I successfully completed the third of four half-marathons in the Halfathon today. Whoo! So what if it was my slowest half on record? I had to tackle two bridges....twice each! So make that four bridges. One of which was sheer evil (Sand Key).
Another reason that my time was slow: at around the 11-mile mark, I noticed that there was a dead-looking fish on the ground. A lot of people fish near the Clearwater Causeway, so I think that it fell out of someone's fishing bucket. I felt bad for this poor, dead fish who was living out his last moments on earth in the bright, harsh sun. So I picked it up and dropped it into the water. Burial at sea for a fish during a half-marathon? That, for me, was a first. And likely a last.
I ran the race with a friend (the same friend who kicked my butt a few months ago at the 5k). We decided to take things at a leisurely pace. Since it was her first half-marathon, she was guaranteed a personal record provided that she finished. And we did, so yay for her!
I do admit that at one point it looked like we might be last. But we were not. We overtook at least 3-4 people during the second half of the course. Yes!
Weather: not ideal. The humidity was not lower than around 75% for the whole race. Ew. The temperature, in and of itself, was okay in the high 50s/low 60s. But the humidity made this not so pleasant. Particularly since it was in the 97-98% range for the first hour. It's winter, Florida! You can abate with the humidity! In case you are keeping track, that is nearing the threshold of ick (humidity + temperature > 160), as in the threshold of ick that we measure for summer conditions. Also, Mr. Florida Sun came out to visit for much of the course. Some of it was not very shady. Actually, much of it was not very shady. This means that the temperature was probably closer to 70, putting it even closer to that ick threshold.
Only one to go! Also, I am now officially a Half Fanatic. This makes it worth suffering through the last half-marathon and going over the evil bridges and everything. Almost. Hey, I get another t-shirt (well, a singlet) to celebrate.
Showing posts with label Causeway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Causeway. Show all posts
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Somewhat back on track
I would say that I am, at long last, somewhat back on track. Why somewhat? Because my nose is still giving me attitude while running. But overall, I am as close to healthy as I have been in a month. Hurray!
On Sunday, I decided that I might as well attempt to do my long run because if I didn't, I would feel concerned and worried for the next half-marathon. This was after not having done a lot of running due to colds and finally a sinus infection. Because I was somewhat out of practice and still somewhat suffering from the sinus infection, I opted to take a walk/run approach right from the start (0.54 miles running, followed by 0.06 walking). It worked relatively well. I also decided to finally face my fears and tackle the Clearwater Causeway. That went less well. Meh. I am not trained for hills!
The only annoying thing was that my nose was very, very runny throughout the entire 12-mile run. This I could have done without. But I did not feel even remotely as awful as I did during the last half-marathon, which I believe means that I have made progress. Also, I was extremely happy that I even made it through the run, since I had some serious concerns if I was still capable of doing a long distance.
Now we are onto tapering and for the first time in a long time (at least for the past three taper times), I can actually run during taper period. So far, I am not sick....fingers crossed and knocking on wood! Today I decided to do a four-mile jaunt around the neighborhood. It's kind of funny to make up my own plan for runs, since I am so accustomed to following schedules. But I feel pretty good about my ability to put together a reasonable workout that isn't too straining. My plan is to also try some hills this week (maybe Thursday....maybe Saturday.....we will see how things go), do a 3-mile, and do 6 on Sunday. Seems reasonable.
The one annoying thing is that my nose continues to run. Admittedly, today was not as bad as Sunday, at least for the first half of the run, but then it started up again. Also, I caved and walked twice during the run. It remains warmer than I would prefer and there was some humidity in the air. At least, I noticed that at around 0.5 miles, there was sweat running down my elbow. I usually consider sweat at 0.4 miles to indicate icky levels of humidity, so it isn't as bad as the summer...but this is not much consolation when it is January!
On Sunday, I decided that I might as well attempt to do my long run because if I didn't, I would feel concerned and worried for the next half-marathon. This was after not having done a lot of running due to colds and finally a sinus infection. Because I was somewhat out of practice and still somewhat suffering from the sinus infection, I opted to take a walk/run approach right from the start (0.54 miles running, followed by 0.06 walking). It worked relatively well. I also decided to finally face my fears and tackle the Clearwater Causeway. That went less well. Meh. I am not trained for hills!
The only annoying thing was that my nose was very, very runny throughout the entire 12-mile run. This I could have done without. But I did not feel even remotely as awful as I did during the last half-marathon, which I believe means that I have made progress. Also, I was extremely happy that I even made it through the run, since I had some serious concerns if I was still capable of doing a long distance.
Now we are onto tapering and for the first time in a long time (at least for the past three taper times), I can actually run during taper period. So far, I am not sick....fingers crossed and knocking on wood! Today I decided to do a four-mile jaunt around the neighborhood. It's kind of funny to make up my own plan for runs, since I am so accustomed to following schedules. But I feel pretty good about my ability to put together a reasonable workout that isn't too straining. My plan is to also try some hills this week (maybe Thursday....maybe Saturday.....we will see how things go), do a 3-mile, and do 6 on Sunday. Seems reasonable.
The one annoying thing is that my nose continues to run. Admittedly, today was not as bad as Sunday, at least for the first half of the run, but then it started up again. Also, I caved and walked twice during the run. It remains warmer than I would prefer and there was some humidity in the air. At least, I noticed that at around 0.5 miles, there was sweat running down my elbow. I usually consider sweat at 0.4 miles to indicate icky levels of humidity, so it isn't as bad as the summer...but this is not much consolation when it is January!
Monday, October 10, 2011
Monsoon
Last week's running did not go entirely as planned, but I did get to the long run....even if it, too, did not go entirely as planned. In part, my plans were disrupted by a monsoon-type storm that made an appearance over the weekend. In all of my years of running, I think that this is the first time I have run into weather issues for a long run (apart from trips to Arizona, which don't count). That is pretty impressive.
It wasn't just the monsoon that I was worried about on Sunday, but possible thunderstorms. I had planned to run out on the Clearwater Causeway (aka the evil hill in an upcoming half-marathon), but I didn't want to get stranded in case of weather. It was a 10-mile run, so that was going to take me relatively far away. There is not a lot of shelter out there. So instead, I decided that I would run on the treadmill. About half-way through, I decided that there was no point in finishing on the treadmill because I would probably kill myself if I continued, thereby making the whole training moot. I finished up the remaining 5 miles outside to save myself from this fate. I also got soaked, thanks to the monsoon, but that was better than the treadmill. It was possible to make a route that was 2.5 miles without getting too far away from shelter in case of emergency, so that was fine.
The biggest treadmill issue, other than abject boredom, was the temperature in the room. 75F is not a good temperature for running. I even had a fan right next to me and it was still too warm. Ah well.
Earlier runs last week were not entirely successful. I had a good 5 mile to start things off on Tuesday, then didn't get out for my Thursday run due to a number of lousy reasons (mostly bad planning on my part). Saturday I didn't get in the mileage that I wanted, doing only 3 miles instead of 5. But it was on that treadmill, so maybe I should see that as some kind of victory.
Update: it really was a monsoon.
It wasn't just the monsoon that I was worried about on Sunday, but possible thunderstorms. I had planned to run out on the Clearwater Causeway (aka the evil hill in an upcoming half-marathon), but I didn't want to get stranded in case of weather. It was a 10-mile run, so that was going to take me relatively far away. There is not a lot of shelter out there. So instead, I decided that I would run on the treadmill. About half-way through, I decided that there was no point in finishing on the treadmill because I would probably kill myself if I continued, thereby making the whole training moot. I finished up the remaining 5 miles outside to save myself from this fate. I also got soaked, thanks to the monsoon, but that was better than the treadmill. It was possible to make a route that was 2.5 miles without getting too far away from shelter in case of emergency, so that was fine.
The biggest treadmill issue, other than abject boredom, was the temperature in the room. 75F is not a good temperature for running. I even had a fan right next to me and it was still too warm. Ah well.
Earlier runs last week were not entirely successful. I had a good 5 mile to start things off on Tuesday, then didn't get out for my Thursday run due to a number of lousy reasons (mostly bad planning on my part). Saturday I didn't get in the mileage that I wanted, doing only 3 miles instead of 5. But it was on that treadmill, so maybe I should see that as some kind of victory.
Update: it really was a monsoon.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
I may have lost my mind
There is a Florida halfathon series in which you run 4 half-marathons over the course of about 5 months (late October to mid-March).
I signed up for it today.
Yes, I realize that this could signal the fact that I have lost my mind.
However, I am very excited about this suddenly, which is great since I'll need all of the enthusiasm that I can muster to get through it. Over the next few days, I plan to map out a training schedule, probably one that has me running 3-4 times a week, since that worked well when I did the marathon. I'll have to improvise a bit since I'm pretty sure that I'll be coming into a training plan midway, but I think that I should be okay since I did just train for a 1/2 marathon and wasn't running into any injury problems. Also, I'll have to figure out what to do between races as a modified plan. But this is okay.
One of them has 'hills,' by which I mean the Clearwater Beach Causeway. It's legit. And very sunny. I will get photos soon. Fortunately, this is the race in January, so we can all cross our fingers that it won't be complete torture.
It is on.
I signed up for it today.
Yes, I realize that this could signal the fact that I have lost my mind.
However, I am very excited about this suddenly, which is great since I'll need all of the enthusiasm that I can muster to get through it. Over the next few days, I plan to map out a training schedule, probably one that has me running 3-4 times a week, since that worked well when I did the marathon. I'll have to improvise a bit since I'm pretty sure that I'll be coming into a training plan midway, but I think that I should be okay since I did just train for a 1/2 marathon and wasn't running into any injury problems. Also, I'll have to figure out what to do between races as a modified plan. But this is okay.
One of them has 'hills,' by which I mean the Clearwater Beach Causeway. It's legit. And very sunny. I will get photos soon. Fortunately, this is the race in January, so we can all cross our fingers that it won't be complete torture.
It is on.
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