Category Archives: aidsmarathon

Back in the saddle

Start time: 12/03/06, 8:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 8 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:38min/mile

This was the last 8-miler for the Honolulu Marathon participants, so I went by the run site and hoofed it out and back with Katie. (Stephanie was supposed to be there as well but ended up unable to make it down from an engagement in Gettysburg.) It was nice to get out there and just hit the pavement with Katie, chatting about this and that. After the crappy second half of the Firenze Marathon, this felt great.

A week later…

Start time: 11/26/05, 9:00am
Location: Firenze Marathon
Distance: 26.2 miles
Finishing time: 4:46:48
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1 through mile 20, then… not so much
Average pace: 10:57min/mile

I unfortunately don’t have lots of mile splits like last year, thanks to the GPS having a minor fit somewhere along the way (apparently I ran a 25.5 mile marathon), which probably was in no small part thanks to narrow windy alleys and streets winding through parts of Florence. I do, however, have some splits available.

Distance Segment Time Segment Pace Overall Time Overall Pace
5K 30:39 9:53 30:39 9:53
10K 30:27 9:49 1:01:06 9:51
15K 30:57 9:59 1:32:03 9:53
13.1mi 37:28 9:52 2:09:31 9:53
25K 25:40 10:42 2:35:11 10:00
30K 35:22 11:25 3:10:33 10:13
35K 39:25 12:43 3:49:58 10:35
40K 39:38 12:47 4:29:36 10:51
26.2mi 17:12 12:44 4:46:48 10:57

Notes:
Between 15K and 13.1mi is a 3.8 mile segment.
Between 13.1mi and 25K is a 2.4 mile segment
Between 40K and 26.2mi is a 1.35 mile segment

It should be a surprise to no one at all that it was around the 25K mark that Susan and I fell behind Tod and Dana. It is always interesting to see where some places where I felt I was still decreasing in speed was in fact consistent) if slow, essentially everything past the 30K mark (or 18.64 miles). Ah well, it’s always good to know where everything went wrong, as well as where one was pretty darn on the ball. There’s a lot I need to work on for next year. But hey, still a PR. So that’s definitely something. But it is frustrating to look at, say, my 20-miler from earlier this year and know that I did the entire thing at a solid 10min/mile pace that I could’ve done even faster towards the end of if necessary!

And that’s that.

Start time: 11/18/06, 8:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 8 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 10:00min/mile

That was it—the final group run before the Florence Marathon in 8 days. There were six of us; four of us (me, Tod, Sarah, Rob) running Florence and the other two (Stephanie, Katie) running Honolulu. Honolulu was scheduled for a 26-miler, but Stephanie and Katie had both decided to just run a 16-miler. Tod, Sarah, and I were running an 8-miler… and Rob decided that even though Florence is now a week away, that he was going to run an 18-miler.

…Well, to each their own, right?

It was a good run, though. I dropped off my car at Fletcher’s Boathouse before coming in, so we got to run all the way out with Stephanie and Katie before they turned around there (instead of just running four miles with them and then waving goodbye). Rob was a little too zippy/speedy, but after we picked up Kendall (whose two fellow runners were not doing so well) we let the two of them start zooming off ahead. Since we’re on taper-mode, I didn’t want to go too fast so this slightly reduced pace was a-ok by me.

The Walk for the Homeless was going on downtown today, so we had some slight detours here and there to avoid the huge masses of people. I did this walk back in 2001 with Julie and Pam and it was a lot of fun, so it was nice to see it still continuing. (It did make driving back to the starting point a little problematic, though. Oops!)

At this point all that’s left is a run with the Pacers folks on Tuesday, maybe a 3-miler on Thursday morning… and then I’m off!

Taper taper taper

Start time: 11/11/06, 8:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 8 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:15min/mile

I can tell when it’s almost the end of the season when I forget to record my Saturday runs. Anyway, the second-to-last group run and with gorgeous weather to boot. (I dodged a bullet there, too; my normal running morning is Sunday and on that day, the weather dropped 20 degrees and started raining. Yuck.) Tod and I ran with three of the Saturday runners (Katie, Sarah, and Susan) and as Tod put it best, they sped us up and we slowed them down. A nice happy medium, and a good 8-miler. This upcoming Saturday will be our final group run for us Florence Marathoners (8-miler) while the Honolulu Marathoners have their big 26-miler. Should be a fun time… if a wee bit colder.

Backdated Entry…

Start time: 11/05/06, 8:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 10 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:30min/mile

Oops! I forgot to put this entry in. (Fortunately I can backdate it. But it’s really five days later.) A nice 10-miler with me, Tod, and Stephanie. Great cool weather, great company… taper taper taper!

One last long one

Start time: 10/28/06, 8:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC to Bethesda MD (and back)
Distance: 23 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 10:37min/mile

This past Saturday was the final long run for the Florence Marathon training program—a 23-miler. Stephanie, Tod, and I did it together (no Katie, alas!), and were joined partway through with Sarah who was running an 18-miler after having to take some time off. After spectacular 18- and 20-mile training runs, the 23-miler was mostly good but not great. The first 20 miles went well; we were aiming for an 11min/mile training pace and looking at our splits for the first half they ranged from 10:09 to 10:45. The second half had a bit of a slow down towards the end when my legs felt like lead, but once I took an Advil (which I’d forgotten to bring with me… Tod to the rescue!) our pace actually picked up a great deal.

It was a fun final long run… good company and spirits kept everyone moving, and at the end was a big celebration with balloons and what have you waiting for us.

Finish Line

I’ll miss having my long runs with Stephanie (she’s running Honolulu); she’s been a fantastic running partner.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=454110

Close enough

Start time: 10/22/06, 8:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 10 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:48min/mile

Ok, it was actually (according to the Gmaps Pedometer) a 9.85 mile run. Close enough for government work, that’s what I say. It was a nice run today; a little slow at first as Stephanie, Tod, and I got our frozen muscles to start moving (another cold cold day), but by the end we were definitely zipping along. Definitely a good day for running once you really get going. Meanwhile, Emma and Site Assistant Stephanie are off in Chicago getting buffeted by 14mph winds as they run the Chicago Marathon. Oh, and there’s a chance of snow. Yikes.

Bundle up!

Start time: 10/15/06, 8:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 10 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:30min/mile

Sunday was a 10-mile recovery run, just me and Stephanie again. It was almost ideal weather for running, though. Nice and cool, in the mid-40s. Two layers on top and a pair of shorts and I was good to go. This is a big deal because this is in theory the weather we’ll be having in Florence for the marathon so it’s good to know that this is just what I should be wearing. (Other than that, nothing really to report!)

A Half Marathon… and 6.9 more miles added on for fun. Or something.

World Wide Half Marathon Challenge
Start time: 10/07/06, 8:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 13.1 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Finishing time: 2:10:41
Average pace: 9:59min/mile

20-Miler
Start time: 10/07/06, 8:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 20 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 10:00min/mile

What a morning.

Today was my scheduled 20-mile training run for the Florence Marathon at the end of November… but it’s also the weekend of the World Wide Half Marathon Challenge, in which over 500 people around the world registered to run a “virtual” half marathon either today or tomorrow. No prizes, but we’ve all got race numbers, a results board, even a (PDF) goodie bag. Now, I wasn’t planning on try to beat my PR for a half marathon today (2:06:08) but I figured it was a fun thing to throw in there. After all, I’d be running the distance anyway.

The next bit is also in my regular journal, for those who read both and want to skip it…

If you can run 18 miles…

Start time: 09/24/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 18 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 10:29min/mile

Today was the 18-miler, which is the biggie. Not because it’s the farthest distance that we’ll run this season (my mileage will go up to 23 miles) but because 18 miles is the mythical number where if you can cover that distance, you can theoretically run a marathon. We actually started out with a bizarrely large group of seven people, but two were visitors who were only running 4.5 miles with us before turning around, and Emma was only clocking 10 miles. The journey out to the turn-around went well, though, hitting the first 9 miles in 1:33:53 (a 10:26min/mile pace). Since we were supposed to run a reduced pace of 10:30, this was pretty darn good. On the way back, soon after dropping off Emma, Chris M decided that once we cleared the Capital Crescent Trail he was going to slow down and let the next group catch him so that his foot wasn’t bothering him.

From that point on it was just me, Stephanie, and Bill (who normally runs on Saturdays) and we clocked those last 5.5 miles quite well; our finishing time for the back nine was just a 1:34:45, less than a minute longer. Score. It was a good, strong finish (and as an added bonus I got to shout a hello to Coach Christa who was helping with the Miami training program today). But best of all?

I felt great, like I could’ve kept that pace up for another 8.2 miles, no problem. Heck, if I had that would’ve been a 4:35 finishing pace, which is already an improvement over last year. Fingers crossed, and barring disaster, this could be one great marathon. We’ll see!