Race pic

This is from the Kentucky derby half. I think I was saying, "oh, me, oh my, my knee hurts!"

 

Product review

I bought this belt at the expo last weekend in Louisville. Love it.

I think they probably sell them at all the big races. $20 for one $35 for two. One large expandable (stretchy) pocket (fits any size phone) and a smaller one. My keys fit in it. Also has two elastic loops on each side to hold GUs. I'm not sure the other energy gels will fit too well but I haven't tried them.

I wore it in the race and it tended to ride up on my waist a bit, but it wasn't really annoying although It feels better at my hips. I think I could have tightened it a bit and it would have been fine. I walked using it tonight and it was great. I hardly knew it was there. It also came with two clips to use for your race bib. No more pinning the bib to your shirt.

This is the other belt (below) I've used for about a year now. I like it too, but when the weather is warm it just feels too hot. It also tends to ride up to my waist. It has four slits to slide in your phone, keys, gels, etc. however, they are much more difficult to get out than the new belt. In fact, it is a big hollow tube so you could really put a lot of stuff inside.

After using both, my favorite is the smaller and more narrow one. Do you use a belt to hold your stuff when you run?

 

Kentucky Derby MiniMarathon

There were 11581 half marathoners. I was in corral E and as you can see in the picture, the start line isn't even visible. You can see D corral but not, C, B, or A. There was also corrals F, G and I believe H and I.

I've been wanting a shirt with the Hebrews verse about running on it. Loved that this guy had it! Also liked the Philippians verse hanging on the overpass.

Churchill downs was when I really started having a lot of trouble with my knee. It began hurting around mile five and by this time I was in pain!

I completed it. That is about all I can say. I kept hoping the endorphins would kick in, but nope, they didn't. At least not enough to see me through the 13.1 miles. As you can see from my time below, I ended up walking a lot from mile 9 on. I forgot to turn off my Garmin. My official time was 2:45:54 with an average pace of 12:40. Just a tad more than my first half marathon……but I am already talking about doing this one again next year and for us to make a weekend out of it. We can get a room in one of the downtown fancy hotels for a couple of nights. Then Jim can watch from the balcony! And I will be in better shape to blast this time.

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 2:48:30.6 13.22 12:45 1 12:03.3 1.00 12:03 2 11:31.7 1.00 11:32 3 11:17.4 1.00 11:18 4 11:27.9 1.00 11:28 5 11:54.2 1.00 11:54 6 12:08.8 1.00 12:09 7 12:07.6 1.00 12:08 8 11:56.9 1.00 11:57 9 13:50.1 1.00 13:50 10 13:16.6 1.00 13:17 11 14:31.3 1.00 14:31 12 14:00.5 1.00 14:01 13 13:59.5 1.00 14:00 14 4:24.9 0.22 19:41

My official place was 8840 of 11581 and 156/349 in my age group (55-59), and 4849 of 6961 women.

......but this was the highlight of my trip......love this little girl!

 

Friday long run

Hot, hot, hot....and slow.......when I downloaded my info I couldn't believe it was only 66 degrees. Felt like 80. My stomach didn't feel too good for most of the run so I was really slow. Too bad I didn't wear my heart rate monitor. I bet I kept it really low today. Did 8.5 miles at 5/1 intervals.

I wore some new shoes yesterday to work and noticed a little blood blister. It was fine last night but when I took off my running shoes today.....

Yuck. I really hardly felt it. In fact I noticed it when I was walking and doing errands before the run but not during the run.

....and my post run refreshment....

 

 

Next Half Marathon!

I am so excited!! Excited is really an understatement. After all my nervousness about my first half marathon two weeks ago, I am going to do another one. And it is a BIG one, I think about 14000 half marathoners. The Kentucky Derby half marathon.

My sweet, sweet hubby is taking me. He has a very busy fishing season planned this year, and I think he feels a little guilty for being gone fishing so much. Works for me!

And the icing on this cake is that I get to also see my baby girl granddaughter while we are there! She is growing so much and I can't wait to see that little smiling face.

I read where the elevation climb on the Knoxville half marathon I recently did was about 1000'. I knew it was hilly but for real? That seems a bit much. This one appears to be almost flat, maybe a climb of 40'? I've changed my strategy a bit to see if I can get a little bit faster. I am now doing 5/1 intervals. Five minutes of running to one minute of walking. Haven't really noticed any difference. I did 8 miles last week and plan to do 8 for my long run this week. Is that enough? Too much? My goal for this one will be to set a new PR, which will be anything less than 2:43. Surely I can do that. I walked all the hills in the last one.

We run through. Churchill Downs.....pretty cool..

 

Saturday Long Run

I enjoyed my first half marathon so much, I am wanting to keep in shape and find another one to do.  I mostly walked for 3 miles on Tuesday, did a 3 mile run on Thursday, and today I did 8 miles. Since the MAF training didn't seem to work for me, I made up my own thing.  I tried to start out very slow, but I am moving to 5/1 intervals.  Five minutes of running to one minute of walking.  It worked pretty good today. I felt strong enough at the end to step the pace up a bit.

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 1:38:40.9 8.00 12:20 1 12:44.2 1.00 12:45 2 12:42.8 1.00 12:43 3 12:33.9 1.00 12:33 4 12:46.3 1.00 12:46 5 12:34.7 1.00 12:35 6 11:58.9 1.00 11:59 7 12:01.7 1.00 12:02 8 11:18.3 1.00 11:17

Again

I wanted to get out and run tonight and I felt pretty good. So I did. Well, it was mostly walking. I tried the MAF heart rate training but I don't think I am fast enough to start with for it to work for me. After the first mile of mostly walking, the rest was all walking to keep my heart rate at 125. I ended up doing some very slow running the last little bit just because it felt good. I think I am going to stick with Jeff Galloway's method of doing your training runs significantly slower than your race runs. I think it must be based on the same science. Train at a slower pace to build endurance, or your aerobic base. Include a few faster runs so your body knows what the race pace feels like. Remember the word fast for me is relative.

I am ready to sign up for another half. There is another fairly local one in June, then one in December is pretty close too. I don't like spending all the time on the long runs, but I do want to see if I can improve my time...I'd love to shave off 15 minutes, for an even 2:30.

My friend bought me this magnet. Love it!