10 miles!

[marionette]

I just ran 10 miles! Woot!

[marionette]

2:08:40 was my time

[LadyInRed]

Woot Woot! Way to go Marionette! What did you do to jubilate? Did you hum the Rocky song and pump your fists in the air?

[marionette]

There was some leaping and fist pumping, not much though as I had just run 10 freakin miles :-)

[sweetleaf5]

Time for a Half Marathon! Congrats on 10 miles!

[marionette]

Time for a Half Marathon! Congrats on 10 miles!

 

I'm seriously debating the one in the fall. What's 3 more miles?

 

Anyways, now that I have a bit more brain power and am not caring for my injured husband (he fell, hard, around mile 7) I wanted to write a blurb about how I managed it.

 

Back before Christmas, my husband signed up with Team Determination to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Plenty of time to train I thought!

 

Problem was, it was plenty of time to procrastinate. Fast forward to the end of February, when I kinda went "oh shit!" and drafted a workout program, it involved straight running 3-4 days a week and cross training 2-3 days a week. I was doing good! I was making progress! Then I got the flu and was out for 2 weeks and lost all momentum. To be honest I was seriously thinking about withdrawing. I was having trouble with 4 miles, let alone getting to 10. I continued with my cross training though, which involved interval running on inclines and speed intervals. I gave up on straight running for a while.

 

Then Boston happened, on a particularly stressful day at work no less, and I NEEDED to clear my head. I went out for a run thinking "oh well I can get about 3 miles in." Next thing I knew I was passing under the Ben Franklin Bridge (3 miles) and still needed to get home. Crap. This running outside stuff really leaves you committed. But I did it, and I did it well. I ended up at 6.5 miles with 21 days to the race. 

 

Then I did a 5k in 37 minutes.

 

Then I did 7 miles on a Monday.

 

Then a 4 mile race on a Friday night. And twisted my ankle. Crap. (I have problems with this ankle from an injury last year.) I took it easy that weekend, and I knew that the whole following week I would be taking it easy because of the race Sunday.

 

The week of I did 2 days of cross training, interval running on the first day, rowing on the second for cardio, and squatted all the squats. Really blew out my thighs. Took the rest of the week off aside from walking. Kept my ankle (still twingy) braced on Saturday. 

 

Race Day! Tried to have a bit of coffee, threw it up. My stomach does NOT like mornings at the best of times. Managed to choke down half a muscle milk so I at least had something in me. Tried for a banana, spit it out quickly as my stomach tried to rebel.

 

Mile 1 was over before I knew it, then mile 2 and the gatorade stand, thank god for the gatorade stand I would not have made it without that quick sugar hit. Soon I was at Temple, then City Hall, South Philly...

 

Now let me tell you something about my city. Philly loves you. Sure it is a very tough love kinda town. Philadelphians resent anything that isn't real. But if you are out there working your ass off for something? They will respect you. They will cheer you on and tell you they are your number one fan when they haven't even met you. The whole race was lined with people doing just that. Shouting their heads off for us runners, giving high fives. There were the official water stations and official performance spaces, but they were out numbered I think by the groups that just set up on the sidewalk with their battered instruments and partied for us and passed out water to us. I saw several signs saying "I don't know you, but you are my hero" and the like along the route. There were men and women from the Army greeting us at the finish in a receiving line. It was awesome.

 

Then there were my fellow runners. The schools in Philly got together and made a student running group. Ages ranged from 13-17 looking at them and all these kids had the discipline for distance running. They were cheering each other on and working together to get through this. There was a group that wore a ribbon for each of the people they knew who had been affected by cancer (American Cancer Society being the primary charity) and their shirts fluttered in the breeze. There was the man who was an open heart surgery survivor. The veterans. Everyone in red socks. Everyone cheering each other on. It was also awesome.

 

It was a great Sunday. I'm sunburnt. My hip flexors are still a bit sore, as is my IT band, but I am doing pretty well overall. I'm going to do it again next year, and next year I'm going to do it FASTER.

[dfenton]

You can seriously do a half marathon no problem, in fact most training programs only have you run up to 10 miles in your training sessions.  The adrenaline of race day is was propels you through those last 3 miles!

 

Great job!!

[I-Jo]

foam roller my dear- invest in one- can get it at target- will help those IT bands and just ...oohhhh so yummy and painful!

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Congrats! I did Broad Street last year and it really was an amazing experience.  The fact that there are crowds THE ENTIRE 10 mile distance astounded me.  I was taking pictures with my phone the whole time.  My favorite sign was "Worst Parade Ever". Really really cool, though it did make me decide that I think 5k's are more my thing.

[I-Jo]

I kind of have wanted to do it ever since my old condo neighbor told me that's what he was doing - and it's such a Philly thing.  But I'm lazy- I hate going into philly LOL.

 

Philly is DEFINITELY a city unto it's own. 

[marionette]

foam roller my dear- invest in one- can get it at target- will help those IT bands and just ...oohhhh so yummy and painful!

 

I actually prefer putting my ankle over my opposite knee and "sitting" one legged, half pigeon pose, and standing bow. I've been sneaking off to the bathroom and doing them every couple of hours (quick cycle through, refill water glass, back to work) and its been helping. The fact that I'm able to wear heels today points out that I'm not that damaged. Doing one legged yoga poses in heels is also rather interesting.

 

Now...am I going to be press ganging you two (I-Jo and Corey) into next year's run?

[I-Jo]

That's a great stretch- I do it all the time.

not the same as foam rolling though.  seriously.  I have the worlds tightest IT bands.  ROLL.  

 

I'd totally do it- I would have done it with you had I not have previous obligations... I can run without training for an unreasonable amount of time- it's just... well not pretty LOL.    

[marionette]

That's a great stretch- I do it all the time.

not the same as foam rolling though.  seriously.  I have the worlds tightest IT bands.  ROLL.  

 

I'd totally do it- I would have done it with you had I not have previous obligations... I can run without training for an unreasonable amount of time- it's just... well not pretty LOL.    

 

I need the training. Me running with training isn't  pretty, so we will be well matched next year. Consider yourself conscripted.

[I-Jo]

LOL game on!!!

 

my friend recruited me for a spartan run or something.  I'm a little afraid for her- only because she's like 5'0" and probably 160 lbs... I'm 5'8" at roughly the same weight.

 

her idea of a work out and mine are... aheam.... slightly different to say the least. So I'm not sure how this is going to go- but I'm going to be training for that too- THAT I could also do- but would die on- so I'd rather be prepared for a little more.

 

I'm roughly a 10 minute a miler- until a competition- then it goes down by 30-45 seconds.  

[marionette]

Yeah, I can do a 10 minute mile for 1 mile, otherwise I tend to hover around 12-13 minutes for distances. The fact that I came in under 13 minutes per mile for the whole thing when I walked a solid mile of it (hit a wall at 8) frankly amazes me.

[I-Jo]

it'll get better... long distances will get better- just keep doing them

 

I found long distances tended to yield actually FASTER run times- only because you just get in a rhythm and go.

 

10 is still a great feat!  I remember when I did my first "I went and got lost for over an hour run"  ll it's a good feeling

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Good luck conscripting me, in planning to compete in my first real powerlifting in December and am guessing ill get a competitive thirst and get hooked on it. That would mean all training focused there and no runs over 5k. If you run 5ks though I'd be more than happy to run one as long as I didn't have any schedule conflicts.

I finished at just under an 11 minute mile I think, I talk about it in last year's challenges at this time of the year. It should be one of the ones in my sig if you wanna read about it. I basically did 3 5ks with a 5 minute walking break between each.