Saturday, August 29, 2009

Almost Easy

alternate title for this post:
Holy Hills
Chicago is not the only windy city

Today Pfitz wanted 15 miles with 12 at race pace. Of course it dictates this must be done after 12 on Thursday, and 6 "recovery" miles with 6 x 100 strides on Friday. After arriving in central Illinois Friday night I was one tired puppy and was in bed by 10:30 (which is very early for me!) Then I slept all the way until 9 am this morning. Wow. I haven't slept like that in a long time. So by the time I got myself dressed and fed then got my husband moving to take me to the path it was 10 am. You would like I would have problems with the heat and humidity leaving that late. Well the calendar may show the end of the August but it feels more like October out there today.

Going into this run I had a lot of excuses planned if it didn't go well. Just before getting here last night I realized I forgot my water belt - doh! Luckily there is a running store in Peoria that I had been once before and the in-laws were willing to drive a bit out of the way to go there before going to dinner Friday night. Unfortunately I picked up the wrong size and had some issues early in the run when the bottles were full. Then I have the joy of being a girl happening this week (too much info?) which makes long runs just oh so enjoyable. Next up, the hills. Chicago is flat as a pancake, central Illinois is not. Finally at the turnaround I faced crazy obnoxious wind for my remaining 7 1/2 miles. No wonder the first 7 felt so easy! Despite all my planned excuses I hit or bettered race pace with the exception of miles 4, 8, and 12 where I slowed to take my shot bloks and GU gushers! The only miles I really struggled were 2, a warm-up mile, and 13, the last race pace mile where I just wanted to be done. Most miles I had to slow myself down b/c I was running my 1/2 marathon race pace, not marathon. The legs felt great even as I got tired toward the end. This run was a huge confidence booster. Lately I've really doubted my goal for Chicago and was extremely doubtful that I would even be able to maintain it for 12 miles on this run. But I nailed it and I am ecstatic!

14 comments:

MCM Mama said...

Great job!

I was near Chicago this weekend. Too bad you weren't there! One of these days...

Mark said...

Yes!! That is great to hear!! That is such an important run and you nailed it!

Mel-2nd Chances said...

Yay for nailing your run and for the confidence boost!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

kristen said...

You go girl!!!

The Laminator said...

Yay! Congrats on your awesome run! I was about to curse that Pfitz for you after reading the first couple of sentences, but it turned out to be just what you needed. Haha.

Kathleen said...

I love how hard you push yourself- you rock girl!

Marlene said...

Way to tackle a tough run, Jamie! Congrats!

Jess said...

Awesome job! You rocked that run!

X-Country2 said...

Awesome! Love great runs like that! You're going to rock that marathon.

Tara said...

Congrats on such a GREAT run! It always makes you feel good to nail a training run like that.

I freaking HATE running in wind; makes me way too tires.

RunToTheFinish said...

i am amazed by anyone that follows Pfitz it just seems so intense! way to go on a bunch of great runs

runner26 said...

awesome job nailing this tough one!! it must be so nice to have cooler temps--we have lost the humidity, at least for now.

Bill Carter said...

Hi Jamie

I would say that is an A++++ run! You had kind of a lot going against you (including what my wife and I call "chick" stuff) and still managed to have a great run.

Don't you just love it when you have to slow yourself down to your marathon pace?? That certainly bodes well for your upcoming race I would say.

Aron said...

yayyyyyyyyyyy AWESOME job on your run girl!!!! your training is really going to pay off in chicago i just know it :) :) :)