Dream Marathons

“Everyone in life is looking for a certain rush. Racing is where I get mine.” –John Troutmann

I have several goal races for my marathon career. I plan on running all the marathons in Texas, then I will try to conquer certain US marathons. My dream races have more of a history and are all international (with one intergalactic). Here they are:



Athens Marathon

I want to run what is considered the course of the first marathon run by Phedippedes in 409 B.C. Today's marathon begins at Athens Stadium and ends in Marathon. Going to Greece just to see all the history would be amazing in itself. But running a marathon there is a true dream.



Real Berlin Marathon



I'm not sure if this is the real (as in not fake) or real (like the Real Madrid soccer team) Berlin Marathon, but either way, I want to run this one. It is considered the fastest marathon course in the world. It is highly acclaimed as one of the best marathons in the world. The course map shows why I want to run this race because it has landmarks where all the historical sites are along your 26.2 mile journey. I think this would be an awesome way to see Berlin.





Flora London Marathon

I've always wanted to go to England. I've even pondered the possibilities of moving there for a semester or even a year. This was before I got married and had a little more freedom with where I could travel by myself. Now I am willing to settle for a few trips and possibly a marathon in London. And I love their commercials.


Great Wall Marathon



The only man-made structure that is visible from space is the Great Wall of China. How about running a marathon on it? The Berlin Marathon might be the fastest course in the world; I'm sure with the 5164 steps on the Great Wall, this race would be one of the slowest. Another perk is that I would possibly get to visit some of my Chinese friends that I won't have seen for along time after grad school. I bet I won't be able to run this race for a good 20 years, so that will make for a good reunion.







Marato Barcelona


Another country rich in history and culture: Spain. Just look at the pic! When I'm there to run the marathon, I will definitely schedule time to go see a real soccer game. Who knows, maybe Thierry Henry will watch me run then I can watch him play.

Marathon de Paris


I've always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower. Now I can run by it! I have always thought the best way to get to know a new city is to run through it.






Moon Marathon


My final dream marathon is one that does not yet exist: a marathon on the moon. I think it's possible. My question is that if you weigh less, would you run faster or slower? The "bounciness" of the run might actually make it harder run keep up the pace.



I thought it might be good to take it a little easier and not irritate my blister any more. I cut back my mileage and didn't do any speed work last week.
T - 4.48 mi, 43:22.92 (1.5 miles before my pilates class then 2.98 miles after with my hubby)
W - 5.28 mi on a golf course. 18 holes from tee to green with my running buddy, Marcus. 45:33.31
S - 9.59 mi with some running buddies from my running club, 1:29:51.01

Blisters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Pain is weakness leaving the body.” -High school CC coach

I have a blister that WILL NOT go away!!! It all started the weekend I went to go visit my family at the end of June. Specifically June 28th. It is now July 21!!!
On June 28th I ran a short 5K and ended up with a blood blister on the crease of where my big toe connects to my foot. I did some internet/forum research and found that many runners love Dr. Scholl's Moleskin for blisters. I cut a smaller piece the size of my blister and put it sticky side to sticky side to a bigger piece. I kind of made my own moleskin band-aid so it would not stick directly to my blister. This seemed to work pretty well. The blister got a little bigger, but not too bad.
July 4th, my 10 mile race. I was pleasantly surprised that my blister (and the moleskin) held up the whole way. I had already popped the blister by this point and only a little more fluid built up after this race. I even have been running with my socks turned inside out so the seams won't rub my foot.
Fast forward to Thursday. I did some speedwork and built up a blood blister again! Saturday I did a run with some of my running club buddies & it got almost as big as it was a month ago. What do I do! I can't stop running long enough to let it heal completely, but I don't want to live the rest of my life with a blister. What do I need to do?? Please, feel sorry for me.
Click here for a nasty pic of my blister. This was after I popped it after the 10 mi race.

M - 5 mi, 44:21.16
W & Th - some speed work that I had to spread over two days due to rain and time constraints.
Mile repeats vol. 1: 0.71 mi warmup - 6:32.20, 1 - 6:44.26 (2:41.14 rest), 2 - 7:13.18
Mile repeats vol. 2: 0.71 mi warmup - 6:49.91, 1 - 7:17.50 (2:40.31 rest), 2 - 7:43.26 (3:19.30 rest) 1.54 mi cooldown - 14:57.75
S - 10.46 mi, 1:37:51.36

2008 Firecracker Runs 10mi

“A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways they’re capable of understanding.” -Steve Prefontaine

Friday, July 4th, I woke up early to get ready for my race that was supposed to start at 8am. The race was 45 min away, so we planned on leaving by 6:30 to have ample time to register and warm up. We got to the race and as I was preparing I thought it might be a good idea to know the race course. Due to flooding and mud slides in the park, the course had changed. We weren't going to run through the park as planned, we were doing a real out and back. Since the course wasn't going through the park anymore, the turnaround point was extended to where we had to run along a highway for about 0.1 mi. Agh! I'd never run this race in the first place. Now I have to run along the highway. I hope it's not too busy!!
I warmed up and 10 min before the start I decided it might be a good idea to visit the ladies' room. Well, I guess all the other ladies had this same idea because the line was super long. And there was only one restroom! I was glad to be a woman at this point though because the men's line was a lot longer & I heard a group of five boys saying they didn't just have to pee.
I made it to the start with a few minutes to spare. The race director gave the directions of the new course and we were off.
Mile 1 - I felt really good in this mile, but I was a little nervous that I was going too fast. I was being passed by a lot of runners, but they were mostly the 3 milers. I focused on two men in front of me that I knew were running the 10 mile race. I finished the fist mile in 8:15.42.
Mile 2 - This mile I really wanted to pass the two men in front of me, but I wouldn't let myself. I knew they were keeping a good pace, so just followed them a little farther. 8:14.02.
Mile 3 - This mile had the first a several rolling hills. At the top of one of the hills I saw a huge dog. I asked the men in front of me to protect me from it. "I'm afraid of dogs that are bigger than I am," I informed them. "That one is about one and a half of you," said Richard. The dog kept its distance. 8:24.88.
Miles 4 & 5 - I finally passed the two men and started working on moving up in the pack. At this point I felt pretty lonely being in between the runners, so I was grateful that I had Click & Clack the Tappet brothers to listen to during these miles. Around mile 4.5 I saw the lead runner going back home. 8:13.69 & 8:16.43.
Mile 6 - I turned around to start heading back to the finish! At this point I had moved up to the next runners and passed one of them around 6.5. It was also pretty cool to see & encourage everyone as we passed each other. 8:21.20
Miles 7, 8, & 9 - These miles seemed to run together. I didn't see the dog on the way back, which was awesome. One man in front of me kept running then walking. I would almost pass him when he was walking then he'd start running again. On his last walk he said "I think I bit off more than I can chew on this one" as I passed him. I passed two other people with about a mile left in the race. 8:21.05, 8:17.75, & 8:33.94.
10 - I felt okay at this point. I was pretty tired, but I didn't want anyone to pass me. Well, one man did pass me with about 0.5 mile left. He encouraged me to keep going and not slow down as he passed me. I tried to keep him pretty close thinking I could possible catch up at the end. At the final turn (see pic, left), he was about 50 ft in front of me. So I started running as hard as I could to catch up to him. And I did. I passed him, then he started to kick it and he ended up beating me by this [ .... ] much (see pic, right). The last mile was my fastest at 8:00.06
This race was a lot of fun & I ended up finishing in 1:22:57. I placed 19/35 overall, 4/11 women, 1 age group and got this awesome medal:

M - 4 mi, 35:22.18

W - 4 mi, 34:34.07

F - speedwork, 18x0.1mi (0.1 mi walk between). I did this on the treadmill with 0.5 mi warmup and cooldowns at 6 mph, the walks at 3 mph, and most of the sprints at 10 mph. The last four were faster at 11, 11.5, 12, and 12.5 mph.

Mid-Year Muse & Motion 5K Race Report

“I'm going to go out a winner if I have to find a high school race to win my last race.” - Johnny Gray

Okay, I'm finally getting around to this race report (and I'm not too worried about the anonymity stuff that much anymore*). Last weekend my hubby & I went to visit my family. My brother & I signed up for a local race to run early Saturday morning. I was pretty excited because I thought I had a chance at beating jon. Our PR's for the 5K were about a second apart, so it wasn't unrealistic to think I could take him.
At around 6:15 jon came to my parents to pick Ben & me up for the race. On our way to the location we listened to some good music which included songs from a movie I had recently watched. We arrived at the race site, registered, and then stood around for a while waiting for the race to start. I was pretty much the coolest person at the race when Kelly Clarkson came on the radio. I used to work with her, you know?
jon & I decided we needed to warm up a little bit, so we jogged around the park while Ben took some pics of us. Finally the race was about to begin, so we lined up at the start. We listened to the almost incomprehensible directions given by the race director in his thick accent. The chairperson for the group the race was benefiting sounded the fog horn and we were off. I later learned that the timing crew was not ready for the start, so our times had to be adjusted at the end of the race.
In the first mile I kept my brother in my sites. I felt good, but I definitely didn't want to pass him. I didn't want to get too burnt out at the start. We ran around the park for this first part of the race and much to my chagrin I ran a 6:39 first mile. That was waaaay too fast. This seems to be a common problem that I have.
About a quarter mile into the second mile we turned off the loop in the park and headed into a "foresty" part of the park. This is what I'll call the out & back portion of the race. We kept running & I finally saw the leader heading back on that path. I could still see jon ahead of me too, but by this time I had given up on beating him. I was feeling that first mile & it wasn't good. jon & his group turned a corner to get out of my sight then came back about 30 seconds later. He saw me and told me it wasn't too far from the turn around. That was good news. My second mile was 7:38.
I really wanted to slow down on the way back to the loop portion of the race, but I couldn't let the other runners I was passing see me suffer. So I plodded on. I may have been able to see my brother at this point, but I wasn't paying attention to him anymore. There was a man who would walk a few seconds and then start running again in front of me. That's what I was focusing on. I wanted to beat him. I came out of the forest to complete the loop to the finish line. I finished the third mile in 7:43.
Now for the last tenth of a mile. I could see the finish line & I really wanted to catch the guy that had been walking in front of me. I picked up the pace on the curve around the parking lot and then on the straightaway to the finish I really kicked it. I finished this in 37 s, but I didn't catch that guy. After I got out of the chute, the incoherent race director commented on how great my finish was. This I understood because he was giving me a compliment.
All in all this was a good race. jon finished in 21:30 (a PR!) and I finished in 22:35 (a certified race PR!). I think a local race with my brother will have to be a staple in my visits to the fam. I wonder what my mom would think about the Turkey Trot when we visit at Thanksgiving?

past two weeks in training:
S (6/22) - 8 mi, 1:08:06.44
M - 3 mi, 24:56.43
T - 3 mi, 23:58.71
S - Mid-Year Muse & Motion 5K - 22:35
M (6/30) - 3 mi, 24:15.32
T - speedwork, 4x1600 (400 jog between)
0.5 mi warmup-5:05.40
1-7:13.00 (2:30.13 rest)
2-7:13.68 (2:29.00 rest)
3-7:13.52 (2:30.61 rest)
4-7:03.76
0.25 mi cooldown-2:29.86
W - 3 mi, 25:10.17
Th - 1 mi w/one of my coworkers that's just starting running, 10:48.98
F - Firecracker Runs, race report next week!! 10 mi, 1:22:58
S - 6 mi, 57:53.05

* - it's not hard to figure out info about me when I put the name of the races and my time in my blog posts.