As excited as I am about getting into the New York City Marathon (and believe me, I’m pretty freaking excited about it), I need to focus on my next race, the Tobacco Road Half on March 19, two weeks from today. I did have a revelation this week about that. I’ve been talking about getting revenge in this race, and I don’t think that’s the healthiest way to think about it. I mean, revenge for what? My ankle didn’t explode because a race volunteer tripped me, or because I stepped in a hole in the middle of the course that the organizers knew about and didn’t bother to tell anyone. My ankle gave out because my Achilles tendons are short, a condition I was born with, and eventually something connected to my Achilles was going to give out, and it just happened to be my left ankle at around the 9.5 mile mark of last year’s race.
I think a better way to look at this year’s race is that I’m looking for redemption. OK, I’ll go with that. And a PR, I’m definitely looking for a PR.
Between my delayed race report and my reaction to getting in to New York City, I decided to wait until this week to post my February wrap-up. Of course, the drawing for NYC was actually in March and technically shouldn’t be included, but I’m sure it will come up anyway.
Oh yeah, I ran quite a bit this week.
Weight Check: 163.6, down 2.0 pounds since last week. Wow. I guess my mileage helped. I still drank too much Mountain Dew, but otherwise, I guess I did OK. I’m no longer overweight (for me, anything over 164 is overweight according to the charts), which is kind of nice.
| Day | Total Miles |
|---|---|
| Monday | 7.01 |
| Tuesday | 6.01 |
| Wednesday | 5.01 |
| Thursday | 6.01 |
| Saturday | 12.01 |
Total: 36.05 miles
The last time I ran more than 36 miles in a week, my long run was 26.2 miles and ended in Central Park.
Monday I ran my entire neighborhood, including the really big hill. The weekday 7 miler was a staple of my marathon training, but a quick glance at my training log shows that I haven’t done it since my marathon. This one went pretty well, though.
Tuesday I stuck to the flatter parts of my neighborhood. It was one of those runs where my legs felt OK, but just didn’t want to move all that quickly at first. Eventually I was able to speed up a little bit, and I finished strong.
Wednesday was once again treadmill day. My mind still hates it, but my legs generally don’t. They handled it really well. I also noticed that Wednesday was the 1st anniversary of the opening of Sara’s Y. I didn’t show up on the first day, but I’ve been going there off and on for the past year, and it’s pretty nice. It’s certainly not their fault that I find the treadmill mentally excruciating.
Thursday was a rest day, but it was also the day I found out that I’d be running the 2017 New York City Marathon. (My one regret is the title of my post. The Lottery was kind of a placeholder that I forgot to go back and change. Oh well.)
Friday I was still in a good mood because of NYC. Somebody in my neighborhood saw me and yelled out, “How many miles today?” I cheerfully responded, “Six!” Yeah, it was that kind of day. My legs felt good, and I was happy. It got kind of cold, but I didn’t mind.
Saturday I got a late start because of the cold. I also chose to run on the McMullen Creek and Four Mile Creek Greenways. The Corporate Cup Half Marathon was Saturday morning, and I could have gotten around it to get to Freedom Park, but I felt like that was just too much trouble when I’ve got another place I can run that’s 10 minutes from my house.
There were no hidden water fountains that someone forgot to turn off, but since it was colder, about 35 degrees when I started, I didn’t need water as much. Except for a spot in the first mile where I had to stop to tie my shoe, I ran the entire time with no walk breaks. My pace was fairly steady for the first 11 miles, then I really took off for the last mile, with a pace of 9:02/mile, almost two minutes per mile faster than my average pace for the first 11. I think that qualifies as a strong finish. My legs had a couple of stretches where they didn’t feel great, but I managed to recover each time.
Next week, I definitely want to run at least as many miles as I ran this week. I’m debating whether to increase my mileage a little bit and run 13.1 miles next Saturday. (I can’t just run 13 miles, or 13.01, and stop. I have to go that extra tenth of a mile and make it like a half marathon.) We’ll see how it goes.