13.1 Half Marathon

This past Sunday I ran the 13.1 half marathon here in Chicago. Race started and finished at Museum o Science at Washington Park. The weather could not be better. Perfect day for a race. My goal was to finish under two hours and I accomplished just that.... my official time was 1:53:18. Not bad!

4 DAYS TO GO

It's only 4 days away for the half marathon. Monday ran a 6 mile @8:33/mile which is really good. Tuesday was speedwork: 6x800M @ 3:40.

Today I cross trained. The rest of the week will be also light with 5 miles tomorrow, 6 on Friday an resting on Saturday.

13.1 Half Marathon

This coming Sunday will be my second marathon of 2009. On April 11 I ran the Illinois Marathon down in Champaign-Urbana and this Sunday it will be the newest half marathon in town, 13.1 Half Marathon (the same one that happens in Atlanta, Miami, and Ft. Lauderdale). The novelty on this race it will utilizing wave starts, which I have never experienced before on half marathon. We will see how this thing works. My goal for this race is to finish under 2 hours.

As far as training goes, this past Saturday was my longest mile since the full marathon. Ellen and I logged in 11 miles on Saturday. This week we will cut back a little. My weeks looks like this:

Monday- 5 miles (at 8:44/mile)
Tuesday - Speed workout
Wednesday - off
Thursday- 6 miles
Friday 4 miles
Saturday - rest
Sunday - race

Keep running.

Interview with Mark Robinson

As mentioned on several posts my friend and running partner is moving to Texas at the end of this month. As a matter of fact, all I have left is just a couple more days to enjoy his company while running. This is a guy who has ran so many marathons; know so much about running and who is a truly inspiration to many of us who know him. I, for one, will miss him dearly. As a matter of fact, running will not be the same without him. Unless of course, I move to Texas or join him for a few marathon in his new state. It its definitely a possibility. Well, I truly believe Mark can teach us a thing or two about races so I decided to dedicate this post to him. Instead of writing about him I decided to interview him so that he can share his experiences with us.What Read his interview below:


Q: Tell us about your very first marathon. Where? What year? What was your
time?

A: The first marathon I ever ran was the 19993 Chicago Marathon. It was a much smaller field back then. It was late October and snowing on marathon day. The wind was blowing in from the lake and we had a 4 mile out and back at the end of the race right along Lake Shore Drive. The freezing spray was horrid. The conditions were so bad that unknown to me as she was waiting for me to finish Sue was rehearsing reasons to give to explain why I didn’t finish. It was to be my only marathon ever and I wanted to finish it less than 5 hours. My official time was 4:59:59. I crossed the finish line and said never again. And here I am 35 marathons and two ultra’s later.


Q: Why do you run?

A: FUN. I started running because my doctor at the time said I had such a high stress level that if I didn’t find some release I would probably die. But that is a reason to run a few miles every day, not a reason to be out at 8 deg. F on a snowy morning running up and down hills. Some days I am not sure why I run. A lot of it is my type A personality. I am still trying to find out how far can I push the envelope. Every day I run I challenge my body to do more.

Q: How many marathon have you done?

A: 35.

Q: Which were your best or your favorite marathon and why?

A: If I had to give one favorite I would say Chicago when it was smaller. But I have so many race that I loved parts of. The most beautiful race I ever ran was Carsbad California. The best neighbor support was Green Bay. The most fun is Disney. I could list more also. Boston was Boston and for many of us it is the runners Nirvana, and it was mine too.


Q: What are the "dos" and "don't'" you would advise to new runners?
A: Don’t overtrain. Don’t add miles to quickly, Don’t think that just running will make you lose weight. I won’t. Don’t ignore injuries (but don’t confuse those aches and pains with injuries). The most important: Get a running partner. Train with a group, at least once a week. Do remember that this is supposed to be fun, it is a stress reliever. We are amateurs if running starts to give you more stress that it relieves find a new sport. Remember every time you go out in a race the only person you are really competing against is yourself. Enjoy the day.

Q: What is your motivation during a long run?

A: Running with my partner. A running partner makes the miles easier. I know this is her blog but even if it wasn’t having Sandra as a running partner has been one of the greatest experiences on my running life. We have challenged each other to go farther, faster and longer. We have alternately “carried” each other through those bad runs.


Q: As far as marathon, which ones are in your "to do" list?

A: Big Sur, and Sandra would never forgive me if I didn’t include Rio.


Q: What is the best part of your training?

A: The sense of accomplishment I get when the run is done.

Summer Races

Well, I am totally rested now from my last full marathon of April 11th down in Champaign-Urbana. Now it’s time to get back to training again for the next races on my schedule.

Fist one will be in a couple of weeks (June 7) - 13.1 half marathon. This race is Chicago’s newest half marathon. This same race happens every year in Miami, Atlanta and Ft. Lauderdale and now Chicago.

The second marathon on my schedule is another half, Rock’N’ Roll Half Marathon on August 2. This race finally arrived in Chicago. Other cities where you can run this race is San Diego and San José (California) San Antonio (Texas) and now Chicago. As a matter of fact there is a real cool twist on running this race. If you run all 4 of them within a calendar year you will become part of the “Rock’N’ Roll Hall of Fame and get a really nice medal for participating in all 4. I am really planning on running all 4 some time in the future.


The third half marathon will be the 13th Annual Chicago Half Marathon on September 13followed by a full marathon On September 19 in Dayton, Ohio (Air Force Full Marathon). I am not 100% sure if I am running or not yet. It will depend on two things:

1)If I am picked to run NY City marathon or not which I should know by July (hopefully).
2)And most important, if the orthotics that I will start using within a few weeks will eliminate the problems on my foot. I really need to get rid of this injury before trying to run another full marathon.

Another idea that I am “cooking “ at this time is if I don’t get picked to run NYC Marathon I will than run Air Force and than in November while in Europe on business travel to the city of Porto, Portugal to run an half marathon there. For now all is only this: a plan.

Update on foot Injury

This past Saturday I went back to see the Podiatrist to cast for the insole. I, of course asked doc so many questions.. would it really work? Will I be able to run a few marathon this summer? What if doesn't work? I think all these questions are really valid, right? It concerns me that the soreness on the bone of the ankle is still there even after 3 weeks after the race.

Doc believes that this thing will really work and if not I will have to go to a physical therapist; and the last resort would be to see an orthopedist. I just hope this will not be necessary.

I have so many plans for the months ahead. I am planning on running 2 or 3 half marathons during the summer. I have also signed up for the New York City marathon but don't really know if I will be called this year. I did mostly because my friend Ellen signed up as well and I would really love to run this one with her. The only small problem ( I hope it will be just a small one)is that when I signed up for this one I totally forgot that at the end of October I will be in Germany on business and if I am called to run this race I will have to to cut the trip short and don't even know if it will be possible. I was not thinking on I did it. Anyway, I should know by July if I am in or not; at least I hope so.

At the other hand, it would be a good thing that I am not called this year. If not called and since I am already in Germany I could run the marathon in Porto, Portugal which will will be on November 8Th. It would be a great opportunity to travel to Portugal. Even my husband might join me on this trip. He has been in Portugal about 20 years ago and is dying to see it again.

Visitign Portugal has been alway a dream to me. I have been in many countries in Europe but have never had a chance to visit this particular country. thanks to Miguel Paiva (blog "Maratonista") who told me about this race and suggested I run it while I am there.

Thank Miguel for suggesting this race. It would be a great opportunity to meet some of my Portuguese friends who are also runners.

Keep running!

Dinner Party for Mark

This past Saturday a few members of the ERC group got together for a surprise dinner party for Mark Robinson, my friend and partner of the paths. Mark will be moving for good to Texas at the end of this month so I and Ellen (left on picture) decided to hold a small gathering to honor Mark. Dinner was held at Ellen's house which by the way is gorgeous, and the people that attended were the ones Mak liked the most. We all had lots of fun, great food, great wine and enjoyed immensely having dinner with this absolutely great guy and great athlete. Mark, my hero and my friend.

Thanks Ellen for hosting this great "get together". It was just awesome.

Can't wait to go back running

On Tuesday I finally went to see a Podiatrist. I have been fighting this annoying soreness on the ankle bone on my feet for over a year. Actually since running Boston in 2007 to be honest. The thing is I could not take the time to really get this problem take care off due to so many races on my schedule. I kept telling myself that as long as I iced it after each run it would be ok. I was specting it to go away. Yeah right? wishes of a road runner crazy. And after Boston came a few other half's and than Chicago and puff!!! 2007 went by and than another year and more races..... Than I ran another 2 full marathon and the injury gets worse. Really, it's time to take care of this little bugger! so I said to myself: No more running for an entire 6 months; no winter training. First thing to do in 2009? see a doctor. Well, well, the year did not start that way. My running partner Mark, had signed up to run the inaugural race in Champaing-Urbana on April 11 which meant training during our harsh winter. Since I was the one that suggested him doing this one in the first place, I than signed up as well. So much for planning on resting this winter!!!. Well, doctor's visit would have to wait until the end of training season and race.

And training started. Gosh! it was not a easy one this time. Of course not!! this is CHICAGO!it'spected to be this way. First of all I hate running outdoors when is so damn cold and icy outside. I had sworn after Boston that I would never again train for another spring marathon and yet here I was doing it again. Plain crazy!! Not only I suffered thru a hard winter but also my feet was not helping at all. After each long run it would bother me for at least 3 days in a roll. Finally, I realized that if I did not take some time off to really heel I would not be able to race at all. Following advices of my ruining partner I skipped the last two weeks of training and my longest run on was 17 miles. Total training weeks for this race: 12.

At this point my goal for this marathon was just run it and if I had pain either I would stop or walk thru. that was, at the end, the best approach and a smart one. How the race went? well, not so fast.......it will be the subject of another post.

Oh, and the result of my visit to a Podiatrist? nothing really major. After taking X-Rays he determined that both akles looked pretty good but I tender to pronate a little bit which means I need a shoe with more cushinoning. I will have a custom-made orthopedic shoes insert that supposely, should fix my problem. I really hope so.

Another blog is born

Sometimes last year I decided to create a blog where I could share my experience, thoughts and mostly to keep an journal on this fascinanting world of road runners. When I created the blog "Running Girl" I never really thought that anyone would really care to read my posts which were basically an journal of my weekly training. What had just started just a jornal where I could write about my personal experiences and daily rountine become a real blog and followed by other fellow runners. How cool is that?

Since I am a Brazilian-American the most logical thing was to write my posts in English. It never really occured to me that other runners from other language other than English, much less Português, would be interrested in follow my blog which to me was really just a journal.

I guess I underestimated the power of the internet. A few month after I had created a blog I had several runners from both Brazil and Portugal not only reading my posts (thanks to online translation) but also following it daily. Today more than 30 runners from this two countries are following my blog. Quite amazing, indeed!.

I can only say that it has been an learning curve for me since I am new in this interesting world of blogs and a rewarding experience at the same time. Since creating this blog I have made several good virtual friends from both Brazil and Portugal. We follow each others blogs sharing knowledge, running tips, experience, and more than anything exchanging camaraderies. It's has been a truly joy meeting other runners from this two countries. Brazilians runners made me reconnect to my native country and the Portuguese are teaching me a thing or two about running, training and challenges we face as amateur athlets. Most of all it's great to share the same passion for this sport, even from a distance.

Now that I have learned a little more about blogs, it's time to have another page where I can write in English. It will quite challenging updating on a daily basis two blogs but I will try anyway.

Let's keep runnning.