Category Archives: 10Ms

2012 Blue Cross Broad Street Run

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So yesterday was finally it! The Blue Cross Broad Street Run was here!!! All of my training was about to come to a head.

Goals…
Going in, my base goal was the same as for any race I run: finish and have fun. My “I can live with it” goal was to finish in 2:15. My “reach goal” was to break 2 hours – that was big as it would put me with an average pace of sub-12 minute miles, something I hadn’t yet done in a race longer than 4 miles.

The set-up…
In a “crazy runner” effort to save money, I made the decision to pay the $20 fee for day-of pick-up and take MegaBus down early Sunday morning. Well, the one early morning option was scheduled to leave NYC at 1:15am and get to Philly at 3:15am. Not exactly ideal, but by doing that and skipping an overnight stay, I essentially gave myself at least one race registration fee. So I did it. The bus was a little late leaving, so it was a little closer to 4am when we got to Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station. I went in and got changed into my running gear – pink SkirtSports running skirt and my Team Breakthrough tech shirt, socks and shoes – then wandered to find a table to sit and read for a little. My plan was to start walking towards the subway’s Broad Street Line so that I’d get there at 5 or a little after. (I’d been given a card to show for free admission to the line since I wouldn’t have my bib yet.) Packet pick-up was to start at 6, and I wanted to be there early given how chaotic some other things had seemed through the whole preparation process. Well, I managed to hit one of the express trains, so I was there WAY early. One other woman was with me, so we hung out until pick-up opened. I ate my Luna bar and drank my Starbucks double shot while we waited. Got my bib and got it all situated, then got my bag ready to check. Took it to a school bus where I was given 2 wristbands – one for me and one for the bag. The bag was then put on a school bus in a seat based on its number. Then I headed to the Pink corral, which was way in the back. I think I’d read somewhere that there was going to be a certain time to enter the corrals, but people seemed to be going in anyway. I didn’t see anyone really checking bibs going in, but then again, being in the last corral it’s not like we were in a corral too fast for us. (Well, unless you shouldn’t have been in the race with a 15 minute mile pace requirement anyway.) I chatted with a few different people – funny how a runDisney mylar blanket makes a good conversation starter! – and nibbled on a ginger chew. My friend Johnny from FRNY called me and I went over and chatted with him and his partner for a few minutes before they headed to their corral. It was almost time!!

The race…
The race was scheduled to start at 8:30, and I can only assume it did. There were no speakers in the back corrals, so I have no clue what all happened before the race. The green corral – which was kind of in the middle – had been staged on a side street, and once they moved out and up we in the back three (gray, yellow and pink) finally started moving forward. And a little after 9 we finally got started. This was by far the largest race I’ve been in – around 40,000 people were registered – but I never really felt crowded in. Sure there were some places that got narrower than others, but even there I never felt pressure to go faster or slow down. Crowd support was great, even for us in the back. People were out on their porches or sidewalks cheering us – even church congregations were on their church steps! It’s a net downhill course, but there are still some ups, some of which are pretty long and gradual. Still, I kept plugging on with my 4/1 run/walk interval. On the longest uphill, I did walk a little more just to try and conserve some energy. The fluid stops weren’t as bad as I feared on spotting the first few tables at the first one. As long as you went towards the back tables you were fine. Those who stopped at the front tables were having to stop and wait for water to be poured. As I got to the Mile 9 marker, I looked at my garmin to see where I was with time, and after some quick mental calculations I realized that I could make my A goal, even if it was just barely. I’d have to push, and I didn’t have a lot left as I’d pushed hard through the rest of the race as well. I’d done what I could to stay cool (it wasn’t hot hot, but it wasn’t cool either once we got going) – dumping water on my arms, head and back – but there was still a toll taken there as well. So Mile 9…time to buckle down. And the biggest fights my brain and heart had with my legs. Every time I’d drop to a walk, my brain was screaming “Come on! Move!!” The people cheering us in definitely helped…but it was hard. When I saw the 1/2 mile mark, I checked the garmin again and knew I’d have to run it in if I wanted to break 2 hours. And run it in pretty hard. I just kept moving forward, pushing hard so I’d know that I’d done everything I possibly could. I got across the finish and beeped through the unused segments to end the workout. As I was walking towards the medals, I got up the courage to look at the history and find my time, knowing that there would be some difference as the beeping through took a little longer than usual.

1:59:43 on the garmin!!!!!

I knew at that point – especially having been on the front row of the Pink corral and having started the garmin a split second after crossing the mat – that I’d done it. I’d broken 2 hours!! I was totally spent, but thrilled.

After…
I got my t-shirt and my food bag, then got my bag from the bus and headed to the line for the shuttle bus to the subway. That was kinda crazy, made moreso with Philadelphia having a team in playoffs with a game yesterday afternoon. Still, I managed to get back to the 30th St Station and get changed into clean, dry clothes. Then I went across the street to Slainte for cheese fries and a black velvet. I should have probably gone with the burger or something with a little more protein as later on while I was wandering around being tired and just feeling off after deciding I’d try to walk to Independence Hall…which was further than I’d thought from the map. I got tired and the little distance back to the station just kept growing. I finally got back and got some diet coke…and a donut to get some sugar (the protein thing hadn’t occurred to me yet). Then headed out for the line for the bus back.

Overall…
I had a great time! I would like to do the race again…but we’ll see what they end up doing with registration next year. I do think I’d probably splurge on a hotel room the next time. It was rough being on so little sleep…moreso afterwards than before or during. But I had a great time!!

Oh, oh OH!!!!! I forgot the most important part!! Official time 1:59:21 for an 11:56 pace! First time at a race longer than 4 miles that I’ve gone under 12 minute miles average!!

Shiny shiny!!!

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RunDisney finally released the medal for the Tower of Terror 10 Miler!

Isn’t it pretty?

The elevator moves, and as the right side of the picture shows, there are GLOW IN THE DARK features!!!!

I cannot wait to get that around my neck!!!

Of course, that’s a little ways away. Specifically it’s…

Woohoo!!!

Of course I have a few things before that!

Like the Clare Fund Run 10K tomorrow. I’m ready I think. I’ve got my route there plotted out – definitely a challenge considering the MTA is doing their usual fuckery with the trains on the weekends. I’m hoping I can do well in it. My PR is 1:14:57, which is a 12:05/mile pace – that’s from the Mini 10K last June, which was in Central Park and included Harlem Hills. My NYRR bib pace, which was set at the Japan Day Run (4 miler), is 11:16. If I can hit somewhere between those two, I’ll be extremely happy. Given that it’s a flat course on the boardwalk, I’m hopeful! (For reference, at Coogan’s 5K, which also included hills (oh did it include hills), my average pace was 11:54. I could definitely live with that.) I still try to be in the camp of “have fun and finish”, but I’d really like to be able to get into a timed corral for Tower of Terror (I doubt I’d be able to move up for Broad Street), and a sub-12 minute mile would definitely do it. So that’s what I’m shooting for.

My leg is feeling better today, and I’ve toyed with maybe doing a gentle run later on, but I’m leaning towards stretching, maybe some yoga…just chilling for another day and really giving it my all tomorrow. I’ll update you with what I end up doing.

I did go over to the More/Fitness Women’s Half expo for a little while today. I remembered from last year that it was a bit better than the expo for the NYC Half (skipped that one this year) – though it’s still minute compared to Disney’s. I managed to get some nice samples – a Jenny Craig snack bar, which I think I’ll have pre-race tomorrow; some Playtex Sport tampons (sorry boys…they’re a necessity…well, some form of protection is); a little recipe book for grapefruit stuff that looks YUMMY; some Aveno products; and a couple of NoGii bars, but I had to be careful with those as out of the 5 samples they had out of the adult bars, 3 of them contained peanuts. You’d think that if they’re going to worry about gluten allergies they’d worry about peanut allergies as well, but apparently not. Even the “Chocolate Caramel” has peanuts in it. Not cool NoGlii. Not cool. (Though the berry paleo bar was good I must admit.) I doubt I’ll spend money on them and put it into Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s pocket, but it was interesting to try. I dropped my name in some drawings – not that I’ll win, but it’s nice to try. And tried the wheel at SkirtSports – where I got $5 off any purchase today, which would have been awesome if I could have bought anything. Oh well.

Now it’s just chill-out time. :)

Happy running!!

Broad Street Week 1 Run 1

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This morning I set the alarm, woke up, and got into the running clothes! (Amazingly they fit as well as the last time I had them on!) Got outside, turned on the garmin and let it find the satellites, and then off I went.

The plan called for 3 miles at “conversation” pace. I opted to go for 3 minute run/1 minute 30 seconds walk just since I’ve been a slug for the past couple of weeks. I might change it to 3/1 tomorrow, but we’ll see. I try to keep an eye on how far I go for the warm-up so that’s not ocunted in my “prescribed” mileage. So like this morning my warm up was 0.32 miles. Meaning I didn’t let myself go to cool-down until I was at least at 3.32 miles. I ended up going a little over as I was in the middle of a run interval when I hit 3.32 and wanted to finish that interval and do the accompanying walk before the cool-down. So my total ended up being 3.79 miles.

My average pace was 13:27, which definitely has room for improvement, but given that it was my first run in two weeks, I don’t think is bad. That’ll come down a bit on its own, and especially if I tinker with the interval lengths. But all in time. All in time.

My parents’ neighborhood is definitely very rolling, so that in and of itself is a bit challenging. But I did it, so that’s good. I got back to the house and did my 5 killer caterpillars before getting in the shower. Those are definitely much more challenging after a run than just doing them cold.

Oh yes. I have decided that as there may well be some weeks I have to get my long run in on Sunday I’m going to move to a Mon-Sun as my “week” schedule.

Hooray! I love kicking off a new training schedule!

BSR training mileage: 3.79

Running as community…

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Well, for the second time in my less-than-two-years-old running life, I’ve gotten myself into a race I really wanted to get into…

…and ended up being made to feel guilty for getting in and worthless for not being speedy.

Thanks to other runners.

Last year it was the New York City Half Marathon. I entered the lottery and by some stroke of luck got in. Only to have my excitement dampened by people irate that they weren’t chosen (admittedly, NYRR should have been more forthcoming to begin with about the lottery pools, but still, it’s a LOTTERY and you know you’re taking a chance) – some fussing about “slow runners” who were taking up “their” spaces, others spewing how it was a stupid course and they really didn’t want to do it anyway. A few people being supportive, but by far many, many more who seemed determined to make those of us who got in feel guilty and miserable about getting in. At least that’s how it felt to me, and very quickly my excitement turned to something very close to “I wish I hadn’t even bothered.”

This year, it’s the Broad Street Run. I had debated running it last year, but debated too long so that I missed getting in when it closed out after about 4 days. I set my eyes on it this year – to the point that my training plan is already on my training log and in my calendar. I set the alarm on my cell to remind me when it almost time for registration to open. I marked it on my calendar. When I saw “early in the morning of February 15″ I checked just after midnight. Then again around 5am. Then I saw “shortly before 10am”. Around 9:40 I started checking, and at about 9:45 I got to the registation screen. It was slow, and at times I wondered if it was going to go through, but within about 10 minutes, I had my confirmation email/receipt and my welcome email!

I was in!

I heard from a friend on ROTE that people in her tri club were freaking out about the website having problems (here’s a hint…the fees at active.com may be a pain, but at least they seem to have servers capable of handling high demand events – marathonguide.com might not have had fees, but clearly you get what you pay for. or don’t in this case.). Just as I was leaving school, I learned that the race sold out in 5 hours.

I went to their facebook page and rather than being greeted with posts from people excited about being in, I was greeted with irate posts from many, many people. I don’t blame the people who were simply complaining about the registration server issues, and this post isn’t about them. I completely understand frustration at that. The race directors know how popular this race is. They know how quickly it sold out last year, and they can clearly see how quickly other races (Boston, Chicago, etc.) have sold out since last year’s race. They should have been more prepared to handle that, and if it meant changing the company handling the registration, so be it. Those posts of frustration were understandable. 100%.

It’s the other posts I encountered there. Posts spouting hatred for anyone who dared to enter the race with anything but a sub-8 minute mile (in one case the guy said 12 minute mile, but then went on to say that if you can’t meet 12 minute miles you obviously haven’t done any races). Posts encouraging people to push walkers (and I would assume run/walkers if we happen to be unfortunate enough to be walking when one of them is near) off the course. And yes, posts from people saying either they didn’t get in but it’s ok because it sucks (so why did you try and get in?) or posts just saying how its overrated and they don’t know why anyone would want to bother.

In short, posts that made me feel guilty and miserable about getting in. And posts that made me repeatedly ask one question.

What happened to running being such a supportive community??

I mean, you hear stuff like that all the time. Runners are great and support each other. Runners encourage each other. Running is a wonderful community.

And I agree. Yes, a lot of times that’s true. Though I’m slow (though well within the 15 minute mile requirement for Broad Street), I’ve generally been accepted and encouraged by my running club, even the speedier ones. And ditto others I’ve met through various forums. Most are extremely supportive.

And then there are assholes who think that unless you’re constantly out there damaging yourself (or damn near close to it) pushing pushing pushing you’re not a “real runner”. And many of those feel that in that case you don’t belong in races. And oh were those jerks evident last night.

And then there was a glimmer of light. Someone else posted what I’d been thinking. Basically, I went to the page to share my excitement with others – and maybe get a little encouragement but instead found all that hate and vitriol (again, those ONLY fussing about the registration process I have no issue with as that was understandable). And amazingly (or not), restoring my faith in the community of runners, several people responded, stating how even though they were back-of-packers they still felt totally encouraged and supported when race day came. They were totally supportive and they even seemed put out with all the jerks spewing hatred. Yay!

And the more I thought about it, I realized something. I took all that fear of not being good enough I felt with all the brouhaha over the NYC Half last year and set a 7 minute PR for the half. I can do that again with Broad Street. (Well, not the 7 minute PR thing as I’ve not run a 10-miler yet, but you know what I mean.) Take all the fear of not being good enough and push myself to do the very best I can. And I’ve got the added advantage with this of having a full training plan time-frame to work with (unlike less than a complete training plan time frame between the Disney Half and the NYC Half).

I can do this.

And if I ever need a reminder that I’m good enough, I need only look at my Road ID and the quote I picked for the flip side. “There will be days when I don’t know if I can run a marathon. There will be a lifetime knowing I did.”

Yes, I did!

And yes I will kick Broad Street’s butt!

Nothing says “Happy Valentine’s Day” like…

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…registering for a Villain-themed race!

Yep! My Happy Valentine’s Day To Me gift was registering for Disney’s Tower of Terror 10 Miler!! I’m so excited!!!

Villains!

Studios!

After Party!

Cannot wait!!! It’s gonna be incredible!!!

And then today I got all registered for Philly’s Blue Cross Blue Shield Broad Street Run which is also a 10-Miler. So that will be my first! I’m really excited about it!! I’ve heard really good things, and it sounds like a lot of fun!

So today I really buckle down and get my shrinking rear back in gear (beyond those killer caterpillars I mean) and get training!

Woohoo!!!

Plans and Goals!!

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I was doing some poking around on the runDisney Tower of Terror 10 Miler page for what their proof requirement is going to be. Proof of time is required for an estimated finish of 2:00:00 or less. And it has to be from a 10K or longer from AFTER July 1, 2011! That’s like, only 7 months ago. My best numbers put me at like 2:00:57 per the McMillan calculator, and that was the NYC Half last year, so it wouldn’t matter anyway.

I’ve got a 10K in April – the Rockapulco Spring 10K, which looks to be pretty flat as opposed to Central Park where my 10K PR was set. (Or maybe I’m just being very wishful in my thinking and basing it off of the fact that the Rockaways are BEACH. Per McMillan, I’d need a 1:11:37 10K to estimate a 2:00:00 10 miler. That may actually be doable…my 10K PR is 1:14:57, and that was on hills.

Of course I could just run 2:00:00 or better at Broad Street too… And the 10K is part of that training plan.

I want to be in one of the higher corrals for ToT – one that requires proof of time. And so my path is clear…

ROCK the training for Broad Street!!!

I’m going to use Higdon’s Novice 2 (but with the long run mileage from Intermediate 1 – which really doesn’t make a lot of difference) and keep my intervals. 3/1 or 3:30/1 seem to be working well. Since I’ve taken this week off – a cold, which though in my head tends to aggravate the airways and make me wheezy – so I should be good and rested. XT will be my Butt and Balance/Yoga Abs combination. And starting tomorrow, at least 5 of Coach Jenny’s Killer Caterpillars. If I can work my way up to more, so be it. But I think this combination will help make me stronger – and hopefully a bit faster, especially if I can buckle down and do as many of my runs as possible in Central or Prospect Park where I have to contend with hills.

And also? Buckle down with my focus on weight loss. But do it healthfully. No crash diets – watching calories, not overdoing it on splurge days. I’ve lost a bit, but this week in particular I’ve slid. I have managed to not go get ice cream tonight (seriously…this would not be as much of a problem if the bodega around the corner didn’t carry Ben & Jerry’s!) by having a little bread with nutella and a banana…and brushing my teeth immediately afterwards. But it’s been a big struggle. I know I’m not body hungry…I’m mouth hungry, which is dangerous.

I’ve been using My Fitness Pal, and I like it…but I’m wondering if doing Weight Watchers via meetings would be better. I think I need the accountability of that weigh-in thing where someone else is reading it so I can’t just say “Oh I’ll ignore this week’s numbers”, you know? I just have to figure out if there’s a meeting that would consistently work with my schedule (unless anyone knows if you have to go to the same meeting every week?) and make that decision. Hmm…

I do know I’m going to invest in a crockpot! My ROTE friends are always making the BEST sounding recipes (that work with WW as many of them are on it), and I think if I get one and make things, I can make good meals to be refrigerated and/or frozen. I know I’ve tried to do the soup thing before (oh yes, this blog is well after my adventure of learning that you don’t blend hot stuff…when I moved to NYC I was still finding dried bits of broccoli from that ill-fated soup attempt), but these are like…MEALS. So that’s something anyway.

So…training plan in the calendar and laid out in my head – all of it including the XT; crock pot decision made; 95% of the way to joining WW…

I’m feeling good about things. :D