Week to Week

The Stats: 2/16 - 2/22
2/17: 3.11 mi; 23'57"; 7'41" avg. pace
2/19: 4.00 mi; 37'03"; 9'16" avg. pace
2/22: 6.22 mi; 50'02"; 8'03" avg. pace

I have finally put together a single week worthy of a blog post. A momentary break in the winter weather allowed for some good running days last week. Surprisingly, my pace has not suffered drastically from the lack of January activity. I started with the 'ole faithful 5k route on Monday. It went great, but I forgot to stretch out adequately after the run. Ashley joined me on Wednesday and helped me trot out the soreness from Monday's three-miler. I polished that off with a 10k on Saturday under beautiful skies. The half marathon training program suggested an 8 miler this weekend for the long run. Ashley knocked that out, but I am still building back up to the long distance weekend run. All signs are encouraging at this point. Minimal pain and soreness from past injuries is a green light to further half marathon training.
March madness is almost upon us. Madness? THIS IS RUNNING!!!!!!

Feb. 22 splits

Life's not a sprint, it's a (half) marathon.

I wanted to start off my debut as a member of Team Participation Trophy with a bang, so I bribed Matt to sign up for the Dick’s Sporting Goods Half Marathon with me. I started running a little over 18 months ago, and have completed several 5K races and one 10K.

As this will be my first half marathon, I’m trying to be pretty strict with my training (Matt has this in the bag since this will be his third). My coworker who ran her first half in Savannah this year and who is also running Pittsburgh with us created a 16-week training plan for us to follow.

The first 6 weeks have been tough, with the weather and water crisis. A few weeks ago I gave in to Mother Nature and joined a gym so I can stay on track with my training plan. Our plan includes running three times a week: weekday runs are 3-5 miles, and weekend runs are long runs that increase half a mile per week. This week I passed the halfway mark with a 7 miler on the dreadmill!

On my cross-training days I had been doing free weights or the elliptical, but last week I found a new class that is guaranteed to whip me into shape: a twice-weekly, 45 minute strength and conditioning class at my gym. The class consists of sprints, jump squats, crunches, push-ups, high-knees, planks…pretty much your average boot camp activities.

My mileage for 2014 so far is 55 miles. Not too shabby! Looking forward to crossing this item off my bucket list.

Janu-where?-y

The Stats: 1/1 - 1/31
1/14: 3.01 mi; 23'58"; 7'57" avg. pace

Yes, that was my only run in January. The snows, the single digit temperatures, a chemical spill, etc. conspired to make this an awful month for running. But 2014 is no year for excuses. I have finally setup the indoor bike trainer that Mike got me for Christmas two years ago and have hit that hard in the last couple weeks. Skiing has helped fill in the workout gap on two weekends as well. Mike and I got lost in Kumbrabow State Forest and escaped alive, though I'd prefer to burn my calories less out of fear for survival and more for stress relief and enjoyment. And I have tried to do little workouts around the house while I dream of better running days. I even find myself walking the stairs at work, for a break, to increase my heart rate every now and then.
The bottom line is: winter is depressing. Earth needs to move its fat a*# around the sun a bit quicker and make it spring in the Northern Hemisphere again.

Running in 2014

This year has gotten off to a rocky start. First, we hit zero degree Fahrenheit temperatures in Charleston. Then, Freedom Industries decided to leak a bunch of chemicals into our water supply. It is little wonder that I have run only one day this year. But since they say my water is now clean, I should be hitting the showers with increased frequency over the coming weeks. This year starts with the challenge of training for a half marathon in Pittsburgh. That race is not until the first week of May, but training starts immediately. The big question is: How will my legs hold up under increased distances? Only time can tell. But I'm easing into longer distances with a training spreadsheet.
Time to quite moping and hit the pavement.

Here is a recap of my 2013 stats. May was my best month. It was sorry by historical standards though.

Month	Miles	Pace
Jan	5.9	7'38"
Feb	13.9	7'48"
Mar	27.4	8'05"
Apr	15.8	8'11"
May	35.1	7'56"
Jun	10.1	8'10"
Jul	28.4	7'29"
Aug	28.4	7'48"
Sep	26.2	8'06"
Oct	9.6	7'41"
Nov	5.1	7'34"
Dec	4.1	7'41"
2013	210.0

Pretender November

The Stats: 11/1 - 11/30
11/1: 3.11 mi; 23'16"; 7'27" avg. pace
11/4: 2.44 mi; 17'59"; 7'21" avg. pace
11/18: 3.11 mi; 23'41"; 7'36" avg. pace
11/23: 3.11 mi; 24'42"; 7'56" avg. pace
11/30: 2.18 mi; 16'13"; 7'26" avg. pace

The post title should capture my feelings toward this month. I've never felt like an elite runner, but months like these make me feel like I'm a pretender of even an amateur runner. The proof is in the pudding, they say (but what the heck does that mean?). At least Em and I had another successful turkey trot (albeit a weekend early). We braved the 30 degree temperatures and plodded around the high school track while some guys gathered for flag football on the turf field. Regardless of the cold or lack of conditioning or furtive spectators, the tradition must be honored!...even if it leads to naps following a big Thanksgiving dinner.
My year-to-date mileage is at 195 through November. Even a good December will leave me somewhere around 40 percent of my best years' outputs. There's only one thing to do: suck it up and reclaim past glory. If my body can handle it, 2014 needs to mirror 2011 when I ran 550 miles. With some encouragement from Ashley, I have already registered for the Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Half Marathon in May. That should inspire hard core training in the first quarter of 2014. Time to finish this year with a triumphant December - one that is hopeful of things to come.

Atlantic City 10k Recap

Stats: 25th place; 48'34" chip time; 24'27" 5k split; 7'50" avg. mile pace

Well that was one wet and wacky weekend in Atlantic City. I knew we were in trouble when it rained all day on the drive into town. I knew we were in deeper trouble when I saw the seedy area around our hotel. But we ventured to Caesar's casino nonetheless for packet pickup and dinner. After dinner at Morton's Steakhouse, we all turned in early with visions of a rainy morning hanging over our dreams.
It was windy and cloudy when we woke up on race day. The rain held off until we got on the boardwalk and paced around a little. We scouted the boardwalk for the best pre-race photo before settling on this Bally's sign as a background.

Professional work from the boardwalk copper

The rain quit before our start and we nervously readied ourselves for the six miles to come, quite a familiar feeling by this point. Running on the hardwood was a unique experience, but not wholly different from running on pavement. The boards didn't creak or crack and if you didn't look down you could convince yourself you were running on the road. At least there was no traffic to negotiate and no neighborhood routes on which to get lost. It was straight down and straight back. We had to suffer seeing the 5k runners turn around after 1.5 miles and head back to the start; they should have stepped it up a notch. The rain began to fall on the first 5k and I started looking out at The Atlantic once it became visible to my left. I kept a very steady pace; the iPhone consistently told me I was running around 8 minutes miles. That was fine by me and I felt comfortable in the 60 degree temperatures.

Wet wood running

After turning around the 5k road cone, I was greeted with a strong headwind. There gusts of 15 to 20 mph on occasion that nearly kept me from maintaining my stride. I warned Mike of this as we past each other. The rain continued to come down and intensified somewhat on the back half. I went into zen mode and watched the ocean waves washing onto the shore which was on my right on the return trip. I spotted a few runners who kept a similar pace and made sure to stay in sight of them. My endurance proved stronger than expected given my lax training leading up to this race. Once I saw the Bally's casino sign I started to increase the pace. The last three-quarters to half a mile, I ran between a jog and a sprint. Getting out of breath would let me rest knowing I gave my best, even in New Jersey of all places. I hit the finish sucking wind, but not totally exhausted. The weather actually helped my breathing and kept me cool.

Nice try, Ken Shelton. Computers have snipe functions now

Finish Line montage

I got the customary water and fruit/bagel or whatever they give you in the recovery station. Then, I had to duck into a restroom before meeting up with the rest of the family. I came back to the finish line to see Mike limping past the finish with a bandage wrapped around his lower leg. Uh oh, this has to have a story to it. Apparently, home boy blew out his calf ligament/tendon sprinting in the last 200 or so meters. Oh dear.

We have a runner down

Mary and Emily had significantly better stories to report. Emily finished with a near PR and Mary finished less than two minutes behind her. The consensus seemed to be that the rain was not that bad and may have even helped. And everyone was happy to score a finishers medal out of this one. Generally we only get t-shirts, but this is more like it! Below are our results, the course map, and my splits.

Love that last mile!

The recovery was filled with food. First at Caesar's as we got some lunch and left Mike to rest up at the hotel. Some celebratory gelato was a high point. We shopped briefly before the rain made us flee from the outdoor outlet stores. The rest of the evening was highlighted by dinner at Capriccio's where some people got a little carried away with their food.

Take the picture already!

The next day we stopped in Philly for a brief look around before the girls had to fly. We got to posture around the Rocky steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Some weird Crossfit like cult was doing a routine on the steps that morning. After photo-ops, we went to the Reading Terminal Market for brunch. Then, it was time for farewells. But no need to worry, the Harmons will return to the pavement in 2014 as talks were made about the next state to fall to our 10k obsession. Look out Omaha?

Yo Ashley, I did it!

Atlantic City 10k Preview

The Stats: 10/1 - 10/8
10/2: 3.12 mi; 23'47"; 7'37" avg. pace
10/7: 2.62 mi; 19'35"; 7'27" avg. pace

I have only hit the pavement twice so far in October. That's not exactly the type of ramp up I usually have prior to a 10k race. Keeping me from getting out the door has been a mixture of recovering from the Capital City Challenge, laziness, and volleyball. I tweaked something near my right shin in the last volleyball game of the season; that scared me enough to only run once last week (10/2). I ran well enough and proved to myself it was not a serious injury. More concerning is that I have been getting winded by running five kilometers. My endurance is not where it should be for a 10k. But it will have to make due because the Atlantic City 10k is this weekend.
The race itself is a straight stretch along the Atlantic City Boardwalk. It starts at the intersection of the Boardwalk and Michigan Ave. which is in front of Bally's Casino (no gambling before a race).

I hope the weather looks better on Saturday.

After a straight five kilometers on the hard wood, we will do our best suicide drill stop (or turn around some cones) and head back from whence we came. The turnaround is at South Avolyn Ave. I cannot get a decent picture of the Boardwalk at that intersection from Google Maps. But I imagine it looks quite similar to the picture above except with different buildings on the shore and the Atlantic Ocean on the opposite side. I'm slightly worried this may be our least scenic 10k to date. But we will mark New Jersey off this list. Outside of the racing, it looks like shopping and dining is what we will be up to in Atlantic City. Mike has us contemplating a stop in Philadelphia on the way back in order to get more interesting travel in this trip. I'm in support of that. But let's knock out this run first!