Hi everyone!
Big day in the marathon community, wasn’t? I swear, everyone I knew had a race today…even me 🙂
Here’s how my week of training went:
Monday: 5.25 in the morning with a few friends and then another 5.25 after work with my friend Vicki. I had no reason to do a double other than I wanted to catch up with both groups of friends and running was the best way to do it!
Tuesday: Complete rest after yesterday’s double. Cooked up a big batch of this pasta (quick, easy, and tasty!) to eat for the week. Carbo loading!
Wednesday: I was supposed to run in the morning with a friend, but we got ‘stormed’ out, so instead I ran 7.3 miles after work on Minnehaha Parkway. 9 min/mile
Thursday: 4 morning miles with Tilda, 9:25 min/mile
Friday: 5 morning miles with my friend Christie and Matilda.
Saturday: easy 4 miles with Tilda. Then I picked up my sister and her friend (who was also running TCM) from the airport and we headed straight to the expo:
After the expo, we did two more miles as their shakeout run.
Sunday: The Twin Cities Marathon!
Surprise!!!
So, I registered for TCM to pace my sister to her 4:30 goal. I hadn’t mentioned it on here because I wasn’t 100% sure that I would run it all. Afterall, FIVE marathons in 2016 is a lot (Phoenix, London, Grandma’s, Big Cottonwood, and now TCM) but I wanted to pay it forward after Dustin paced me twice this year. I also was really excited to experience one of my all-time favorite marathons with no pressure. (Well, technically, that’s not true- there was pressure to hit the paces Erin needed.)
I’ll write a separate post about my first experience pacing as well as how I ‘trained’ to do a marathon four weeks after my last one.
Bottom line- pacing Erin was a success and it was so MUCH FUN. She was a little off her goal (finish time was 4:35:10) but it was a 17 minute PR for her. She ran very strong and I had a blast helping her achieve that goal!
I’m sorry if I didn’t mention it here (especially to Eri, who asked me directly- so sorry for lying!) I don’t think four weeks between racing marathons is a great idea, but pacing a marathon an hour slower than my marathon four weeks ago felt okay. And now I’ll for sure be on a marathon break until Boston!
I don’t have a ton of time to write more about the race, but we had perfect weather and I remembered just how much I LOVE this marathon. The spectators are phenomenal. So are the volunteers. And the WEATHER! The weather was picture picture sunny but cool fall day.
Let me know if you had a race this weekend! Or join Jess and my linkup below with more details of your training 🙂
Haha I was so surprised when I saw my name on your post!
I would be hesitant to tell the whole world if I wasn’t 100% sure either so no worries 🙂
I’m so glad you and your sister had an amazing successful marathon! Congratulations to your sister for reaching such a wonderful PR!!! 17 min is huge!!!!!
Now, I hope you have a good break and a great training for Boston!
Thank you for understanding! I didn’t mean to be “shady” but I wasn’t sure if I would run the whole thing, etc but it was a really fun day and I think I want to do more pacing in the future!
You’ll be a great pacer! And I’m pretty sure your sister was very grateful to have you as a pacer.
So happy to hear y’all had a great run!
Thanks Eri!
That’s so awesome that you helped to race your sister to a PR!
Thanks Kim!
This is awesome! Congrats on a 5th marathon this year. Now rest up!
How did sibling pacing compare to spousal pacing? No episodes like that picture of Dustin pacing you with the stealth “thumbs up”?
Thanks Eric! It was so much fun pacing Erin and experiencing my favorite marathon course via the “eyes” of a first-timer.
Sibling pacing went pretty well- no stealth “thumbs up” pics though she was definitely struggling on Summit and I was all smiles. But she never yelled at me 🙂
All smiles on Summit?? That has to be a first!
The secret is to run 2 minutes slower than your goal pace 🙂 Then you can smile the whole time and its way more fun!
Haha I guess planning marathons in secret is catching on :-p
Glad you and your sister had a great race. Enjoy a well-earned rest now!
Thanks Allison- yep, not mentioning a potential marathon seems to be a common theme lately! Hope you’re doing well 🙂
Oh, I’m so behind on my blog commenting! Looks like a great week, and I just LOVED that you were pacing your sister. What an awesome bonding experience for you both!! How many marathons has she done before?
She has done a few, but has been plagued by injury, sickness, hot weather etc; this was her first race where she felt healthy and strong. Perfect opportunity for a big PR!