What's Next?

Leading up to Fargo half, I suspected that race day wouldn't be a 100% effort for me. To mitigate my disappointment, I started to think of a back up plan if that was the case. I had planned to do a 10k for fun-ish in early June, and have since decided that it'll be my official substitute goal race for the spring (even though that's probably summer at that point). My marathon training will start in later June, so this gives me an opportunity to still have another attempt to post a race time that'll help me project a fall marathon goal race time.

Now fingers crossed that it doesn't feel like summer on race day! If so, I may drop to the 5k, which would still be fun.

There's also a 5k the following weekend in my little town that features bacon and bloody Mary's post race. And the money goes to help with Junior Achievement. So why not race on back to back weekends? My thoughts exactly!

And THEN Strava and NYRR announced a 1 mile virtual race challenge. Well that sounds like fun too. So sometime during this 8 day span, I'd also like to do a 1 mile time trial. LOLZ. This'll either be the most fun 8 days or the worst idea I've ever had.

Stay tuned.

Running Book Review: Running with the Buffaloes

Last fall during marathon training, my running buddy Chris lent me Running with the Buffaloes after I mentioned that I wanted to read it but my library didn't have it. Of course, he lent me a copy that was signed by both Chris Lear AND Adam Goucher. He's clearly not a librarian; you do NOT lend out signed book copies! Because of that I only read it at home, keeping it next to my bed so it wouldn't get damaged. Thus it took me FOREVER to read it. It was really great to pick it up when I needed extra running motivation.

I finally finished it during my coaching certification weekend, and it 100% lived up to all the hype. It also desperately makes me wish I had ran cross country in college, and also makes my mind spin as to how a coach would coach that many runners and be able to get them all the peak during the national championship while also managing all of the injuries along the way. I would love to be in Wetmore's brain for a season, that's for sure.

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from Amazon:

In RUNNING WITH THE BUFFALOES, writer Chris Lear follows the University of Colorado cross-country team through an unforgettable NCAA season. Allowed unparalleled access to team practices, private moments, and the mind of Mark Wetmore--one of the country's most renowned and controversial coaches--Lear provides a riveting look inside the triumphs and heartaches of a perennial national contender and the men who will stop at nothing to achieve excellence. The Buffaloes' 1998 season held great promise, with Olympic hopeful Adam Goucher poised for his first-ever NCAA cross-country title, and the University of Colorado shooting for its first-ever national team title. But in the rigorous world of top-level collegiate sports, blind misfortune can sabotage the dreams of individuals and teams alike. In a season plagued by injury and the tragic loss of a teammate, the Buffaloes were tested as never before. What these men managed to achieve in the face of such adversity is the stuff of legend and glory.
With passion and suspense, Lear captures the lives of these young men and offers a glimpse of what drives a gifted runner like Adam Goucher and a great coach like Mark Wetmore. Like Lance Armstrong's It's Not About the Bike, RUNNING WITH THE BUFFALOES is at once a glowing celebration of a sport and an inspiration to anyone who has ever had the courage to beat the odds and follow a dream.

Weekly Reads: Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee

I loved Jeff Zentner's Goodbye Days, so I was really excited to read Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee. It didn't disappoint! It was such a quick read about friendship and family relationships. Definitely worth a read!

My rating: 4 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

A contemporary novel about two best friends who must make tough decisions about their futures--and the TV show they host--in their senior year of high school.

Every Friday night, best friends Delia and Josie become Rayne Ravenscroft and Delilah Darkwood, hosts of the campy creature feature show Midnite Matinee on the local cable station TV Six.

But with the end of senior year quickly approaching, the girls face tough decisions about their futures. Josie has been dreading graduation, as she tries to decide whether to leave for a big university and chase her dream career in mainstream TV. And Lawson, one of the show's guest performers, a talented MMA fighter with weaknesses for pancakes, fantasy novels, and Josie, is making her tough decision even harder.

Scary movies are the last connection Delia has to her dad, who abandoned the family years ago. If Midnite Matinee becomes a hit, maybe he'll see it and want to be a part of her life again. And maybe Josie will stay with the show instead of leaving her behind, too.

As the tug-of-war between growing up and growing apart tests the bonds of their friendship, Josie and Delia start to realize that an uncertain future can be both monstrous...and momentous.

Race Report: Fargo Half Marathon

The week of the Fargo Half marathon was rough. I was back to running like normal, but every run felt so much more labored than it should. High heart rates, still hacking up all sorts of stuff, just generally not how you want to feel on race week. I did everything I could during the week to speed up the process--lots of sleep, hydration, eating healthy nutrient foods. Friday's shake out run was around an 11 minute pace but didn't feel nearly as easy as an 11 minute pace should feel. Woof.

Regardless, I was so excited to travel to Fargo with Melissa and Carter. Melissa and I had done so many runs together this spring, and I knew she was ready for a huge PR, and I was excited to hang out with her and Carter post-race to celebrate. Plus a ton of Sioux Falls runners were also going up for the full and half. Wahoo!!

All of race week I was contemplating race plans for Saturday. I thought best case scenario, I could maybe sneak in just under 2 hours if I was magically feeling really really good. For some reason, I didn't think to plan a strategy for if I didn't magically feel really good. Note to self: that might be something to consider if I ever come down with a 10+ day sickness leading up to my goal race day.

Race morning it was pouring rain. I went to bed not 100% sure what I was going to wear. It was cold, rainy, and the final 5-6 miles were going to be into a strong 20-30 mph wind. I finally landed on a tank, tights and gloves. We were so lucky that we got to start in the Fargodome so we were dry while waiting for the race to start.

We did some stretching, I did my glute activation exercises, and before too long it was time to line up. And somehow we were back in the 3:00 half marathon group. We finagled our way up closer and were ready to rock.

The race started, and I thought I'd try to keep the pace around 9:30-9:45. I tried to dodge puddles the best I could. It became pretty apparent, very early in the race that I wasn't going to feel "magically really good." But I was feeling well enough that I knew I would complete 13.1 miles, which was honestly a concern as the week was going on, and a 5 mile felt like a struggle. My heart rate was pretty high for the pace I was running, honestly my effort felt closer to a 9:15 (shockingly this was my goal pace for my ORIGINAL pacing plan, pre-illness, so I guess that's something). I decided pretty quickly that today's run might be more of a long run pace, and that I should be thankful that I felt well enough to run a half marathon.

1. 9:44
2. 9:49
3. 9:56

The miles ticked off pretty fast at a slightly sub 10 pace. Despite feeling cold in mile 1, I started to feel very comfortable temperature-wise shortly after, but I was happy I had on gloves. My hands would've been freezing. I took my first GU around mile 2, as my stomach was pretty cranky race morning, per usual, and I thought I could use an extra boost early. Somewhere around miles 4-5 I started to get a little bit in my head. Just ruminating on how hard I worked this spring to hit a fast half marathon time, and how out of my hands being sick was. I started to throw myself the tiniest of pity parties when I ran up on a woman who was thanking absolutely everyone in sight. "Thanks for volunteering! Thanks for stopping traffic! Thanks for being out here to cheer us on!" And it reminded me of some advice that I, myself, have given; when you're having a bad day, flip it, don't make it about you, but show some gratitude. I didn't have enough energy to be as positive and uplifting as she was, but I hung on to her for a couple of miles, feeding off of her positivity. Thank you lady wherever you are!

4. 9:52
5. 9:51
6. 9:53

Unsurprisingly, once I stopped the negative thought spiral, I started to feel better. I passed my friend with a new pep in my step, and started to seek out faces in the crowd. I didn't have anyone spectating me, so I started to look at signs of those who were out spectating. Seriously: worst weather to spectate in. As terrible as it was to run in, it would've been TERRIBLE standing around waiting to cheer people on. Kudos to those that were doing it! Around this time, there was a loooooong out and back where we could see the runners ahead of us. YAY! I love this part. I was looking for Carter and Melissa. Carter saw me, then I saw another Sioux Falls runner, Joy, as well as so many others. I got nervous that I didn't see Melissa hoping that she was having as great of a day as I thought she would have. Once I was on the "back" portion of the run I was looking for my runner Sarah to cheer her on, but didn't see her. Something about this out and back gave me a second wind and without realizing it, I had picked up the pace ever so slightly. I checked in on my heart rate and saw that it actually hadn't climbed up at all, just hanging out even as can be since the race start. I did a quick assessment and realized that I was feeling good enough to pick up the last 5 miles to hit a faster finish "long run" effort. New game plan: go! I took my second GU around mile 6. I also took 2 salt tabs at 45 minutes. I wasn't going to risk a calve cramp on a cool day like I had suffered through at the Skedaddle half!

7. 9:50
8. 9:46

Unfortunately for me, this new plan was implemented as we started going into the wind, so that was an added challenge, but I was just excited to pick up the pace and see how I felt. I had previously been looking at a finishing time of just slightly sub 2:10 with my 9:50s, so I was excited to have a new math problem to ruminate on for a change. :P Running nerd, check! Weirdly the new sped up pace wasn't affecting my heart rate at all; I had thought it would surely spike it, but that I could handle that for about 45 ish minutes, but I wasn't really putting in extra effort, just focusing on a quicker turnover. I took my 3rd GU at mile 10 and took my last 2 salt tabs (that had started to disintegrate in my pocket) around 90 minutes.

9. 9:34
10. 9:18
11. 9:36

With a couple of miles to go, I really tried to get my time down to a 9 pace but it just wasn't happening on mile 12. I found some good pump up music on my iPod and tried to just focus on my legs turning over faster. The final mile I listened to Eminem on repeat at least 3 times. Maybe I should just listen to that song on repeat for a whole race?? When we approached the Fargodome, I was ready to kick it in and finish as strong as I could. I had forgotten that they make you run around the Fargodome, so seeing it was deceptive. I tried to maintain a strong finishing kick, but I kept running up to groups of people that were shoulder to shoulder through the final fenced in area. Finally with the portion into the fargodome, I was able to pick up the pace a bit and finish strong. This time I didn't run the final 3 strides with my finger on my Garmin like a yahoo, so that's progress I guess.

12. 9:25
13. 8:51
.17 1:27 (8:33 pace)



I finished my 40th half marathon in 2:06:53 for a pace of 9:39.

Melissa scored a 3 1/2+ minute PR!!

I had myself a nice little negative split, which was cool to see.

Fargo sent us a link with our race photos, which my phone struggled to download. Then later that evening the photos were pulled, only to be put up the next day with the images available to download for $4 each. I re-checked my email, and it definitely said, "Download for Free and Share your images on Facebook or Twitter. Save them – and print whenever you wish."

All of my friends got their pics, but I'm out of luck this time. And since I look like a drowned rat in all of them, I wasn't going to pull the trigger on paying for them all this go around. So just imagine me looking like a gazelle out there. :P

Weekly Reads: Rabbit & Robot

Anytime Andrew Smith comes out with a new book, it gets added to my list to read. And I know it's going to be a weird, wild ride. I absolutely love the cover of Rabbit & Robot, and the premise had me super excited. Unsurprisingly, it was a super weird, wild ride. Definitely read if you're a fan of Smith's books or if you need a strange read to capture a teen boy's attention (probably HS aged).

My rating: 4 stars

Summary from goodreads:

Cager has been transported to the Tennessee, a giant lunar-cruise ship orbiting the moon that his dad owns, by Billy and Rowan to help him shake his Woz addiction. Meanwhile, Earth, in the midst of thirty simultaneous wars, burns to ash beneath them. And as the robots on board become increasingly insane and cannibalistic, and the Earth becomes a toxic wasteland, the boys have to wonder if they’ll be stranded alone in space forever.

RRCA Coaching Certification

Mid-May I traveled up to the Twin Cities to geek out all things running and coaching at a RRCA Coaching certification. I went solo, which is totally not my thing, but something I'm getting better at. I had been fighting a cold all week, so when I got to the hotel I ordered in food, spent time working on my coaching clients since I knew I wouldn't have my typical Saturday afternoon time to work on things, and went to bed early.

Saturday morning I was up bright and early and ready for Day 1! I arrived, and was given a HUGE spiral bound book and was ready to soak up all the information. I didn't know anyone in the group, but there ended up being a couple of guys that were from Sioux Falls originally, which was nice, as well as some who had done the Sioux Falls marathon in the past, and had plans to come back this year!

Day 1 was so good; lots of information. Luckily it was reaffirming a lot of the principles of trainings that I have read over the years. I do think if I had come in as a fresh newer runner, I would've been very overwhelmed with information. Phew.

Day 2 was more great information, touching on running form, injuries and then working on training plans in a group, which was a lot of fun. I love learning from other people and hearing the "why's" behind their decisions to do things differently than me. Unfortunately after lunch, I started feeling really terrible, and by the time I had gotten home from the cities at about 9pm, I felt like I had full on influenza--chills, body aches, racing heart. Blech. Luckily for me, (and everyone in that room), I just had an insane bronchial infection that shouldn't have been contagious. I would've felt TERRIBLE.

Now I have a 100 question exam that I have to score an 85% or higher on to pass. I've started working on the test and it's not as easy as I thought it'd be! Some of the questions are looking for a very specific answer that was discussed on slide 97 of 500 at some point during our 17 hours of instruction. Coupled with my post-training fevered brain. :P

Regardless I've very thankful to get the opportunity to take my coaching to the next level and represent 605 Running Co. to the best of my ability!

Race Goals: Fargo Half Marathon

I wrote the below goal post before I was sick for two weeks in between the Skedaddle half and the Fargo half. So obviously tomorrow's race goals have adjusted. Regardless of what the time on the clock says when I cross the finish line, I'm excited to be doing a race weekend with running friends and super thankful that I didn't get this obnoxious sickness before a marathon. Uff da!

___________________________

My main goal for 2019 is to run a marathon PR in October. But since it's impossible to focus on one single goal for an entire year worth of running, I opted to work on a speedier spring half. Since my training was not 100% for the Skedaddle Half, I put all of my eggs in the Fargo Half basket. So I have some big goals!

Without further adieu, my race goals:

A Goal: Sub 1:55. This is the goal that I've had written and posted to my bathroom vanity since January. I am all in on attempting to run this time, for better or worse!

B Goal: Run as fast as I can if it's not sub 1:55. Don't freak out that I'm not hitting my goal and still bust my butt to run as fast as I can on the day I'm given.

C Goal: THERE IS NO PLAN C. :P

I'm feeling strong, and that I've put in more miles for this half marathon than I ever have before, so I'm excited to see how that plays out!

throwback to 2011's Fargo marathon

amazing drawing by Jodee Rose!