Passing the "Century" Mark

Me and My honey at the finish line of the Capital City Half Marathon in Columbus, Ohio 2011

"Everyone is an athlete. The only difference is some of us are in training, some are not". 

Dr George Sheehan

#runstreak Day 150 in the books. Gearing up to PR hopefully at 1:59:59 at my May Half Marathon Race.

This week while running I was hot, cold, tired, energized, sweaty, revived, inspired, focused, ready to quit, ready to run, and ready to rule the world..............all at the same time.

2012 in review (1st Quarter):

January:                        117.89 Miles Run at a 6.2 MPH Average Pace Burning 12,088 Calories

February:                     124.20 Miles Run at a 6.3 MPH Average Pace Burning 14,811 Calories

March:                         146.37 Miles Run at a 6.5 MPH Average Pace Burning 17,365 Calories

April (Up until 4/11/12):  55.56 Miles Run at a 6.5 MPH Average Pace Burning 6,711 Calories

Total (Up until 4/11/12): I have run 444.02 miles- Burnt 50,975 calories- and Averaged a 6.3 MPH pace Running

I'm 44% of the way to my goal of 1,000 miles run in 2012, only 556 miles left to run. I'm thinking of reassessing my goal because we are only 1/4 of the way through the year and I'm almost 1/2 of the way to my goal. I want to always keep a challenge before my eyes.

My average pace increased from 6.2 MPH Average Pace to 6.5 MPH Average Pace due to speed drills and strength training. Plus, the difference between running in the dead of winter and nicer weather is significant, at least for me. My shorter runs have sometimes been as fast as an 8:23/mile average pace, but those faster times are balanced out by my longer slow endurance building runs.

 

In running, there are no time outs, half times, substitutions, or designated hitters. Running is the only true sport. It is up to you and you alone to perform and your greatest competitor is yourself. Ruminating on these facts brings me a great sense of pride. I've gotten to the point that I no longer really care if anyone else knows about my running, it is my own private little paradise.I'm carrying around a huge secret everywhere that I go. One of my favorite kid's shirts says "My mom ran a marathon this morning. What did your mom do?" Now, the fact that I'm blogging about it seems to contradict the fact that it's my secret and my private paradise, but there is a great sense of accountability that comes with linking up with other runners in the blogosphere, on twitter, and in private Facebook groups. Without the accountability of other's, there are definitely days that I could have convinced myself to take a day off here and there, but at this point, the #runstreak owns me and it brings me great pleasure. Once you have run well over 100 days and are nearing the 6 month mark of running everyday with no break, you are intrinsically motivated to continue. Sometimes envisioning the race day crowds holding "Chuck Norris has never run a marathon" or "My sport is your sports punishment" signs can make even the most routine and mundane of runs a complete adrenaline booster. Whatever mantra gets you through the run can be the key to your success, and the great thing is no mantra is better than another. It's whatever makes you run harder, faster, and longer, so start memorizing some energizing "pick me up" lines.

Endurance running is an indescribable experience for me. I'm the girl that would literally about pass out in elementary school during the Phys Ed President's Physical Fitness test. I dreaded every year that we had to run a mile to be scored for some statistical analysis of the general American public. I especially dreaded running laps in Freshman and Sophomore gym class because there were always cute boys there, and I'm not one of the perfumed up honey's that you see at the local Urban Active Fitness. When I run, I look like I'm running. I sweat. I breathe heavy, and sometimes I wear Kinesio tape on my leg to support my Achilles Tendon. In light of my physical fitness history, you can imagine why I constantly tweet about my running and blog about it and the beautiful thing is, if it annoys you, no one is forcing you to read it. I'm the king of the world! (It is Titanic celebration week so humor me.)

I'm celebrating the review of my 2012 running so far. Since the end of the 1st quarter of the year is upon us, I wanted to assess my goals and review them and share them with you. I'm hoping to inspire those who are just starting out to know that you can do it and show those that are way beyond me where they use to be so they can maintain perspective of the work it takes to make significant improvements in both speed and endurance with running. The "century" mark celebration refers to a distance of 100. Whenever the term century is used in sports, it's used to speak about going 100 or more miles. I remember when I was as big as a house pregnant for Gentry, my husband rode his bike on his first century bike tour, then turned around and rode another century the next morning. I really thought he was nuts. Who wants to ride their bike 200 miles in 2 days? Of course, I was jealous that he was getting buff on his bike while I expanded to Martian proportions baking a bun in my oven, but I had not gotten the heart of an athlete yet. Now, I have found a whole sub group of people who run 100 plus miles at a time. These people are called Ultra Marathoners and Ultra Endurance Athletes.Believe it or not, these people know intrigue me. Instead of it being shocking for me to hear about people running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, I dream about doing it one day. I doubt it will happen because I don't have the celebrity of an endorsed athlete to pull it off, but every month, every year, and every decade I can add miles and speed to my repertoire and no one can take that away from me.

Start training today. Find the athlete within. Strong is the new skinny. Running gear is the new "little black dress".