Race Report: Sioux Falls Half Marathon 2019

The Sioux Falls Half Marathon was set to be our last big scary workout leading up to the Twin Cities Marathon, 18 miles with 13 at marathon pace. Gulp. Melissa and I planned to do 5 miles before the race, and she stayed the night to make the morning easier. Luckily she stayed over, because I woke up to her shaking my big toe as my alarm had been going off silently for 20 minutes. GAH!

We drove to the race start, and it was raining. We set off on our warm up and warm up it was. It was chilly!! I didn't pay attention to our pace because it was so pitch black out, but near the turn around point I realized we were running really slowly, like 11:10-11:20s. And Melissa mentioned she wasn't feeling very well and her HR was crazy high. She was trying to decide if she should run the race or not. Based on how she was feeling and some medical issues she had been dealing with, I strongly encouraged her to not start the race. I know how hard it is for her to run super easy, especially in a race scenario, and I was worried that she'd put herself in a bad position health wise. But I also REALLY wanted to run the race with her. She decided not to race, and we were treated with torrential downpours when we finally made it back to my car. Uff. I said goodbye to her and hustled into the Premier center to find a bathroom and drop by bag.

The race started and it was still raining but I was already soaked and dripping on people so it was NBD. Shortly after starting the race, I knew I needed to use a bathroom. Luckily I found one in mile 2. I think I was in and out within 47 seconds. What was Shalane's record? Coming up on the portapotty, I saw my good running friend Tom and had hoped to catch up with him later. I'm writing this report 2 months removed from the race, so the details are a bit spotty. I can't even remember what my race plan was going to be. I think my goal was to run around 2:05, but clearly my legs weren't having that.

1. 10:37
2. 11:32
3. 10:16

I was really bummed that Melissa wasn't out there with me, but I was super impressed as to everywhere that Kyle was on the race course. It's like he's finally gotten this race down. Every where I looked there he was ready to cheer me on. Wahoo. Miles 4 and 5 had decent downhills, so I think the effort was relative, just a faster pace because of the downhill portion.

I enjoyed running through the falls, got a little teary eyed running by my mom's "spot" but was thankful she wasn't out spectating me in the crummy weather. She had a habit of commenting on how NICE the weather was on years I was cooking my insides while running, so we clearly had two different views on the nice weather. I think she finally got the hang of if it's nice to spectate in, Jeri's probably have a rough day. :P

4. 9:37
5. 9:30








6. 9:54
7. 9:57





 

I continued to leap frog with my friend Tom, catching him around mile 6 I think. It was nice to have some company for a bit. I remember thinking (not when I was with Tom, just while running) that I had way more fun in 2018. Running and laughing with Melissa, and running super fast at that, was significantly more fun than running what felt like hard, but didn't show very fast as far as my watch was spitting out.



8. 9:46
9. 9:58

There is a long slow hill in mile 10 which....sucked as you can see, but I just kept powering up it. I like how this course mirrors the TCM course, so it's great prep for how your legs will handle the final hilly miles of Twin Cities.

 




And mile 11 is a nice downhill. The last two miles I ran as hard as I could, but couldn't seem to find another, faster gear. Even my finishing kick was just... meh. Even though I'm pretty sure I was giving it my all. I guess that's what racing on super tired legs looks like! Meh. Hah.

10. 9:59
11. 9:42



 

After I saw Kyle the final time, I really tried to crank up the pace to finish strong. My heart rate wasn't all that tired, but my legs were just ready to be DONE. 9:30s-9:40s doesn't look that slow but I think my effort was closer to sub 9.

 

12. 9:43
13. 9:35
.23 1:57 (8:32 pace)










I finished 13.23 miles in 2:12:07 for a pace of 10:00.

Marathon Training Begins

Week one of marathon training is done. check! I was talking to my running friend, Kristin, and she was asking if marathon training had started already. And I told her yes and that I was so excited about it. It quickly dawned on me that I wanted to start training for a marathon approximately 4 hours after Twin Cities was complete last fall. And then my body wasn't having it.

I am beyond excited to put in some hard work and see where my fitness can be in the next 4 months.

One of the runs that I look forward to the least was on the schedule on week one (I should fire my coach! jk, I am my own coach). I had 8 miles with 4 at tempo. Not only do I hate tempo runs, but they are so much harder in the summer heat and humidity. I adjusted my tempo pace slightly to accommodate for the heat, and set out thinking if absolutely necessary I could do a few minute recovery in between the first 2 and second 2 miles.

As I was running I realized that I often give myself an out on these kinds of runs--stretching at the turn around, recovery jog, retying a shoe, stopping for water, etc. The point of these runs is the continuous harder effort to allow the body to learn how to push out the heaviness that accumulates in the legs during these faster paces. I typically sell myself short when I give myself an easy way out. So I put my head down, and worked. And I survived, and felt like a bad ass for it.

Current Obsession: Headspace App

I have been upping my meditation game lately. I've been struggling with some anxiety issues this past spring, and I know that meditating, for me personally, helps to alleviate some of my symptoms. At one point, I had a streak of 40+ days going, only to fall asleep and forget to meditate. Grumble grumble. I'm well over 1k minutes meditated.

I would personally recommend the Headspace App, as they have a bunch of different categories of content, as well as nice quotes and notes that make you think throughout the day. I also like that you can set up a reminder to alert you to meditate.


 

Weekly Reads: Love and Luck

I've been meaning to read Love and Luck for the last year. It's a companion book to Love and Gelato which was amazing, and I'm traveling to Ireland this summer. I finally got it to the top of my TBR stack, and I absolutely adored it. Most of the locations visited in the story I also get to see in two months, and it was such a great story.

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Addie is visiting Ireland for her aunt’s over-the-top destination wedding, and hoping she can stop thinking about the one horrible thing she did that left her miserable and heartbroken—and threatens her future. But her brother, Ian, isn’t about to let her forget, and his constant needling leads to arguments and even a fistfight between the two once inseparable siblings. Miserable, Addie can’t wait to visit her friend in Italy and leave her brother—and her problems—behind.

So when Addie discovers an unusual guidebook, Ireland for the Heartbroken, hidden in the dusty shelves of the hotel library, she’s able to finally escape her anxious mind and Ian’s criticism.

And then their travel plans change. Suddenly Addie finds herself on a whirlwind tour of the Emerald Isle, trapped in the world’s smallest vehicle with Ian and his admittedly cute, Irish-accented friend Rowan. As the trio journeys over breathtaking green hills, past countless castles, and through a number of fairy-tale forests, Addie hopes her guidebook will heal not only her broken heart, but also her shattered relationship with her brother.

That is if they don’t get completely lost along the way.

Race Report: Run for their Lives 10k

I added one last run to my spring/summer schedule as a bit of a reception run since I was sick leading up to the Fargo half. I had hoped that some of my fitness would hang on to have a decent 10k day. Plus my running friends Tom and Sara put on the race in a nearby town for a great cause.

 

I had thought I could run the 10k around 8:15-8:25 pace. Based on the warmer temps and humidity, I dialed that back to 8:40s, thinking that would be comparable. LOLZ. Reminder to Jeri: you do not race well in the heat. Especially if you've yet to really run in the heat. Got it?

 

So as previously stated, I started off conservatively. And about a quarter mile into the second mile I started to feel like toast. Not exactly great when you have FIVE MORE MILES TO RUN. I pushed likely way harder than I should have, and in mile 3 I knew I needed to slow way down to finish.

I think I started walk breaks around the 5k mark, which is impressive for a 10k when you've run a million marathons and half marathons. Derp. 

1. 8:40

2. 8:53

3. 9:40

Luckily in the 4th mile we started to meet up with the 5k runners, so there were significantly more people around. And we were all walk running out there in survival mode. I saw a couple of running friends from the Friday morning coffee run and caught up to them, and the gave me a second wind to push through to the end. I didn't realize they were doing the 5k until after.

4. 10:10

5. 10:44

6. 10:16<--this was me picking up the pace to finish. :P

.08 :39 for 8:09 pace

This smile is a lie

You will rarely, if ever hear me say this, but thank goodness for a short course! I took all sorts of sweaty post-race hugs, and chugged so much water and gatorade because I was feeling light headed and unsteady on my feet.

I survived, and it raised good money, and I got to see lots of my running friends, but it made for a not so great evening out to celebrate Kyle's bestie's wedding! Uff da.

Marathon Training Plan Tweaks

Today marks day one of marathon training for the Twin Cities Marathon, take 2! I'm again training myself, although I am realizing that how I coach myself is not how I coach other runners, and I could probably stand to have someone who can comfortably tell me no when I have a harebrained idea, but that's neither here nor there I guess.

I've created a training plan that is pretty similar to last year's, with some tweaks. Last year's plan started after the 4th of July. Last year I did Grandma's half marathon, took some time to recover, and then had some cranky knee flare up. Last year's was planned at 15 weeks, but ended up at 13 weeks. This year's will be 16 weeks.

I also have one additional 20 miler, as I have an extra couple of weeks of training. It's always so brutally hot training through the summer for a marathon that it's nice to have a bonus 20 miler for confidence if the others are just brutal. I did discover on my long run this weekend that I'll likely have to do 1 or 2 of them on my own. AHH!!! Fingers crossed I can line someone up for part of them at least.

My last tweak is some additional hill work. Last summer, I (or should I say Chris) did a good job of incorporating hilly routes into our Monday night runs. I felt so strong on the hills of TCM, that I want to do that again, but I'm also planning some hill specific repeats for some strength based workouts.

I'm really excited to dive into marathon training and do the WORK to get that marathon PR in 16 weeks!

Weekly Reads: Denis Ever After

I volunteered to read this book for the Teen's Choice book committee that I serve on. I love a good murder mystery. I failed to realize that this was told from the perspective of a ghost, and that was a really cool angle. I listened to it mostly on audiobook, and then when it got toward the end I needed to read the book because I just had to find out what happened. Totally unexpected ending!

My rating: 4.5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

Denis Egan is dead. 

He’s okay with that. It’s been five years since he died, and the place where souls go is actually pretty nice. Sure, there are some things about his life and how it ended he can’t quite recall, but that’s how it’s supposed to be. Remembering could prevent Denis from moving on to whatever’s next. 

However, something is standing in his way. His twin brother Matt can’t let go of him, and as long as the living are holding on to his memory, Denis can’t rest in peace.

To uncover the truth about what happened that day five years before, Denis returns to his hometown and teams up with Matt. But visiting for too long has painful consequences for Denis, and Matt’s renewed interest in his brother’s passing is driving a wedge between his still-grieving parents.

Can the two boys solve the mystery of Denis’s death without breaking apart the family he’s left behind?