After looking at a calendar after finishing the Around the Bay race, I realized that I don’t have that much time left until I run my first marathon. Thankfully I didn’t injure anything in the race so returning to more serious training was not as hard as I thought it would be.
Last weekend, I did a 11 mile run which marked my first longer run since the race. It felt great. I actually only meant to run 10 but I got confused about how far away from my house I was. I realized my mistake after I hit my turn around point.
This week I ran home from work (the long way) and did 8.6 miles on Tuesday. I got a nasty scratch from my running bag because every other time I have worn it, I’ve had my coat on. Now I know to make sure my shoulders are covered. I also ran home Thursday. I biked to and from work on Friday! It was a lot of fun biking. I’m lucky to be able to just take a path to work, otherwise I would be too scared to bike on roads.
Anyways so I got some good work outs in during the week and prepared for a long run on Sunday. I stayed at my parents house in Stittsville because we went out for my dad’s birthday on Saturday and it was easier. Also I think they were dragging all of the huts out of the canal and some of the paths would have delays.
I talked to my best friend and we decided we would go out for lunch in the afternoon so I set out relatively early to get back at a reasonable time. I had it in my head that I would attempt a 30km run to mentally get over the last one. But I wasn’t sure if my legs were ready to go that far so I planned my route so I could turn around if necessary.
The route I took was most just following the trans Canada trail so I could run on a soft surface.
It was pretty dusty out there! I made it from Stittsville all the way out to bells corners. For those of you not native to the Ottawa region, there is a nice, long hill going from Kanata into bells corners. I thought this would add a nice challenge.
I won’t bore you with the details of my run (because mostly I just saw other runners out for a stroll – and I saw a bunny) but I crushed my race time. I made it to 30km in 3:25:57.
This is a 17 minute improvement on my race time- and I wasn’t trying to go fast. I’m glad I did this because now I’m sure my race woes were caused from being sick and not from undertraining.
It was also fitting that I did my better 30k in the race shirt from Around the Bay. And it was nice running with the “Older than Boston” quote on my back knowing that people were resting up for the Boston Marathon today.
I’m also surprised at the recovery for this run. I was stiff in the morning, but it’s not nearly as bad as what it was like after the race. I foam rolled with my new pink roller.
The only thing I’ve noticed is that my right foot is a little sore. It feels stiff and it hurts to lift my big toe. I’ve had this feeling before and I think it’s from tying my shoes too tight. I’m icing it and hoping it’s nothing serious.
It was an exciting weekend and I’m starting to think this marathon isn’t total unreasonable for me to finish. A few more weeks of smart training and I should be ready to go!!
Engineer Runner Girl 