Two months ago I decided after over a year of lackluster running/walking that I wanted to do a half marathon again. I never saw quite the level of progress that I would have liked in my speed and endurance over the past eight weeks, but I am proud of myself for (mostly) sticking to my training plan and pulling out a not-even-close-to-my-worst time today!
This past week I didn’t run at all. Several days I felt light-headed and had chills when I got home from work, and I was actually concerned I was going to come down with the flu or something. Thankfully that never transpired, but by Saturday I was looking at doing the race after having done no running for 7 days. Oh, well!
Local races are super easy, so I picked up my bib Saturday afternoon and got all my stuff organized Saturday night, but there was no stress about the race morning process. On Sunday morning I got up and had half a bagel with peanut butter, a small protein shake, and vitamins for breakfast. And coffee!
The weather was in the high 40s/low 50s, overcast and cloudy with the sun hiding the whole time. It was pretty great running weather!
I haven’t done this race in four years, but the course was just as I remembered – leaving downtown Shreveport to run through some nearby neighborhoods before getting on the running path along the river and heading back toward downtown. I ultimately had no time goal, except at some point in the race, maybe mile 9 or 10, I decided to try and break 2:20.
I did just that, finishing with a chip time of 2:15:47. This was my 18th half marathon and I can think of at least 6 that were worse times than that. So I’ll take it!
After the race I went home, showered, and then we went to get brunch. It has been a year and a half since I’ve run a half marathon distance (and longer since I’ve run further than that), so I felt pretty happy!
Monday and Tuesday evenings were both filled with cleaning my house in anticipation of Thanksgiving, but I managed to find time Tuesday to get this run in. It was a gross run. The temperature was in the low 70s with high humidity, so I was already sweating a lot, and then it started raining during the last mile. I was wet and icky at the end. I used my headlamp for the first time and it seemed to work pretty well. I felt safer with it on.
Thursday, Ran 3.1 miles
Recapped the Turkey Trot here. My average pace would have been a lot better if not for the congested first mile.
Sunday, Ran 6 miles
My little plan I made, based on nothing, had 12 miles for this week’s long run. But after a tiring week, in which I also developed a little cough and had some other normal monthly health situations going on, my body said nah to this. I feel like if I can run 10 miles, which I did last week, I can run the half next week. I decided to listen to my body and cut this run short.
For the upcoming week, I want to focus on eating healthily and getting in protein where I can. I also hope I can get some decent nights of sleep and remember to take all my vitamins each day.
It is so hard to run after work on the river path when it gets dark so early! This run is what inspired me to finally buy a headlamp. I got off work at 4:30 p.m. and by the time I got home, changed and drove out there, the sun was already setting. It’s crazy. I started running around 5:10 and felt like I was racing the dark. It’s at least a good motivator to run fast, to try and finish before it’s pitch black! But it’s also a little stressful. My lungs felt very belabored during this run, but after my two previous runs that went really slowly and felt sluggish, this was a big improvement.
I was annoyed because I thought I stopped my Garmin at 4 miles, but apparently I didn’t because it kept recording as I walked to my car and stretched, until I finally noticed it and stopped it. That really messed up my final pace according to my Garmin.
But I LOVE Strava, which cut out that last .04 from my splits when I synced my Garmin, giving me my real pace — 9:17.
I tweaked my ankle in a weird way during this run, but after a day or so of icing and wearing a compression sleeve it felt better.
Tuesday-Wednesday, Rest
On Tuesday I went with a friend to see a screening of Pillow Talk with Doris Day and Rock Hudson. As much as I love old movies, I don’t know why I had never seen this before, but it was so cute and I loved it!
Thursday, Ran 5 miles
My goal for this run was just to take it slow and get it done. Because of the early darkness and not having my headlamp in yet, I just ran around my neighborhood. After a long cold spell, the temperatures were back up and I was sweating a lot for this one. I listened to a Dateline podcast, using my new Aftershokz headphones which were perfect. Hopefully I don’t have to buy new headphones for a long time now!
Friday-Saturday, Rest
I was supposed to go to the gym this week and still didn’t do it 😦 Instead I worked at the cat shelter and bought a Christmas tree and decorations and decorated my house throughout the weekend.
I got our cats stockings this year 🙂
Sunday, Ran 10 miles
This was a pretty forgettable long run. I wish it had been a little faster. I admittedly have been taking these longer runs slower on purpose in the beginning because it’s been so long since I’ve run these distances that I’m not at all confident in my ability to run them strong or even finish. And since simply finishing is my goal, my pace ends up being uninspiring. I drank Tailwind for this run and listened to music instead of a podcast. The miles, though slow in pace, mentally went by pretty quickly. I was very freckly at the end!
All the leaves are falling off the trees now, and Thanksgiving is on its way. This time of year always goes by too fast.
It was raining a nasty, cold, misty rain on Monday so I planned to run on Tuesday instead. Well, I got off work Tuesday night and it was 35 degrees outside and I just felt like laying down for like an hour and a half. Finally, I changed into my running clothes and decided I would just go out and do something and see how far I got. Just like last Friday, the biggest challenge was just getting started and getting out there. Once I was on the run, I felt good and I finished the whole 4 miles. So much of it is mental! How many times can I say I love this time of year?!
Saturday, Ran 4 miles
This was rough. After my reluctant 4-miler on Tuesday, I put this next run off the rest of the week. I literally did nothing Wednesday-Friday. By the time I went out to do it Saturday afternoon, after a few hours of volunteering at the cat shelter and some shopping, I was slow and sluggish and short of breath. I took it very easy, keeping in mind that I’d be out running 8 miles in the morning.
The best thing happened to me this day — I discovered that Dateline now has a podcast where they have old episodes from their television show transformed into podcast format! I literally used to download the audio of Dateline episodes that people had uploaded to YouTube so that I could put the mp3s on my iPod and listen to them while marathon training two years ago. This podcast is a dream come true, LOL.
Sunday, Ran 8 miles
This run was just as much of a struggle as the 4-miler the day before, with heavy legs and getting out of breath, but I finished. It was 33 degrees to start but warm in a weird way — the sun was shining bright and I sweated a lot. I ran a mile and my earbuds kept falling out of my ears, so I actually stopped my watch, drove home really quick, and got my AirPods to finish the run. I just couldn’t deal with earbuds falling out the whole run, it would be too aggravating. I still need to find a really good pair of Bluetooth headphones that work for a runner. I don’t want to use my AirPods every time.
I didn’t make it to the gym at all this week, which isn’t good — I’m paying for that! My goal for this next week is to make both of my gym days, focusing on upper body strength.
I really didn’t feel like doing this. It was the first work day after Daylight Savings Time ended, I was tired, it already seemed like it was getting dark when I got off work, I had very low energy, etc. But I knew even though I really was physically tired, it was still mostly a mental battle that would keep me from getting the run done. So for inspiration, I looked at people’s pictures from the previous day’s NYC Marathon on Instagram. That did the trick. I changed clothes and set out for the run. (Another result of this practice — that night I dreamed I was running the NYC Marathon and was completely unprepared on race morning.)
Picture of the Koala Clip from their website
For this run, I used my new Koala Clip for the first time, and overall I was pretty pleased. It didn’t bounce at all, and I took it out mid-run so I could get my phone out and take a picture of the sun setting. It was easy to take out and relatively easy to put back in the back of my shirt. It did get very sweaty from my back, but my phone was protected.
The top of my right foot continues to ache sometimes during running, as it seems to do pretty much every training cycle I ever embark on. I just need to remember to give it some TLC.
Wednesday, Ran 3 miles
Thanks to the end of DST it is getting dark SO early, so by the time I got out to the river path, it was already around sunset. I just did three miles and it was pitch black by the time I finished. So weird. I planned to still do my 5-miler and 7-miler later in the week, so this run really just replaced a gym day (I apparently hate those).
Friday, Ran 5 miles
I got off work a little early and felt low energy after a long week, but I still wanted to get something done, so I set out to the river path and thought that I would just do two miles. It was a brisk 50 degrees or so, maybe a little less, and it took a mile or so to warm up. But once I did, I felt good, and I was enjoying listening to the Ali on The Run podcast, so instead of turning around at a mile, I kept going. Then before I knew it, I had run 2.5 miles, and I turned back around to go to my car, which would make a complete 5 miles. I used my Koala Clip to hold my phone and keys for all of my runs this week, and the more I use it the more I love it. It’s so convenient and doesn’t bother me. It’s nice to run with nothing in my hands!
The worst part of this time of year is how early it gets dark, but the leaves turning colors, the lower temperatures, the holidays… everything else about this time of year is THE BEST.
Sunday, Ran 7 miles
This was a pretty uneventful run, and I was happy with my pace. I was definitely running out of steam during the last mile, though.
I screwed up this week by never going to the gym and taking an extra rest day on Saturday, but I think my body needed the rest.
Loving all of the colors of fall that we’re finally seeing!
We got a cold spell all week, which was great for running and great for Halloween! I was happy to see a much better pace for my 3-miler this week. Last week I did take it slower purposefully, but this week I attribute my faster paces to feeling confident enough that I can push a little harder after last week’s runs. This is still a far, far cry from where I was two years ago, but gotta start somewhere.
Tuesday, Gym
I was planning to get my 4-miler done this day, but it was raining unexpectedly when I got off of work. I really didn’t feel like doing it, but I dragged myself to the gym instead and did the Cybex ArcTrainer and arm weight machines. I was happy that I got that done.
Wednesday, RestÂ
Since I wasn’t running this day I of course was looking up future races. I love fall races so much and it already feels like my favorite time of year is flying by with October gone. I found a 10K that was being run on Saturday, and with a 6-miler on my schedule anyway, it seemed like a perfect fit. So, I rescheduled my haircut that was set for Saturday morning and signed up to do a race instead.
On Wednesday night I went over to a friend’s house to watch scary movies. It was pouring rain which made for the perfect setting. We watched “Dolls” and “Urban Legend” (but really talked more than paid attention during the second movie).
Thursday, Ran 4 milesÂ
I decided to go ahead and get my four-miler done Thursday after work, even though it was Halloween and we were going to be handing out candy when trick-or-treating started. I got home at 5 p.m. and felt pressure to run fast around my neighborhood so I could get home in time to put on my cat “costume” and be ready for all the kids (and hopefully get rid of all the candy we bought).
As a result my average pace was 9:24 per mile, much faster than last week! The weather was in the 40s, which helped a lot with my pace. I wore my new Lululemon Run Swiftly long-sleeved shirt and loved it. Later, as we handed out candy, I felt bad for all the trick-or-treaters because it was so cold. I could barely stand the cold just standing at the open door!
I was a black cat, but not just any black cat – I joked that I was dressed up like our cat, Archie.
I wish I could have come in under an hour for this race, but considering I was barely running a month ago and haven’t run 6 miles in a year and half, this was a pretty pleasing result. I didn’t even care that according to my Garmin, the course was a little short.
After the race, I went to the cat shelter to volunteer for awhile, then headed to the running store to get some new shoes and some other stuff. A pretty productive Saturday!
Sunday, Ran 2 miles
Well, I was supposed to go to the gym again today, but I just didn’t quite feel like driving there (even though it is literally like a mile away). Instead, I was itching to try out my new Brooks Ravenna 10s, so I set out for a quick 2-miler around my neighborhood. I can tell DST is going to mess with me this week – it was getting dark at 5:15 p.m. Hate that!
I was happy with my pace for this run (even though it was slower than my four-miler), and I am loving my new shoes. They make a big difference.
I finally went to go check my race time at the Revel Run 5K on Oct. 5, and it was 31:31 (a 10:10 pace). I’ve gone walking/running a few times since this race, but this day was my first time running the whole time since the 5K. My ankle has been feeling a little better day by day, but I’m still paranoid, I guess. I took this slow and easy along the river. That night my right foot (which I vaguely remember having problems with during marathon training two years ago) ached, so I iced it while simultaneously having a heating pad on my left ankle. I think the heat really helped my ankle, which was not as stiff the next morning as it has been previously.
On Monday I also went through my two big running duffel bags, which had a bunch of unorganized crap in them. I threw out a lot of expired gels and drink mixes (some as old as 2016), tried to organize like things together in plastic bags (I have a lot of heat sheets from races saved, as well as various non-edible samples from my old Stride Boxes). I’d forgotten about some of the random stuff I have!
One thing that has changed since the last time period when I was running seriously is that I have dropped meat from my diet. I guess you could say I am usually vegetarian, sometimes pescatarian – I will eat fish or seafood every now and then, but sparingly. Regardless, it means I often have to find protein for my diet in other ways, and I think sometimes I really fail to eat enough. As a result, I bought some protein powder and will try to make small shakes most days to make up for my lack of protein elsewhere.
Tuesday, GymÂ
The plan was for this to be a rest day, but I realized I was going to be out of town for my Saturday gym day, so instead I went on Tuesday. Did a quick elliptical workout, then some arm workouts on the machines. Not a long time there because we had plans that night, but I fit it in.
Also, I discovered this week that Daily Mile went defunct – back in March! Shows how out of the loop I’ve been when it comes to tracking my running! Even though I knew people were gravitating to more popular sites and apps to track their mileage, I still used Daily Mile during my last marathon training cycle, same as I had ever since 2010. I’m sad I didn’t know they were shutting down in time to save my data. I don’t think I got an email about it?? Waah. I finally progressed with the rest of the running community and downloaded Strava for the first time; we’ll see if I actually use it.
Wednesday, Ran 4 miles
My lack of energy really got to me during this run! I felt great the first two miles, and then once I turned around to head back the next two miles, it was such a struggle to maintain any kind of decent pace. I shouldn’t be surprised I was so slow, but I was kind of surprised! But the fun part will be seeing progress as long as I am consistent and disciplined with my runs. Afterwards I had a protein shake, hoping that might help.
Thursday, Gym
During my lunch break on Thursday I decided to check out this little running store near work. I ended up getting a few nutritional things since I had to basically throw out everything in my running bag for being expired. I also went to this new juice and smoothie place, Nekter, right next door. I go almost every day! I’ve only been getting smoothies, but I want to try juices too, and maybe one day if I can get over to this side of town early enough I can get a smoothie bowl for breakfast before work.
After work even though I was exhausted, I went to the gym and did 20 minutes on the elliptical, then multiple arm workouts and the leg press. I got my new shoes in the day prior, so for now I’m going to try and break them in at the gym before running in them.
After the gym, I quickly mowed our (small) front yard, which feels like its own form of exercise.
Friday, Rest and travelÂ
Saturday, Ran 5 miles
This run was great! We are down south and it had rained all night, so the air Saturday morning was pretty cool and there was a slight mist still.
I felt really tired in the middle of the run, but had a second wave of energy and finished strong. This is the longest I’ve run (without walking breaks) in months and months. And it felt good. I was surprised and happy that my pace for this run was faster than the two shorter runs earlier in the week. Of course, it helps to be running fresh in the morning and not after a long day of work.
Sunday, Rest and travel
We went to our first (and likely only) Saints game of the season. I’ve gone to at least one game every season for the last 13 seasons, but it never gets old!
I have done dumber things than run a half marathon one week after running a marathon (like run a marathon one week after running another marathon), so signing up for the Log Jammer Half Marathon scheduled for Nov. 8 wasn’t too crazy, even though the NYC Marathon was Nov. 1.
I ran this race last year and the weather was cold (high 30s) and rainy. It was intimidating to go into, but I felt awesome when I finished. This year’s race weather was forecast to be much better – mid-50s and sunny.
I went into the race without a goal in mind, since it was so soon off the marathon, but I did want to run the whole thing. Ever since my knee injury in May, I’ve become a big walk-break-taker. I took breaks during all my long runs and during NYC, but I want to work my way up to not having to do that. So that was my big deal – no walking breaks.
I picked up my packet Saturday, which was actually a very rainy and cold day, reminiscent of last year’s race day. Thankfully by Sunday morning the rain had cleared and the sunny forecast proved to be true. The race had what seemed like a lot more participants than last year as a result.
Start/Finish Line Area
I like the course for the most part  – starts downtown, proceeds 7 miles in the nearby neigborhoods, 2 miles down a highway that takes us to the levee path, then 4.5 miles along the Red River back towards downtown.
I am moving to Shreveport very soon, so this is going to be my new permanent stomping grounds. I took note of how pretty the fall foliage is right now and how much I really like the area. I am excited that we will be living there.
My legs felt pretty tired throughout the whole race, but I also felt kind of strong. I made sure to keep my breathing tempered and not go too fast. There are several little hills around Shreveport, so I just ran them slowly. I kept a pretty even pace throughout the whole race, just under 11 minute miles, and the only times I walked was when I got Gatorade at the water stops and took a few steps to safely consume my drink.
On the levee path by the river I felt myself faltering, but I kept up my running and passed several people over the last couple of miles. The temps stayed in the high 50s I think, but because of the sun I was sweating pretty good by the end. I crossed the finish line at 2:22:50, which was about 11 seconds slower than the Barksdale AFB Half Marathon I did Sept. 19.
According to the race results, I ran 1:11:19 for the first half and 1:11:30 for the second. My splits were almost exactly even last year too! I don’t know what it is about this course, but I managed somehow the past two years to basically run the same time each half. My time last year was much better though – 2:07:something.
Now that NYC is over, I’m not sure what my goals are and my races will be. Moving throws a big wrench into any long-term planning as well – I know we’ll likely do the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day like we did last year, but that’s the only thing that I’m sort of sure of.
My 10th half marathon was wet, cold, and preceded an additional four miles I did on my own to get to 17 miles for marathon training, and it was great.
The race started at 7:30 a.m. in downtown Shreveport, and I had originally planned to go out there at 6 a.m. and do 4 miles on my own ahead of time. The downtown area is next to the a 5-mile riverfront path, so it was going to be easy for me to park near the race, hop on the riverfront path and do my 4 miles, then get back to the race start for 13.1 more.
Well, when I somehow thought about checking the weather forecast for the first time Saturday evening, I was very dismayed to see it was supposed to be raining all morning long. I know from past experience the forecast can change drastically over a matter of hours, so I went to bed that night hoping and praying it would somehow magically not be rainy when I woke up.
Backtracking a bit, earlier in the day I picked up my race packet and also stopped by Dick’s, where I bought a gorgeous long-sleeved Under Armour Pullover, some headbands and Body Glide. My race shirt was a Men’s Small, a very nice technical T-shirt that I’m sure my husband will enjoy wearing because it’s way too big for me. We also got a hat.
So back to Sunday morning, when my alarm went off at 5:30, I could hear the rain hitting the roof pretty steadily. I prolonged getting up for about 30 more minutes as it continued raining, then decided that maybe I’d better get dressed and get over to the race start on the very small chance that maybe downtown it was just drizzling or not raining at all.
My sympathetic and half-asleep husband wished me good luck, and I headed downtown where I found several other runners had already arrived and parked, even though the race was almost an hour away. I had brought an extra long-sleeved top, a poncho, towels, extra socks, but I didn’t want to get soaking wet by trying to run on my own before the race, so I ended up deciding to stay in the car until about 7:15. If it was somehow bearable, I would try to run my extra 4 miles afterwards. In my head I was already starting to think that I would just run the half marathon and run 17 next week – after all, my plan called for a long run of only 13 miles next weekend, so I could just switch them out, as much as I didn’t want to do that.
I was honestly surprised about how many people showed up for the race despite the horrible weather. As tempting as the thought was of just going home, I couldn’t make myself do that when I saw how many other people were there braving the cold and wetness.
Race start areaFake smile
At 7:15 I begrudgingly got out of my warm car and walked to the starting area, where I picked up my timing chip, one of those non-disposable ones you zip-tie to your shoe.
The half marathon crowd was a pretty decent size after we separated from the 5Kers for our start line, and as we stood there waiting for the race person to say, “Go!”, I realized it wasn’t raining anymore. We started running through downtown Shreveport, then through some neighborhoods, and it really wasn’t so bad. I started out kind of faster than I’d planned, with a goal to stay around 10-minute miles. My first three were all 9:45 or lower, and by mile 4 I was starting to feel tired already. I’m sure running the 10K the day before contributed to that. I purposefully made myself slow down more and the race pack started thinning out.
Maybe around miles 5-6 a windy mist started hitting us in the face, and that lasted about 20 minutes, but it never started raining full force, which was a blessing. The only reason my shoes got wet was because I missed a puddle at one point and accidentally stepped in it.
At one point we ran past a playground that had a short path around it. I remembered back to Christmastime in 2010, my husband had been playing ultimate frisbee with some other guys at that playground, and while they played, I ran around that short path over and over and over again. I was training for my very first half marathon at the time. It was a nice feeling to see that path for the first time in almost four years, running my 10th half marathon when I had at the time been training for my 1st. Full circle, I guess.
At mile 8.5 we got on the riverfront path that would take us all the way back to downtown Shreveport. This was a little bit of a challenge mentally because the scenery wasn’t very exciting, and I’ve run the path several times so I recognized all of the landmarks and knew just how much longer it was going to be. I do have to say, the volunteers working the aid stations were wonderful and very encouraging as we passed, and I know it couldn’t have been their #1 choice to be out there in the freezing cold and wetness. There were only a few spectators on the course, but I don’t really get a boost from spectators so that didn’t bother me.
We got back to downtown and left the riverfront path, heading back up a hill to the finish line. I had felt some pressure to stay under 10-minute miles and not let people pass me during the race, which was stupid considering it was just part of a training run for me. But I was very happy to see my finishing time of 2:07:XX, and felt very good about being able to do my remaining four miles at a very slow pace with no feelings of pressure or awareness about anyone else around me.
Post-race scene – kind of wet.
My hands started freezing almost immediately after I stopped running, so I took a few photos, looked around, then headed back to my car to get some gloves and take off my bib and medal before heading back out to do four more miles. It was still dreary but clear and free of rain, so I went back to the riverfront which I had just come from and did 2 miles, then turned around and headed 2 miles back to my car.
Unfortunately, when I checked the race results today, I was not listed on there. I don’t know if my chip wasn’t activated or was the wrong one for my bib or what, but I definitely had the chip on the whole time – they stopped me at the finish line and cut it off my shoe and everything. I emailed the race organizers to see if they could find out my information, but if the chip didn’t work I don’t see what they can do. My Garmin said 2:07:23, but there was no starting mat and I don’t remember exactly what the finish line clock said – something between 2:07:25 and 2:07:29 – so I don’t know what my chip time would be. Oh well. It doesn’t really matter. Based on the results I would have been like 9th in my age group. No big deal.
Edited to add: I never received a response from the email I sent, but I checked the results again a few days later and I was listed this time! Chip time = 2:07:27. My halves were almost identical!
Also, there was a short little article in the local newspaper about the race – I guess I can officially classify myself as “hard core” now!
Deep South Runner 