Good runs, Bad runs!

This is a subject that I think every runner has pondered at least once during his or her running career.  What in the world causes these spectacular runs and these terrible runs?  I had the most spectacular 4 mile run this morning.  It was an easy run day ( I am trying to stay in training for another Half marathon in September) so I started out at what I thought was a leisurely pace, which for me is about 13min or more per mile.  I am feeling great, just running, not doing my walk/run.  I wore my watch, but didn't really pay much attention to it, just wanted to make sure I did the 4 miles.  I never slowed or felt like I needed to slow down....the whole run was absolutely effortless!  When I was done I did look at my watch and I ran the whole 4 miles in 50 minutes!  That is a little over a 12 min. per mile pace, which for me is fantastic!  I have not run 4 miles without any walking in a long time.  I had a 3 mile run like this a few days ago also.  Problem is, I had the most awful run I can remember just a week or so before.  So what causes this phenomenon?  I don't change anything.  I get the same amount of sleep, eating habits are the same, work is the same.  Some days I go out the door and the minute I take one step, I know it is going to be a bad day, then there are those days like today.  What the heck?  Why don't I ever have days like that when I am doing a 5K or a Half?  I have never felt that good during a race, never!  I have noticed that the really good runs usually take place when I don't feel like going, but force myself out the door, probably to make me realize that I should be running!

Anyway, I just wish there was a way to bottle whatever it is that causes these great runs, because I could sure use it!  I have had some pretty miserable moments during my Half marathon career.  I realize running 4 miles and running 13.1 miles is a lot different, but you know what I mean.  If I could figure this out, I would probably become famous!  There just seems to be no rhyme or reason, just go with the good runs and be thankful!!!!

Ginny

Cedar Point Run and Ride!

Well I have another half marathon under my belt, but it wasn't pretty!  The race started at 6:45 this morning.  Was up around 4:30, had my cliff bar and Diet Coke and awaited my DH to get up.  Left the house around 6 and were there around 6:15.  Parking was is the Cedar Point parking lot and employees were  directing everyone to their parking spot.  Very well organized and stress free.  That is what is nice about a race at a Park like that....parking is pretty much unlimited and no hassle.  The race started in the same lot, so not a lot of walking involved.  The race was delayed about 10 minutes, I guess they were having problems getting the streets blocked off in our downtown, where we would also run.  Race got started at 6:55.  The National Anthem was sung by a woman with a beautiful voice, our anthem is tough to get right and she nailed it!  I got choked up like I always do before a race, the atmosphere, music, national anthem and the calling of us "athletes"!  I still don't consider myself an athlete.  Anyway we got started.  The first 4 miles were to run inside the amusement park so we headed out of the parking lot, rounded another neighboring parking lot and entered the park.  They had music blasting and some of the rides were running, athough the only people in the park were we runners.  The Carousel was running.  I love the carousel and it is about the only ride my stomach can take anymore.  A few of the coasters were going also, made it very festive!   I didn't not start out too fast today, a mistake I frequently make!  So I felt pretty good in the park.  I did not check my Garmin too much today because I become obsessed with it sometimes and start getting upset if I don't feel I am running like I should .  It was hot and humid, but at this point there was a pretty good breeze coming off the Bay, not too bad.  Headed out of the park, around the parking lot again and down the road that leads to or way from Cedar Point.  Now it is getting HOT.  No shade at all, the only saving grace was the breeze was still pretty brisk.  I tried to pick up my pace some and did pass some runners that had passed me earlier, that is always a good feeling isn't it?  Ran into town, again not much shaded , started seeing the leaders heading back, this was about mile 6 I believe.  I was still feeling really good at this point.  Running further into town, through residential, so a l ittle more shade.  Since my son is a policeman, I knew a few of the officers who were directing us and holding up the traffic, so that was cool.  Unfortunatley, I was already starting to drag a bit and getting a cramp in my right foot.  I had water and GU with me, I had already had one GU earlier.  There were frequent water/gatorade stops, but Ionly ever take water.  At this point I was pouring the water down my shirt!  Made a left turn to circle the downtown area, and on the way back through, my son was directing traffic!  So good to see him, I love that boy......Just about through the town and headed back to Cedar Point and now my right calf is starting to get into the picture.  I just kept hoping that it wouldn't cramp up on me!  I was just getting those little twinges that let you know you may cramp, know what I mean, so I started getting nervous.  My legs were getting really tired and I know I slowed way down, eventually, I had to start walking.  Darn, I do run with a walk/run when I am doing longer distances, but now I was walking more than running.  When I did start running I could really feel it in my calves, there were starting to tighten up a lot.  At mile 12 I almost through in the towel!  All I wanted to do was STOP!  That is when the thought of "why do I do this?"  Why do I purposely put myself through this?"  LOL.  The last mile was a killer, but finally I enter back into the parking lot and see my DH waiting for me...of course he says I am doing great, only 1/4 mile to go!  I hadn't looked at my watch in ages, I just figured I was doing terrible time wise, but approaching the chute they are announcing my name, and sure enough the calf cramps, but not enough to stop me in my tracks, as I cross the finish line they say "ginny Bess and she will be on the podium"  I could not believe it!  Even though I was not having the greatest run, I still placed in my Age group.  I was so excited.  The awards were pretty quick after I finished, but my legs were getting worse and worse.  I never stopped walking and my DH was rubbing my calves with ice.  They would be okay for a minute or so, but then start cramping right back up.  They announced my name finally ( I think they should work backwards and do the older people first, LOL especially today.  You guessed it!  As soon as I went to stop onto the podium, both calves just seized up and I could not make it!  Of course everyone is asking if I am okay.  Do I look okay?  It was just cramps, but I missed getting my pic taken and everything!  Gosh darn it, but I did do it!  We had to stick round for almost an hour until I could get the cramping under control.

So now I am sipping my Diet Coke, sitting on the front porch.  Already too a nap!  My calves are still twitching, but much better, and as crazy as it sounds, I will do this again in a few months and hope for a better run.  My time was 3:06, which I know, to many of you is super slow, but considering how I felt the last few miles, I was happy with it.

Ginny

The pre-race jitters!

Every time I register for a race as the time creeps closer I start to question my ability to finish said race.  I am in that stage now.  Since I am so slow I start to worry that I will be the last one.  You know the one followed by the police car?  I have been that person a few times and I hate it.  In my heart I  know that I shouldn't give a darn, I am out there running and I am not a spring chicken anymore, there are usually only a handful in my age group!  But my darn head!  Thoughts of " you know you are going to be last," " No matter how hard you run, you are still slow"  I have tried all I know to try and think positive thoughts and they just don't come.  So why do I keep doing this?   Good question.  Wish I had the answer.  Up until 2008 I had never run further than a 10K.  Then some enabling friends of mine ( you know who you are), started egging me to try a half.  So I did.  After the race I thought never again...yeah right!  2 weeks later I was signing up to run the Detroit Free Press Half ( a great race by the way), then the following year my one and only marathon.  So here I am 6 years later still registering for these darn Halfs!  No ones cares, except myself, how slow I am or that I bringing up the rear, but you know you hear those thoughts in your head  " why is she even running, she might as well walk"  I don't think people think this, but in my head they are thinking just that.  I need these races though to keep myself motivated to keep on running.  If I sign up you can be sure I will run that race, unless I am sick of course, and no matter how slow or how terrible I feel that day I will finish!

Okay, I am thinking way too negative here and I do not need that 2 days before my race.  I use the word, race, loosely, since in my case it usually is not.  There I go again, being negative.  I need professional help!  LOL!  I have met wonderful friends during this journey.  Friends, that I believe, I will have for a long time, because they are nuttier that I am!

So wish me luck Sunday as I run , I think, my 21st Half Marathon!  That is an accomplishment, right?????

Ginny

Summertime.....and the runnin' is easy...

Well not really easy, but a heck of a lot better than the winter!

Sorry that I have not posted in a few months.  I get into a real funk in the wintertime and ours lasted forever this year.  I did manage to train for and registered for the Cleveland Half Marathon in May.  However.....the night before the race I was up all night with the stomach flu.  No way was I going to make it to Cleveland, about an hour's drive, let alone run a Half Marathon.  I was so disappointed, I have never registered for a race and then not been able to run it.  Monday following the scheduled half I decided to run my own private Half just in my hometown.  Strapped on my Garmin, loaded up with water and away I went.  I didn't do as well as I hoped, but am thinking I probably would have done better had it been a race environment, at least I told myself that!

Since my running has gone pretty well.  Did do a 5K in our downtown later in May, that was interesting also. At one point we were supposed to turn right, run around a marina and then get back on the main road.  The woman ahead of me , either did not see the pointing sign, or chose to ignore it, I am not sure which, anyway she did not make the turn or run around the marina, but just kept going straight, I tried to yell at her that she missed the turn, but again, she either didn't hear me or chose to ignore me.  Imagine my chagrin when as age group awards were announced she was in my age group and came in first!  I was second!  I was kind of ticked off because I knew she did not run the whole course.  Did not say anything though, cause she really may have just missed the turn off.  However, I did mention it to a friend, who told the race director.  The next week as I was coming home there was a 1st place medal hanging on my back door...neat!  Apparently I was not the only person who complained.  I still don't know if she thinks she ran the whole thing or not.  I have heard through the grapevine that she also did this in a neighboring town's 5K a few weeks later, but she was caught this time.  So maybe she did know what she was doing after all.

I seem to have an awful lot of aches and pains these days, but they never seem to get any worse and do not prevent me from running, so I just keep going.  My speed is still atrociously ( is that a word?) slow, but I think I have come to grips with it ( not really, I still try to improve)  I am running a Half this Sunday in Cedar Point, the roller coaster capital of the world!  I better not get sick!  I so want to come in under 3 hours!  See I told you I am slow!  The weather conditions are supposed to be hot and humid, but the race starts at 6:45, so hopefully it will not be too bad.  If you have read any of my other blog posts you will know that I really got sick in Cleveland a couple of years ago when it was hot and humid, so I do not want to repeat that experience!

Wish me luck and I promise I will post a race report.

Right now I feel like I can keep running indefinitely!

ginny

The winter that won't die!

I am beginning to believe that it will never stop snowing!   Been snowing all day here again today.  Not much accumulation, but I just don't even want to look at it anymore.

I have been forced to exercise indoors again all this week.  Been doing the 5-mile walk/jog DVD's with Leslie Sansone.  They are good and I feel I get a workout, but I have to build up my mileage.  I am going to have to resort to the gym and the treadmill if the weather doesn't improve and it sure does not look like that is going to happen anytime soon.  I know I shouldn't be, but I am embarrassed at the gym.  I am so slow and I feel like people are thinking "for heaven's sake, why doesn't she just walk?"  Anyway, I try to go super early in the morning when no one is there.  I realize that this is probably all in my own stupid head, but that's how I feel.  Silly, huh?  I wish I could get over this speed thing and just be happy to be moving at all, but it really bugs me.  It's like my legs just will not go any faster, I try.  Maybe when the weather warms up.

On a brighter note, I have entered a few contests on FB this season and I have won 2 paid entries into races of my choice!  So that means I am now registered for 3 half marathons, 2 of which are of no cost to me.  So I am running Cleveland in May, Lake Erie in August, and Mighty Niagara in September.  I should probably stop with those three, since I have been having all these darn aches and pains.  Think I will just play it by ear and see how I feel once I start to get my mileage built up.

Well, I am going to run 6 miles in the morning, hopefully outside, but I have a feeling it may be the treadmill.
I will let you know how I do.

ginny

It's been a long, long winter!

I am so sorry that I have not posted in months!  My running has been so sporadic since October.  Back in November I started working with a personal trainer, which was great, but somehow I did something to my lower back which put me out of commission for over a month!  My back still isn't right.  Needless to say, between the weather and my back my running has suffered considerably.  Just over the past month I have been trying to get there more.

Our winter has been brutal.  If it isn't snowing and blowing , the temperature has been near or below zero with the chill factor.  Heading into March and I think the temperature might reach 15 today if we are lucky and we had a little more snow last night!  Winter is not a good time of year for me, I think I may have a touch of depression in winter.  I am definitely a warm weather, sunshine kind of lady.

I ran outside this past Sunday with no snow on the street!  It was wonderful.  The past few Sundays I have gone out it has been with my Yaktrax plowing through 3 to 6 inches of snow.

Aches and pains galore this year too.  Not sure if it is just because of my age or what.  But up until this year I have almost never had any pain anywhere.  Now it seems like something always hurts, my hip, my back, hamstring...always something.  Maybe the extra mileage that I have been doing the past 5 years?  Just not sure what is going on, but I don't like it.  I won't stop running, but just wondering if maybe I should not do so many Half marathons this year.  I am already registered for two.  The Cleveland Half in May and The Mighty Niagara in September.

Anyway, I hope this hasn't been a downer, because I will not give up my running and I so enjoy the half marathons, so I will just keep running and hope my little aches and pains disappear with the winter.

If anyone does read this blog and has been experiencing any thing that I have, I would love for you to comment. Like I said, just not sure if it just my age and my years of running catching up with me or what.

Ginny

Lake Erie Shores and Islands Half Marathon...

Great day for a race!  Left the house this morning about 6:15, race started at 7.  Sometimes it is really nice to have a local race, no worrying about time and where you are going to stay, traffic etc.  Still kind of dark when we arrived and fog.  This is the 3rd year they have held this race and I have done all three.  Very few people running today though, apparently there was a triathalon in the next town over today too, so I think that ....took some of the usual runners.  As I was looking around and saw so few people I thought to myself, oh no, so few people I will be dead last,,,they will probably send out the local police to look for me.  I really get nervous before races.  I one point I said to my husband, why do I do this????  He said "because you love it"...yeah he is right, even as slow as I am I do love it and I love competing, even if it is against myself most of the time.  So anyway, played the National Anthem and away we went!  The course was a little different this year, past years we went about 1/4 mile and then ran on a kind of trail for a couple of miles.  This trail has never been well maintained, it is single file and does have some really low spots and holes that aren't readily seen when you are running, but I kind of like that part of the run myself.  But today we stayed on the highway instead, not a lot of room on the shoulder to run, but they did have the orange cones, making a sort of running lane.  Traffic at that time of the morning was not bad though.  It is pretty scenic, some beautiful homes along lake Erie, the first mile went really fast for me. I was wearing my Garmin, but I decided to just use it today to help remind me of my Walk/run ratio.  I have been doing the Walk/run for my past few halfs and it has worked for me.  I did not want to know how fast Iwas going...I get too caught up in that and I think I think about it too much, so it was hard, but I did not look.  I did however check at each mile to see what my pace was.  I didn't let it get to me though, just looked. This stretch of highway was about 3 miles I think and then we entered the small town of Huron, running through the neighborhood, then out on a highway again.....I think it gets a little hilly here, but probably most people would not think that it is....not a lot of room again and more traffic.  Got a little dicey when the lead runners were heading back and we were still running to the turn around.  My son and grandson live in a subdivision along this highway and they were standing on their corner to cheer grandme on!  This year I crossed the street and gave grandson and son a hug, never did that before, but seemed the thing to do today.  Continued to the turn around, which I thought would never come, but I still felt pretty good.  The way back is more downhill so I tried to kick up the pace a little......back into town, and my feet start cramping a little, they always do this and as long as I keep running they usually calm down. By now we are in mile 9 and going pretty well.  The sun is up now and getting a little warm, but not bad.  At this point I did pass 2 ladies that had been ahead of me the whole way.  Out of the town and back out on the highway...mile 11 I started getting a twinge in my right calf and I keep saying, please don't cramp up now, please don't, I think I am going pretty well.  Kept twinging and more cramps in the foot....mile 12 twinges are getting worse, but keep moving Ginny, keep moving.....10-20 feet from the finish my right calf grabbed me so bad I had to stop, nothing else I could do......I am alone, staring at the finish line, the photographer is there and I had grabbing my calf at a dead stop!  My husband saw me and came to me, so I leaned on him, we are both rubbing that dang calf....it finally let up enough for me to cross the finish line.....but I was so disappointed.   Really????  10 feet in front of the finish?   BUT  I still had a personal best!   I couldn't believe it....for whatever reason they had the sign that showed your time turned off, so I figured I must be way over 3 hours and they just turned it off...but Ken said you had a really good time...I said I did?  I looked at my Garmin at it said 2:46.  I know to you runners this is not that good of a time but it is the best Ihave ever done, so I was thrilled!!  Ken said when he saw me approaching the finish he thought Wow she is doing good!   So even with my calf I did well and I am just so happy!   Bring on the next one in September!!!

Ginny