While I’m in between marathon training cycles I need to revisit the running sneaker situation.
To make a long story short I’ve worn Asics Cumulus 13s for ALL 4 of my marathons even though they are now already up to the 15s.
Asics Cumulus 13s 2011-2013
I gave the 14s a whirl when they came out:
No good!
They were stiffer and didn’t feel as cushy. So I continued to find random places online selling the 13s. Then earlier this year the 15s came out. I flocked to the store to try them. BOO! They didn’t feel right either. And so I opted to go to the more expensive Nimbus.
I don’t mind the Nimbus (these are the 15s) but after I get to 10k they give me blisters and they feel a bit narrow.
My starting point will obviously be to stick to the Nimbus but explore either a wide width or a half size up to see if that helps. Otherwise I’ll just be Good Sally Hunting.
I’ll be heading to Jackrabbit Sports since I have a gift card. Plus, they helped me discover the Cumulus back in 2011 when I went to have my gait analyzed. So I trust them. Let’s see what happens.
Question: What type of running kicks do you run in? Do you find that as the revise the models that you lose the love?
Hope you have all had as amazing a weekend as I have! I this post is going to be 3 words short of an Epic Novel. Hope I don’t put you to sleep.
It started Friday afternoon at work with a craving for a warm chocolate chip cookie. After A hysterical request on FaceBook for some ideas of where to get one, I remembered that we have this great Farmer’s Market right outside of my office building (for a few more weeks at least) with a booth from Meredith’s Bread in Kingston, NY. Bingo! I bought a package of 4, put them in the microwave for 10 seconds and I was in heaven. I ate all 4 like a mad woman. My boss later told me he was waiting for me to offer him one. Oops! My bad!
Friday continued to get even better. I packed up the car with the doodle, an overnight bag and the running gear I would need for the following day and headed to my brother and sister-in-law’s house. We went (along with my niece) to Smash Burger for dinner. It was my first time! 3 words: I’ll Be Back!! Fried pickles???!!!! Hello!! YUM-to the-MEEEE!!! And then we had some gelato.
Maybe not the best pre-race dinner decisions, but hey, I was just going to be running for fun on Saturday….or so I thought (more on that shortly).
Saturday morning I headed out about 6am to Trenton, NJ. Parked the car at one of the designated lots (so easy) and walked a few short blocks to the starting area by 7:30am. It was cold but sunny and there really wasn’t much wind making it more comfortable than I had anticipated. I didn’t even take my throwaway sweatshirt or gloves and at the last minute swapped out my winter hat for just a baseball cap. Within a few minutes I met up with Jane and her group.
Jane and Sally. Just like the book.
Jane’s great group of friends
Her hubby and some other guys from her running group were running the 10K and the girls were all running the half.
Jane’s goal was to break 2 hours. Mine was to just finish. After finishing the NYC Marathon just 6 days prior, having that groin tweak and a new hamstring tightness that showed up Friday evening (which i noticed somewhere between the cookie and the fried pickles therefore not really caring) I knew I wasn’t prepared to push it. But this is where I prove time and time again that running is so much more about the heart and the mind than it is about the legs. I freaking PR’d!!!!! I mean I KILLED IT!!!
I started out the first few miles just smiling and enjoying the lovely course. I even broke out the iPhone and started snapping pics around mile 4 and continued to snap until about mile 7.
we crossed 2 bridges and covered 2 states—New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
During this time I’d notice my watch splits were all sub 10. But I wasn’t really thinking PR. Just that maybe my watch lost satellite or something and it wasn’t accurate. At mile 7 I looked at the elapsed time, did the math and realized it WAS accurate. Something in my head clicked over to PR land. It was going to be my final race of the year, my 17th race overall, 11th half marathon and how cool that I could possibly PR. And so I started to push. My timing of that decision was pretty crappy because we hit the one large hill of the course right at 7.5! But I pushed and pushed and before you knew it we were back to a nice flat stretch before bringing it home (literally) as we ran the warning track of the Trenton Thunder’s ballpark before finishing at home base.
I saw Jane (who rocked a 1:57 PR and made her goal of breaking 2 hours) in the stadium. She ran along side me, took these cute shots and we exchanged happy words of PRs!
a few yards from the finish line. Loved my new running tights but man my legs are quite “stocky”!!!
My official time was 2:07:54 (a 1:24 PR from the Little Rock Half back in March). And I think the main reason for this amazing time was that I FINALLY got to listen to my perfectly crafted marathon playlist that I didn’t get to listen to last weekend. I’m going to rename it PR-Playlist now!
speed sisters
We waited for the rest of the group to finish, grabbed some water and pretzels (I think soft pretzels should be standard at every race finish!) took a group finish pic and then headed to the after party at a bar near the stadium. We had our first celebratory “warm up” beer and chips here which were included with the race registration before driving a short ways away to a local tavern called the Firkin Tavern for the “main event” beer and meal.
the finishers!
I heart soft pretzels. That is all.
Steak Quesadillas and a Sam Adams! Celebrate good times c’mon!
Jane surprised me with a belated birthday gift! Some bubbly and homemade applesauce! So cool! I LOVE homemade stuff.
One of my favorite things since becoming a runner is meeting so many new friends who have fit right in that I can’t imagine my life not knowing them. Jane is one of those friends. I’m really looking forward to our long run training through the winter and early spring months of 2014 in preparation for the NJ Marathon on April 27th.
Two funny coincidences happened too. The first was that Jane, who was running the half and her husband who was running the 10k (which started about 15 min. later) ended up running together at one point on the course when the routes converged. Soulmates!
The other coincidence is that I took a photo on one of the bridges along the course not realizing the girl in pink was Jane’s friend Isabella who I met after the race was over. When I was showing Jane my photos she realized it was Isabella. How funny!
Hi Isabella! Nice to meet you 2 hours before I met you. LOL!
Runner’s world mentioned in this article that there would be a 5 year old boy running the Trenton Half. I was alarmed at first to be honest. 5 seems a bit young to run that far of a distance. But I was fortunate to watch little Anthony and his mom finish (holding hands until the very last second where she let him finish first) and I have to say I could see for myself that he was a natural. I still don’t think it should become commonplace for 5 year olds to do this but I won’t be so quick to judge next time. Congratulations Anthony for finishing in 2:22 and being the youngest to complete a half. (Not sure that’s official but the announcer said it.)
After an amazing day with my freak PR I headed back to my brother and sister-in-law’s Saturday late afternoon and we all went out for dinner again. This time it was sushi and boy did we have a good laugh-fest. Let’s just say my niece and I were rapping about Japanese food. Come on and rock me with your beef negemaki….then my sister in law joined the fun singing (to the beat of Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby) Rice Rice Baby!! I’m blessed to have the support of my family! If it weren’t for them, Duncan wouldn’t have had anyone to watch him and I would have had to dart home after the race and miss out on the fun at the Firkin Tavern.
And now that my great weekend has come to a close, so has my running season. A season that basically started in the beginning of January and never let up. I’m going to take 6 weeks “off” (with no structured routine at least) and ramp back up after New Years. I will surely find other ways to Sweat Out the Small Stuff so that I stay sane and I’ll surely be blogging as well.
In the meantime I’ll be letting my strained groin and hamstring muscles heal by doing a lot of this for a few days…
Double the doodle. Duncan in front and my furry niece Casey at my feet.
Question: Do you have an “off-season”? What is your favorite meal post-race or hard workout?
I woke up this morning 4 pounds lighter! While that’s kinda cool, it’s also I sign I didn’t hydrate and refuel properly. More on that later.
My morning started at 5am when I woke up before both my alarms. I took advantage of the extra half hour to play around with where to pin my memory/support ribbons.
I doubled up my handmade Boston Strong ribbon and my Melanoma Awareness ribbon and attached to the phone case on my SpiBelt.
Remembering a friend’s loved one on the anniversary of her passing by attaching this handmade ribbon with her initials to my shirt.
I showered and got dressed, took the pooch out, had a soft pretzel and some coffee and water and headed out at 7:45 to drop the pooch at my friends’ house.
About an hour later I was parking my car about 1/2 mile from the runner entrance. (It’s a huge plus to live on Staten Island for this event). There was added security this year which I was happy to see. Then on I went into the start village!
beautiful autumn day
the calm before the frenzy
I knew from running in 2011 that the start village area is crazy! There are 40-50,000 people—half of whom are from other countries and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to meet up with all my running peeps. (they all traveled on the ferry) I texted a few but the reception was probably a bit on overload. I did manage to connect with a FaceBook friend Kevin (from a running event group) and so I just put my phone in airplane mode to preserve battery and we hung around talking, taking pictures and trying to stay warm. It was very windy.
if only the goodwill truck and random flats of wood and metal railing weren’t in the picture. #photographerfail
It was much easier to stay calm this time around. In 2011 I was as nervous as a bowl of jello. It was my first full marathon and I really didn’t know what to expect. Probably not a great idea to run the largest marathon in the world for your first?! Go big or go home I suppose. Oh wait, I WAS home. LOL!
When Wave 4 started, Kevin and I stayed with the 4:45 pacers. I was being really bold as my current PR is 4:48 and that is on a fairly flat course. My plan was to stay with them until the halfway point (on the Pulaski Bridge) and then re-assess. I knew there was a 5 hour pacer behind me that I could fall back to. (yup the exact opposite of what they tell you to do at the pace table at the expo.)
The course itself:
Miles 1-2 The Verrazano Bridge: Well if you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know how I love my VZ Bridge
summer of 2013. heading to brooklyn for a run.
October 13th, 2013 My last 20 mile training run
I got to run on the upper level which made me giddy. (did you see the video I posted yesterday?) I’ll never forget these miles. My first mile was 11:03 which was the uphill and my second mile 9:55 on the downhill
Miles 2-12 Brooklyn: Staying with the pace group seemed to be the right choice. I was in a groove keeping splits right around 10:40 for these miles. Most of this stretch is fairly flat and straight and there is the most amazing energy from bands and spectators. I was loving it all except the aid stops. The pacers weren’t really slowing down much through the aid stops and while there was plenty of pre-poured cups of gatorade the water seemed to be more in demand and I found myself standing there and waiting for a volunteer to pour water from a gallon container into a cup to hand to me. But i was feeling so energetic that I’d speed up to catch up to them.
Miles 13-16 Pulaski Bridge/halfway point thru Queensboro Bridge: I was smiling and running and enjoying the even splits still around 10:40 and as I crossed over the Pulaski Bridge I decided to get in front of one of the photographers. I leaned to the right to make sure he saw me and although I got a cute shot, I felt a twinge in my lower back that never left. (It’s still a little sore this morning). #dumbmove
Hey! I’m 1/2 way done!
Mile 14 was relatively uneventful. Then it was time to start climbing the Queensboro Bridge. It was at this point that I finally saw the 4:45 pace group pull away. I had already stayed with them for longer than I wanted and I decided to take my first walk break. I had 10+miles to go and knew I needed to be smart. It was quite wild on that bridge. An international running group pushing a disabled runner came by singing in a language other than english and it reminded me of how so may people come from so far to be a part of this. I took a little video. Check it out here.
Miles 16-20: First Avenue: I actually kept decent splits for most of these miles. Slower but not like I was out of gas, just a little less energetic. I got to see a former coworker Marissa. She grabbed this pic of me.
Thanks Marissa for getting this one of me on 1st Ave just past mile 17
When you come off the Queensboro bridge you enter 1st ave which is nicknamed the “of sound”. It’s a hot spectator spot and it goes for miles literally! I can’t begin to tell you how many people screamed my name.
Mile 20-23: Willis Ave Bridge/Bronx/Madison Ave Bridge: I actually started to have a mini “crumble” just as I was approaching the “wall” that they say runners hit at Mile 20. But I knew my good friend Elvia was there in her Super-Rican costume with her posse and an amazing special aid stop with coca cola and peanut m&m’s. I got to see Colleen and Cindy too! It was a nice little happy reunion to snap me out of feeling the “crumble”
NO WALL! Coca Cola and a little reunion with friends!
Super-Rican Elvia! Representing mile 20 with style!
So now I just had to get back into Manhattan via the Madison Avenue Bridge and bring it home. You know if you read this post that I finally decided to use my ipod and couldn’t get it to work. So I drew my strength again from the crowd.
Miles 23-26.2: Engineer’s gate entrance into Central Park to the Finish: MiI started to cry as I entered the park. I put my hand over my face and just sobbed. I was overcome with emotion (I’m ALWAYS overcome with emotion. LOL) I was exhausted and there was some sort of cramp happening at the quad muscle right above my knee that left me unsteady. I kept thinking my leg was going to give out. There was a photo op spot and I just decided to be overdramatic document how crappy I felt. I call this my “ugh-shot”.
I looked at my watch and then at mile marker 24 and realized if I could just hang on to a sub 12 pace for 2.2 miles I’d break 5 hours!!! (my B goal). Well, that was it…I was off! I even got to see my cousin and her son at the last stretch before the finish. Totally a lovely surprise.
I did it! I finished in 4:57
deer in headlights look….i’m starting a trend
I only took in half my fuel during the race (i had 2 packs of sport beans but didn’t eat the bag and a half of Honey Stinger chews) and switched it up between water and gatorade at most aid stops. I’ve just come to the conclusion that I hate to fuel while running. Whatever. I’ll deal.
Now it was time to exit the park. I chose the “early exit” option that allows you to bypass the gear bag pickup. Unfortunately it wasn’t really an early exit. They still made us walk up to 77th street when the family reunion area was down at 66th street. (and I was meeting my dad at my cousin’s apartment on 64th street). But we got our nifty poncho’s which really did keep me warm.
zombie poncho walk
Post race my appetite really didn’t come until 10pm! (I finished just before 4pm). So I had an apple, some carrots with hummus, a few crackers with cheese, some homemade spanikopita that my cousin made, some seltzer, tea and a glass of wine.
started with seltzer
then moved on to wine
By the way, I need to give props to this product!
My first chafe-free marathon! Thank you Mission 5-hour Anti-Chafe Cream
Now if i finished 4 minutes later I don’t know what would have happened. LOL!
So an amazing accomplishment happened yesterday. My friend Lisa (the Lisa who inspired me to start running in the first place (go check out this video to learn our story) completed her 50th marathon yesterday AND she PR’d!!!! 4:52!! I wanted to give her big props!!!!
Lisa and Sally running in January of this year.
Today I finally got my appetite back. Woke up at 5am and made eggs and turkey bacon. Then for lunch I took care of replenishing my sodium at lunch.
Sweat Out the Small Stuff…Sweat in the Salty Stuff!
So there you have it! Now I’ve got to recover and be ready to run a half marathon on Saturday.
I’m just so overwhelmed right now but I wanted to give a quick post NYC Marathon update.
Bedtime of champions!
I had 3 goals for this race.
A) To get a highly unlikely PR. NYC is a tough course.
B) To break 5 hours
C) to beat my 2011 time of 5:28
Well, I didn’t PR but I broke 5 hours AND shaved 31 minutes off my time from this course in 2011. I’ll post a more detailed recap soon about my plan.
Sub 5!
And here’s a not so funny thing…remember #3 from my last post where I said you should not only charge your electronics but test them too? Well I should have taken my own advice. I went until mile 21 without my iPod (there is just so much going on along the course and hearing people cheer my name was more exciting than music). But I started to struggle as we left the Bronx and knew there was an incline coming. So I pulled out the ipod and went to cue up my playlist. UM, nothing! I couldn’t understand. Well apparently my earphones have a little miniature switch to adjust the volume and being in my pocket it slid down to the “no volume” level!
check the volume!
Here’s a silly video for your viewing pleasure. I have waited 2 years to get the chance to run across the upper level of the Verrazano. In 2011 I was on the lower level. What a difference!!!
and here are a couple of pics from the day.
Thumb’s up on the bridge. Mile 1-2
At the start village. Photo taken by a runner from Alaska.
Mile 20 in the Bronx! Thanks for the coca cola!
Thanks Marissa for getting this one of me on 1st Ave just past mile 17
Start Village
Reunited after a long day.
Scared of heights and battling the wind.
I’ll post back soon with more about the day.
Question: Did anyone else run NYC? Any other marathons? Good weekend? What’d ya do?
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