With the finish of the Cleveland Ten Miler, we officially have 3 weeks to go until marathon day!
I was really thrilled with the 10-mile race on Saturday. I didn't PR, but we definitely enjoyed the flat, easy course and happily took the opportunity to get a little change of scenery and run with others. I love how running affords me the chance to explore new neighborhoods that I probably wouldn't have gotten the chance to explore otherwise.
The theme of the race for Brandon and I was: you know you have to do laundry when you run a 10 mile race in argyle socks (for the record, that was Brandon...not me :)) Whoops! Having a new puppy in the house and training for a marathon left us precious little time to do any laundry in the past few weeks.
Our plan for this race was to extend our run/walk training from 4 minutes of running, 1 minute of walking to 2 miles of running, 1 minute of walking. We haven't really decided how we're going to do it for the marathon, but for this 10 miler, we ran in between water stopped and took a walk break while we were enjoying a bit of hydration. Unfortunately, right around mile 6, I got a side cramp that made it difficult to breathe and run at the same time (normally, an essential part of running). So the walk break at mile 6 was a must! Then, the cramp came back to haunt me just after our mile 8 walk break and I had to walk for several minutes to let the feeling pass. I hate side cramps. There is never a comfortable way to run though them...I always have to stop an walk! Regardless, we finished strong...only two minutes slower than my last ten mile finish! I'll take that. It was a (thankfully) dry and warm race. So I couldn't have asked for anything better. Plus, I pooped twice before leaving that house that morning, so I wasn't in any danger of any mid-race tummy rumblings. I was also pleasantly surprised to see my name on my race bib! There is nothing better than spectators calling you out by name, it's so motivating for me!
Our finishing time was 1:36:49, which is about a 9:46/mile.
We pretty much didn't do any running besides that race last week. Monday was an easy 3-mile day and then between traveling to Virgina, bad weather (er, I should say Cleveland weather) and Brandon not feeling at the top of his game...taking a VERY easy week was definitely in the cards. This week is the last week of big runs for us, so we're gonna nail them, along with some much needed yoga, and then ease into our two week taper!
I just read something on Twitter that I'd like to try - do 100 push-ups every day this week by doing 10 pushups every hour for 10 hours in a row. Think I can do that? I do!
Who else ran the Cleveland Ten Miler and how did everyone do?
Peace, Love & Bagels,
