Putting my body back together...

I am now two weeks out of the Marine Corps Marathon and today's run finally made me feel like I was put back together. But it took a lot.

For the first couple of days after MCM, I rested. On day 3, I ran 2.5 miles, just to try and get the lactic acid that was likely in my muscles to start easing its way out. After my last marathon, this was enough, but after this one - I was still sore.

And then a friend of mine sent an offer to try out Massage Envy, and since there is one located less than a mile from my home in Clarendon, I was happy to say yes (even though it meant missing part of one of the Royals' World Series games). I booked a 9:00 PM appointment so I could see Helen read a story at a school event before heading off to heal my muscles.

I had warned the spa when I set my appointment up that my body was a mess. The massage was fantastic.  I should've gone sooner - and the next time I run a marathon, I will! For only $60, you can get a first-time massage -  and since they got my legs back to working order, I'm guessing they can fix a lot of muscle aches.

After the massage,  I went on another short run during my regular track workout, one more easy run that resulted in me walking up the final hill, and today, finally, I made it about 10 miles at a pretty decent clip without feeling exhausted.

I've decided to drop my full marathon entry, which I picked up cheaply at last year's Rock-n-Roll marathon, down to a half. I'm spending the winter working on my form, including cashing in a certificate I won at a silent auction for a stride analysis. I think spending the next few months working on speed will be better than continuing working on endurance. Not sure what a reasonable goal for the half will be, but I'm thinking somewhere around 1:45 is reasonable (though a stretch, for sure). A friend wants to run a 1:37 half and use it to qualify for the NYC marathon, in order to avoid the lottery, but I'm pretty sure I need a bicycle to go that fast.

Thank you, Massage Envy, for setting me on the right path back  to feeling good!

Elaine

Disclosure: My massage was complimentary. I'll be heading back after long runs in the future!

Run, Cowboy, run

On Halloween, my running group held a Kids' Fun Run. I had offered to help marshal the course since my children were among the older children attending, and they'd be fine without me running beside them. The night before the run, both Connor and Helen stayed up late. (Sadly, this was the game Ed and I chose for Connor to stay up for - and it was the one World Series game the Royals lost.) In any case, I decided if they were awake for the run, I'd take them with me. If not, they could sleep in.

Connor woke up about 15 minutes before we needed to leave, so he quickly donned some clothing  he could run in, gobbled something for breakfast, and we were out the door. I did not check in on Helen, because I didn't want to risk waking her.

Sadly, she probably came downstairs a few minutes after Connor and I left.

When Ed woke up, Helen was reading in the living room - and she was mad. She said she had been reading for HOURS, which was probably about 15 minutes.

And although I did miss running with Helen, I had a ball running with Connor. Often, when we run as a family, I run with Helen. Her litany of complaints can get a little tiring, and I'm not sure I want to subject Ed to that.

I started off with the half mile group, and made sure the runners had safely navigated the area of the course that could have cars on it. I then looped back to find Connor - and though one of my friends had the audacity to say I'd never catch him, I did. (That won't be the case for many more years, so I'm hanging tight while I can!) We then ran the last half mile of the mile long course together - and during that time, Connor was working really hard.

Not only was he working hard - he was doing it while keeping his cowboy hat on and his holster and gun at his side, a feat I found particularly impressive. (My costume was a pair of wings that I grabbed out of the dress-up box.) He opted to run through the water stop, and was fast and steady the whole time I was with him.

A friend snapped our photo, and it is most definitely my favorite running photo ever.

On the way home, Connor asked me if I thought he could run a marathon before he went to college. Could he? Absolutely. Will it be the best use of his time? Maybe not. I suggested maybe he should try out cross country in high school and see if he liked the longer distances before committing to marathon training.

Someday, we will run a big race together, Connor. And probably, you will have to hold back if you want to run with me, or you will be waiting for me at the finish. Either way, I hope you use that body of yours to see the world.

Elaine

Marathon #2: Marine Corps Marathon

Every runner I talked to said the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) - particularly the 40th anniversary of the MCM - would be amazing. Huge crowds on nearly the entire course, only one pretty steep hill (toward the start) and a smaller hill at the end (up Iwo Jima). Plus, the course runs along many places that I run weekly - including the monuments and Georgetown.

Those people were absolutely right. What the Rock and Roll marathon lacked in inspiration, the MCM made up for in spades.

Because the marathon course runs about a mile from my home, there were a lot of people out cheering who knew me, which is just a huge boost (including Connor and Ed, who came with a sign for me). Also a huge boost on the course was knowing that the women I train with were either running the race or cheering for the race - including one mom who is going to give birth in a few weeks! Pretty much every time I thought that today was not my day, I saw a friend who was screaming like crazy - and I am not a person who can stop running with that kind of pressure. They were sprinkled throughout the course up to mile 22, and at that point - might as well finish, right?

The race started out exactly as I had hoped. I pulled back, in order to save energy for the later stages of the race. I ran the first half of the marathon exactly as I wanted. But at mile 3, I got a blister (something that has never happened in a training run) and by the midpoint of the marathon, I was feeling it. Luckily, it was between my little toes, so at least I wasn't pushing off the blister for every step. It also rained at the start and during the race, after a weather report that showed the rain had cleared. That was disappointing, because I didn't wear my trail shoes (which I wear in crap conditions because they let the water drain out better than my other shoes and they grip the street better). I was debating which shoes to wear up until the point we left to line-up, and ultimately chose wrong. Lesson learned.

Mile 17 was hard, made harder when I passed one of my training partners who is absolutely a stronger runner than I am. Something happened with her knee and though she still finished at 4:12, she could've gone 3:40 if she hadn't run into troubles. Her husband was there, and I had nothing to offer as I was struggling myself.

Mile 20 in MCM is soul crushing. It is the point when you cross 14th Street bridge - and that bridge is the longest, loneliest passage back into Virginia that exists. The few times I have run it during training runs, I pretty much just put my head down and try to get over that thing with my soul intact. On MCM day, it's worse. People are cramping up all over, puking on the side, making choices about whether to continue or not. A very good running friend had passed along the advice that when I made it to the bridge, put my head down, focus inward, pick a line - and run it. I did all of those things, but still people were dropping right in front of me and that is hard to watch.

Crystal City is a huge boost. I spent a few months running in Crystal City last winter on Monday morning, and that proved super useful. I knew the roads and knew how flat they were. Plus, a woman I met at that time actually found me on the race at mile 22 and screamed her head off for me. Earlier in the race, she had actually jumped in and run me through two miles when I wasn't sure I was going to keep going.

My super-stretch crazy goal was 3:45. My "if everything goes right goal" was 3:50. And my "I will absolutely not cross the line later than this goal" was 4:00. I came in with a 3:55, which is exactly what I thought I would get, as soon as the rain came and the blisters sprouted. When I looked at my watch at mile 20, I knew I could own a 4:00 - as long as I didn't get too distracted.

I carried 55 ounces of Tailwind on my back with seven scoops of powder in it, which means I successfully consumed 700 calories during the race. I had estimated I could take in 600 calories in 50 ounces of liquid. I drank a bit much up front because I was feeling so good, which meant I had to walk through two water stations towards the end of the race, trying not to waterboard myself as I gulped Gatorade from the little cups amazing volunteers were handing out. I also dumped two small cups of water down my front because once the rain stopped, it was heating up and I needed a bit of a refresh. I will carry more liquid the next time I run a marathon.

A big accomplishment in this run is not letting my stride fall apart once I got tired. Typically, when I start to slow down, I over-stride, and land on my heel. As a result of this, I have a nagging point in my rear end that starts to hurt, and someday, whatever is getting pulled in the wrong direction is going to break - and that's going to hurt a lot. But today? I didn't do that, I don't have even a twinge of pain in the typical spot. I've been working a lot on that, so I'm glad that work has paid off.

This is THE marathon to run, as far as I am concerned, particularly if you call this area your home town. I can't wait to get the official race photos, because for the first photos, I smiled. For the last photos, I didn't change the expression on my face at all - I wanted to see what I looked like, because I know how I felt.

Now... to decide if I can knock another 10 minutes off before next year and make it my BQ!

FINISH Time
FINISH Net	3:55:06
FINISH Gun	3:57:09

Location	Net Time	Clock Time	Time of Day	Pace	Pace Between
START	00:00	2:03	7:57:04
5K	27:27	29:29	8:24:30	8:49 /mi
					8:24 /mi
10K	53:33	55:36	8:50:36	8:37 /mi
					8:39 /mi
20K	1:47:23	1:49:26	9:44:27	8:38 /mi
					8:43 /mi
13.1	1:53:20	1:55:23	9:50:23	8:38 /mi
					8:52 /mi
25K	2:14:52	2:16:54	10:11:55	8:41 /mi
					9:16 /mi
30K	2:43:42	2:45:44	10:40:45	8:46 /mi
					9:20 /mi
35K	3:12:43	3:14:45	11:09:46	8:51 /mi
					9:37 /mi
40K	3:42:36	3:44:39	11:39:39	8:57 /mi
					9:09 /mi
FINISH	3:55:06	3:57:09	11:52:09	8:57 /mi

2015 Elementary School 5K

Last spring, Helen ran her second 5K and Connor ran his third. Somehow, I never wrote up the run, even though I remember it as being both a huge accomplishment and a fun time.

Prior to the race, we spent about one month preparing. Inspired by our monthly physical challenge, we ran a half mile one day, took a rest day, ran half a mile, one mile, then another rest day, and we kept adding to our distance until we hit about 2.5 or 3 miles. By the time the big day came, the kids were totally ready. Helen was even ready with a strategy that would involve her sprinting to the finish. I know Connor planned to do this as well, but since Ed ran with him, I'm not sure if it actually happened, though I think it did.

Helen was part of the cheer squad for the 1 mile fun run, but I had already told her that no matter what, she was running the 5K. We had worked too hard to not do it, and it is super important to me that Helen knows she can be in the action on the race course, not just on the sideline.

Connor and Helen both knocked several minutes off their Jingle Bell 5K time they had recorded in December 2014. (Helen made it to 35:23 and Connor checked in with a 28:47). Unlike the Jingle Bell race, which was mostly flat, the school 5K involved a pretty good hill. All the way up it I sang silly songs - and though Helen pretended to be embarrassed occasionally, she was also laughing and not thinking about how hard she was working. And, when a person a few yards back shouted "please don't stop singing" when Helen and I got to the top, Helen loved being able to roll her eyes and pretend that she didn't need the song at all.

When we got to the finish, a bunch of adults were running down the sidewalk leading to the end. Helen wasn't quite sure what to do, because they weren't sprinting. So I shouted "spring through the grass" and she took off, passing probably 6 - 10 runners in the last half block or so. She felt so incredibly strong, and it was a joy to see her huge smile. She was particularly proud because everyone she passed was older than she was.

Per usual, she complained throughout much of the race. But unlike the last race where she stopped to walk a few times, she pretty much chugged right along, possibly because she didn't want anyone she knew to see her not going full blast.

Since she completed this race, she has told many, many people about her MULTIPLE 5Ks and without batting an eye will let anyone know she can run one with no trouble.

Next up? This year's Turkey Trot or Jingle Bell.

(I love training with Connor, but we haven't raced together. I feel guilty subjecting Ed to the endless stream of complaints from Helen while she runs, and I don't want to mess up the good groove Connor and Ed have going.)

Elaine

Running

I get a lot of good energy from running, so when a runner I truly admire asked me to write a post on why I run for her blog, I felt like I had made the big-time. She is funny, she is a great storyteller (two attributes that are extremely welcome in running company), and she spreads good energy everywhere she goes. My post is here.

Here is the story about the track that she alludes to in her introduction. The first time I went to the track, I was a couple of minutes late. I looked around for a big group of women, because I had heard about the track workout through a running group I had joined, Moms Run This Town (MRTT). (If you are a woman looking for running buddies, I strongly recommend looking for a chapter of this group near you.) I had already decided that I was going to run at the track that morning and not be discouraged, no matter what. I ran up next to this group of women and by way of introduction said "are you the moms?". Well, no, they were not the moms, they were the LUNA chix, but some of the people running with them were from MRTT and they said "sure, run with us". So I fell in to their warm-up mile. Only their warm-up was like my all-time fastest rock star pace (and I had run the 0.5 miles to the track, so I had warmed up a bit). I hung on to the back of the pack and then they stopped and said "OK, now it's time for striders" and they might as well have been speaking in Russian because I had no idea what that meant. Someone told me what they were, and I followed along for that as well.

At this point, I am dying, but also reminding myself that I was not going to be discouraged. I'm clinging to my water bottle pretending that I'm OK, but I am not.

And then someone said "here's today's workout" and sweet Jesus on a bicycle I swear all I could think of was "what the crap was all that stuff we just did?" and the woman with "today's workout" started talking about distances and tempos and rest breaks and I knew there was no way I was going to keep up, so I told myself - I'll just run whatever pace I can for the total length she is describing, and maybe if I don't take the breaks I can sort of keep up.

This whole pack of women took off around the track and I just started doing my thing. But here's what happened. When they ran by me (because even with their jogging breaks they were so damn speedy), a few of them would say "good job, Elaine". And I took that as a sign that even though I was not doing even close to what they were doing, I wasn't actually causing harm to them, so it must be OK for me to keep going. I could not finish the workout that had been described, so I just ran around that track until they all stopped, and then I said my good-byes and ran home, rather than cooling down at the track. After all, I was dying and thought dying in a private place might be better than collapsing on the track.

It took a few weeks for me to realize that those breaks were actually an important part of the workout.

I have no idea what they were thinking about me. At one point, I decided that maybe I made a good mascot for them. Maybe I made them feel good about how awesome they were, as they lapped me week after week. It was a few months in, on an exceptionally cold day when they shortened the workout that I actually finished it. For the first time, I had completed the workout, and I did announce this glory to everyone else, and their reaction told me it was clear they had no idea I hadn't been completing the workouts before. And while they were happy for me because this was clearly a huge milestone in my eyes, they weren't bothered at all by my previous early exits.

As spring approached, I learned that I had actually been going to workouts that weren't official. There is an official LUNA chix season where everyone is invited to join, and unofficially, several people had just kept it going. I had totally crowded right into their workouts (at someone's invitation, but still...), which made me realize even more how nice these women were being to me.

It took me a long time before I felt comfortable running off the track with these women. On the track, pace doesn't matter. You can't get lost, you can't get left behind. You're running in circles. But off the track, pace matters. You have to have a reasonable chance of keeping up with your fellow runners, and it doesn't feel good to know you're holding everyone back. And if you can't keep up, there is the very real chance that you will be left behind (people will volunteer to slow down, but I would've just said - oh no, I'm fine).

My only regret? I wish the first time someone in that group had asked me to run with them I would've just done it. Because I am loving my runs lately.

Elaine

Rock and Roll - First Marathon Recap

When I started training for Rock and Roll, I dreamed of hitting my Boston Qualifying time of 3:45. By race day, I was pretty sure that was out of reach, but I was confident I would come in under 4 hours.

Not so, as it turns out. Yesterday, I ran for 4:13:36 - and it was fantastic.

It rained for the entire race, it was about 45 degrees, and I made my first big splash into a puddle at mile 10. From that point on, I was officially soaked. Things actually were going well until the course went over a bridge. The bridge had two sets of metal grates to cross - and there was no way to avoid them. Typically, I'm told the race organizers will cover these grates with carpet, but they did not (maybe because of the rain?). In any case, those things are scary when they're not wet and I'm not tired. Yesterday, I had a pretty good debate with myself whether I should walk, step gingerly, or just go for it. I chose the middle option, mostly because I did not want to walk at all.

And after the two sets of grates, the course turned down by the river, which I suspect could've been quite beautiful. But the paved path was completely flooded, the course was remarked to go through a muddy patch that reminded me of a mud run Ed and I did several years ago. My legs were covered in mud, my shoes became even more disgusting, and I was officially beaten down. Ed had planned to meet me at mile 20, but after dropping both kids off at separate playdates, driving to the metro, hopping on as quickly as possible - he discovered that the metro was single tracking and he quickly realized there was no way he could get to mile 20 when I should be there. He caught a cab, but the cab was unwilling to even try to get close to the race, given all the road closures and the general mess of traffic. He ended up back on the metro, went to the finish line, and just started running the course backwards until he saw me at mile 23. My watch had stopped running around mile 21, so I had no idea how slowly I was going at this point. It was so nice to see him, but I had given up all time goals and just wanted to finish. The race organizers had started taking down mile markers (which was ridiculous, particularly considering I was in the top half of all marathon finishers - so there were a lot of people behind me who would need those signs). Thankfully, Ed was able to tell me about where we were on the course and what would happen to the finish.

I did sprint at the end, which took a lot.

In the end, I was nowhere near the speed I thought I'd be, but I'm absolutely thrilled. I trained hard going into the race, I ran hard for almost all of the race, and I learned a lot about running marathons.

Participant Detail

8011

Elaine Maag

Arlington, VA

Age: 41 | Gender: F

Finished In:

04:13:36

• Overall: 1082 out of 2499
 
• Division: 36 out of 124
 
• Gender: 311 out of 1045

• 5 km
• 10 km
• 10 mile
• half
• 20 mile

• 28:02
• 57:24
• 1:29:34
• 1:58:46
• 3:06:29

• Pace
• Chip Time
• Clock Time

• 9:41
• 04:13:36
• 04:20:06

Search for your Photos

My friend who runs ultras told me that at the end of a marathon, he asked himself "how much further could I go?". That is not what my inner voice said. My inside voice said "holy hell, 26.2 is no joke". And then a few days later, I tossed my name into the lottery for the Marine Corps Marathon and thought - I can totally outdo myself next time.

Elaine

Two Weeks Out

Marathon day is two weeks away. On March 14, I will lace on my lightest pair of shoes, don a tank top, running skirt, and my plushest socks - and I will run. If all goes well, Ed will run me in from mile 20. In all likelihood, I will not meet my goal of qualifying for Boston. But I still believe a sub-4 hour marathon is possible, and I am gunning for it. A lot of things have to go right for that to happen.

My marathon training cycle started 14 weeks ago. In those weeks, I have logged 356 miles. That includes two weeks of almost no running - the week I had the flu and last week when I was in Tahoe. I did sneak in two fantastic, hilly runs in Tahoe - including a 4.5 mile run up an 1100 foot stretch of mountain roadway. I will think about that run when I hit the two substantial hills on course. They are nothing compared to the hills in Tahoe.

I could never add up the hours of my life that have been given to this goal. I try and run very early in the morning to limit the impact my running has on the rest of the household, but some runs just cannot be squeezed in, particularly those that have lasted 3 or more hours!

I have learned so much about myself and about running during this training cycle. I may not be able to meet my original goal, but it is not because I didn't train hard.

Keep it together for two more weeks, legs. We can do this!

Elaine

Marathon training - we're all in it together

Marathon training is in full tilt at this point. And it's becoming increasingly obvious that it involves a lot more than just me. I decided to train for a Spring marathon because our lives are generally quieter in the winter, so being gone for 3 hour stretches on a weekend morning are less intrusive than in other seasons. But what I didn't realize is that my friends would get pulled in at midnight!

Last Friday, I traded children with a friend of mine. She took Connor, I took a younger child of hers. Normally, she would be getting the better deal of the exchange (we trade off, and I was due to have the littles). On this particular night, she did not get the better deal.

Around 11:00, Connor woke up puking. From what I can tell, her husband cleaned everything up - which is no small feat since they live in an apartment and their laundry facility is located several floors beneath their living space. The puking continued for well over an hour, and at that point, I received a phone call letting me know what was going on, and that my friend would be driving him home. Connor was in a lot of pain at this point. I know my friend was thinking about muscle-ing through the awful night, but Connor wanted to be home. I am so thankful Connor came home, because it did not get better and being up all night with a child that is not even yours is infinitely worse than being up with your own ill child.

I offered to come get Connor, but my friend said she would bring him home, and I eventually decided that the fastest way to get Connor home would be for her to bring him. When she arrived, she apologized profusely, commenting "I know you're planning on running 20 miles tomorrow - I'm really sorry to have awakened you".

And so there it is. Even my friend is helping me get through this training period, which is intense - even though I have intentionally decreased the number of days I run.

Thank you, friends. As I've told you before, I am really sorry this happened!

Elaine

1,000 Miles - and Resolutions Met!

This year, I had two running related resolutions: Run a half marathon in sub-9 minute miles; run 1,000 (sometime between when I posted these resolutions and when I signed up for the Moms Run This Town miles club, my goal switched from 750 to 1,000 - so the record here shows 750, but I was gunning for 1,000).

I ran a sub-9 minute half marathon in March (8:58) and again a few months ago (8:36). Today, at the weekly track workout which I have missed only one time when I've been in town (and I was very sick that morning), I crossed off my second goal of running 1,000 miles. By the end of the year, I'll add another 75 - 100. For perspective, that is like running from my current home in Arlington, VA to my childhood home in Topeka, KS.

In doing this, I have worn out one pair of running shoes completely, and another is very close behind. I acquired six or seven other pairs of shoes that I rotate through - depending on when I last wore the shoe, terrain, weather, and speed goal for the run. More than once, I have heard Helen exclaim "Mom has another pair of running shoes". I'm somewhat convinced that rotating through similar shoes with small differences helps keep me injury free. And my general mantra is that another pair of running shoes is a lot cheaper than knee surgery.

Had I not decided to run a marathon in the spring, I'm pretty sure I would take the rest of the year off. But instead, I'll be meeting a friend at 5:30 tomorrow morning to kick off the final miles of the year.

Elaine

Jingle All the Way - Family 5K

This morning, I ran Helen's first 5K with her. It was a crazy amount of fun for me. We started out with a friend of hers, but he was traveling a bit faster than we were going to manage. From running with Ed in the morning off and on, Helen has learned that it's best to find a pace you can hold, and then stay the course. So rather than burning out trying to keep up, she just kept putting one foot in front of the other and let him go.

And at about mile 0.5 she asked, "have we gone a mile yet?", which is the running equivalent of asking "are were there yet" as your family heads off on summer vacation, and you haven't even escaped the city limits. No, not a mile, Helen, but we are so strong.

I sang about every holiday song I know. Helen was inspired by every baby she saw being pushed in a buggy, and we laughed a lot at the silly costumes people were wearing and all the dogs running. Extra points if the dog had on reindeer antlers!

By the time we saw a man running around with cracked eggs falling out of an egg carton, only Helen was able to shout "SIX GEESE A-LAYING", which I thought was pretty clever. We had previously seen 4 Calling Birds.

At mile 1.3, I was pretty confident Helen had run further than she ever had before, so I cheered her "distance PR". Shortly after that, she started complaining about:

• being unable to breathe
• her foot hurting
• her shoulder hurting
• and so many other aching body parts that I can't even remember them all.

I just smiled and cheered her forward, shaking my jingle bells. Two or three times, we had to walk. Helen just could not fathom running any further. Before we started walking, I would ask her to name the point when we would start running, and every time she picked up the pace before that agreed up on point - always because a dog or baby passed us that she just had to get a closer look at.

Helen crossed the line with a net time of 39:14, which is an average pace of 12:38. According to my watch, we ran positive splits - slowing down just a little bit with each mile, which was to be expected. Helen sprinted across the finish line, and she is really proud of herself. She plans to write a story about the race in Writer's Workshop at her school tomorrow, and I am very much looking forward to her version of events.

Connor and Ed ran the race together. Ed reports that Connor held a steady pace for the whole race, and at the end - Connor was not even particularly tired. I told him that meant he could've gone faster, but Ed preaches slow and steady, and it was definitely a fun race for Connor. I'm not sure what exactly the men of the family talked about, but I understand they talked through the whole thing. During the last mile, Ed had to swipe Connor's stocking cap off, for fear the little dude would overheat. Ed was worried about Connor's red face. Connor's goal was to beat last year's pace of 11:53 minute miles. And he did! This year, Connor crossed the line at 33:23, which is an average pace of 10:45. 

Bravo, all! I failed to capture any in-race photos, but I got everyone to pretend to run in our sitting room, sans the hats we all wore. Helen insisted we pretend like we were running.

Our recovery food was Stonyfield vanilla yogurt, with granola crumbled on top of Helen's two bowls and cinnamon added to Connor's three bowls! They thought we might run out of yogurt - but there's more where that came from! 

About halfway through the race, Helen asked if we could go to Pinkberry, a nearby frozen yogurt shop, afterwards. And while ice cream on a cold day might not be the first treat I think of, there was no way I was going to disappoint Helen during the race. So yes we can go to Pinkberry, Helen! It sounds like a fantastic idea.

The sweetest moment of the whole experience came at the end of the race. Connor congratulated Helen and told her "You have the family 5K record for 7 year olds"! Which is, he pointed out, a title she will hold forever since there will be no more 7 year olds in our home.

Disclosure: This post was created in partnership with Stonyfield. All opinions are my own. Stonyfield was a sponsor of the Boston Marathon last year, which makes me love them even more than I previously did.

Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon

"It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit."  - George Sheehan

Two weeks ago, I won an entry into the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon. My goal after running the Rock and Roll Half last spring was to run enough that 10 miles was easy - because when I try and run a marathon, I want to not have to start from scratch. I think I've done that pretty well.

But running is a funny thing. Even though I've been running a lot of miles since the spring, my goal race for the fall was the Trail Half that I finished two weeks ago. Training for the trail was more about figuring out how to move on the trail, than gaining speed. I still completed a speed workout that I've been going to every Thursday since just before Thanksgiving each week, but I wasn't wholly focused on getting faster.

I was hoping to hit 1:45 or 1:50 in the race today, but that wasn't to be. Unfortunately, if I want to get a lot faster, I need to train to get faster. So I went into the race able to do the distance, but not the time. I ran the first 5 miles at pretty close to the pace I'd need for 1:50 (8:26). I ran the next five at 8:44, and the final 3.1 at 8:56. Total time = 1:52:35 (pace = 8:36), which I do feel great about - even though it didn't meet my ridiculous goal. My legs feel much better today than they did after my first half, and I'm pretty confident I gave the race everything I had in the tank. I feel good about that, too. I had wanted to see if I could go out fast and hold on. Not this time, it turns out. But I'm guessing I'll try it again some time, maybe in a shorter race.

For the first 5 miles, I ran the race saying to myself "Why are you doing this? It wasn't a planned event. You could be sleeping, or preparing to go hiking with the kids and Ed. You waste a lot of time on this sport."

At mile 8, I considered dropping. The race takes two courses at this point - one for people running a 6K (which has a different start than the half) and one for the half marathon. I could cut over onto the 6K course and be out of the race a half hour early. It seemed like a graceful enough way to drop. But my running group was working the aid station at mile 8, and after all they did to lift my spirits, shouting "we have a mother runner" and then cheering, I wasn't going to tell them later I quit. Also, I promised myself there would be no quits this year. But mostly, those cheering moms shut that little voice up inside my head, something I hadn't been able to do on my own.

It was a good moment to remember that running is as much a team sport as an individual sport.

This is me at mile 8, and my friend Erin handing out water and cheering.

This is also me at mile 8, pretending I am feeling fine.

One thing I did right today was under-dressing. It was 40 degrees at the start of the race. But I was baking by mile 8 of the last two halves, and this time, I at least wasn't hot! Lesson learned on that front.

I'm still trying to decide what my goal for next year will be. I had intended to take another year to qualify for Boston, but 8:36 is exactly the pace I need to qualify for Boston. So if I can figure out how to hold on for twice the distance, maybe next year will be the year.

Many thanks to all of the volunteers at the race. It was glorious to see the sun rise as the race started, running on the GW Parkway was an absolute thrill, and the weather was perfect.

I look like a wreck at the end of the race, but I promise I did not feel as bad as this photo suggests.

This is the moment after the race when I decided to eat everything in site. Also - note that I am wearing my lucky Royals hat rather than my typical Nationals hat. I was hoping someone would notice it and cheer for the Royals, which is what I do every time I see someone out here in Royals' gear. 

Official results.

After the race, I called Ed to see if I needed to drive out to his campsite with the kids and bring Helen home before a planned 4 mile hike. Joining them on the hike would not have been a good idea. But no need for me to head out to the camp. Helen was a champ and kept up with the 4th and 5th grade boy scouts as she climbed to the top of a mountain. You go girl!

It is not lost on me that I was super lucky to get to go home, take a nap, and spend the day tooling around with no real responsibility.

Elaine

Second Half Marathon - Race Report

I ran the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club half marathon on Saturday. It was a super fun race. The tree covering was fantastic to run beneath, the rain was welcome relief because I was hot, and with the exception of one person in the race, everyone I met was amazing.*

After running the Rock-n-Roll half in the spring, I decided to run a trail half marathon in the fall. This was at the urging of my friend Rob, who paced me for Rock-n-Roll. He primarily runs incredibly long distances on trails, so that's where his heart is. This is considered a bit of a warm-up to trail runners.

Preparation steps.

1. Think about running on trails.

I actually did this quite a bit. I thought about running, getting lost, tripping, getting hurt. Really, I had all aspects of the race covered. When I would run with folks and they would ask if I was training for anything, I would tell them about the run. Then they would ask what it was like to run trails, and I would say "I have no idea!".

2. Volunteer at a trail race to talk to actual trail runners.

In this phase, I learned that trail runners are very nice. They have a lot of tips for roadies like myself, though some of them don't really respect roadies. It was a 50 mile race, and the day was super hot, so I also watched a lot of people drop out of the race. Ouch! I gave many people flat soda, which is something trail runners seem to enjoy.

3. Get urged by friend to move from the "planning to run" phase to the "actually run phase".

This was Rob's wife. I see her almost weekly, and she would always ask "how's the training going?" and I would respond "I'm still in the planning to plan phase" and then later I'd say I was in the "meeting people phase", and then I'd say I was in the "planning to run" phase. She clearly doubted the wisdom of my training plan. She may have had a point.

4. Ask the women of Moms Run This Town if anyone knows how to run on trails.

Anyone?!? There are 1,000 people in my chapter of this group. Surely someone knows how to run on trails and where the trails around here are.

5. Receive one response from a woman willing to try it out.

You've never run trails either? Awesome! This will be fantastic. Did I mention I cannot read a map? Is that a problem? Oh look! I have a phone, too. Let's use it. Where are we?

6. Find map for trail. Try and follow map. Fail many times - but because the person in #5 is so nice, and willing to wander around looking for trailheads, start running.

• pro-tip: if you're crossing a street that dissects a trail you are on, look for a trash can or other such object across the street - it probably marks the next trail head. Pavement probably marks a very long driveway on private property.

7. Run weekly on trails with #5 and others who have varying availability.

I ran 6 - 8 miles every week on trails, in place of what would've been a longer weekend run. Definitely a good choice. If I could swing running on trails twice weekly, I'd be in even better race shape.

8. Find you have no running partner the week before the race and be grateful your parents happen to be in town and your husband is willing to run with you while your parents watch your children.

• yes, dear, we run early.
• no, dear, I won't make you run more than 8 miles.

9. Get to race super prepared. Beat your goal time by 8 minutes.

Total time: 2:22:57; 52 overall; 6th in age group.

Mid-race - nice work by the photographer! I love my flying hair.

Coming down the home stretch towards the finish. Another nice shot! Am I levitating?

Elaine

*If you start a comment with "I mean this in the nicest way possible", you should probably just stop talking. Because what comes next will probably be unlikely to endear you to the person you're directing your comment at, although it may provide a motivational boost as the person tries to get away from you.

When It All Began: Running

I think a lot about beginnings. How did a friendship start? Where was I when I made a decision? What did choosing one path over another mean?

Every year, I have a fitness goal for myself. In 2013 - that goal was to run 5 consecutive sub 10-minute miles. I accomplished the goal at a St. Patrick's Day 8K. Immediately following that race, I knew I was going to become a runner. I went to a local running store, tried on a ridiculous number of shoes, and walked away with these babies.

Since then, I've switched to a more minimalist style shoe (which I adore), but I rotate between wearing my old (very padded) kicks and my minimalist kicks, depending on how long I'm running, how recently I've run, and how fast I hope to run. These shoes are that old friend that sits in the closet with so many stories of how everything went right, that I smile whenever I see them.

But after more miles than I ever should've attempted to run on these shoes, I have to finally admit, they do more harm than good. The last 20 miles I have run on them have resulted in lower leg pain that affects my gait enough a friend thought I was seriously injured. The pain goes away quickly, and doesn't return until I try running with these shoes again.

They'll always hold some great memories for me - most of all, they will always be those shoes I wore when it all began. I'm going to miss them.

Elaine

Promises...promises

Tonight, I showed Connor a video that was a tribute to runners training for Boston. It reminded me that while I don't always love running (I am seriously sore from 7 sub 9:00 miles at the track this morning), I do always love runners.

I love runners because - at least the ones I hang out with - are collectively cheering on every other runner they see. I appreciate that kind of energy. Runners also put their whole self where their mouth is. If they encourage you to run? They will run with you. It is so much easier to run with someone than to run by yourself.

They also don't care about anyone's time but their own. I suspect, still, this is a product of not being an elite runner who has a chance to win things. Those people might care how other people run. But at my speed? We pull someone along who's having a difficult run and we draft (figuratively) off someone when we're having our own troubles. In the end, we celebrate each step.

As we watched the video, Connor and I each made a promise to each other.

My promise to Connor? Should you ever be in a wheelchair, I will take you on the ride of your life as I push it. This, because Connor was so impressed by Dick Hoyt pushing his quadriplegic son in a wheelchair.

Connor's promise to me? He's going to make a sign that says "go Mommy" if I ever run a marathon. He'll include "and Daddy" on the sign if Ed runs it as well.

I'm hoping one of those promises gets kept.

Elaine

Living 40: Rock and Roll Recap - First Half Marathon

I want to remember this one for a while. Goal time? Two hours. My friend Rob paced me and told me on Thursday night we would cross the line at 1:57. Not a bad guess, eh?

Thank you Rob. You were steady the whole way through. You knew I had lost 10 seconds on the hill at mile 5 but stayed calm. (Thank you, Moms Run This Town ladies who were at the bottom of that hill cheering! You made that hill seem a lot smaller.) Rob, you did not freak out around mile 8 when I threw a cup of water on myself. I was wearing a t-shirt and warm leggings - and I was dressed way too warmly. I should've worn shorts or capris. At mile 10, you told me I had two minutes to spare, so I needed to turn it up if I wanted a little more cushion, but I'd be fine if I kept my pace. It was a subtle way to tell me that now was not the time to slow down. If you hadn't been there, I would've walked for a minute because I was tired, at that point. But because you were there, I sped up, and told myself I was sticking to your shoulder. I clocked my fastest mile at the end - 7:56 - the only timed sub-8 minute mile I have ever run - and you knew I was going super fast for me, and again, you just kept up and stayed calm. Knowing you were there meant a lot. And finally, when I misestimated how far away the finish line was, and realized it was a lot closer to 0.3 miles than 0.1 miles away, you just laughed as I grumbled something that rhymes with "go duck".

Loved my negative splits.

Loved my run.

Loved it when a woman who runs by / with me at the track on Thursday mornings drove by my house on Sunday to issue congratulations.

Considering a half marathon trail race this fall and a marathon next year.

On pace to hit 1,000 miles by December 31.

I love you, 40.
Elaine

Pile the Miles - and Dressing for Success

Helen's favorite part of nearly every athletic activity is selecting proper attire. She was delighted, a few weeks ago, to don her running shorts and head out for a 1 mile run with Moms Run This Town (with kids, this time!). Luckily, she realized that the cool temps meant she'd need a little more than her tiny running shorts, and added a few layers to go with them.

We are so ready to run this town - and drink hot chocolate afterwards!

After our run, we made our official house "Pile the Miles" chart. I'm aiming to run 1,000 miles this year, Helen is going for 20 and Connor is going for 40. We scaled each chart separately, so that the tops of each of our columns are aligned. We carefully colored in our progress to date - and made plans for our next miles.  It looks like we all have a long way to go! We'll see how they look on December 31!

Elaine

Forgiveness

Ed and I went to a concert a couple of months ago. There were supposed to be two opening acts – a singer we were really interested in hearing, and a “spoken word artist”. Guess which one was sick and couldn’t perform, leaving the other one extra time? 

Which is how we found ourselves listening to a rather long performance by a “spoken word artist”. I thought Ed might fall over in agony as he tried to determine the appropriate number of beers to consume to douse the agony of being forced to listen to poetry. It might be the one moment in his life he was sad to not have a smartphone to use as an attention diverter.

But something really powerful happened during that performance and I cannot get this line out of my head - weeks later. I think it's the start of some real moving forward in my life.
 

Forgiveness is accepting that the past can never be better.

Since thinking about that - and running for a long time by one's self without headphones (which is how I nearly always run) gives a person a lot of opportunity to think about this - I've started to notice things that used to bother me have been erased from my head. Instead, I find myself wondering what I was annoyed about, and really understanding that some things just don't matter. And better, when I get annoyed with something that has happened, I'm able to move through it more quickly than ever.

I've been doing not only the proverbial work of getting rid of the past, but also have been moving mounds of stuff out of the house (with Ed playing a huge role in cleaning out the basement from boards and other junk left behind by the previous owners). I am lighter than ever.

I've found a new trough of positive energy to set out. But I'm cautiously guarding that energy, lest it be snapped up by people who have misused it in the past.

And wow, am I grateful for the new perspective. With every mile I pound the pavement, I'm letting go of it all this year.

Elaine