After the disaster of Boston, it took me a long while to get my groove back. Until Labor Day weekend, to be exact. It was that weekend when the second toenail on my right foot - which had gotten damaged during Boston - finally gave up the ghost and fell off. And with that toenail, a lot of the weird baggage that I'd been carrying around about my failure in Boston seemed to finally take a hike too.
(Yes, I realize that sounds completely crazy.)
Going into Marine Corps, I felt good. The goal was a 3:35, which based on how the last two months of training went, should have been achievable. Unfortunately, just like in Boston, the day was warm. Things started out ok but everything came apart at mile 20 on the overpass from hell. I submit that the last 10k of MCM is the most miserable 10k in all of marathoning. I held it together better than I had in Boston and finished in 3:52:26. Another disappointing race in 2017. That race is a one and done for me.
After that, Kit and I toyed with the idea of going to Delaware in early December to run the Rehoboth Beach Seashore Marathon. Neither of us was happy with Marine Corps and wanted redemption. We made a deal that if we could run 18 miles at race pace at the end of November, we'd do Delaware and we did it. But barely. The thought of running 8 more miles at that pace seemed impossible for both of us and the last thing either of us needed was yet another disappointing marathon in 2017. So we didn't run Delaware and for the next month +, we kind of putzed around aimlessly with no plan.
No plan meant no motivation. No motivation meant a lot of hitting snooze on the alarm clock and not running. I was burnt out and uninspired.
So, I made the decision that I was not going to run a marathon in the spring of 2018 - the first time I haven't run a spring marathon since I started marathoning. Instead, I decided to focus on the half marathon - tackling my first trail half in March and then focusing on a road half PR in April.
Per usual, Kit joined me in the adventure and we created a blended 14 week training plan that included long runs on the trails until the trail half, gradually building in speed and tempo road work then shifting to all roads in the 5 weeks between the races.
It took me a while to get my groove on the trails. I'm not by nature a great trail runner; I am cautious with my footing and not confident enough to let loose and go, especially on downhills. For the first few miles I am completely a mess and out of my element; by mile 5ish I finally settle in. It took a solid month for me to start to gain confidence and feel like I was making good time on trails. The great thing about the hybrid plan that we were running is that after a weekend on the trails, we felt like we were flying on the roads.
At the beginning of March we ran a small trail race called the Solar 10 Miler. The weather was beautiful, the field was relatively small, and the trails were not terribly technical. After holding back for the first 4 miles, I turned it on and ended up finishing as the first woman, 10th overall. It was a fantastic confidence booster going into the my half marathon - the Pocahontas Trail Fest on March 17.
The race is held at Pocahontas State Park, which is nearby and where Kit and I had spent most of our trail time. We had done a dress rehearsal of the course a few weeks before, so I knew exactly what to expect. The first four miles are spent running around a lake, with some gentle hills. After a long uphill at 5, the race plateaus essentially until the last mile when you enter a very hilly and more technical single track section.
My primary goal was to finish in under 2 hours. After the dress rehearsal I realized that that goal was probably a bit too conservative, so in my head I aimed for a 1:50 and a hopefully a top three in my age group.
What I ended up with was a 1:46:56, 5/79 women, 15th overall, and 3rd in my AG. I was very very happy with that finish and with how I ran the race in general. I learned a lot about myself as a trail runner; primarily that my biggest weakness is downhills and that I can really open up on the flats and make up ground. Typically there aren't many flats in trail running so obviously I need to work on those downhills.
I also learned that while trails can be fun, I am a road warrior at heart. So, I've been happy to be back on the streets for the past few weeks, really pushing with some tough tempo, speed workouts, and fast long runs. All of the trail training has translated into strength and speed on the roads; I am running faster and with less effort than ever before. For the first time ever, I successfully completed a 3 x 1600 speed workout hitting every single target, and because this is half marathon training, the target was lower than ever before too.
There have been rough weekends when all of my friends are out running marathons, BQing, and setting PRs. Watching all of their achievements makes me itchy to run a marathon. But I don't regret taking the spring off from a marathon training cycle and focusing on new things instead. I needed the break - physically and mentally.
Now, having just completed the toughest week of the training cycle and with two unofficial training run half marathon PRs under my belt, I'm feeling confident and looking forward to my half marathon PR attempt on April 22.
You might also I've revamped ye olde blog. I thought maybe a new look and new title would help me get my writing mojo back, much like a new goal has helped me in my running.
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