Nite Moves and next fundraiser

Thanks to everyone who came out to my Uno's fundraiser in Reston! The next one is going to be in Pittsburgh on July 28. Just print out one of these vouchers and give it to your server: http://www.alpert.pro/erin/UnosMS-Pittsburgh.pdf

I spent a little over a week in California with Jeremy for his brother's wedding. While I didn't get too much running in, I did run a 5K race. Nite Moves is a weekly race series in Santa Barbara that is a run or swim or duathlon. I opted for just the run. If you’re ever in the area on a Wednesday night during the summer, I’d definitely recommend the race! It was a fun, well-organized race with a great post-race party (lots of food, beer and a live band!)

I also really liked the race course… It was an out and back that went uphill the entire way out and downhill the entire way back. I actually didn’t really notice how much of an incline it was until I hit the turnaround point. I ran at a decently fast (for me) pace on the way out and then was really flying on the way back, which was a good experience for me because I’m usually super cautious and slow down hills… According to my Garmin, my sprint to the finish (the last .1 mile) was around an 8 minute mile, which is a pace I have never been able to hold for even 400 meter intervals – so I was pretty excited about that ;)

I finished about 20 seconds slower than my PR. I might have actually run this at a faster pace than my PR, because I am about 95% sure that my 5K PR was on a short course (it’s from before I had a Garmin, so I don’t know for sure). Had I realized how fast I would be able to go on the down hill part of the course, I would have pushed myself harder on the up hill – I started out just running the race for fun and not even thinking about a new PR. That said, I think I ran a good race overall and had a ton of fun!

Bake Sale update and June mileage

My bake sale last week was really quite successful! I made $120, which is about twice what I thought the "absolute max" I'd make would be. Not too shabby considering that I did (most) everything on my own! The next fundraiser is my Uno's night on 8 July in Reston. (I'm still waiting to hear back from Uno's about setting up the Pittsburgh one. It's been over a week so I should probably give them a call!)

My mileage for June ended up being 134.8 miles! Good thing I'm okay with random numbers :) My July mileage so far is 14.1 miles... not bad for the first day ;) Tonight I decided to treat myself to a massage because a) I'm having a bad couple of days and it seemed like a good idea and b) maybe it will get rid of this nagging calf tightness that still makes my shin hurt randomly...

Updates from the past few months ;)

Some posts on my lovely running message board finally prompted me to update this. The past few months have been pretty good in terms of running. I didn't get the PR I wanted at the Pittsburgh half, thanks to a few weeks of getting almost no sleep prior to the race, but I came close and ran a really good race that I was proud of. There will be other races :)

I'm currently a month into training for my second marathon, which is now three months from tomorrow! The past few weeks have been between 30-35 miles per week and my training plan will peak at a little over 50 mpw, which is much higher than my last marathon training plan. Training over the summer gives me a little more flexibility to get in all of my miles and I'm quite happy about that.

I decided to run this marathon in honor of my aunt, who has MS. I'm raising money through RunMS, which I guess is kind of like TNT for the MS Society ;) The fundraising has also been going pretty well. I'm a little over a third of the way to my goal, with a bake sale and two Uno's nights coming up, plus about 5 or 6 people who have promised to donate. (If anyone out there reads this and wants to donate, the link to my fundraising page is here: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/ErinRunsAkron2010 )

Mileage and race updates since my last post:
March Mileage: 125 miles
April Mileage: 127 miles
May Mileage: 86 miles (I ran the Pittsburgh half the first weekend and then took the rest of the month to recover before marathon training!)

Just a Short Run Half Marathon (3/27): 2:41:34 (ran it as a training run)
Pittsburgh Half Marathon (5/2): 2:33:45
Devotion to Chldren 4-Miler (5/15): 42:04
Kalajainen Klassic 5K (5/29): 31:38
Skirt Chaser 5K (6/5): 36:43 (ran it as a fun run)
Father's Day 5K (6/20): 32:32 (goal was between 32 and 33 minutes)

February Mileage

I may get in a few more miles on my bike while watching the closing ceremonies, but here's my weekly and February total mileage...

This week:
running: 28.9 miles (couldn't I have gone just .1 longer? ;) )
cycling: 8 miles

February totals:
running: 109.4 miles
cycling: 35.7 miles

Not too bad! It's good to be back above 100 miles per month running...

Hal Higdon seminar and Spring Thaw 10-miler

I just wanted to start with a little bit about the Hal Higdon seminar I went to last night. He’s a really good and interesting speaker (although he did tend to get off track when answering people’s questions) and I’d recommend going to see him if you get a chance! The event did not go quite as planned, as over 300 people registered for it and at the scheduled start time, there were only 10 people there. Apparently a moving van got stuck on the road leading up to where the seminar was being held. Eventually about 50-75 people trickled in. My favorite thing that Higdon talked about was actually how, while running 7 marathons for his 70th birthday, he came in second-to-last in a marathon that he had won when he was younger. It just made me think about how everyone who gets out there and runs is a runner and should be proud of themselves for finishing – whether they’re first or last. After the seminar I bought one of his books for him to sign and got a picture with him :)

The race this morning went pretty well. It was still snowing when I left and was sporadically snowing during the race. I got there at an hour and a half before the start and it took me over 30 minutes to find parking and get to the start line. Ugh. Fortunately, the rest of it was better organized. I got my chip, used the bathroom and then found Maria and Bernadette. We went out to the start line and met up with Valerie there. Val and I decided to run together, since we were both planning on using it as an easy training run and were just thankful for the opportunity to get 10 outdoor miles in without huge piles of snow and ice patches! I had originally wanted to run the first lap (5 miles) easy and then run the second one at half marathon pace, but I ditched that idea early on. I just wasn’t feeling it, although we did end up running the second half at a faster pace than the first (except for the mile that I stopped to stretch because my hip was starting to feel funny…)

After the race there was soup, pizza and hot chocolate! I also stuck around for a free massage and while I was in line, the race director (who also owns a running store) came over and gave me a coupon for a free pair of smartwool socks at his store! I’m not sure what happenjavascript:void(0)ed, but he had a stack of coupons for various things and just started giving them out at random. I’m totally excited about it :)

Overall a fun time and an automatic PR since this was my first 10-mile race!

mileage for the past two weeks and other random thoughts

I realize I've been a bit of a slacker in posting here (already!)

2/8 - 2/14
running: 28 miles
cycling: 18.4 miles

2/15-2/21
running: 25.7 miles
cycling: 0! (it was a crazy week!)

This week my running schedule was a little bit off and I ended up doing my intervals the day after my long run. Needless to say, they were not quite as up to par. Ouch.

My favorite mile I ran this week was at the gym on Friday with DB by my side :) He ran an entire mile with me and I am super proud of him.

My first race of 2010 is this upcoming weekend. It fits in nicely with my training plan and I'm hoping I can stick with my goal of doing the first lap (5 miles) easy and the second lap at goal half marathon pace. It's my first 10-mile race, so it's an automatic PR :) I'm also looking forward to seeing Valerie and Maria there and to going to a Hal Hidgon lecture this weekend!

snow snow and more snow

I just got back from running 2.2 miles in the same amount of time that I ran my slowest 5K of the year! Then again, my slowest 5K was not in 2 feet of snow with 15mph winds. I'm just happy I got out there. One woman even said I was her hero ;)

I'm thankful that I impulsively bought a pair of smartwool ski socks a few weeks ago, even though I've never been skiing in my life. They've been keeping my lower legs warm and dry, even when I have to step into a big snowbank. I'm also thankful that I finally got a pair of warm, fitted running tights!