One Bad Ass Runner

Yesterday, I ran the A1A Ft. Lauderdale Half Marathon as a training run in preparation for the Paris Marathon in April.  I am on Week 5 of training and it has been going really well, mostly because of the rare "Winter" down here, making my asthma nonexistent and capable of doing faster workouts than in prior cycles.  So, this race came at the right moment to be able to gauge where I am going.  I was not to race it, but needed to do 5 miles easy and the last 8 at MP (by heart rate). I had a cutback week this week, but work and life had me shuffling every run all week.  I didn't run any of my runs on the days I was supposed to (except for the race) and, on top of that, I woke up on Saturday with a horrible migraine that didn't leave until I fell asleep on Saturday night and made me miss my 5 miler then.  Suffice it to say, that I was afraid to wake up on Sunday at 4am to get ready for the race with a migraine.  Fortunately, it was over by then. Hubby...

This weekend, I ran the Goofy Marathon and a Half Challenge for the third time, a weekend that consists of a half marathon on Saturday followed by a marathon on Sunday. The original plans was for me to run the HM with hubby (he registered) and race the marathon solo.  However, up to Friday, those plans were kaput as hubby had been injured with some sort of thigh/knee tendonitis.  I was still debating whether to race the HM and jog the marathon, due to the weather being great on Saturday and hot on Sunday, but on Friday, after trying out a knee brace, my husband had zero pain and we decided to move forward with the race. My training since the Space Coast Marathon has been nonexistent.  A week after Space Coast, my recovery was going well and was ready to increase my miles.  And I got sick.  Super sick, with fever for days, bedridden, and unable to run.  It was a miracle that my asthma didn't pick up on the chest congestion to make it worse.  I ...

Today, I ran the Space Coast Marathon in Cocoa, Florida.  We are doing this race five years in a row to get some humongous medal at the end.  It is also a small but fun race that has a great 7 hour time limit for the full, free food, and free all you can drink beer (which only my husband enjoys because by the time I am done, I am DONE!) At the beginning of this year, I wanted this race to be my goal race for the year.  Then, I got into Chicago and thought I could use Chicago as a gauge and then treat this one as the goal for the year to see how fast I was then after surgery and the whole shitload of asthma I had for most of the year.  Unfortunately, there were several events that prevented me from reaching that goal (although I did attempt it nonetheless). First, as you all know (or at least the Dailies knew), I had to DNF the New York City Marathon due to an asthma attack at Mile 8.  The 40mph gusts of wind, the debris, and the horrid weather that day ...

Today, I paced hubby at the Michelob Ultra 13.1 Ft. Lauderdale.  This was not the race we were supposed to do this weekend.  We had paid and had all our reservations made for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon in Orlando, FL, late last night.  We woke up and got ready and started up the Turnpike.  Suddenly, due to work, we were unable to make it down to Orlando.  As we headed back home thinking of all the cancellations I needed to make (hotel, friends we were meeting, etc.), I told him, since you are missing the race, you won't make the 12 HMs in 12 months unless we sign you up for another race.  Then, I realized one of our local half marathons was today.  Bingo!  I registered us at the store, picked the packets up, and went back home.  Although we were a bit sad we couldn't make it to Disney after all the expense, part of me was glad we did not.  The race had 90% of showers all throughout (it rained a lot) with high chance for thunderst...

Short Version: Yesterday, I ran the Chicago Marathon with a time of 4:46:49, my fastest in close to two years (and you know I have run lots of marathons in two years) and my fourth fastest marathon ever.  Considering how this year has gone with my surgery, recovery, rebuilding, and my asthma, I am very happy with this result. Long Ass Version: As most of you know, this race was a race I needed to do since I had to DNFd last year at Mile 11 due to a ruptured cyst, which ended up with a total hysterectomy in February of this year.  Last year, I was much faster (and skinnier) and I was training very well on high mileage and amazing paces.  But it was not meant to be.  It was all over before the two hour mark back then.  I did 5-6 marathons between Chicago and the end of 2013, but all were painful and slow, dealing with my issue in the best way I could.  The last marathon I ran was Disney in January and, after that, I DNFd two races and felt just r...

Hubby wanted to run all the Disney races this year (although we are not going to be able to do the new ones) so I signed us both to do the ToT 10 miler.  My plan was to run this as my first 10 miler and hit a certain time, but that was before I accidentally registered for Chicago.  So, before my Coach had a heart attack, I told him I would run this with hubby in his corral (Corral E) instead of mine (Corral C) a week before Chicago. I like the Disney races.  I don't like or go to Disney World often (if at all) but their races are well organized and the medals are cool, so I do the marathon every year (the Goofy Challenge, but who is counting).  But, since hubby started running and doing HMs (the I'm never running longer than a 10K, ooh, a HM, dude!), I registered us for Disneyland, ToT, Wine & Dine, and of course, Goofy.  Kill me now; that's too much Disney spirit even for me. Anyway, with that being said, I've never done a 10pm race and with me run...