Eastern States 20 mile Race

What a feeling! I ran the Eastern States 20 mile Race this past Sunday. This is the furthest distance I have run, let alone raced.

The race was an all day event, a group of 6 of us left Salem at 7:30 and returned around 4. The logistics were the time consuming part. We drove to New Hampshire and parked, took a bus to Massachusetts where we chilled for a couple of hours in a gymnasium (okay, most of us went back and forth on what to wear, snacked, packed our gear--yes 20 miles involves gear, and made frequent bathroom trips). Here is the group of us waiting, and well, keeping our minds off the 20 miles in the rain upon us:)



The race started at 11. This is the Eastern States race because it takes you along the coast (almost all is on the coast) from Kittery, Maine to Salisbury, Massachusetts along route 1A in New Hampshire (aka Ocean Blvd). Here is a sample of some of our scenery. Note: it was a steady rain and it didn't look quite as beautiful as this, but the ocean is always beautiful! Yes, that second picture is pretty accurate while the first includes more sun that we ever saw!






The purpose of the race for me was to actually try and race the 20 miles and see what my marathon pace would look like. You simply can't go out full force when you have 20 miles ahead of you so the plan was to start off at a maintainable pace, pick it up in the mid miles a little, pick it up in the teens more, and then I could slow down towards then end or keep trucking if I felt good. This is the same plan for the marathon. IT WORKED!! My marathon partner (the one I can blame for talking me into this and is captured in this photo) and I started out with a similar plan but she hoped to run based on her heart rate and increase at similar increments as my pace. It happened, thank goodness, that her heart rate and my planned paces matched beautifully. Having a friend by my side was especially nice since it was raining the whole time. We started around 9:50 for three miles, picked up to 9:40 for a couple more, and then we coasted for about 5 on 9:20s before pushing the 9:15s and under. We even came under 9:00 for two of the miles! We did a great job of keeping ourselves in check with the pace ("not too fast now ladies, you have hours ahead of you. . .") and really enjoyed the race. I think this is quite an accomplishment--especially with pools in our shoes starting at mile 2 (yes, 10% in and we were soaked). Thank goodness my hat acted like an umbrella, I just had to tip my head and the water just streamed off:) Plus, we wanted to come in at 3:10 in order to be on target to test a marathon time of 4:10 and I crossed at 3:08 (3:07 watch time) and my partner was a minute ahead of me.

I have never been so proud of myself! It felt so good and I can certainly see myself pacing for another hour of running with the 8 weeks of training left (oh, boy!). Plus, I have to give a shout out to my running club--these New Englanders have overwhelmed me with their support. I received e-mails and facebook page messages before the race and tons after! I even had a faster Wicked runner give me a much needed hug at the end of the race--ok, I might have looked like I needed a little support standing as my legs were on auto pilot. You would think I already ran the marathon. This has me even more psyched for the marathon and I just can't wait. All now is some more long runs and mostly keeping myself healthy! That said, this is now R and R week for me and I am tired! I can tell my body needs a rest--nighty night:)

For the Love of Sewing and Running

This weekend was jam packed with both sewing and running activities. Saturday am, I enjoyed a slow and easy 9 mile run (I know, I never thought I would say that either, but after 19 miles last week, it was) I ran with the running group Saturday am with my watch turned off and and was reminded why I love running. We ran along the trail for the first time since December, when my foot crashed through the ice, and ran to the Ocean where we enjoyed watching spring waves crash along the shore. Even if it was 25 degrees, it was beautiful! After the run--an ice bath, yes 10 minutes in cold water with all the ice our freezer can produce. My dog, Otis, always looks so concerned when I first step in the cold water and let out a muffled scream, then he lays his head on the side of the tub until I can start to read my book and then he eats the ice out of the water;) Such a sweet boy!!! I swear it is always worth it and aids in fast muscle recovery way better than any icepack ever could.

Later Saturday, A friend and her friend came over and we took a sewing machine out of the box and literally talked about the basics of the machine and sewing. It was so much fun! Once the needle holes they stitch on the lined paper are as straight as the paper, we'll stick some material in the machine and get going for lesson 2! Proof that sewing and running go together--they brought me a gift card to the running store--thanks gals!

Sunday was a lesson in the work involved in putting on even a small race. I volunteered to help work the Salem 5K cross country race. The course is a ton of hills and rough surfaces and not a good idea for me before a marathon, hence the volunteering and not running. I helped pass out bags with numbers and shirts in them to those who had registered early and then read off peoples' numbers at the finish so their times could be recorded accurately. It was so much fun to watch the friends I have made through the Wicked Running Club cross the finish and chear each of them on.

Hopefully the reminder of how much pleasure running and sewing have given me will help drive me through this coming weekend's 20 mile race. I have my fingers crossed that the rain in the forecast will hold off until after the race.

30K Organized Training Run (Run to the Beach)

Okay, so we really didn't end up at the beach, but did run in the general direction toward the Atlantic and probably within 5 miles of it. The Run to the Beach run, was however a fun organized training run--this means a guy yelled go, there was more than 1 crazy person running along the road (130 of us), and there were nice guys with water and music at mile 5, 10, and 15. This was my longest run yet at 30K, or 18.6 miles. 9 of us from the Wicked Running Club (Salem's finest bunch) set out in a caravan at 8 am and ran from North Andover to Salisbury MA (at a bar of course). I ran with one of my fellow Wicked runners, one of the team Glenda runners from our December Mill Cities relay adventure. She was great--pushing me a little harder than I push myself and encouraging me up the hills and when I entered "new territory" after mile 16. We finished in just under 3 hours. It was a perfect day for a run, a brisk 42ish degrees when we started and 50 when we finish with the sun beaming all the way.

Countdown

I have decided to begin providing weekly updates on how these last training weeks leading up to the marathon are going and what I am doing. I have 11 weeks until the marathon from this week (meaning there are 11 weeks counting the marathon week and 10weekends before marathon weekend). All of my long runs from this point on will be new territory for me, including this weekend, and who knows what kind of learning opportunities and thus odd stories might await us. Here is the breakdown of my planned remaining weekend training runs. Hopefully, this being public will help keep me accountable. I will spare you the details of the runs during the week, but they generally include two easy runs, two speed workouts, and the long run.

Week 11 (March 9): weekly total 37 miles, long run 18.6 miles
Week 10 (March 16): total 30 miles, long run 10
Week 9 (March 23): total 36, long run 20 mile race
Week 8 (March 30): total 23, recover week, 8 mile longest
Week 7 (April 6): total 38, long run 18
Week 6 (April 13): total 41, long run 20
Week 5 (April 20): total 27, long 8
Week 4 (April 27): total 44, long run 22
Week 3 (May 4): total 35, long run 15
Week 2 (May 11): total 20, long 8
Week 1 (May 18): RACE WEEK

This week (11) my long run will be an organized training run that I am running with friends from my running club this Sunday. Here is the website about the course: http://www.timedbyyankee.com/2009Races/runtothebeach/. Look for an update and photos from that run soon.

Finally, I know this is about running and SEWING. I will continue to write about sewing as I can, but realize that running takes a lot of time. I do have a sewing lesson planned for a friend and her pal, so you can also look for those if the running doesn't interest you.

Hyannis Half Marathon

As part of our marathon training (yup, 12 weeks to go), my friend and I raced the Hyannis half marathon in Hyannis, MA. Hyannis is about 2 hours away on the Cape and where the Kennedy's live and the JFK memorial is found. We ran past the memorial as well as JFK beach (see photo) which was really nice. There were lots of big beautiful houses along our path and the smell of salty air. A very pretty race.





Unfortunately, our race day was not sunny like these photos, but rather a cloudy rainy day in the high 30s. Luckily, the rain held off until just after we finished (though those running the marathon got quite wet). My friend and I ran together for 9 miles at just under or at a 9 minute pace holding ourselves back and chatting about the scenery. At mile 8, I felt myself get the itch and knew we were running at a perfectly even pace (within 5 seconds each mile) and were going to break 2 hours--this is a great feeling. At mile 9 I safely gave into my itch, picking up the pace to 8:30s and the again with the last 1.5 miles to go (my last half mile was 7:30). There was a large crowd and I got even more motivated by counting the people as I passed (who said I was competitive?). I crossed in 1:57 (a personal best for me) after realizing the race was a little long at 13.26 instead of 13.1 (yes, that extra .16 matters when you are hauling @ss). I still passed the finish feeling my best for a half. Seems it was one of those few times where the stars and plans line up. I only hope the marathon proves as memorable and successful. Sorry for no finish photo, this was a huge race and the photo guy missed me:(