Day 116 (3/28): 8 miles / 1:16:06

I have no idea what made me decide to turn today's 8 mile run into an interval workout... must have been a case of temporary insanity.  Nevertheless, I have to admit, it felt really good.

I started with a 2 mile warm up @ 6 mph, then started my intervals.  I wanted to stretch them out through the majority of my workout, so I decided to do ten of them... an obvious sign that I suffer from a complicated case of the crazies.  Fortunately, the small portion of my brain still thinking clearly told me to maybe go a little easy on the speed of those intervals, so I decided on 30 seconds of almost-all-out sprinting @ 9 mph (I can usually handle 10 mph) with a 4:30 cool down @ 6 mph.  I completed 9 intervals at this pace and stepped it up a notch for the final interval with 30 seconds @ 9.5 mph and the final cool down @ 6.5.  Over the course of the last half mile of my run, I increased my speed from 6.5 to 7.5 and, while this increase was clearly unnecessary after an interval workout, I did finish my last mile somewhere just over 8:00, which I was incredibly proud of at the end of 8 miles.  I'm constantly amazed with how far I've come in these last few months!

And while I have some soreness here and there, I must say that I'm feeling pretty great at the end of this workout... but I'm still looking forward to climbing into bed...  :)

Day 115 (3/27): 4 miles / 36:25

I never thought I'd be the kind of person that would call 4 miles an easy run... but when the previous run is 15 miles, I suppose anything would be considered easy...

Nevertheless, it was still a treadmill workout and I continue to be bored with my ipod playlist, so I thought I'd give the tv another try.  Fortunately for me, there were a few more things to choose from on a Tuesday evening than there were on a Sunday afternoon.  I stumbled upon the last 45 minutes of The Rock, which happens to be one of my favorite movies, so I figured that would be the way to go.

I was about half way through my run when it got to my favorite scene and, while it's only a few minutes long, it did manage to keep me entertained for close to a half mile: The Rock - prison scene.  I can't say that I'm Nicholas Cage's number one fan, but this is definitely one of his best scenes.

My run concluded at the scene where the fighter jets fly over the island... and for anyone that's been to a sporting event where this occurs, you'll know it's a pretty cool feeling.  While it's not quite the same on tv, I can still appreciate the effect: The Rock - green smoke scene.

So now the whole military fighter jet thing has me thinking about my new favorite music video... the song is great, but the video is fantastic!  It's almost enough to make me want to join the military... almost :)

Katy Perry - Part of Me

If you weren't fired up before, I bet you are now...

Day 114 (3/25): 15 miles / 2:30:00

Long runs are hard, but they kinda suck when the only option is a treadmill.  Nevertheless, I managed to suck it up and finish all 15... but it was not without a few challenges.

Issue number one was trying to figure out how to entertain myself on a treadmill for two and a half hours.  Normally music is enough to get me through, but after a few songs, I couldn't help feeling like I could fall asleep from boredom.  It would have made for a very long run.  So, I opted, instead, for the tv.  This is not something I normally do (mostly because the treadmill is too loud to really hear what's going on and turning the volume up that high during my son's nap time doesn't seem like such a great idea), but I had to give it a shot.  As much as I enjoy a good stupid movie, my best option on tv was Clueless... and that just wasn't enough to help me zone out during my run.  If I'm stuck with the treadmill as my best option for a long run in the future, I will clearly have to do a better job of finding something to watch.

The second problem was that I was forced to take several breaks during my run.  And, while that may sound appealing for many reasons, I also think it made for a greater challenge.  After all, who wants to start running again after that break?  I know I sure didn't.  I would have loved to simply run from start to finish, but restroom and stretching breaks were a necessity (note to self, Gatorade before a run isn't going to work for me... best to just stick with water).  Sure, I probably could have skipped a few of those stretching breaks, but I also knew that I really wanted to run all 15 (since I told too many people I was planning to do it) and was a little nervous about ignoring obvious soreness in a few muscles.  This is one of the main reasons I hope to not have to stop during the marathon... if I need a break at mile 20, how much am I going to want to start running again?!?

My final challenge was the one at the beginning of mile 12.  My son, after sleeping for just over 2 hours, decided he was done with nap time.  This, of course, was expected, but I knew it would make it difficult to finish my last 4 miles.  After getting him settled in with a few toys, his juice and a new episode of the Fresh Beat Band, he was just about as happy as he could be.  It was a little difficult to convince him to stay clear of the treadmill, but he was an absolute angel and gave me the chance to finish the whole 15 miles.  I was even a little distracted from my workout watching him dance to the music on tv and run in place next to me ("I run, too, mommy").  As my cool down, we danced to a few Fresh Beat Band songs and my son treated me to a little bit of his singing... YIKES, I'm afraid he's got about as much talent as I do in that department.  Nevertheless, he seemed to enjoy putting on a show and I'll never discourage him from that.

So, all in all, it was a fairly successful workout.  But, with 8 weeks of training still ahead, I can't imagine running another 11 miles after the 15 I just finished.  Why, exactly, did I think this was such a great idea???  :)

Day 113 (3/22): 7 miles / 1:08:10

By the time I was ready to tackle today's 7 miles, it was already dark, so it would have to be another treadmill day.  The problem with the treadmill for long runs, at least as far as I'm concerned, is not the miles at the end... it's all those miles at the beginning.  The ones before I reach the half-way point of my workout where I know I still have the majority of my miles ahead.  The ones that are hard to appreciate because, fact of the matter is, I'm not actually getting anywhere.  The ones where I have to constantly convince myself that I can make it the entire distance.  The ones that tempt me to call it quits before I've reached the finish.

Until those little numbers on the screen in front of me finally hit 3.5 miles... the glorious half way point where I can assess how I feel and know for certain that I can definitely handle to repeat what I've just accomplished.  The point where the distance ahead becomes less than the distance already behind me.  The time when I can tell myself that, if I made it this far, I can certainly finish what I started.  That magical mile marker where the angel on my right shoulder tells the devil on my left to shut the f* up!

There's no question that the end of any run feels like a great accomplishment, but at this point I would have to say that reaching half-way is probably my favorite part... the point where my negative thoughts become positive ones and I become too stubborn to give up.

Day 112 (3/21): 3 miles / 26:14

Today's schedule called for 7 miles... my personal life called for something else...

My wonderful husband, after being out of town Tuesday night, having plans for Thursday night and out of town again for the weekend, was kind enough to allow me the luxury of running right after work during his one evening home.  This, I thought, would work out perfectly and allow me to run outside at least once during this unseasonably gorgeous week.  At least that was how I felt about it before I left the house.  Almost immediately after my departure it occurred to me that, while it may be my only evening to run outdoors, it is also my only evening to spend time with my husband.  This fact instantly took priority and I completely lost the desire to run.  In an attempt to at least keep up with my miles for the week, I squeezed in 3 miles before heading home.  At this point, running 7 miles on the treadmill tomorrow seems far better than giving up my small window for quality family time tonight.  Of course, we'll see how I feel about those 7 miles when tomorrow comes...

Day 111 (3/20): 3 miles / 26:57

While it certainly wasn't my intention to take 3 days off, I can now confirm it was a much needed break.  I normally run 4 days a week with one one-day break and one two-day break.  This three-day break arose from running my long run on Friday instead of Saturday leaving Saturday-Monday with no running.  And while I did briefly consider running last night, I'm glad I opted for another day off.  Not because I felt like I particularly needed the rest.  It was, in fact, mostly because I was being lazy.  But today's 3 miles felt amazing - no pain or discomfort anywhere and, in general, I felt about as good as I've ever felt running.  I think an occasional long break is exactly what my body needs... especially after so many years away from healthy fitness habits.

I started this amazing day (sunny and high 70's - crazy for Cleveland in March!) with a nice long walk through the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo... a great way to get some exercise while entertaining my son!  Unfortunately, I was unable to enjoy this weather with an outdoor run and was stuck with another treadmill workout.

I took the first two miles pretty easy and figured I'd see what I had left for my last mile... which ended up being 7:52... a time I am most definitely proud of.  However, even though I felt like I was giving it my all at the end of that mile, I know that I was holding back at the beginning... which I seem to do every time I decide to see how quickly I can run the final mile of a workout.  I guess I'm afraid that, once I pick up my pace, I'll find that I can't keep up.  But, I really do think I could run even faster... if only I had enough faith in myself to try it.  By slowly increasing my speed the entire mile, I'm limiting myself to shaving off a few seconds right at the end.  If I hope to continue improving my time, I'm really going to have to increase my speed a little earlier.  At this point in my running, I have no reason to question whether or not I can do more, but I can't seem to shake the fear of failure... a pretty silly fear considering I have no idea what I could possibly do at this point to consider any workout a 'failure'... except for maybe falling off the treadmill :) 

Guess I'm just going to have to suck it up and get past it!

Day 110 (3/16): 10 miles / 1:27:46

What a great day to run outdoors!  With the temp in the 60s and the sun shining, I was dying to get outside for today's 10 mile run.  Normally Friday is a day off, but I adjusted my schedule to accommodate for St. Patty's Day... a day my husband and I always celebrate (even though I'm not really Irish). 

So, after a small dinner and a little stretching, I headed out hoping to get in the entire 10 miles before the sun went down.

Because I'm not a fan of running by myself in the dark and, with the time change last weekend, I wasn't certain what time I'd be losing sunlight, I opted to run several loops through the neighborhood to assure that I'd be close to home in case I ran out of daylight before finishing.  I must have been really determined to stay away from the treadmill today because I barely made it home before the sun went down.  The best part, though, is that I didn't feel like I ran all that fast.  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't call today's pace 'slow'... my point is simply that I didn't feel like I was pushing myself harder than necessary... today's pace felt comfortable and, even though I'm glad I didn't have any further to go, I did feel like I could have gone further if necessary. 

All in all, I'd say I've come a long way in the last several months of training :)

Day 109 (3/14): 4.5 miles / 43:00

No part of today's 7 mile run felt right.  And you might find yourself saying "of course it didn't feel right, dumb ass, it was 2.5 miles short."  Touché!

But seriously... I can't say that anything hurt or was even uncomfortable.  But, somehow, everything felt wrong.  Part of the issue, of course, is that I went into today's run with the assumption that I wasn't going to complete it.  I just knew my heart wasn't in it.  Still, I held out some hope that, once I got going, I'd regain some interest in my workout.  It just never happened.  At some point during mile 2 I realized there was no hope of bouncing back and that, more than sticking to my miles for the week, what I really needed was a little break.  Not so much a physical one, but a mental one.  So, I decided to run 4 miles instead of 7.  When I finally reached the 4 mile mark, I thought I'd see if I could make it just a little bit further.  That last half mile was more irritating than the first 4 and I knew I'd reached my limit.

So, after a little stretching and some water, I finally realized what I wanted more than anything... to check out for a little while.  I can't say I necessarily "earned" it, but I opted to finish my evening with a glass of wine and some mindless tv.  As far as the rest of those miles are concerned... they'll just have to wait until tomorrow.

Day 108 (3/13): 3 miles / 26:42

After 2 days off to recover from the soreness caused by Saturday's long run (and possibly not helped by the amount of alcohol consumed on Saturday night for our neighborhood's crazy "Around the World Cocktail Party"), it felt great to get in a good run today.  I opted to run intervals, since I haven't done them in a while, and it felt great to work that hard again.

Even though it was a gorgeous day for running outdoors, I was limited to the treadmill with my hubby out of town this week.  Of course, it's the treadmill that makes intervals possible (or at least more manageable), so I suppose it was the way to go anyway.

I ran my first mile at 6.5 mph, then did 5 all-out sprints at 10 mph for 30 seconds with 2:30 recovery time between each at 6 mph.  My last half mile of cool down was at 6.5 mph.  All in all, I'd say it was another successful run. 

And, even though I'm still a little sore from Saturday, the way I'm feeling now gives me hope that I'll be able to walk within a few days of finishing the marathon... a definite plus as far as I'm concerned :)

Day 107 (3/10): 13 miles / 1:48:09

I honestly don't even know what to say about today's run. 

It was hard.  I'm tired.  That just about sums it up.

Okay, that's lame... I clearly have more to say about the longest run of my life...

But, seriously... it was hard and I am really tired.  It might have something to do with my crazy fast pace...  I'm still trying to figure out how it's possible that I ran 13 miles and averaged 8:19 per mile!!!  This makes me question a lot about how I've been running thus far.  One might assume that this pace actually suggests that my mileage is inaccurate... except that I know it's not.

Today's weather was just about as perfect as it could be - 40 and sunny with very little wind.  As soon as I started I knew I was probably going too fast, but I felt good and decided to see where my first mile ended up before making too many adjustments.  I was apparently too excited about running my first half marathon :)

Here's the abbreviated play-by-play as it happened in my head:  Great day for a run, so glad to be outside enjoying the sunshine.  Mile 1: 8:30 - way too fast!  Time to slow down.  Feeling good, decide not to look at my watch every ten strides, focus on the music instead.  Mile 2: 8:00 - WTF?!?  I'm seriously going to be in trouble if I don't slow down.  Leave the neighborhood, head towards busy intersection, think to myself that I look pretty awesome in my running gear, everyone is looking at me wishing they could be this cool.  I settle into my pace feeling like it's one I can hold on to for the next 10 miles.  Mile 3: 8:10 - OMG I might die!  Take my route through Avon Commons, busy day for shoppers, tell myself to slow down a bit.  Mile 4: 8:10 - Clearly I've lost my freakin' mind!  At this point I know I need to do something different.  I come to the conclusion that I know the mile markers along my route too well and, no matter how hard I try, I won't be able to slow myself down because, somewhere in the back of my mind, I'll be disappointed with the first mile that exceeds 9 minutes.  I opt to run the rest of my route in a different order so that I completely lose track of all mileage.  This means lots of loops and out-and-backs, but anything beats having to walk my last few miles because I've set the bar so ridiculously high.  The remaining play-by-play is a jumbled mess of: "I can't do this", wave to the neighbors, "slow down moron", stop and stretch at the light, "hey, I know that girl", good song, "I can do this", "wasn't I just here?", my feet hurt, and, finally, "HOLY SHIT that was fast!"

Needless to say, my efforts to lose track of the miles didn't work out so well for me.  Not that I'm complaining.  The fact that I ran this pace means that I'm capable of it.  This means I should probably be running a little faster than I have been for some of my other runs... particularly the shorter ones.  The lazy part of me is a little annoyed because I now have higher expectations for myself.  I'm always excited about improvement, but I tend to compete with myself far too much and I'm afraid this will turn into the pace I try to run all the time... not something that would be good for me.

Surely, this afternoon, tomorrow and most likely the entire next week, I will be paying for this workout... I can already feel every muscle in my legs telling me what a dumbass I am.  And yet, somehow, I still feel freakin' awesome!!!

Day 106 (3/7): 6 miles / 54:17

I'd had a long day and, being perfectly honest, all I really thought about the entire run was getting it over with.  I can't say that I particularly enjoyed any part of it, but it did feel good to log another 6 miles and I was glad I didn't talk myself into a lazy night on the couch instead.

I started with a 9:40 mile and increased the speed throughout the rest of the workout.  After finishing with a great third mile yesterday, I thought I'd push myself today to see how fast I could run the last mile of a 6 mile run... and I'm pretty proud of an 8:02!  It got me wondering what I might be able to accomplish for the last mile of the marathon... and then I realized just how stupid that question is!  Something tells me that I'll be lucky if I'm not crawling across that finish line.  It's not that I'm questioning my ability to run a marathon, but I do need to remember that this will probably be the hardest thing I ever put my body through.  That's not to suggest that childbirth was easy, but I was only in active labor for about 30 minutes and, at least as far as I know, the marathon doesn't include an epidural...

Day 105 (3/6): 3 miles / 26:14

After not logging any miles last week and a very long run on Saturday, I was really looking forward to today's short run.  I decided to start at an easy pace to verify that no body parts were in any pain after last weekend's 12 miles.  I'm pleased to report that everything appeared to be in tip top shape.  And I really enjoyed getting back to my old habit of continually increasing my speed throughout an entire run.  Mile 1 was 9:30 and mile 2 was 8:50... then I decided to see just how fast I could go for mile 3.  Another milestone running moment (at least as far as the last 10 years are concerned - I'm nowhere near comparing the shape I'm in to where I was in high school).  My final mile was 7:54... my first under 8:00 in a very, very long time.

At this point, I can't say I'm particularly excited about tomorrow's 6 miles, but I'm ashamed to admit that it doesn't sound like much of a challenge after running 12.  Great... now I sound like one of those annoying runners, don't I?

Day 104 (3/3): 12 miles / 1:58:27

I shall dub this week "The Week of a Million Distractions and Zero Miles"...

I had good intentions at the beginning of this week.  I knew I had plans for Tuesday and Thursday evening (both scheduled for 3 miles), so I planned to make up for those days on Tuesday afternoon and Friday evening.  Wednesday (a 6 mile day) wouldn't be a problem... or so I thought.

So these days I'm feeling pretty impressed with myself and the shape I'm in.  I've dropped a few sizes (not intentionally, but a lovely side effect, nonetheless) and I feel stronger every time I run.  So, I was quite surprised on Monday when I sneezed... and somehow managed to injure myself.  While it's not the first time I've pulled a muscle in my back, I must admit that I was a bit disappointed that all of this new found strength didn't help prevent this kind of thing... from a sneeze.  Lovely.  Needless to say, on Tuesday afternoon, when I intended to run 3 miles, I wasn't feeling up to it.  So that took care of day one of this week's training.

Surely I would make up for it with 6 miles on Wednesday... but then, as if back injuries were contagious, my husband threw out his back on Wednesday morning and, after not being able to walk for a few hours, he opted for a trip to the emergency room, which is where I spent the rest of my afternoon.  By the time my son went to bed and things had settled down enough to consider going on my run, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  Another day of training down the drain.

In addition to all of that, this was the week we opted to work on potty training our son... a very exhausting project, but one we were determined to stick with, regardless of what this week threw at us.  So, by the time Friday evening rolled around, the only thing I was interested in was curling up in the recliner with a big bowl of candy... which, I'm not proud to admit, is exactly what I did.

This meant that today's scheduled 12 miles felt like a huge feat that I wasn't sure I could conquer.  With an entire week of missed training, I realized I needed to let myself off the hook a little.  Fortunately, a few weeks back, I'd stumbled upon an article about training for things like this and the fact that, no matter how hard you try, life will always manage to get in the way and that the most important thing you can do is forgive yourself for the missed days and get back on track when you can.  So that's exactly what I did.  I decided that, instead of 12 miles in one day, I wanted to get in 12 miles this weekend.  That meant at least 6 today and whatever was left tomorrow.  So I jumped on the treadmill anticipating a 6 mile run with the intention of going even further if I felt I could handle it.

The first 6 really weren't too bad.  I felt pretty strong and decided that I'd give a 7th mile a try... after all, I'd just done 7 a week earlier and surely I could handle that.  Once I'd accomplished 7 I realized that I could definitely handle another 10 minutes, which would take care of 8 miles today and leave only 4 for tomorrow, so I went for it.  The real problem was when I got to 8... I realized just how close I was to 10, which is what I had planned to run 2 weeks earlier but came up short because of an error in my route.  I still felt good and knew this was my chance to make up for that run, leaving myself only 2 miles for tomorrow.  When I finally reached 10 miles, wouldn't you know it, I felt I just had to run all 12 .  For one, there was no way I wasn't going to be sore from today's run and the odds of feeling up to even 2 miles tomorrow was unlikely.  The real problem, however, was that I knew I would wish I had run all 12 if I had come this close.  No question, mile 11 was tough, but that last mile took everything I had in me.  It came down to sheer determination.

So here I am, nervous about how I'm going to feel tomorrow morning and whether all 12 miles was such a good idea.  That's when it hits me... this is the farthest I've ever run... in my whole life.  Then a second reality comes crashing down... I'm still not quite half way to a marathon.  Talk about eye opening.  And somehow thrilling at the same time.  I suddenly feel great and can't wait to reach my next "longest run ever"... because, as strange as it may sound, at this particular moment, I'm feeling like I can handle just about anything :)