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Middletown Half Marathon Training Run

I have the “hilly” Middletown Half Marathon on my schedule for next Sunday and it’s been haunting me lately.  I haven’t done long runs as religiously lately because of my ankle.  But I wanted to get in a decent 10 miler before the race weekend so I wasn’t going to the race completely unprepared.  I think back to when I was training for my first half marathon in 2012 and how I was do diligent about getting in my training runs and how dedicated I was to following Jeff Galloway’s plan to the T.  Now I have slacked off a bit.  I am not expecting this race to be pretty; but I am hoping to complete it under 2:45.  That’s not a good number for me.  My best half is a 2:25 finish and that was 2 years ago.  If I can survive this half marathon and my leg recovers from it pretty quickly then I am going to sign up for the Cheshire Half Marathon which will take place 2 weeks after the Middletown Half.  I’m trying to listen to my body and let this injury heal.  I’m trying not to push it in terms of speed so that I can do the races and still walk the next day.  So there is a good chance that I can do Cheshire because I feel pretty good now after completing my 10 mile run.

middletown

According to the stats, it was slow, but I did that intentionally.  I didn’t push too hard and I chose a hilly route so I can prepare myself mentally as well as physically for the hills.  I woke up so late this morning – 10:00!  But I needed that sleep.  I tried not to get upset that I slept so late, then made my tea and had my oatmeal and mapped out my route.  I was on the road by noon.  It was a really nice Spring day.  It was very windy but it didn’t bother me and the sun felt good.  I had my jacket on for the first 2 miles but was able to take it off and felt comfortable.  The first 2 miles were a little hard for me because my leg was stiff; but I used pre-tape spray and rock tape today to hold it together and it worked out well.  By mile 3 I was warming up but had the hills to conquer between miles 3 and 4.  At one point I had to stop and catch my breath because the hills were kicking my butt.  I tried not to walk too much of the hills and kept with my 30/30 intervals.  But I think with this recent onset of fatigue I am experiencing it did kick me in the ass a little as I was going up the hills.  I verbally said to myself out loud “I can do this!”  I needed to remind myself of what I am capable of and I have been injured before and pushed through it.  This was minor.

Around mile 5 I felt like I had a little spring in my step.  Suddenly the running felt light again and I didn’t feel like I was struggling.  So I tried to hold on to that feeling and kept moving forward.  That was the mantra that was running through my mind today, just move forward.  I chose a route that I hadn’t run in a long time because I wanted a change of scenery and to give my brain something to be distracted by.  As I ran towards my “old running route” it was refreshing to see the things on the side of the road that I used to see every day.  I saw my duck pond on Maltby Lane, I saw friends on another street that waved to me and my friend driving down the road beeped to me.  That was cool!

When I had 2 miles left I had to keep reminding myself that I was almost done and was doing well for not having had a long run since the Princess Half Marathon in February.  I felt confident that Middletown now isn’t as scary as it seemed to me a week ago and I am looking forward to the pre-race activities on Saturday with a 3 mile run with Jeff Galloway and then his running workshop in the afternoon and also the chance to meet Katherine Switzer and also see Amby Burfoot again!  I blogged about her a year ago to date when I was doing my Boston Marathon themed blog posts.

So I’m happy and feel encouraged about Middletown now and I also feel good to have this 10 mile run under my belt.  Looking forward to some good days ahead!  The Spring weather was also a great mental boost for me as well.  Who else is running the Middletown Half next weekend?  Hope to see you there!

 

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