TULSA RUN

Just a quick update. This week was one where I felt low on energy and it continued on to the Tulsa Run. Unfortunately I felt at the top of my game one week ago and seemed to have crashed after last Sat. Anyway, Ron and I both did the Tulsa Run this morning. It was terribly cold and even though it started at 9am I still ran with a long sleeve shirt. The course was a little different this year and it seemed full of endless hills. I could tell that I have been focusing on just getting the miles in and not speed work because the 15km seemed endless. The conclusion of the morning was that when running the marathon I will not be racing, I am going to just run at my comfortable pace and feel good about running! We both ran the 15km. I finished 35th in my age category out of 281. My time was 1hour and 16min, around 8:15M/M. Ron finished 37th in his age category our of 227 with a time of 1hour 9 min, around 7:28M/M. It was actually a very good run, I think we both thought we could run faster because of all the running we have been doing. I missed having family on the course as no one was in town this year to participate or watch. Even the kids were left at home-I missed seeing and hearing their positive words of encouragement at the conclusion of the race.
The Marathon is coming up! My running partners are completing their marathon tomorrow in Washington DC-they are going to have a wonderful run. It is crazy to think back to the weeks during the blazing hot summer where we were meeting three times a week working intensely on speed and distance. The training had definitely paid off and I am so glad they spent the time figuring out our training schedule.

SOLO RUN

This morning it was just me, myself and I out running. Ron decided to do his long run on Sun. I ran with the TNT group but with everyone at different distances and paces I just headed out alone. It actually was not that bad, the path was fairly busy and most runners are pretty friendly, making the miles past pretty quickly. It was a very cold start to the day, in the fifties-but perfect by the time I was finished. I wore shorts but had a long sleeve shirt on-first long run of the season with a long sleeve shirt, hard to believe just a month ago I was still sweating it out in the Tulsa heat. Anyway, I ran a total of 15miles, a total time of 2 hours 12 mins at a pace of 8:45. I think the cooler temps kept me moving! Hard to believe that we ran 22miles last Sat....seems a LOONG time ago. On to another week.

WHAT A WEEK

Today was the last 20mile run before our Marathon in Nov. It was just Ron and I running, after talking to the sitter, dropping off our drinks along the route and a quick bathroom stop we hit the pavement by 7am. We ran a new course, still along the river but different enough that it didn't seem so long. We basically ran three loops, each starting and ending at the car. It worked great and it was much easier mentally breaking up the miles. These are our stats according to the Garmin, my new i-pod sensor didn't calibrate too well and was not up to par-frustrating! (It would be nice if you didn't need to buy a new one after your old one dies!)

TOTAL DISTANCE: 22.2 Miles
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 3 hours and 27 min
AVERAGE PACE: 9:19M/M
TOTAL TIME FROM START TO FINISH (including water breaks and having to move the car)
3 hours 45 mins

The best news of the day is that Ron is feeling great and informed me that his legs were not even that sore. I on the other hand feel like my hips have rusted in place. Thankfully Ron is paying me back for being sick last run and took the kids for a nice long bike-ride this afternoon. I am so glad to have this run done, our neighbors have their marathon in two weeks and are in their taper...I am little jealous as the weekly training has been exhausting. These are my weekly totals for this week-including today

WEEKLY TOTAL: 42.9 miles
AVERAGE PACE: 9M/M
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 6hours and 28 min
CALORIES BURNED: 6000cal (equivalent to 2LBS OF FAT!!)-which I have replaced with my new favorite munchie cinnamon sweet potato chips!

Tulsa Zoo Run

http://www.okrunner.com/race-results

This morning I skipped out on the typical long Sat run and opted for a race. I was a little concerned as when I woke up early in the morning there was a whole lot of thunder and wind going on. Thankfully the race was a late one-9am and it was clear and sunny by the time the starting gun went off. It was a 10km, so I thought that it should be an pretty okay run, as I had run that same distance about 3 times this previous week. Mid-run I discovered that it is much easier to run long at a comfortable pace that to run fast for a shorter distance. It was a hard workout and for the last 2 miles I think I reached 100% of my target heart rate...which means I was heaving! Thankfully the kids and Ron were along the course to inspire me and keep me pushing forward. That is the least I can say for everyone else along the course. It was the quietest crowd, no-one was evening cheering as I came up into the ending shoot. In fact the last little hill before the ending there was a lady standing at the bottom yelling for everyone to watch out as there was a hill ahead,how un-encouraging is that! Well I did complete it in the time I was shooting for, unfortunately there was a lot of racers out and I didn't place in my division. My goal was 8M/M. According to the GPS watch my average pace was 7:55, a total distance of 6.3Miles with a total time of 49:55. To be in the top three of my age division I would have had to break a 48. I will post the link when the times are posted on the Tulsa Runner site.

The is the last Km...yes I am moving!