Run 20 miles? Check.
I finally got the long run in a few weeks ago at the C&O Canal towpath. Not going to lie… it was tough. The first 14 miles went ok, but the last six miles were an absolute struggle. Six miles had never been so painful or felt so long.
But it got done.
LESS THAN 2 WEEKS UNTIL HATFIELD-MCCOY!
Am I ready?
Ehhh… not totally.
But it’s all good. Come race day, I think I’ll be fine and ready to go. Hopefully.
I can’t believe it’s MAY already. This year is flying by so fast.
The Hatfield-McCoy Double Half Marathon is less than 50 days away (!!) (Check out the awesome-looking medals above!), and I honestly don’t feel as prepared as I should (but then again, when have I ever really felt prepared to run 26 miles?).
I’m slacking on my runs — the weekday runs and weekend long runs are not long enough. And I haven’t done the super long run yet – the dreaded 20-miler. I’m hoping to squeeze that in this weekend or next. Mentally, I am all over the place, and just not as focused on this training as I should be.
I still have another month to pull myself together though. Let’s see if I can do it.
Upside: I managed to score running buddies for both the Hatfield-McCoy and the San Francisco (Half) Marathon in July. Yay for running/travel buddies!
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I spent part of this week recovering and catching up after a long weekend in Phoenix last week. Last Saturday, I ran the Pride Run (half marathon) and crossed state number 13 off my list (Wooo Arizona! — Hope to have a race recap up shortly.). And then afterward, I attended an old high school friend’s wedding (I love celebrating love). It was a good day — it was a good several days, actually. The weather in Phoenix was gorgeous, the race went well, the wedding was perfect, and I gained 5 pounds (i.e., I ate too much, drank too much, and was way merry).
I’m back home now — back to focusing on training for the Hatfield-McCoy Double Half Marathon (and trying to lose those 5 lbs. I gained).
Highlight of the week: crossing the Rock ‘n’ Roll DC 5k finish line with my dad and sister.
It was my dad’s first race, and it was just so awesome doing it with him and crossing the finish line together. He’s not a hard-core runner, but does workout regularly, so I was pretty confident he would be fine for a 5k — and he was. I asked if he wanted to do another race with me — maybe a 10k next time. He laughed and said that was a little too much, but he’d think about it.
I think he’ll do it. 🙂
Some days, your training just rocks — you’re hitting your mileage goals, your nutrition is on point, you even get in a little cross-training. 🙂 You feel great!
And then some days, you just suck.
Week 2 of training was the former. Week 3 of training was the latter.
Oh well. What can you do…
You win some, you lose some.
I’m heading for the hills of Kentucky and West Virginia this June for the Hatfield-McCoy Double Half Marathon. The races take runners through the historic sites following the Hatfield-McCoy feud in Goody, Kentucky and Matewan, West Virginia.
Because the halves are back-to-back, I’ve decided to do a full marathon training program. It’s an 18-week program, which means week 1 started last week. It totally snuck up on me. Wintry weather here in the DC area + car issues made it difficult to get most of my runs in this week.
So yeah. Basically, I am off to a great start so far…
At the end of Decemeber, Jen’s pal, Emily, sent us an email asking if we wanted to participate in “Run the Year 2016,” where you run 2,016 miles in the year. Sounded like a cool concept, and great motivation to get out for a run when you’re not training for a race.
But then I was thinking… 2,016 miles? That’s a lot. That means I would have to average almost 40 miles a week. For the entire year.
Um. No thanks.
I was a little confused though. Emily wanted to know if we wanted to be a team of three, and therefore we’d complete the 2,016 miles together (i.e., our combined mileage would be 2,016).
Ah, that sounds much more manageable! I’m in!
So, I get back to my desk on Monday from a 1.5 hour-long meeting, and my colleagues walk up to me with cake and a card.
I’m all like… “cake?? For what? My birthday was in June!”
Turns out the cake and card was to wish me luck on the Marine Corps Marathon this Sunday.
I have awesome colleagues.
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The Marine Corps Marathon is in 10 days. Ten days!?!
These last four months of training have seriously flown by. I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish during this training season — waking up at 4 a.m. to run before work, consistently hitting the gym after work, and keeping up with my long runs, even when it meant doing them on a treadmill.
I’ll be honest though. Despite all of that, I’m not sure if I’m really ready for the race… physically or mentally.
I’m at that point in training where I’m just ready for it to be over. My legs are tired. My body is tired. I’m tired of feeling like I have to run.
I mean, I do enjoy running. Really, I do. But the pressure to complete a (super long) long run and a certain number of miles each week has been draining.
Yes, I know. I signed up for this. I wanted this. I chose my training schedule. I could have chosen an easier one, but wanted the challenge.
And a challenge, I got.
Running the States 