For a few weeks now I’ve been feeling like I’m building towards a big leap in fitness. After this week, I feel like I made it—not like I landed on the other side, and I’m some new crystalized being, but like I pushed off into open air.
I’m definitely not the runner I was in my last marathon build anymore. There’s too much evidence now. An unexpected course best at Sunset in June was one thing. A bad race, an illness, and an injury later, I made a smart pivot to the bike, which earned me another good race and a chance to start stacking bricks again. Still, there was no guarantee.
Another injury, another pivot, two blizzards, so many tempos on the treadmill, and here we are. I ran 83 minutes for a half marathon this Sunday, after a 7-mile warmup, and it felt like a workout. We have liftoff.
Five weeks left to land the plane, but right now it’s hard not to appreciate the view.
Monday: 7 miles at lunch, and my first set of strides in ages. It’s been even longer since I did them on grass. Got a freaky hamstring cramp while walking off the last stride, but thankfully it turned out to be nothing.
Tuesday: 8 easy in the morning, core at lunch.
Wednesday: 5 miles at tempo pace on the track with Wis. This went really well; we ran just under 6′ pace for the first 4 miles and closed a little harder. I felt fantastic and probably would’ve closed even harder without Wis talking sense from the next lane. 11 miles on the day. Missed strength in the afternoon for a work meeting.
Thursday: 12 miles at MLR effort in a dense, dense fog. A few times I had to turn around and run a different way because I just couldn’t see where I was going. It was like running in the Lost Woods from Legend of Zelda, if the Lost Woods also had cars. This wouldn’t have been so bad in Standard Time! But alas. On the bright side, 7′ pace felt really smooth.
Friday: 8 miles easy. Felt pretty sore after two hard days.
Saturday: 8 miles easy with Wis before our dress rehearsals: his at the United Airlines NYC Half, and mine at the March Madness Half Marathon in Newark. I was still feeling sore when I started, but loosened up nicely and felt pretty good by the end.
Sunday: 20 miles, with the last 13.1 coming at the March Madness Half Marathon. I finished a 7-mile “warmup” about an hour before the gun and took a gel to keep me energized. I took another one shortly before the race went off, then two more during the race itself at 4 and 8 miles.
The race went really well. Whether I’m getting fitter or my new racing shoes are just that good, 6:30 felt like a jog! I actually struggled to go slow enough to stick to my plan of maintaining goal marathon pace. Still, I did my best not to dig too deep for what was essentially a big workout. I ended up averaging 6:20 pace for an 83:07 second-place finish. More importantly, I finished feeling like I had more in the tank.
This was absolutely huge for my confidence going into Jersey City. I know I can make it halfway in 6:30s feeling really, really good. All that remains is to make sure I have the miles under me to finish strong. Speaking of which…
This Week: 74 miles. This week had a strong workout, a smooth MLR, and a great race, all at high mileage. It feels like everything is clicking right when it needs to be. Two more weeks of this, and then the taper starts.
Baby: My son has come down with another case of the sniffles, which this time includes a sore throat and hoarse voice. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem to mind it for most of the day, though by bedtime he is pretty out of gas.
He had a fun weekend with a visit from some good friends and their kids on Saturday, plus an always-appreciated visit from Grandma on Sunday. He is acting more and more like a toddler. We think he will be walking and finding his first words soon. He is also finding his feelings and learning to throw a proper tantrum when his favorite toy (a tube of diaper cream) is confiscated! This is less welcome but just as natural for his development, and we’re learning to work with it. Once he adds walking and talking to the mix, we’re going to have a lot more to learn!
theDNF 
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