unlucky # 13.1

Might bail on this one tomorrow:

13.1 marathon Chicago





It is my 13th half marathon.

I registered a month and a half ago while I was on a running high. Currently I have some pain in my mid calf. It arrived Sunday.
I'm thinking dehydration from the soldier field 10 and my Monday run caused it. (calf cramps turned muscle strain?) The 5k time trial certainly didn't help it on Wednesday. The pain goes away when I run.

I'm torn about this. I really want to run it and then relax into training for the Chicago marathon. On the other hand, I don't want to aggravate this issue more. I've never bailed on a race before. This has been consuming me the last few days.
It's going to be a game time decision tomorrow morning.





The bib is cool because it has my name on it!



I don't like the shirt because it doesn't even say "Chicago" on it. Ok ok, it does on the back- but it's not a unique shirt for this race because the entire list of cities for the 13.1 series are listed on the back. Major fail for me. And it's a men's shirt. :(


Did you ever bail on a race before? What was the deciding factor?


Or if you were questioning whether or not to run, did you show up to the race and then just take it from there?


--I'm thinking I'll show up and see how it feels the first few miles. if it gets any worse, then I'll DNF

Who am I kidding!?! Of course I'll finish. I didn't pay $$ to not get a medal. I'm far too stubborn to just quit when i should. Thanks Daad! :)

My racing priorities will shift considerably for next year.


:(

-Xaar

Happy running day!

I challenged the treadmill and won.

Me 1- treadmill 0



Had to do a 5k time trial for the marathon training.

I felt great after half mile and kept pushing the pace until I finally hit 3.1

The only way I was going to quit was if I got thrown off.

This was a huge boost to my running morale. It is the fastest I've run since high school cross country. (I will beat my CC 3 mile PR of 20:50 some day)

*I only wonder if I can replicate this on the road*

happy national running day!

-Xaar

Week 1 review

Yesterday (Monday) I went for an easy run with CB. It was over 80 degrees out and sunny. AND beautiful.



I wanted to keep the pace easy, which is sometimes a problem running with CB, because he likes to push the pace. But because of the heat, we were both on the same page about how fast we wanted to go.




Happy Happy CB post run.


Week 1 Chicago Marathon Training Review:

22.65 miles

1:45 hours of cross training

Monday
6 miles 51:16
Pace: 8:32
Lost 1.5 lbs and felt super dehydrated- I even drank half the bottle of Nuun I had with me. Need to work on hydration more.

Tuesday
30 minutes stationary bike- 7 miles, pace 4:17/mile (first time using stationary bike)
15 minutes elliptical- 1.86 miles

Wednesday
5.65 miles 50 minutes
Pace 8:51
Treadmill because of weather

Thursday
30 minutes Stationary bike- 8.16 miles
30 minutes yoga

Friday
1 mile 9:15 shakeout for Soldier field 10

Saturday
RACE
10 miles 1:23.14
Pace 8:20
(fastest pace per mile in a race to date!)

Sunday
REST

This week I am looking forward to week 2 of the training for the Chicago Marathon. I am also looking forward to running the 13.1 marathon, Chicago on Saturday. It will be my last half marathon until August when I start doing some tune up- see where I am- halfs before the Chicago Marathon.

What was the highlight of your extended weekend?
What's on tap for this week?

Tchau!

-Xaar