I’m Running Grandma’s Marathon 2016!

I am running another marathon in 6 weeks!

In 2015, I ran three marathons- the Tokyo Marathon, Grandma’s Marathon, and the Richmond Marathon, in 3:54, 3:42, and 3:40 respectively.

After coming very close to qualifying for Boston at Richmond, I ramped back up and raced the Phoenix Marathon at the end of February, where I DID qualify for Boston. But, as many of you know, 34 seconds under the qualifying time is not enough to get me to the Boston starting line.

When I registered for Phoenix, I knew that the London Marathon was 8 weeks later. We had planned that trip quite some time ago, but I never planned to race London. I ran that marathon for the experience, and what a marvelous experience it was! I had a fantastic time and felt great the whole way. <— the best feeling!

I still would like to be able to run Boston in 2017, or at least keep trying to get there. And Grandma’s might not be it; it could be hot just like Phoenix was, and I won’t have Dustin there to push me. But like Kathrine Switzer said, the secret to success is to show up. I won’t know if I can do it if I don’t show up on the start line. Also, as Kathrine said, there is no destiny. I am not destined to run Boston; I’m not a natural runner and I will have to work my ass off to get there. But I will show up!  I will try.

Dustin had already registered for Grandma’s this year, as well as quite a few of my running friends from the Calhoun Beach Running Club. I was going to be up there anyways to cheer for Dustin but I started to realize that I wanted to participate; I had a serious case of FOMO. (Fear of Missing Out) I didn’t want to miss all the fun! And I had SUCH a fun time there last year, that I decided, what the heck? I’m going to show up. I am going to try.

How did I register?
You may know that Grandma’s Marathon filled up in record time this year, so how did I get in?

I can guarantee you that I’m not running under someone else’s name– no way! Our run club was allocated three extra spots because the marathon is part of the USATF circuit. No one else in the club wanted the spot, so I volunteered.

I have never done three marathons so close together (3 in 16 weeks- that’s scary) but I’m hoping that the easier effort and low intensity training (for me) for London affected my body as just a “long” training run for Grandma’s. That would mean I’m only doing TWO races in 16 weeks…still a little crazy, but not a lot crazy.

So now it will be back to the weekly recaps of training!

I took the entire week after the London Marathon off of running (and working out of any kind really, except maybe some hiking in Scotland). When we returned to the US, my coach had me run an easy 4 on the day we arrived to help shake out the legs after a long flight, and then run an 11 mile long run (last Sunday) to test out the legs. Game on! Now its right back into the mix of things to train for Grandma’s!

Here’s how this past week worked out:

Monday: 6 miles with 10x100m sprints in the middle, just to get my legs moving fast again.  [solidcore] in the evening (holy buckets, this class left me very sore!)

Tuesday: 7.5 miles easy with Matilda. 45 minute swim in the evening

Wednesday: My first serious workout post-London: 2×3 miles at a 7:30 pace with 5 minutes of recovery in between. This workout was tough and I’ll be honest, I took every opportunity for a “cheater” breather (yellow light? Safety first, must stop!) but I muscled through it…poorly. 8.5 miles total.

When I got back to my car, I saw this cute fox zipping through people’s yards on Minnehaha Parkway! Definitely a highlight of the run.
Thursday: My first attempt at a run commute! I will share more about this in another post, but I thought I lived 3.5 miles from my office, but it’s actually 5 miles. So I ended up with 10 miles on the day, rather than the 7 or so I expected. Add a heavy backpack to those miles and I was pretty beat.

I have a lot to learn about run commuting, but it was fun to give it a try!
Friday: A RUNCH (lunch time run)- first time trying this too! We have showers/locker room at my office, so I don’t know why I don’t do this more often. Friday was crazy hot (91 degrees here!) so I only did 4 easy miles over the lunch hour. Nice to break up the work day with some sunshine!

That evening, I went to a Cocktails in the Castle event at the American Swedish Institute with a few friends. The castle was open for tours during the party and it was so cool to find this Boston Marathon “trophy” punch bowl from Fritz Carlson.

Fritz was a Swede from Minnesota, who won the marathon in 1913 with a time of 2:25:14. My iPhone photo isn’t great, but you can kind of see the Boston emblem!
I usually don’t do much on Friday nights because I have a long run on Saturday, but it was a fun event- worth going out on a Friday, ha!

I had a few glasses of white wine over the 3 hours or so that we were there and was sure to hydrate quite a bit afterwards. (Fueling tip- I also have been having good luck with setting an extra early alarm before long runs, eating breakfast, and then going back to sleep for another hour.)

Beautiful night at the castle!
Saturday: 16 mile long run with 10 miles in the middle at marathon pace. Our club had a hilly route out on Theodore Wirth Parkway. There was also a warning out for the air quality due to the wild fires in Canada. It was so hazy and the air smelled like a bonfire! It made it tough to hit my paces, so my friend Monica and I decided it was “effort based,” especially on the way OUT as it’s more uphill.

On the way back, we were able to easily hit our goal pace (about 8:15.) Love that downhill.

This run took a lot out of me, but I didn’t have much time for a nap, as we met up with some friends at the Minnehaha dog park. They have a vizsla puppy named Scarlet that we will be dog-sitting next weekend (can’t wait!!), so we wanted Matilda and her to get a chance to hang out. They had a blast. Tilda was definitely pooped afterwards!

After the dog park, we stopped by Town Hall Brewery for the “Blessing of the Maibock.”

Have you heard of this? An actual priest comes in and does a blessing of the May beer- complete with “chanting” and all that jazz. Afterwards, everyone drinks the Maibock beer free for an hour. Very entertaining!

Sunday: 6 mile recovery run with my friend Tricia. We met pretty early for a Sunday (7:30 am!) but it was a beautiful morning and I was happy to share part of her mother’s day with her (she’s the mom of twins!)

Summary:  58 miles of running, 1 swim, 1 strength (solidcore)

It feels so great to be back at it; what can I say, I love training for marathons, maybe even more than I love the actual marathons! I’m pretty excited for June 18th but also excited for the training.

I’m also pretty excited about this book.

It was recommended to me by Erin at Sweet Sweat Life and I am devouring it. Lots of practical advice in there for people like me who gives too many f*cks about things/people/whatever and need to learn how to stop.

*Will I see any of you up in Duluth?

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!