Running for Nancy, a new PR and meeting the host of Burning 20

Today I got to run my race for Nancy. Many of the racers were running for themselves or loved ones who have fought with breast cancer. The dedication was inspiring.

A full moon greeted us as we arrived in the dark around 6:00am. Excitement was already in the air. The temperature was a cool 68 degrees F. A beautiful sunrise preceeded the race start. I met a new friend, Laura, who was running her very first race ever! She was very excited.


As I waited for the race to begin, I ran into Adam Tinkoff, the host of the podcast Burning 20 (an excellent listen, by the way - you can find out more at http://www.burningtwenty.com). Like me, Adam is also training for the Disney World Marathon in January. In addition, Adam and I are participating this weekend in the Phedippedations World Wide Half Marathon (http://www.steverunner.com/halfmarathon.htm). It is always fun to meet folks in person that you feel you know after meeting them "virtually."

The race started off a bit crowded but I was able to make my way up to where the crowd was a bit thinner. I know that I took off at a strong pace, but I wanted to try to break 30 minutes today - and I figured I could adjust when I saw my mile 1 time. Well, mile 1 was NOT marked, which I realized after going about 11 minutes. I pressed on until I saw the mile 2 marker which I crossed at about 19:28. My pace was under 10 min/mile, which was what I was shooting for.

Now I had a couple of things working against me. I am suffering from a cold right now and had tanked up on decongestants last night in a failed attempt to sleep. So strike 1 - I had about 1-2 hours sleep. That was not my trouble. The drugs made my mouth and throat dry, leading me to stop for water at mile 1 and 2. Though I only walked for perhaps 30 sec each time, it made the difference for my final time.

I was pretty winded but instead of walking I slowed my pace to catch my breath. As I rounded the last corner for the finish line I sprinted to the finish. I could see on the clock that my time was about 31 min - as I crossed the finish line and stopped my watch, my net time turned out to be 30 min, 3 seconds. Just 3 seconds shy of busting 30 minutes. I was excited that I was able to set another PR and be so close to a 30 minute 5K.

Tomorrow my first ever 10K race - the Race for the Taste 10K. It's back to Disney early tomorrow morning (I need to be there by 5:15 or so) and a run through MGM and Epcot. Should be fun!

In loving memory of Nancy K. Bouwens

Tomorrow morning is the Susan Komen Race for the Cure 5K at Disney's Animal Kingdom park. And tomorrow I am doing something I have not yet done in any of the races I have run. I am dedicating this race to someone - to my mother-in-law, Nancy Bouwens, who left this world to be with her Lord on Nov. 28, 2001 after losing a lengthy battle to breast cancer.

As I paste her picture on an unused race number to pin to my back as I run, I begin to realize how much I miss her. She was a hard working woman, having raised 4 boys (and since my husband was one of them, I can understand why she spent so much time praying). The phrase that best describes her, at least to me, is that she was a woman of God. Her faith and love served and inspired all around her. Tomorrow, as I run 3.1 miles to help raise money for breast cancer research, I do it knowing that it would be the kind of thing she would be proud for me to do.

Although it has been nearly 5 years since she physically left us, it has not diminished the feeling of loss I have. I feel like she keeps watch over our family, and is certainly here with us in spirit. Still, I miss her.

As runners, we run for many different reasons. Tomorrow, I run for Nancy.

As the sun rises...

I run through the morning - first in the dark - then as the sun comes up. I am a night owl by tradition, but there is something about being outside at first light that is energizing!

Today I began my run, as usual, in the dark at about 6 am. I had a longer mid week run scheduled - 8 miles. About 4.5 miles into my run, the sky started to get lighter, and by 6 miles in it was light and I felt wonderful! The last 2 miles of the run felt almost effortless - and as I pushed myself to run faster, the fatigue never came. My last mile was covered in 9:50 - with my pace for the run at 11 min/mile.

I feel good! It's a good day to be a runner :-)

Toughest long run yet!

Today I was scheduled to run a 14 mile long run. Since I had successfully done this a couple of weeks ago, I have been optimistic about being able to do this again. However, the circumstances for this weekend were a bit different.

After running my best 5K ever yesterday morning, I showered up and headed over to help a friend move. I got there around 11 am and worked until 10 pm. After getting to bed late the night before, getting up early for the race, and running like a crazy woman, I was, well, a bit tired. There were a few times during the day I was wondering if I was going to make it, kind of like being in a long run where you are really worn out and just want to stop. With the move, the last couple of hours were tough not only because we had been working all day, but because I did some of the heaviest lifting of the entire day during the last hour of work.

I got home around 10:30 pm and immediately climbed into a nice hot bubbly bath. I knew that I was going to be sore in a few muscle groups I was not accustomed to using. My lower back was already a bit sore. Getting up at 6 am to begin a 14 mile run seemed out of the question. I wasn't sure whether I was going to get to my long run the next day, but for that moment, I just needed to rest up.

My body naturally woke me up around 7 am, so I dragged my achy body to use the bathroom, popped some ibuprofen and climbed back into bed. I got up a little before 9 am and wrestled with the idea of my long run. My legs felt ok and I felt pretty ok. I realize that my long run is THE most important run of the week, and I really didn't want to skip it. My husband suggested, and I agreed, that I would probably feel ok once I got out there.

Now remember my previous post regarding the fact that it is still summer in Florida? Well today was no exception. The temperature was about 82 degrees, the humidity was around 43% and the sun was bright, with no clouds in the sky. I knew if I ran, it was going to be quite hot. So I resolved to go for an 11 mile run (to my office and back) and I could extend it to 14 if I felt up to it. I would take it easy, run slowly and take breaks when I needed.

So I put on the usual Icy Hot, and also a coating of Bull Frog sunscreen since I knew I would be in the sun for over 2 hours. Packed my water, gel packs, ipod and cell phone and took off.

In a nutshell, toward the end of my run, it would be better characterized as going out for a long walk with running breaks. My total time was 2 hours 33 minutes (just under 14 min mile pace) and I had an untimed stop at the office to cool down, refill my water bottles, and pop a couple more ibuprofen. I was glad I wore the heart rate monitor, because I used it to help me judge when I needed to take a walking break and when I could start running again. If my heart rate got over 160 I really kept an eye on it. Over 165 and I took a break, no matter how long it had been since my last break. It helped me to not overwork myself. By mile 8, I was having some labor with my breathing, even though my heart rate was ok, so I had to walk a bit more. By mile 10, I had to simply walk until my breathing felt normal. I started to feel some light headedness and noticed that I was not sweating nearly as much on my run back (the last 5.5 miles) as I had in the first half of my run. With that feeling I walked. I jogged a couple more segments (they were short) and arrived back to the house - exhausted.

Once I got into the house, breathing was still labored. I used a bit of Primatene to help open up my airways. Shortly after that I started to black out and had to lie down for about 5 minutes. After that, I got up to get a protein shake into me to replace some nutrition. I am icing my left heel and blogging as I rest up. I think I flirted with heat exhaustion today. I know hydration wasn't a problem - but it still got hot.

So I am glad I did a long run, and probably tested my body's endurance as much as I might have done with a early morning 14 miler. I think I will modify my training plan a bit so I work in the longer runs over the next few weeks without increasing the mileage too much (that old 10% rule).

It was a tough run, but a good learning experience. Until the weather cools down a bit more, its back to the early morning, in the dark, runs.

A new 5K PR!!!!

On Saturday, my family came to watch me race in the Rock and Run 5K in Casselberry, Florida. Though I had spent the night before helping a friend get ready for a move (more on that in a later blog entry) and was up rather late, we were up dark and early to get to the race in time for a 7:30 am start. By the time we got to the race area, the sun had come up, and it was a bright and sunny, but thankfully a cooler Central Florida morning.

I was very excited for this race. I had two really good 5 mile runs during the week, and I felt very optimistic that I could set a PR (personal record) for the 5K - I was shooting to get my time under 33 minutes. The race started as most others, except this time I did a couple of things differently. I set my ipod on a 170 bpm podrunner tune to keep my cadence up. I also set a brisk pace - comfortable but brisk. The usual few runners breezed by me, but for the most part, I kept up with the crowd (normally I fall way behind). I knew I went out a bit faster than usual, but when we got to the first mile I looked at my watch and I had run it in 9:33 - a min per mile faster than I was shooting for. I decided to slow my pace a bit so I didn't burn out so quickly. When the water stop came up around 1.5 miles in, I skipped the stop. On a 30-ish min run I have no problem finishing without a drink. Just ahead of mile 2 I took a 30 sec walking break, just to rest a bit before the last push. I reached mile 2 in 11:10, then bumped the pace up for the last mile. About a quarter of a mile from the finish, I kicked my pace up, imagining that portion of my normal training run course where I always speed up. At 3 miles, which I reached in about 10:10, I sprinted for the finish. As I was crossing the finish I looked at the clock and saw 31:05 as I approach, and realized I not only beat 33 minutes, but blew it away. I crossed the finish and hit my watch stop button. With the 25 sec delay at the start, my net time was 30:44. My official race time ended up being 31:10.

I was ecstatic! A 30 min 5K was an goal I hoped to achieve sometime in the next year - with speed work after my marathon training. I didn't dream I would be this close to 30 min at this point in time. I was SO excited!!

We hung around for the kids runs. Both of the girls bravely ran the 1 mile run. My 11 year old completed the mile in 11 minutes. My 6 year old completed it a minute later in 12 min. I was so proud of them both.

It was a great morning to be a runner!!!