Cleveland Marathon 2007 - 4 My Dad

972.9 training miles, (6 days, 2h 11m 10s) 3 pairs of running shoes, too many bananas and energy gels to count, at least 100 snowstorms :) and a few blisters later I have completed the Cleveland Marathon!

Raising money for blood cancer research, making many great new friends, running with my sister as we passed all of my dad's favorite places in the city: PRICELESS.

Thanks to everyone for your support! I couldn't have done it without you!!!!

I Did It!!!!

Longer report coming soon!!!! I completed the Cleveland Marathon - final time 3:48:22.

Less Than 48 Hours....

All the training has been done (save for a quick 3 miler tomorrow). Now it's just time to eat some extra carbs and drink water and Gatorade in preparation for Sunday. I'm antsy and hate this part of marathon training. Lots of rest and extra food and I'm ready to go run NOW!

I'm waiting for the final weather report, figuring out what I will wear in the race on Sunday. I don't want to be too warm, but yet I don't want to be too cold, either as I use up lots of energy just staying warm.

Only 47 more hours until race time.....

T Minus 5 Days!

Only 5 more days to go until the marathon! This past week of training went well, and I was enjoying the reduced mileage:

05/10: 7 miles
05/12: 12 miles
05/13: 5 miles
05/14: 3 miles
05/15: 7 miles

Today's run was a dress rehearsal of sorts. I pulled my newer pair of Asics out (the one's that I broke in for the race and have been saving) and ran up to the track. Here I warmed up and then ran a couple of miles at the pace I'm hoping to run my marathon at. It went pretty well. The rest of "taper" week will just have a handful of easy runs, with the longest at 5 miles.

The weather has been PERFECT. I'm hoping it lasts until Sunday!

Yes, We Have No Bananas.....

When I began training for this marathon, I knew that I would be running more miles than I have ever run in my previous marathon training schedules. I knew I would have to start to eat something before my runs to give me enough energy. I hate to eat before I run, but settled on bananas as a good, easy to eat pre-run food. I have eaten a lot of bananas - 1 before each run (2 before a long run) and then one at lunch. I'm enjoying the running, but I am so sick of bananas. Once this race is over, yes, there will be no bananas, no bananas at all in my home :)

This past week or so of training went pretty well:

5/1 - 8 miles (interval work: 800 meter repeats)
5/2 - 5 miles
5/3 - 8 miles
5/5 - 16 miles
5/6 - 5 miles
5/7 - 5 miles
5/8 - 8 miles (last track workout before the race, mile repeats)
5/9 - 5 miles

The schedule for the next week and a half really starts to taper the miles back as I rest up and get ready for the big race! Only 11 more days!

The Last Big Training Week 04/23 - 04/29

This past week marked the last week of higher mileage training.

04/24 - 10 miles with interval speed training at the track (5 x 1200 meters).
04/25 - 5 miles
04/26 - 10 miles
04/28 - 20.5 miles. The last really long run before the marathon. I ran with the Team in Training group at the Cuyahoga National Park on the towpath. Such a beautiful place to run and the crushed limestone trail felt great for my tired legs and feet!
04/29 - 5 miles. This is always the hardest run of the week. My legs are tired from the previous day's long run. Good mental training for the last miles of a marathon.

That was a lot of running.

The last three weeks prior to a marathon are known as the taper (or TAPER!!!!) time. I will gradually taper my mileage back to rest my legs and let the little aches and pains heal before the race. This coming week will have a 20% reduction in miles, the next week 40%. I'm looking forward to changing the setting on my alarm clock to a time a little later than 4:30 AM!

04/22/07 Trail Run

65 and sunny today - it doesn't get any better than that. I headed out to the metropark to run on my favorite trail. 9 miles through the woods on a perfect day!