weekend reverie

i was very caught off guard by the sudden change in my weekend plans, but honestly i think it’s all for the best! i had a really nice day yesterday — first my “race”, then a super-fun brunch with a bunch of peds residents in my class (i really LOVE my class, and i wish we had time to hang out even more), and then some serious relaxation at home. while i did manage to squeeze in some laundry, the majority of my afternoon was spent catching up on blogs and then reading murakami on the couch with a glass of red wine.

i feel truly relaxed and energized today and am excited to have the whole day to do whatever i want with! some of my plans for the day:

☑ planning: next week’s dinners, my marathon training plan, and our may trip to CA (just the the plane tickets!)
☑ cleaning: sheets, vacuuming, bathroom, recycling
☑ errands: grocery shopping, drugstore
☑ workout: recovery run + yoga
☑ reading: allergy + maybe more murakami
☑ baking: chocolate gingerbread (from the usual source!)

i guess that looks like a lot, but a lot of the tasks are things that are quick and my goal is to be done with the ‘cleaning’ part as soon as i write that post, with no more than an hours spent on the whole thing. with my new fleet foxes album blasting, even bathroom cleaning isn’t all that unpleasant.

so, onto more exciting things . . . like my SHU HALF MARATHON RACE REPORT!

first of all, it really doesn’t ‘count’, because most half marathons do not include a stop in the middle for drinking and gel consumption, and this one did (hey, as race director i get to make the rules!). but i am pretty sure that i got in at least 13.1 miles and likely a bit more!

miles 0 – 3.5: when i started, i was pumped for my ‘race’, but i really didn’t feel like i was running very fast. i was very surprised when my first split (splits are all based on mile markers which should be essentially accurate) was a 7:58! this gave me some confidence that i actually can turn on some speed without too much suffering when i am prepared to do so, and i got excited that i might be able to turn out a good race! the next 3.5 miles felt good and rather easy. official split times:
1: 7:58
2: 8:09
3: 8:12
(the half-miles i don’t have exact splits for, because of the way the trail is and the way things were divided up).

miles 3.5 – 7: it was only 35 degrees at the beginning, but i actually started to get hot during this segment! things didn’t really feel much harder, though, so i just sailed along and focused on the iPod. mentally, i knew this would be one of the hardest segments, because it was no longer ‘the beginning’ of the race, but the end was so far away! i focused on the fact that when i got back to the car, it would be gel/water time and i could ditch my gloves, headband, and inner long-sleeved layer.
4: 8:13
5: 7:52
6: 8:07

water/gel stop: i tried to get this done as quickly as possible to preserve the authenticity of the race, but i did stop the clock for this brief interlude. i would guess it took me 90 seconds to 2 minutes to open the car, rip off my inner layer, ditch my gloves and headband, and down a gel with a water chaser. i was reminded of how much i dislike gels! i think they *work* fabulously to deliver quick energy, but the gels themselves (even the ones i had previously decided were the most tolerable — this time, a raspberry hammergel) are completely disgusting to me — the mouth feel and the extreme sugariness. i got it down nonetheless, and was off and running for loop #2!

miles 7 – 10: i think i started to feel a little bit more tired during these miles, so i decided to just be conservative and really pay attention to maintaining a comfortable pace. i made a mental pact with myself that these 3 could be slower as long as i really brought it for the last 3. my hands started getting cold and i regretted ditching the gloves.
7: 8:17
8: 8:21
9: 8:17

miles 11 – 13: i started to get worried about pushing it too early, so i then revised my pact and decided i would just push it the last 2 miles. my iPod (which was on shuffle) cooperated nicely, providing madonna’s ‘4 minutes’ (the long techno version!) and REM’s ‘end of the world as we know it’ towards the end, and i really pushed it!
11: 8:27
12: 7:59
13: 7:47 (fastest mile!)

i hadn’t checked my watch for total time at all, just splits, and i was REALLY happy to see the ending at 1:47:30!

average pace, according to the polar: 8:07/mi
average pace calculated based on the 12 splits: 8:08/mi
this leads me to believe i really did run a little more than 13.1 miles, because there is no real reason that the 1.1 really would have taken 9:39 (works out to an 8:46 pace) when the rest of the race was not consistent with this. then again, a real race wouldn’t have included a rest stop, either, so there’s no point in comparing! but overall, i can definitely say i am happy and even a bit surprised with my performance. thank you ryan hall training plan from runner’s world!

i am already looking forward to marathon training, knowing that i have a strong base to build up from! i plan to take the next 2 weeks a bit easier, though, because i think some recovery time would probably be a good thing for my body. the virtual race was fun and i would totally do it again for training purposes, but next time — i will NOT forget to sign up. i think that’s a mistake that can only be made once.