20:22, 10:11 pace, 151 average heart rate.

2 miles this week, 388 miles total.

Last training run. My training schedule really fell to shit these past three weeks, and I didn't get close to all my runs done. I suppose the upside is that it was the taper period, but I'm still not happy about it. Still, I feel alright heading into the race.

My flight arrives in Minneapolis at 1:20 PM on Saturday, I have to pick up my race packet in St. Paul and then I'm settling in at my hotel in downtown Minneapolis. The latest weather forecast says a high of 52 F, cloudy, with a 20% chance of rain. Sounds good to me. Hope it stays dry. Here we go.

Run #65

10 miles, 1:52:13, 11:14 pace, 159 average heart rate.

10 miles this week, 386 miles total.

Decent run tonight. Not great, but not terrible. Actually, my legs and lungs felt just fine, but for some reason my heart rate was really high throughout the entire run. My first mile was too fast. I slowed down after that, but my heart rate stayed high. It's pretty humid here, but only mid-60's temperature. Maybe I was dehydrated from the weekend. I didn't feel that tired when I got home from NC last night, but I ended up sleeping 11 hours last night.

I didn't feel any soreness behind my left knee during the run, and don't feel anything now. That's good.

Run #64

5 miles, 49:09, 9:50 pace, 148 average heart rate.

18 miles this week, 376 miles total.

Much better run today. Of course, it was only 5 miles. I must have tweaked a muscle or something behind my left knee a few weeks ago. I felt it a bit back then, but then it hurt fairly bad (when I extended my left leg) for about 24 hours after the longer run on Tuesday. There wasn't really any pain during last night's work shift, and I can only feel it a little bit now.

Between the cooler weather and my increased cardiovascular health, I've been getting good numbers from my heart rate and pace, so that's good. Hopefully, my legs will get all nice and recovered during the next couple weeks, too.

Run #63

13 miles, 2:22:19, 10:57 pace, 151 average heart rate.

13 miles this week, 371 miles total.

Ugh. Remember those super easy runs last week? Distant memory. Technically, this was supposed to be the long run from last week. I was all set to go for Friday morning, but it was raining pretty hard. Then I got started in my current stretch of night shifts. Blah, blah, blah...excuses. On top of it all, this was supposed to be 20 miles, but after working 12 hours last night, I just didn't have it in me. A couple miles in the middle felt okay this morning, but almost everything else was a big struggle. I was tired and sore throughout. At least the weather was nice.

With the marathon less than three weeks away, it's not a good time for my training schedule to get out of whack, but this weekend I'm going to North Carolina to see Logan, to Minnesota the following weekend for a cousin's wedding, and then back to the Minnesota that next weekend for the race. Hopefully, this was just a one time setback.

Run #62

5 miles, 49:56, 9:59 pace, 145 average heart rate.

20 miles this week, 358 miles total.

This run didn't feel quite as easy as yesterday's, but still not bad at all. It was only the second time in the past two months that my pace ended up being below 10:00. Less heat and humidity is nice. I wonder, though, since it's likely to be even cooler and drier on the day of the race, putting downward pressure on my heart rate, if I should slow my pace anyway so my legs don't get too tired.

At this point, rain is forecast for all of Friday, which is when I was planning on doing the 20 miles. I could just suck it up or wait until Sunday. We shall see.

Run #61

10 miles, 1:45:09, 10:31 pace, 148 average heart rate.

15 miles this week, 353 miles total.

I was *this* close to postponing today's run until tomorrow. I ran last night after work, was exhausted this morning, and had a hour with the personal trainer this afternoon. However, that would have thrown off my plan to do the long run on Friday unless I skipped tomorrow's normally scheduled 5 miles, and it's better not to skip runs. So, I bit the bullet and ran tonight.

Turns out this was about as easy a 10 mile run as I could imagine. My shins did burn a little during the first mile, but everything after that was cake. The temperature was still nice, but it was on the humid side. Other than that, smooth sailing.