Spring Races

 After Around the Bay at the end of March, I ran the Toronto Marathon at the beginning of May. After ATB I was tired and fell off the training bandwagon instead of using ATB as a jump off.  I was still running, but not doing the speedwork, etc. I should have been doing.  I was hurting for about 2 weeks before ATB and finally bought new shoes after and it made a world of difference.  I have 2 marathons this year-Toronto in the spring and Chicago in the Fall.  

So, I made the decision to use Toronto as a measuring stick.  I knew I wouldn't get the under 4 hours I really wanted, but figured I'd run it the best I could and figure out how much speedwork I needed to do before Chicago. 

I ended up with 4 hours 12 minutes which I'm perfectly happy with. My very first marathon in 2014 was 4 hours 29 minutes and my 2nd marathon last summer was 4 hours 22 minutes (same deal, trained by running a lot but not a strict training plan).  For reference during covid I did two training cycles to run 2 marathons on my one.  One was around our town and I planned and trained it down to the minute and ended up with 3 hours 52 minutes (I would need 3 hours 40 minutes at my age to qualify for the Boston Marathon) and the other was Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It was in November but ended up being 70 degrees that day and I got 4 hours 1 minute.

By all accounts, as long as I can keep from being injured and do some speed training I should be able to get my under 4 hour marathon in  Chicago. I've added mileage and been doing some trackwork so I am slowly getting faster (as you'll see ahead).

I drove up with my track coach who was running the 10k the day before to get our race packets with our bibs, shirts, etc.  We did a slow run to get an idea of the start/finish line.

The day of the race was nice and cool, but started to rain about 75% of the way in and get chilly and windy by the waterfront. I did run the entire way (walking when I got water at aid stations, but running otherwise). But I got it done and got this giant medal and a banana. I got 33/78 Female 40-44; 220/500 Female; 942/1639 overall. Solid middle of the pack performance.

Next up was Rugged Raccoon.  I wanted some night trail experience and figured a race in the dark that was well marked and had aid stations was a good place to start.  It was 25K. I ran it with my running partner and we finished in 2 hours 52 minutes. 

It was a very nice course around the lake. I may want to do the race again in the daytime next year as it was pretty in the dark and I imagine it's lovely in the daytime as well! 

After Rugged Raccoon was the 12 mile creek 1/2 marathon trail race that our local running club puts on. I came in first female!  About 5 km in a couple who was watching on the sideline noted, "you are the first female" I slowed and asked them to repeat it. Then I said, "are you s**tting me right now???"  and decided to race.  See, I'd done a 30km run the day before so this was just supposed to be a double race for a much longer race I'm training for. But if I was doing that well and feeling good, I may as well do it right!  So I took off!  At all the aid stations they assured me I was still the first female that had come through!  

Next up was the Solstice Race-racing 15 hours from sun up to sun down as a relay team of 5.  The course is 4k and some people do the entire thing by themselves, 1/2 solstice, 1/4 solstice or 1/8 solstice.  We ran all day but only one of us at a time and ended up with about 35k each and our team got 171km total.  I felt it went well personally, last year it took me 22-24 minutes to complete each lap and this year I was finishing the laps in 20-22 minutes.