I’ve decided to go rogue. Everyone else is starting their spring marathon and half marathon training plans, with their speed work, long runs and recovery runs. For me, it is the beginning of my training for the Minneapolis Half Marathon on June 6th. Oh, there is nothing I like better than printing out a brand new training schedule and then following it religiously. The training schedule has been my task master and I’ve always done exactly as it dictates.

Not any more. I’m going off-road, going onto my own path for this round of training.  The words I’m going write next are shocking, so prepare yourself. I’m not going to do any speed work. That’s right. I’ll miss the track, but we must part ways for now. Why? Because, while I love you track, your tough love hurts sometimes.

NYC Marathon is my goal this season. End of story. That means my goal race is 8 months away, which means I have 8 months to hurt myself. Pessimistic? I would say realistic. Another reality for me is that a ten minute mile is about as fast as I can go. I’ve been running consistently for 5 years now. I ran about that speed when I started, and that’s how fast I run now. I would love to run a 9 minute mile, but 2 seasons of speed work  haven’t made that happen. I’ve come to accept the 10 minute mile. It is my friend. Even the 10:30 mile and I are on friendly terms. They are lovely paces and they make race day math easy.

The last 6 months or so, I’ve also been friends with “the pain free run”. We haven’t been friends very long, but I would like to make this a long term relationship. The track workouts and the pain free run have not gone hand in hand for me. If you saw me run in person, you would know why. My feet barely leave the ground and I pretty much gimp along. Maybe I was reaching when I thought that the track would be nice to me. Don’t get me wrong, I like the track. It’s just that over time, it wears me down.

With no speed work, it makes my training for this race pretty straight forward. I’ll run 4 days a week, with one run being between 8 and 11 miles. That’s it. The other days I’ll run between 4 and 7 miles, depending on how I’m feeling. I’m going to actually attempt to listen to my body and run more when I feel good and run less when I feel like I’m starting to hurt. I have never done that before. I’ve always been a slave to the schedule, afraid that if I didn’t do exactly what it said that I wouldn’t be able to finish the race. Well, Mr. Half Marathon, I’m not afraid of you anymore. I’ve done enough of you now that I’m not going to let you frighten me. I’ve got my eye on the NYC Marathon goal, and you will not distract me. My friends 10 Minute Mile, Pain Free Run and I are a team now. We’ve got 10 and a Half Minute Mile on the bench if we need him, and we are not afraid to use him. Let’s go!

Mike and I have been planning all winter to do the Securian Frozen Half Marathon. Only a wicked wind and below zero temps would dissuade me, so I was surprised when it was over 30 degrees and it looked like we might decide against going. The forecast was for sleet and 25 mph winds, so when we went to bed we decided we would make the decision about going in the morning.

We peeked out the window and it didn’t look too bad. We got dressed and decided to give it a try. I stepped out on the driveway to see what it felt like outside. It had iced over night, and the pavement was so slippery that I couldn’t make it back into the garage. My feet kept slipping and Mike had to pull me back in. When we backed the car out, it just slid down the hill sideways and got stuck in the snow. When Mike stepped out of the car to assess the situation, he literally slid standing up all of the way down the driveway to the street, about 100 ft. He put on some cleats, and after digging us out twice we finally made it to the street and were on our way. The major roads were fine and we made it safely in plenty of time.

We saw lots of friendly faces right away. We saw Jenny, Guy and Diane. Then I saw Julie and went over to say hello. It was great to see her and she is just as adorable in person as you would think she is from reading her blog. She was ready for her first half marathon. Here we are:

She said she was looking for Steve, who was now over chatting with Jenny and our other friends. After introducing Julie to the whole group, we took a photo:

This is a great race because you get to park in the parking garage that is connected to the Securian office building. All of the registration and packet pickup is inside, and the start line is 25 feet out the door. I waited inside until they said that we had 30 seconds until the start of the race, I stepped out the door and lined up right behind the 2:15 pace group. It was in the low 30’s and sleeting a bit.

Surprisingly, the pack moved pretty well in the back and we were able to hit our pace right from the start. Since we were moving right away, I was toasty warm and didn’t mind the sleet. Wearing a baseball cap kept my face dry which made me more comfortable. It stopped sleeting after a couple of miles, and I had enough layers on to keep the moisture out for the rest of the race. The windy conditions had worried me before the race. It turns out that the wind was coming out of the south and we were reasonably protected by bluffs. There were only a few sections that I noticed the wind and it didn’t effect me at all. What had looked like a nasty day turned out to be just fine.

The course is a out and back along the river, so around mile 4 I started to see the leaders heading back on the other side of the road. It was great to look for all of the friendly faces and cheer for them. I saw Steve first, then Mike, Guy, then another group of friends that included Helen, Bulent, and Kami. I saw Jenny and Julie running together and they looked awesome! I also saw Steve Quick out there giving moral support. Seeing everyone made the middle miles of the race pass quickly.

I ran pretty consistently, hitting the miles right around 10 minutes. The course had a few inclines and rolling hills, but the only challenging hill was right at the end. After the first few miles, I had left the 2:15 pace group and slowly caught up to the 2:10 pace group. I knew that they were running a little slow because I started after them and I knew I was on pace for 2:11. Sure enough, they picked it up during the last mile and left me behind. I came in at 2:10:55 which is right at a 10 minute pace. I felt great the whole race and felt like I ran the right pace to finish strong.

Honestly, being the slowest in a group stinks most of the time. The one time that it is the absolute best to be last is when all of your friends are waiting for you at the finish line. Thanks to everyone who waited out in the cold for me. I know they were freezing just standing around after running, but they were a welcome sight for me. It is also nice to have a speedy husband who is willing to run and get the camera and take everyone else’s finishing picture. Here is Kami, Helen, Bulent and Guy. Guy PR’ed by 5 minutes!

Here are Jenny, Julie and Diane celebrating their speedy race. These ladies are fast! This was Diane’s 10th consecutive Frozen Half.

Here I am, finally making it to the finish. Can you see that person behind me? Proof that I didn’t come in last.

The Securian Frozen Half Marathon is a lot more fun when you do it in person with everyone else instead of on the treadmill by yourself. When you do the official race, you also get a super cool coffee mug. Since I don’t drink coffee, I’ll just have to try it out with some hot chocolate.

The Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon are this weekend and I’m getting pretty excited. Mike will be running the full and I’ll be doing the half. I’ve been checking the weather forecast each day and this is what it says right now: low of 38 degrees, high of 59 degrees, and 4mph winds. Perfect! The race starts at 6:15 a.m., so it should be in the 40’s for my whole race. I love it!

Seeing that the race is only 5 days away, I guess I should do a little planning. The most important thing first: what am I going to wear? I bought a new pair of running shorts for the occasion. After running the last month in tights, it will be great to be in shorts again. As for the shirt, our Thanksgiving Day run nicely provided an ugly, gold, long sleeve cotton shirt that will serve as the perfect throw away shirt for the start. I can always count on that race to provide a hideous shirt that I am happy to chuck to the side of the road. Some poor homeless person will probably end up wearing it, bragging to all of his friends that he ran a 5K in Indiana. I’ll wear my tried and true tank underneath and hopefully will be comfortable within the first mile or two.

To bring a camera or not to bring a camera? The few times I have run with a camera, I have never stopped to take pictures. I’ll be running by myself as everyone else that I know is either running the full or is a lot faster than I am, so I won’t have anyone else to take pictures of. On the other hand, I’ve never run a race in Vegas before and I’m guessing there will be some picture worthy events and people along the way. Has anyone run Vegas before? Did you wish you had a camera? I would have to wear my race belt with a pouch to accommodate it, and I just don’t know if it’s worth the extra weight and jiggling. What to do?!

Since it is a race, figuring out what pace to run might be a good idea. I started thinking about my schedule for next year. In January, I already have two races penciled in. I’m hoping to do a 10K on January 1st and The Securian Frozen Half Marathon on January 23rd. I’ve decided to concentrate on the January 23rd race and train pretty hard for that. Since it’s only 7 weeks after Vegas, I’ve decided to not push too hard for this race. I have some chronic hamstring soreness, so if I go all out in this race I may not be able to train as hard as I would like right afterwards.

Ultimately, I have to think about the two half marathons together. Vegas will be flat and ideal temperatures; The Frozen Half will be hilly and horrid conditions. Vegas will be fun and full of smiles; The Frozen Half will be miserable no matter what pace I run. My goal for Vegas is to finish in 2:15 and hopefully come out of it in reasonable condition. My goal for The Frozen half will be to beat my Vegas time by 5 minutes. Secondary goal for Vegas: to beat an Elvis or two. Secondary goal for The Frozen Half: to not freeze to death.