Race Recap: Glass City Marathon

Disclaimer: I received a free entry to the Glass City Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming BibRave Pro (ambassador) and check out BibRave.com to review and write race reviews!

I had heard great things about Glass City Marathon and jumped at the chance to run it. A flat, fast course and pretty close to home is always a plus. 

Expo: 

The Glass City marathon expo was pretty nice. They had UT Savage Area floor to use and had the usual vendors for a mid sized marathon. Lots of local services with discounts- definitely nice for the local runners. Also they had venders selling GU etc. for the last minute "oops, I forgot to pack (fill in the blank)". A local run shop had different t-shirts and 1/2 zips to supplement to your Glass City Swag. I stayed away since I already have an entire dresser filled with running clothes. (Yeah, I might have a Oiselle problem!) The packet pick up was very clear and it was very nice that they had a special section for 1st time marathoners who got an escort by the elite runners. 

Shirts are a nice New Balance short sleeve with the north coast line of Ohio across it. 

Gear drop bag with bib and shirt was missing one thing: a map of the course and starting line. Since my husband was there to cheer he didn't want to be looking at the little map on the app that tracked the runner. I didn't use the tracking feature on the app either since I was concerned about my battery life on my phone during the race and after. 

The Race:

Morning of: I met up with a friend from high school & her friend who happens to work at UT. We waited in her building where it was warmer and had flushing toilets. We walked past the portapotty line which didn't look too long but I was thankful not to have to use them! I met up with my Oiselle Volée team mates for a picture a little before race time.

Corrals were pretty lame, they might think about refiguring them. Corral A was huge and hardly anyone there with 5 mins til start. I walked in A and stepped over the tape that was already on the ground to make my way to B. They had a nice flyover of the Mercy Health helicopter before the start and it took a picture of the crowd. Although everyone around me was correctly placed, I didn't need to run around slower runners.

My goal for this race was a BQ -5:00 so for my AG 3:40. I had been doing well with training but definitely had some small over use injuries that popped up every few weeks. I knew that my training wasn't as intense as I'd done in the past but I was not nursing any injury at the start. Weather was looking ideal as well. Low 40s for a start, not a cloud in sight. My plan was to run 8:20-8:30 pace for the first half then drop down to 8:20-;25 for the 2nd half. 

The course circled around the UT campus then into Ottawa Hills (an absolutely beautiful suburb of Toledo) then through a metro park, out to Sylvania then back through the same metro park then bike path back to UT campus and finishing in the Glass Bowl stadium. I had looked on a few marathon review websites and it was common that the course was long if you didn't run the tangents. This course has a lot of turns so I tried my best to run the most direct path and ended up only running a tenth of a mile over compared to some who had run .4 over. 

mile 12

My race was going great until mile 10. My left knee which had not given me any problems during training started hurting. I have had problems with my IT band in the past and I knew that's what it was. I debated stopping and stretching. Would that mess up my pace? would it just make it harder to get moving again? I tried to run through it. By mile 16 i was slowing down, 10 secs slower every mile then mile 20 (aka the wall) hit as well. I dropped down to what felt like a crawl but really it was 10-11 min per mile pace. I knew that my BQ time was slipping away and I couldn't go any faster. It was a long slog back to the finish. My only complaint would be the bike path at the end... it felt so long and there wasn't any shade. I was hot, sad, exhausted and still had 4 miles to go. Ugh. The bright spot for the last 10k was oranges at the water stops. They were the best tasting oranges I have ever had. I've never taken food other than my own energy (Gu, etc) but wow. Fresh oranges are the bomb! 

Another minor complaint is the last 1/4 mile you turn the corner from a down hill and you see the afterparty but the course isn't very obvious (at least in my haze at the end) I actually threw up my hands like "Where the hell to do I go?" but then it became obvious as they had a cheering section leading up to the stadium. I finished in 4:01:09. I finished, got my medal (holy toledo! that sucker is HUGE), then promptly started crying. I was asked if I needed medical and I said I wanted ice for my knee but then the volunteer walked away figuring I was ok. I was, but ice would have been nice or at least walked me towards the med tent. I stopped and just sobbed for awhile knowing that I had missed my goal by 20 mins but out of the blue my friend from HS was there rubbing my shoulders. She's done countless marathons and knows it's the nature of the beast. I do, too. It still sucks though.

Jen and I waited around for my husband who was near the finish line to find me. My legs were toast and I wanted more than anything is to put my legs up a wall (thanks, Jasyoga!) we found a wall at the end zone of stadium and rested for about 10 mins with our legs up the wall. (My friend had done the half). I actually felt way better after that enough so that I could walk down to the after party and get my nice finisher's glass mug. We promptly went to the food tent, got the usual bagel, banana and pizza. I didn't have much of an appetite but wanted the beer (numb the sting of a crappy race). I'm a beer snob and I have to say they had decent beer...and then I drank a Bud Light Lime because it sounded amazing and it was. (and I hate Bud Light). 

We had an hour to get back to the hotel and check out so I didn't stick around to talk to the other Oiselle volee although I saw some from a far. 

I liked the race. I would do it again definitely. The last marathon I ran before this was Chicago so this was definitely more hometown-y and low key in a nice way. 

Marathon Training midway there

I planned on blogging about every week leading up to the Glass City Marathon. Good thing I stick better to my planned workouts than my blogging!

I posted earlier that I'm working with Becki Spellman. It's been nice to not over think my training since I'm letting Coach Becki worry about that part.

I started out in January doing 2 weeks of cross training. Normally that would freak me out but I think my body needed a rest from the fall marathon. Also, I'm not getting any younger... more time stretching, yoga and foam rolling are needed to maintain this "master" runner.

We started doing a 9 day training cycle. So, instead of running a long run every Sunday, now its every 9 days. My training looks like this: rest day, easy day, hard day x3 with the last hard day being a long run. Obviously, this may not work all the time but for now I've been able to do it. The hardest thing is having my long run on a workday and having to do it after work. Since I teach, I have just planned that my long days are days where I'm not having to be up and walking around the whole time. Since, Coach Becki gives me 2 weeks in advance, I've been able to plan for the long runs pretty well. Next long run is tomorrow (yay, a Sunday!) but next week its on a Tuesday. (18 miles after work!). That might be a long week...

this could be my house

I've been feeling really good and my legs are fresh. This is the opposite of how I've felt with the Hanson's Method. I do feel a bit worried about "Am I ready?" I know I will be, I'm just not used to rest days. My chiro reminds me that I've never been healthy at a start line either since my legs are usually pretty trashed.

see the track? my new workout location...

Now that we're in March, this race is suddenly feeling pretty close. 7 weeks from tomorrow. Also that means, soccer season is starting on Monday for Buster. Time to plan those runs during soccer practices. I need to get some new podcasts on the list. I'm digging the Bib Rave podcast right now.
I'm usually a listener of Another Mother Runner, Fresh Air and This American Life. What other podcasts would you recommend?


Join me at the Toledo Glass City Marathon on April 23, 2017 Discount code: brpsavings for $5 off any race.

Bump in the road

Training for week of Dec 26-Jan 1:

Monday- 80 min progression run- I ran 20 mins at 9:15 pace, 20 mins at 8:45 pace, 20 mins at 8:15 pace and 20 mins at 9:15 pace for a total of 9 miles.

Tuesday- rest/core

Wednesday- 5 miles at 8:53 pace + strides

Thursday- Speed day- 10x 400 with 1 min recovery for a total of 7.15 miles This was a horrible workout for me. I got locked out of the good track, had to use a lumpy, frozen cinder track then as it warmed up it was more the texture of packed sand. I felt like I worked for each 400. Then a darn Weiner dog chased me (don't judge, he was super fast!). Leashes, people, leashes. I had to cut the cool down to get to my dentist appt. I haven't had a bad workout in awhile. I assumed it was the track and wind. (and possibly the holidaze).

Friday- 3 miles at 8:23 pace

Saturday- rest day!

Sunday- Long 90 min run. 10.2  miles at 8:58 pace

Week total of : 34 miles and change

Sunday and Monday after my long run. I was starting to feel the effects of running harder than I have in awhile. I just felt stiff. My back was stiff, legs stiff, ankle really stiff, hip sore, then my knee started getting sore (runner's knee) going down stairs, and my foot was starting to get hints of plantar fasciitis. (Not again!)

I went to my chiropractor and he said what need to be said. "You're over training. You need to take a week off." Yep. I guess I need to admit it. I love doing speed workouts but my Master's runner body needs more time to recover. So, this frigid week I got to do some Xtraining (which is the silver lining...no freezing cold runs this week)!

Week of Jan 2- Jan 8

not injured, just taking a break

Monday- Ran easy 5 at 9:10 pace
Tuesday- off- Chiro appt.
Wednesday- Spinning class with my son, Cub, who now is old enough to participate.
Thursday- lap swim for 20 mins, aqua jog for 30 ( 4 x 3 mins hard, 4 x1 mins v. hard, plus easy minutes in between)- I hate having to do this in the lap swim area. As a "swimmer", I hate when I have to go around others who are aquajogging. Alas, they won't let you aqua jog in the other side of the deep end that's cordoned off for the diving board (even when no one is using it or even going to use it.)
Friday- rest (skipped elliptical 30 min workout)- no excuse other than I was tired.
Saturday- swimming and aquajogging on the schedule

So, I'm hoping a week of rest prevents injury in the future. My coach is already adding in more cross training days for me for this marathon training cycle begins.

Monday starts 16 weeks til the Glass City Marathon. BTW they released what the medals will look like this year. 
Join me with the discount code: brpsavings for $5 off.

Goals 2017

My goals for 2016:
1. Run under 1:40 for a half marathon
2. Run under 3:40 for a full marathon
3. Work on core
4. Eat clean
5. Run 1600 miles



What really happened:
1. Run under 1:40 for a half marathon  I ran 1:42 at the Cincinnati Flying Pig Half. I have excuses though- it was humid (and hilly - but I'd prepared for hills). The humidity was too much for me. My sub goal was to be in the top 10 in my age group - which I was 5th. I don't like to count that is a goal since I couldn't control who showed up. But it did help lessen the sting of not making my "secret goal" of 1:35 (which I know I had in me!)

2. Run under 3:40 for a full marathon  I knew this goal wasn't going to happen in July when my hip started giving me such problems that I had to cross train only for weeks. I wasn't even sure I'd toe the line in October for the Chicago Marathon. I did recover but my training was not intense as planned. I ended up running 4:04 on race day. My mini goal was around 4:15 so I beat that AND the biggest thing was I finished with a smile because my race nutrition worked. Tailwind Nutrition is the nectar of the running gods! 

3. Work on core I definitely worked on my core but I need to do more.

4. Eat clean I worked on this but I wouldn't say that it was a complete success. More work needed this year.


5. Run 1600 miles So close, as of today I'm 1512 miles in this year. I have 2 more days but no way I'll be running enough to meet that goal. 


My goals for 2017:

1. Run a strong marathon at the Glass City Marathon (In a perfect marathon day, I'd run 3:40 for a BQ +5mins)

2. Run under 45:00 for a 10k (early fall race)

3. Run under 1:40 for a half marathon (late fall)

4. Xtrain more- swim or bike/spin once a week

5. Sleep- Get 8 hours of sleep at least 5x a week

6. Participate more within the Oiselle Ohio Volée

7. core x3 week/ yoga 3x week

8. Listen and respect my body's need to recover better

9. Continue to work on clean eating as an individual and creating healthy options for my family

10. Run 1500 miles next year. (I needed a 10th goal- lower the goal for next year but I'm also going to xtrain one day)

On the family side of things:

Our family goals this year:

1. Each kid will be in charge of 1 night of dinner per week. They can pick their sous-chef to help them. All meals must include a protein and veggie/fruit. (We might be having some pretty basic foods for awhile but I think that letting them have a chance to pick the dinner and fix it is important).

2. Family reading challenge- we'll record the number of pages we read. I need this motivation. I've gotten so bad with using the ipad and reading things online that the kids never see me read anymore.

We shall see how it goes. I'll post here.

Christmas Break Training Week

Christmas Break💚....ah, finally. Time to sleep in, eat too many sweets, and promises of all the things that you keep meaning to catch up with during the 2 weeks you have off but somehow they tend to slip away from you.

I am excited to say that I did keep my training for Glass City Marathon for this week in check👊.

Here's what my training looked like for the week of Dec 19-25:

Sunday: Treadmill for 90 mins: 10 miles @ 9:00/mi (That was tough!)⛄

Monday: 5.12 mi @9:07 

Tuesday: Fartlek intervals: 2 mile warmup, 5 mins hard, 4 mins, 3 mins, 2 mins and 1 min hard each with 2 min recovery jog between for a total of 5.58 miles 8:12/mile💪

Wednesday: Xtrain- Spinning class🚴

Thursday: rest

Friday: 6 miles easy with a teammate! Hey, @countryrdrunner, that was fun!

Saturday (Xmas eve): 3 miles easy

Sunday (Xmas day): postponed until Monday.🌲 

Total Mileage this week: 29.71 miles!

Glass City Marathon's entry fees go up on Jan 1. If you ever wanted to run a marathon, here's a great chance. Plus, they have a special 1st time marathoner package! This is the 1st marathon that I've run that has this! 

Discount Code: brpsavings

for $5 off

Anyone running a spring marathon? Which one(s)? What is the best or worst thing about a spring marathon?

Follow me on twitter @runmomdiary

Race Recap: Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon 2014

Stars can and do align for races!  

I have been trying to do everything right for this race.  I followed a solid training plan, stayed injury free, ate right, hydrated properly and even got a good night of sleep before race day. 

So here's a quick breakdown of the day
Pre-race prep: all done the day before, number on my favorite Oiselle tank, gels in my spibelt, etc.

Alarm set for 3 pm: Wake up at 3:11 am good thing since I had the alarm on pm. That would have just sucked to oversleep your race.

On the road at 4:15am:  to met up with my chicas as we were carpooling down to Cincinnati from Dayton

Traveling:  oops forgot directions for parking, call hubby and have him send a picture of the directions since the website was being difficult.

Parking: right next to Paul Brown stadium

Bag check:  first school bus we walk by is the right bus for my bib number. 

Waiting time:  Inside the stadium, woman's bathroom without a line?  What?! 

Walk to the start line:  hardly 100 m away, no problems

The race:

1: trying to find my happy place and pace of 8:30
2: Yikes 7:57 pace, slow down chica.
3-5: keeping close to my pace, Best days of My life comes on as I run down mile 5 with tons of people, it was surreal.
6-8: Hills, knew about those, slowed my pace, looked for my friend from HS who is about half way up the "big one".  Found her, jolt of energy. 
8-9:  Always forget about this section of the course after the beautiful vista of the Ohio River. 
10-13: zoned out, the half had split and I found myself on my own a bit. My mile splits were off enough that I always missed them by the time I saw the mile clock on the course.  Running by feel I guess.
13.1: 1:50 feeling good.
13-15: hung out with the 3:40 pace group (mostly men). This was my BQ time so tried to stay there. Until we turned a corner and found a little but steep hill.  My quads were not having it.  Slowed down, then said F it and walked the last 15 feet or so.
16: was a turnaround, so I could see runners ahead of me.  This was the longest run I did in training so every after this was untested.
17-20: zoned out, there was a portion on the bike path which had HOPE written out, honestly don't know what I was thinking here. 
21-25:  These hurt, I was hot, the sun was out, no one really around me too much, I was timing my gel intake because I knew I was needing the energy.  I could see the Great American building further down the river but it looked so far away yet, that's were the finish line was.  Mile 21 the 3:45 pace group passed me.  There goes my training pace...
26:  who put that hill there, it's not much but I wanted to cry when i saw the rise in the road, then my music shuffled and I got the Olympic theme song going, the streets are lined with people and I just gave it what I could.  Anyone else use the Olympic theme in their race mix?  It never fails to give me a lift when I need it.

Finish: 3:48:19.  PR by 28 minutes.  I'm super happy with my time and my place top 8% of all woman in the race. 

Post race:  No Gatorade what was up with that?  I didn't drink it on the course because my gels have electrolytes in them so I only drank water but I was so sick of water! I ended drinking the syrup out of the free fruit cups they gave out.  There was plenty of junk food after but I didn't have the stomach for it and I was amazed to see how many people were just piling up the food to take with them.  Finally got out of the finisher's area and found my boys and hubby. 

my cheering crew, a bit tired after being in the sun and getting up early!

Overall:  it was a great race for me.  I'm proud of
my time considering the hills on this course.  The volunteers (Grunts) were amazing and all the crowd support was fabulous.  I will do this race again but I'm not sure when...

P.S. Love, love, love the finishing medals this year!

Stats: 

marathon training, hips, and 3 way

Air Force Training Week 12

Yes, that actually is Pitbull.

Monday- Spinning- tired from the weekend festivities (although Pitbull's concert was lots of fun!- nothing like a road trip with girlfriends!)

Tuesday- 5 miles

Wednesday- 8 miles

Thursday- Spinning

Friday-rest

Saturday- 6 on the trails with Carrie, then 4 more when I got home.  I realized after I sync'd my Garmin that I'd run 496 miles so decided to do another 4 for a nice even 500 miles.  My goal since I got my Garmin was to run 1000 miles in a year (starting in the beginning of Feb.) 

Sunday- rest 

Training Week 13

Monday-spinning (tired again- maybe it's the instructor- he's killer)

Tuesday- 5 miles

The rest is the plan for the week:

Wednesday- 5

Thursday-rest (PT- more on that down below)

Friday- 19 miles! (gulp!)

Saturday- rest/spinning?

Sunday- rest 

Then next week- I go back to work.  Boo.  No, I'm just going to miss running in the am, instead it will be right after work in the blazing heat. 

Injuries...boo.

 So the last few weeks, my hip/glute area has been super tight.  Last week, after one of my runs, I'd gone into work (to get ready) and I could hardly walk up the stairs.  I was ok if I was going downstairs or if I walked on flat surface. When I run, it hurts a bit but gets better after I've been running for awhile.  I decided to get an appointment with a sports doc, to make sure that I wasn't doing damage by continuing to run.  No need for a repeat performance of last year.  

So pretty much, my butt hurts.

They wanted to do an x-ray since my mileage was pretty high.  They ruled out a stress fracture in the hip area.  Thank goodness that was negative.   I would have freaked out.  Doc thinks it's just the IT band.  I'll be heading to PT to learn more IT band stretches.  joy. oh joy.  Hoping this will go away soon.  Also, hoping that the massage I have planned for today is going to help.  
Edit:  Massage therapist worked my leg and didn't find any tightness in my IB band at all.  But my upper hamstring had a gap and knot- which she worked on.  I had hope that that would be it, but it still hurts today (one day later).  Hoping one day more day off and then run this 19 miles.  Grrrr.  

In other news, just signed up for another 1/2 mary (Edit: regretting this already)- this one is going to be instead of a training run.  It's down in Morrow, OH.  I did it last year, it was flat (good for my hip) and out and back on a bike trail.  Here's the race recap Little Miami 10k

Oh- very cool news from the Flying Pig marathon for next year.  They are going to have multi-race competition.  The 3 way is going to be the 5k, 10k on Saturday, 13.1 on Sunday.  The 4 way will be 5k, 10k on Sat. with 26.2 on Sunday.  I think we're going to do the 3 way.  It should be fun to train for, since you'll need mileage and speed workouts.  I'm signing up early.  

Check it out:  http://www.facebook.com/flyingpigmarathon

Quiet life

 

It's been a pretty/relaxed few weeks here.  Last week we were trapped most of the time inside since the temps here in the 100s.  The kids were going stir crazy.  There is only so much time they can handle together before they are whining/picking on each other... until all the neighborhood kids show up, then it's outside time in the hose!

One of the problems, is Cub (my oldest) loves to read- he has his nose in a book from the time he wakes up and I have to take books away from him at night so he sleeps.  I love it.

But...little brother Buster hates it.  He wants Cub to play with him.  Buster has never been the kid who will sit down and play by himself.*  He was actually ripping books out of Cub's hands and demanding that Cub play with him. 

*He only plays "CalvinBall" which is a very soft stress ball which he kicks around the living room and makes up points and teams- which is great but lots of running around in a small space.  Good thing- he's got amazing foot action for soccer.

My training was pretty good last week- despite the heat- some early mornings!

or earlier...

Air Force Marathon Training Week 8

Monday- Spinning class

Tuesday- muggy 4 miles at 6:30 am

Wednesday-4th of July- rest day

Thursday- 7 miles at 6 am

Friday- rest

Saturday- 15 miles! 
Sunday- rest

Saturday's temperature was going to be 111 degrees, with the heat index at 117.  Super hot. I wore my new Mizuno Wave rider 15s (bright yellow-love!), new water belt, and I forgot my Garmin. What could possibly go wrong?
 We started at 5 am, ran 4 miles on our own, then at 6 met up with the Up and Running group for another 6 miles, then did another 5 miles after.  15 miles run before 8:30 am.  Yay!  It was nice to break up the run as well.  The 5 am part felt completely different, running in the dark and the humidity was brutal.  6 am was actually cooler, beautiful sunrise.  7 am part - well- we were almost done- so didn't really care at that point. Thank goodness, my shoes felt great, figured out  how to get rid of the bounce in my water belt, and Carrie had her Garmin.   I just wondered how am I going to run another 11 miles on top of that.
The rest of the day was on the couch, watching the Tour de France (not looking good for Cadel this year) and hanging out in awesome compression socks!  I love having a legit reason to laz around.

Air Force Marathon Training Week 9

Monday- Spinning

Tuesday- 7 miles at 6 am

Wednesday- 4 miles at 6am

Thursday- Spinning class tonight

Friday- rest or 4 miles (haven't decided yet)

Saturday-rest or Spinning class

Sunday- 13 miles on the trails (It's a step back week on long runs)

Love this quote- don't care if you're Armstrong haters.

Lightning, thunder and dogs, oh my!

Air Force Training Week 7

Monday- Spinning class
Tuesday- Run 4.2 in 36 minutes- awesome running weather
Wednesday-7 miles in 60 minutes (new step in mid week runs- 7 miles instead of 6 like the last 3 weeks)
Thursday- Spinning
Friday- off
Saturday- 14 miles with the  Up and Running running group.

So my first big run past 13.1 miles since 2001...was interesting.

storm damage from last year to our house , July 2011

We had a huge wind storm on Friday that affected a ton of people in Ohio, well, everywhere it seems.  Anyways,  it was the first time that we haven't lost power in a major storm.  I totally feel for everyone who has lost power since we've had a heat wave over the last week.  I've been there- last year in fact.  We lost power for a week, lost a car, roof, siding, fence and a huge tree.  I don't think we have much left that can fall in our yard.  So, for once, we were ok.  Yay for us!

Anyways, I got up at 5 am on Saturday to go to Up and Running to run our 14 miler.  I checked the weather since it was going to be super hot, and wanted to have an idea of what to expect. There is a huge red cell of rain to our west and was going to be hitting around 6 am.  What to do? Do we run in it? Wait it out? I knew it was going to be getting pretty hot if we waited another hour? Called my running partner- she was already in Centerville and the power was out.  Hmmm.  Ok- off I go, since Carrie was already close to the store.  Guess we better training in this stuff, since it might be that way race day.

We show up and it was dark, clouds were menacing and the wind was cold and blustery.   We headed out on the first 6 mile loop.  About a 1/2 mile in the heavens open, huge heavy drops that pelted us.  Carrie wanted to stop and I would have but since this was the first time with this group, I didn't want to get lost, so we kept going.  Lightning and thunder  were in the now moving in. Yuck- not what I wanted  but what do we do?  So we kept on running...  Finished the 6.2 mile loop in 57 mins.  By the end, the rain had stopped.  Thank goodness.

Here's a link to running in storms- we totally failed on taking the advice
Running during storms

So we had 8 more miles to finish.  We headed out with a smaller group that consisted of the 2 group leaders who were running 22 miles that morning.  We ran to one of their houses about 2 miles from the store to use her bathroom, since (I'm assuming) the store was closed (no power).  Then we wondered around Kettering for the next 6 miles.  I'd paused my Garmin at some point so my overall mileage was messed up for the rest of the run.

Exactly what I saw coming up behind us.

At one point, a ferocious German Shepard came out of someone's back yard and about bit the backside off of one the group.  I turned around and saw teeth and froze.  (I was taught by UPS back in college to never run from a dog since they will always beat you).  Anyways, pushed by the woman who was literally trying to save her ass, we moved quickly enough and must have been out of his yard so he backed down.  Adrenaline works way better than a Cliff Shot BTW. :-)  Finished the rest of the run w/o incident.  Legs felt tired but not hurt, foot felt great (except for waterlogged toes!)  Finished the 8 miles in 1hr 20 mins.



Have you got caught on a run when the weather has gotten bad? What did you do?

Anyone been chased by a dog or bitten?  

What about getting lost with a new running group?