RunninginNHGirl: 1/2 way through Marathon Training, Great Island 5k recap and...I'm an aunt!

Best news first, I'm an aunt! My sister had a baby, Kennedy- she's so precious!

Nine more weeks until the Honolulu Marathon! Here are some things I've learned in these past couple of weeks:

1. Training for a marathon takes up a lot of time and commitment, but if you put in that time and training, it's exciting to feel yourself getting stronger and more in shape with each run (obvious, I know...but, I've never been very good at sticking to a training plan, until this time around.) Luckily, Angela made me a great training plan!

2. I am hungry. all. of. the. time....I don't think anyone has to worry about me losing weight while training for a marathon.

3. Foam rolling and yoga is essential after long, hard runs- today, I pretty much walked around with my foam roller, and did some yoga w. Max.

4. In addition to foam rolling and yoga, I've realized how important it is to make sure that the majority of my runs are at a slower pace. This has really helped me avoid injury (knock on wood), and build up endurance.

This Weekend's Running

Saturday: 18 miles. yikes.

Saturday morning, I woke up to cooler temperatures (thank goodness), but pouring rain. Originally, I had planned on doing the 18 miler around noon time, but things worked out at home, and I was able to head out at 9:45. Earlier in the week, I had mapped out an 18 miler on a route that I hadn't really run before, I figured it would keep things interesting. I love living by the beach, but I wanted a change of scenery.

The morning of the run, I had a plain sesame bagel and coffee. I wore a tank top, capris and my Saucony Rides (my favorite shoe, ever.) I packed my Nathan Hydration Backpack w. plenty of water, candy corn and a Cliff Bar. *I love candy corn, but realize it's probably the most unnatural food created...at least I can justify eating it somewhat during a long run.*

I brought my iPhone so that I could listen to music. I also planned on taking in fuel at the 6th, 12th and 15th mile.
When I started the run, I put my iPhone in my backpack because it was still pouring rain. I figured that the rain would stop, and I could listen to my music later on in the run.

The first six miles went by quickly, but when I stopped at almost the 7th mile marker to take in some fuel, my hands were so cold that I couldn't feel them enough to even open my backpack! I didn't pause my running watch because you can't pause your watch in a race...and, I wanted to see how long 18 miles would really take me. I really wished that I had worn gloves!
Eventually, I was able to open my pack, and had some water and candy.

At the 12th mile marker, I was still having fun, still not listening to my iPhone, but when I stopped to eat my Cliff Bar, my hands really hurt and were so cold that I could hardly move them! Again, I didn't pause my watch, and had to take 5 minutes to try and warm up enough to open my backpack!

At the 15th mile, I felt WAY better than I had during the 16 miler a few weeks ago! The cooler weather definitely was helping. I stopped to have some more candy (only 2 minutes this time.)
I was excited that I only had 3 miles left, and never even needed to listen to music!

Including the three stops, I ended up finishing in 2 hours and 55 minutes (18.43 miles!)
I took a super hot shower, and had soup...and eventually warmed up!

The rest of the day, I felt okay, I foam rolled, ate everything in sight...and fell asleep at 9pm. So wild.

GREAT ISLAND 5K

Today was the Great Island 5k in New Castle! My good friend is unable to run for a few weeks, so she let me run using her bib number. She's much faster than I am, but I wanted to represent her as best as I could! I wasn't sure how I was going to feel since I had run 18 miles yesterday. I spent much of Saturday foam rolling, and hoped that I wouldn't be too sore the morning of the race.

This morning was chilly, but once you started running, it warmed up quite a bit.

I met up with my friend Nicole before the race and we did a 5 minute warm-up. That really helped me shake out any stiffness from the day before.

I DID bring my music for the 5k, I figured I would need whatever boost I could get! My plan going into the 5k was to run by feel, if I wasn't feeling too bad, I would try to pick up the pace.

The first mile went by really quickly, I got a little carried away with the crowd and all of the spectators that were lining the course in the first quarter mile. I ended up doing the 1st mile in 6:49. WAY too fast.

The second mile, I told myself to slow down because I wanted to have enough steam left to have a strong finish- 7:13

The third mile I was definitely tired, at the 3rd mile marker, I saw 21:59! I knew I was going to have my fastest 5k ever, too bad it wasn't under my name!!

I ended up finishing in 22:48! A 10 second PR for me.

Nicole did really well and almost broke 22 minutes! I'm glad I got to run, and thankful that I felt okay.