I'm still here. Just have been too busy running and writing (which I get paid to do, and alas, blogging does not pay me a single centavo).
I'm planning a drastic redesign to this little 'ol blog in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.
Meanwhile, I've been pounding the pavement. A lot. I just came back from a 16-miler on the rolling Mt. Vernon trail, which borders the Potomac. The first 10 miles I did at an average 8:57/mile pace, which is way too fast. The last six I slowed down considerably, so my avg pace for the run was 9:17/mile.
Why so fast? I think I run best in the afternoon. A few hours prior to the run, I ate a huge Quizno's honey chicken sandwich with all the fixin's, a bag of mesquite barbecue chips, a grande extra dry cinammon cappuccino from Starbucks, and a fat slice of reduced fat (but mondo caloric) cinammon coffee cake.
So I was well fueled. Usually, when I run in the early morning, I'm lucky to snarf down a frozen waffle and a cup of orange juice before heading out the door.
Unfortunately for me, no races start in the afternoon. And even with my faster pace, I will be at the back of the pack for the inaugural National Marathon. The field is open to only 3,000 runners, and to qualify, you have to have either run a previous marathon in 4:30, a half-marathon in 2:10, or a 10-miler in 1:40.
I haven't run a half or a full marathon before, so I snuck in my time from last year's Cherry Blossom 10-mile race, which I ran in 1:31:02.
Huh. I just realized that I ran the first 10 miles of my training run today at a faster pace.
Congrats: To David and Noames and Rachel for succesfully completing the Miami marathon. Can't wait to read your race reports ....
maybe that's my problem...not eating. if i ate all that and then ran 15 miles...well, let's just say i'd be leaving a path and it wouldn't be of breadcrumbs. iron stomach!
ReplyDeleteActually, if you like racing in the p.m., be sure to check out the Rockville Rotary Runfest 8k just north of you this summer. If it's still in operation, the run takes place in the evening as the sun is setting and there's a huge party afterward with plenty of food and beer and band music.
ReplyDeleteI moved out of the region years ago, so I'm not sure if they still hold it. But it used to be a favorite of mine.
That was last year, and you're so much faster now. And I thought you had run a half marathon before? Well, damn you ran 16 this weekend, that's over and above. I think you'll be golden, Bex.
ReplyDeleteanne, and bex, they DO still hold the rockville twilighter 8k. i "ran" it last year--it was my longest race at the time, it rained and thunderstormed and it was GLORIOUS. do it!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you haven't done a half (or more) yet. Well that'll change and you'll be plenty happy about it. I realize now that "winning" the 16 weeks of hard training was as satisfying as the race could have been with a better time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder about the Rockville Twilighter! I definitely want to do that next year. And David and Jon - I was all set to run the Las Vegas Half Marathon in December 04, then I came down with a horrible case of the flu.
ReplyDeleteSo the longest official races I've run were 10-milers.
Thanks for the shout-out! Another blog reader I read is doing the National Marathon, I think it looks like such a great course, very historic!! (of course I don't live in DC so it would be more exciting for me!)
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