just run

Recently, all I’ve been doing is working, running and reading. Oh and occasionally hanging out with friends and catching up on Grey’s Anatomy (I finally made it to the latest season).

Running has always been a priority, but with my marathon a few short months away, I decided I needed to ramp up the training. Now I wasn’t too optimistic in these last few months. After I ran a good race in April—the Kentucky Derby ½ marathon—things went downhill a bit. The week before I ran the Vermont City Marathon, I noticed that my hamstring bothering me. I didn’t think anything of it until I got to mile 11 in the race. All of a sudden, I had to stop because of all this terrible pain in my leg. I wouldn’t quit. Especially since my partner was waiting for me at mile 13.1. But I had to go slowly, and after a couple of more stops, I finished.

I took a few days off, but had a few shorter races lined up. So I persisted through the pain by going slowly on my regular runs and taking more days off in between. In June, I ran the Mini 10k, the Corporate Challenge 3.5 miler, and the Pride 5 miler. None of them went to plan. I ran a slower pace than when I ran 13.1 miles in April. Also, my hamstring acted up after 2 of the 3 races. I felt sluggish and got tired quickly. I tried to not get down on myself, but the results were not good. I get that people may think my times are relatively quick, but i wasn't too pleased. And I didn't feel good.

I took a bit more time off, so my hamstring would bother me less. At this point, I was about a week or so behind my marathon training, so I had to get right into it. There was a training plan in the July issue of Runner’s World, so I started to follow that. The article was authored by a runner who was finally able to break the 3:10 barrier. I know I’m not doing that, but am serious about breaking 3:35. However, I'm not convinced that plan was his exact training plan.

A few weeks ago, I was scouring the Chicago Marathon website and found a few training plans. One was specific to getting a PR, so I switched over to that one. Every day, I’ve been closely following what’s highlighted in my 3-page PDF. My daily runs consist of easier runs, track workouts, tempos, and long runs. I’ve been averaging 40 miles a week. I’m pretty sure this is more than I’ve ever done before at this early stage in training. Especially since I’m now doing around 7 miles a day, whereas in years past I’d range from 3-5 miles/day.

It’s too early to determine whether this plan is going to work. I’m determined to BQ, so I will follow this as close as possible. However, there are a few differences in this plan than I’ve done in the past. Like only doing one 18-miler and nothing above it, taking a full week off from a long run, and running 12 miles the week before the big race. I may make some adjustments to the plan, but it’ll be a good test to see how this year’s marathon goes.

So here goes nothing. To trying my best.

Assuming the weather cooperates.

halfway

So it’s more than halfway through 2012 and I can’t get over it. It’s July. I feel like it was just July 2011. Boy has the last 12 months flown by. It’s been a good, busy year so far. It’s currently a million degrees outside and humid as all hell. Way different weather for when I updated my blog for 2012. I guess that’s what you get for living in New York City.

They say as you get older, life gets faster. So far that has held to be true. So I guess tomorrow I’ll wake up with grandchildren. Oh god. Hopefully not that fast. So far in 2012 I’ve done a bunch of stuff, but have only officially checked off 3 things off my 12 in 2012 list . But I am working on 2 of them. One very well (states), one not so much (notes). There a few that are possibly in the works and for the rest, I just gotta get my butt in gear. It’s ok; I have a little less than 6 months—plenty of time…

june book update

I love summer and I love reading in the summer. Ever since I was a kid, summers meant running around outside, swimming, and reading. However, June was kind of busy and I only got through a few books. I finished The Art of Racing in the Rain and read two others.

The Art of Racing in the Rainby Garth Stein

When I first put this on my list of books to read, I incorrectly assumed this was about running. I was wrong. However, this didn’t make this book any less good. The story is from a dog’s point of view, a first for me. Enzo chronicles his life with his owner, Denny, over the course of love, marriage, birth, death and other ups and downs.

I highly recommend it. Too be honest I wasn’t expecting to like it very much. I’m not interested in car racing and I didn’t know if I would like to read a book from a dog’s perspective. However, it was way better than I expected. I’m telling everyone that reads to read this book. So this is everyone.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

I decided to read another classic but took me a while to pick which one. I finally landed on The Age of Innocence since the length wasn’t too terrible. However, it still took me a while to get through. Mostly because of busy June weekends.

The book centrals around Newland Archer in 1870s New York society. He’s about to embark on a desirable marriage with May, when his fiancé's cousin returns to NYC after leaving her husband in Europe. Newland falls in love with Ellen, but proceeds with marrying May anyway. Over the course of many years, their love never dies, but eventually they both move on with their lives. I would go back and forth and want Archer to suck it up and admit this to May and other times not, so that May isn't hurt. He doesn't end up having an affair, and moves on with his life. But it ends up being a bit sad since Archer and Ellen couldn't be together because of certain society "rules".

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

This was another book club book. Obviously there’s one a month. Assuming I can attend the meeting and read the book. I wasn’t sure about this since it’s a young adult book and it sounded like a happy high schooler book based on the descriptions I had gotten. It’s not a happy book. There’s a variety of topics covered like drugs, suicide, and homosexuality. Charlie writes letters to his friend (you never find out who) throughout his freshman year of high school during 1991-1992. A friend of his just committed suicide and he starts high school friendless. But that changes. I recommend this book and you should read it before the movie comes out in September.

20/30 books in 2012.