Roller Coasters

It's been a roller coaster of emotions deciding what to do about my upcoming race.  Full marathon or half marathon?  I just couldn't decide.  After sitting down to weigh the pros and cons, it became clear that I had to downgrade to the half marathon.  Even if I could push myself without injury, I was still looking at a brutal training schedule and would not have enjoyed the experience.  In the end, there is no need to risk injury or take the fun out of running just to complete a marathon right now.  I am young and know that I will run a marathon when the timing is right.  Thank you to all of my readers who helped me reach this decision.

Now that I have made the official switch, I am thrilled to announce that I will be running my third half marathon this October.  I'm picking up new shoes this week and am looking forward to starting my new and improved training schedule.  I have a full 7 weeks to finish building my miles, which shouldn't be hard with my new shoes.  For each race, I always try to set a personal challenge for myself.  My goal for my previous two half marathons was just to finish, which I did.  This time though, I'm going for speed.  My goal is to PR so that I can say that I ran a half marathon in under 2:45.  I know that I can do it.  So here's to my fastest half marathon time yet!

In addition to my roller coaster of emotions, I hit up some real life coasters yesterday.  Scott and I decided to take a day for ourselves and headed up to Cedar Point.  We could not have asked for a better day.  The weather was gorgeous: 80 degrees, lots of sunshine, and a nice breeze from Lake Erie. 

I haven't visited Cedar Point since I was a teenager so the park felt so new to me.  There were so many coasters that either weren't there the last time I visited or had too long of a line to bother with that I felt a little overwhelmed.  I'm a roller coaster fanatic so we needed a plan of attack if we were going to ride all the new stuff.  Luckily, the park wasn't very busy so the lines were short for many of the rides.  We even got to ride to best two coasters in the park twice:  Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster.

The biggest adventure of the day was riding the Top Thrill Dragster.  According to Cedar Point, the ride goes from 0-120 MPH in only 4 seconds and shoots you 420 feet in the air and right back down.  The whole ride lasts only 17 second but it was amazing.  I cannot even begin to describe the rush that I felt on this coaster as well as after the ride when I stood under it and realized just how tall it is.  If you visit Cedar Point, this ride is definitely worth waiting in line for.

Has anyone else set a goal to PR at a specific race during training or did your PR just come as a pleasant surprise?

What's your favorite amusement park?  Any other roller coaster fans out there? 

Heather

Bad Shoes = Bad News

Do you remember how I said that my feet were killing me during the Cap City Half in May?  I blamed the pain on my new Brooks Ghost 4 running shoes not being broken in yet.  Unfortunately, the shoes never felt right and I have been struggling with soar feet and shin splints as I have attempted to break them in.  After taking weeks off from running to let my shins heal, I have decided that my shoes are to blame.

I've been on the search for new shoes but have found that I like the Brooks Ghost 5 the best.  I know they are a new design so they aren't the same as the Ghost 4, but am I crazy to buy them since I've had so much trouble with my current Brooks.  They really do feel the best out of every shoe I've tried on.

At this point, I'm just dying to get back out there and need shoes now.  My running store has a 90-day run and love or run and return policy so I can always return them if I have the same problem.  My issue is that the Columbus Marathon is in 2 months and I'd really like to have my new shoes broken in ahead of time.  If I don't like these, I'm worried that I will be left with little to no time to break in the replacement pair before my race.

Another problem I'm facing is that I am so far behind on my training schedule that I don't think I'm going to be able to run the full marathon.  I'm scared that I will strain myself by trying to build the miles at this point, but hate the thought of downgrading to the half.  Realistically, I think I could finish a full with a 18 or 20 mile long run under my belt but would have to train hard to get there.  I'm not sure that I can push that hard coming off of these shin splints.  I have until August 31st to make my decision so I'm trying to weigh my pros and cons.

Any words of wisdom on shoes?
Has anyone else had to downgrade or drop a race?

Heather

Training for My First Marathon

I am excited (and a little terrified) to announce that I am officially registered to run my first marathon.  Holy crap, I am going to run a marathon!  Actually declaring my intentions to the world is a little terrifying.  I used to struggle with a single mile and now I'm voluntarily signing up to run 26.2.  While I do have two half marathons under my belt, I'd hardly say that I'm a running pro.  Running a marathon is just one of those things that I never thought that I could do, so this October 21, 2012 I'm going to attempt what I once thought was impossible.

I have been running but am definitely behind on my training schedule due to studying for the Bar Exam.  I'm doing a modified version of Hal Higdon's Novice 1 Marathon Training Guide since I had 14 weeks to train instead of 18.  However, now that I'm 10 weeks out from the race, it's time to push for those higher miles so that I can finish the race.  

As part of my motivation, I am running the race for the shelter that we adopted Ellie from; the Union County Humane Society.  I set up a fundraising page and can't wait to see how much I can raise for them.

Do you have a favorite charity that you run for?  Any advice on training with a modified training schedule?

Heather

I'm Back!

Sorry for the extended and unexplained absence from my blog.  I decided it was best to take some serious time away from the internet to study and prepare for the Ohio Bar Exam.  I am happy to announce that I completed the 3-day test on July 24th, 25th, and 26th.  I can now get back to a normal life while I wait over 3 months to get my results.  I will admit that some of the essay questions where extremely hard while others didn't seem so awful.  Overall, I feel like I did well but only time will tell.  Fingers crossed until October 26, 2012.

Now that I have free-time again, I have been enjoying every second of it.  The weekend after the Bar, Ellie and I went hiking at one of our favorite metro parks.  We love it because it features miles of beautiful hiking trails, as well as an off-leash dog park and swimming area.  Although Ellie is a lab/pointer mix, she's always been a little timid about getting into the water.  However, it was very hot when we went so she gladly splashed around but only let the water go up to her belly.  Maybe one day she will enjoy taking a nice swim.

Ellie, the adventure dog!

In addition to spending our days going on outdoor adventures, Ellie and I have been getting in a lot more runs each week so I am excited to start building our miles back up again.  This weekend we even attended the Run Fur Hope 5K to benefit the Union County Humane Society, where we adopted Ellie from.  However, we only acted as volunteers since I didn't realize we could run and volunteer :)  Either way we had a blast supporting my favorite non-profit. 

After spending the morning at the Run Fur Hope, I also ventured to the Dublin Irish Festival this weekend to enjoy music, dancing, booze, and amazing festival food.  I had never been before, but had a blast so we will definitely be going back next year.  Unfortunately fried foods and beer, means that I didn't get in a good weekend run so I'm hoping to hit the pavement tonight.

Do you have a local festival that you love attending each year?

Heather