Running updates

To have a more successful blog, I really need to post more often than once a month!

Sheesh!

My last post was September 26, and a lot has happened since then.

Here are some recap summaries before a couple of bigger posts on specific events:

September 28

Got up crazy early, and was on my feet for six hours or so, volunteering for the Monument Marathon. (A post on this later.)

September 29

Ran 19 miles, then got in a car and drove for 6 hours to get to a conference. I drank a lot of coffee, so had to make many pit stops, which turned out to help with the stretching. I was not nearly as stiff as I thought I’d be.

With temps between 65-75 degrees on the run, pants were perhaps too warm. Thus, the salty knee. But at least I knew these pants would work for cool weather on marathon day.

October 2 & 4

Got up early to do a couple of dreadmill runs in an overheated hotel workout room while at a conference. Drove home and caught the edge of a devastating early-season blizzard.

October 6

The biggie: the 20-mile run, segmented as 7 miles/break/7 miles/break/6 miles. Impressed myself with an 11:59 average pace. I felt so much better after eating and drinking sugary stuff at the 14-mile break that I confirmed my need to fuel well during the marathon.

All further training runs will be shorter than this!!!

A few pics from the long run:

About 36 hours after the blizzard began, there were blue skies in Gering. And a slowly melting pile of snow that some nimrod piled up into the bike path. Because no one uses the bike path in the winter, right?

There were still insects out and about on the pathway, despite the snow on the ground. When Bugman and I run, we often stop to gawk at the little critters.

Good thing our planned route did not include Scotts Bluff National Monument. #governmentshutdown #geethankscongress So glad the parks are open again!!!

Whoops! Blocked running path! Thanks to the weight of the wet snow, the still-leafy trees, and high blizzard winds, there was a lot of tree damage in the area. I stretched my hamstrings post-run by picking up, chopping, and stacking the fallen branches in our yard.

October 9

Woo hoo! Cool enough now (high of 65) to be able to get my training runs done after work. No need to get up at 4 am!

October 13

“Only” had to run 12 miles!

October 16

4-mile birthday run – one mile in celebration of each decade.

October 18

Grateful for a friend agreeing to meet for an early morning moonlit run, before another snow shower hit.

October 19

Got up early to volunteer for the 5K/10K Fall Frolic race, then ran 8 in the afternoon, with a speedy 11:11 average pace.

October 21-24

Skipped my last two scheduled training runs. I was too busy preparing for departure…

October 24

Departed for Dublin, Ireland, for the marathon. Our morning flight from Scottsbluff to Denver was cancelled due to fog. We scrambled to get a later flight out of Denver and drove there instead of flying. Managed to catch our international flight out of Washington-Dulles. Could not sleep on the overnight over-ocean flight.

Why Dublin?

Why not?

For some reason years ago, I got the wild idea that I would run the Dublin Marathon for my 40th birthday. I do actually follow through with some of my wild ideas . . .

October 25

Arrived in Dublin. In an attempt to reset the body clock quicker, walked around the city in (overcast) daylight until it was time for bed.

Early warning of road closures due to the marathon at Merrion Square Park. Glad I packed an umbrella!

October 26

Did a lot of walking and sightseeing. Popped into the expo to pick up our race packets. It was a little intimidating to see the THOUSANDS of race numbers. More than 14,600 people registered for the race!

2013 Dublin Marathon expo at the Royal Dublin Society.

October 27

International Breakfast Run. (A post on this later.) Because of the forecast, headed back to the expo to buy a rain jacket.

October 28

The marathon!!! It did not rain!!!! (A post on this later.)

…

I have not run a step since, but I am headed out this afternoon to buy a new pair of running shoes (left my worn-out pair in Ireland to make room in the luggage for souvenirs).

I am looking into a half-marathon Thanksgiving weekend. Might as well make use of the fact that I currently consider 13 miles to be a “short” run!

A few more posts coming soon!

Copyright 2013 by Katie Bradshaw

 

National Park Week run

Given that April 20-28 is National Park Week, and given that I live just 5.85 sidewalk-and-bike-path miles from the visitors center of Scotts Bluff National Monument, I decided to make the monument my destination on my long run yesterday.

Bonus: SBNM has drinking fountains and a public restroom, and I could accomplish an errand on my to-do list and purchase my 2013 National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Pass.

I wound up running 11 miles instead of my scheduled 10. (“I’m good enough, I’m tough enough, and, doggone it, I’m stubborn!” was my mantra for the run, along with the word “fierce.”)

The run went well, I think in part because it was mostly downhill on the way back (total climb: 496 feet), and also because I got a shot of carb energy with a Gu halfway through the run. It’s been a long time since I’ve run far enough to justify calorie consumption mid-run. I forgot how much of a boost it can be when I’m flagging. (Note to self: a Gu with a use-by date of 2008 seems to work as well as a fresh one.)

I was also buoyed by the scenery. How can you not be uplifted in surroundings like this?

Scotts Bluff National Monument. One of my few photos uploaded with a large file size so you can click to see more detail.

I was also psyched to see a flock of mountain bluebirds along the pathway at SBNM. I didn’t get a photo, as they were pretty flighty, so I’ll post an image from the Nebraska Bird Library:

Male mountain bluebird photo by Phil Swanson

As long as I’m tapping the library, here’s an image of another bird I saw during the run, on Terry’s Lake – a western grebe. (As least I think the four birds I saw were western grebes. It’s possible they could have been Clark’s grebes.)

Western grebe image by Phil Swanson

When you’re running for 2 hours and 15 minutes, it sure helps to have distractions like those along the way.

Yesterday after the run, my legs were quite sore and I had difficulty navigating stairs. Today, after about 10 hours of sleep, the soreness is all gone. Sleep can be so magically restorative!

Copyright 2013 by Katie Bradshaw, except photos as credited