Race Recap: Caesar Rodney Half Marathon

This Sunday I ran the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon to kick off the spring race season and my attempt to join the Half Fanatics! I was so worried about this race beforehand. I know that the Caesar Rodney course is notoriously difficult due to the hills, but on top of that, I didn’t fully train for this race. I ran 7 miles twice in preparation for this endeavor, which was the longest distance I ran, and my other runs were sporadic to say the least. I was kicking myself for signing up for this race that requires winter training until I took the time to think about why I was running it in the first place.

There is a fun looking new race in Philly this spring called the Love Run, but I chose the earlier, harder race of the two because it is for the American Lung Association, which is an organization I wanted to support. I have also run a race to benefit LUNGevity before for the same reason. An amazing woman who influenced me greatly growing up died from lung cancer despite having never been a smoker. It’s simple, if you have lungs and you breathe, then you can develop asthma, chronic bronchitis, or even lung cancer. Cara was an amazing and strong woman, and I ran, once again, in her memory.

I had started off slow. My AMAZING husband took me to the race, and he assured me that I could make it and that it was fine to just take it slow. I decided that the best way to accomplish that was to place myself at the verrrry back of the starting corral, and lose myself in a podcast of This American Life. I wasn’t exactly lost in it with a woman confidently and almost effortlessly speed walking next to me. She assured me that it was only because she has long legs that she was able to keep up with my “running” pace. I told her I need to get some of those!

I nearly drown at the first few water stations because I attempted to drink from those paper cups while running, but it turns out I still suck at that. I started walking through the water stations by mile 8 because I didn’t want to be the first dry land drowning victim at a half marathon. Besides those water stops and half of the monstrous hill at the end, I didn’t have to walk at all. I finally did a half marathon without doing a run-walk the whole time. I usually get passed by a whole bunch of people in the second half of the race, but this time, I got to be the one passing people as I slowly gained speed! I ran a negative split, and I set a new PR since I didn’t have to run-walk!

All in all, I had a great experience running the Caesar Rodney Half, despite the challenging course. It was a great start to my spring racing season this year, and I am looking forward to my next two races in my quest to get in Half Fanatics!

The training wheels are off!

Ok, I started the week streaking and feeling torn between all the different goals I had for myself and my running this year. Of course, it is pretty clear by now that I bite off more than I can chew, but it seems that I am starting to learn how to back down and make smart choices to reach my goals. I originally decided around the beginning of December that I would try to run outside at least once a week in the winter. I usually switch over to spinning and aerobics classes in the winter, so the fact that I streaked for 43 days in the middle of the snowiest winter Philadelphia has ever seen, I am going to chalk that up as a win. I may do another streak at the end of the year, but I have some time to figure that out.

I thought I was ready to take the training wheels off, and maybe I wasn't completely ready, but I just have to suck it up and get up and running. I took THREE whole rest days in a row when I stopped my streak, which was a little bit too much rest if I'm being honest. When I was streaking, I didn't think, "hmm, it's pretty cold...maybe I won't run today." When I was streaking, I just layered up and headed out the door. There was no real question about whether or not I would run, it was just a matter of how far. It's time for me to get back on my half training schedule! My first big goal for this year is to run 3 half marathons in 90 days to meet the Half Fanatics requirements for the Neptune level membership!

I will recap my streak by sharing just a few of my favorite pictures from my streak instagram project!

Undecided

Holy turmoil, Batman! I am seriously struggling with making decisions these days. My husband says it's because I am perpetually, irrationally disappointed in my accomplishments. He's probably right, but I am still having a hard time listening to him and everyone else who has advised me over the past week. My brother Joe told me to focus on one goal for this year with my running. My boss, and super-runner, Terry told me to focus in on which goal is most important to me. Two of my co-workers, Sheila and Mark, both told me to chalk the streaking up as a win and move my focus to my other goals. I am just so stubborn...and perpetually, irrationally disappointed in myself, that I am finding it hard to let go.

So, how did the streaking start, and what are my goals for this year? The streaking started as a friendly competition between the staff members at my work. I work for a running specialty store, so you can imagine that I took the challenge on full-force. According to the guidelines of the competition, I officially won today. I completed day 41 streaking, but that is not enough for me for some reason. Probably because I decided last minute that I would also make that my New Year's resolution. I have all kinds of ankle, knee, and Achilles pain with the streaking I am doing, but I am so torn up over the prospect of quitting. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of days when I don't want to run, it's not necessarily the anticipated loss of my coveted daily run. And let's be clear, I love running, but I am just really starting to feel drained.

Since deciding that I would streak this year, I decided to try to meet the initial (Neptune) qualifications for the Half Fanatics club. So I am now trying to get everything lined up to run three half marathons in 90 days this spring. Along with running those three half marathons, I am trying to set a ridiculously impossible new half PR. Keep in mind that I am only on the second week of training for the first of three half marathons, and I am feeling like these new goals on top of streaking is seriously going to be detrimental overall. I have never attempted streaking before, and I have never run more than one major race in a racing season before either, so I can't help but feel like I have taken on too many things at once in true Michelle style. On the other hand, I just keep feeling like quitting the streak would be failing.

Well, I'm not sure where to go from here because I really thought that writing it all out would lead to a clear conclusion. It seems that I was wrong because I still feel just as torn as I was when I started writing this. I guess I will be posting an update at the end of the week!

Training and Racing and Streaking! Oh my!

It's that time again! Spring race season will soon be upon us, so training starts tomorrow. As of right now, I have two half marathons and a five miler on the books for this spring. I am not necessarily going to be doing speed workouts for the first of the two half marathons, but I will be continuing to STREAK, so the rest days will actually still be running days for me. The designated "walk" on race week of this schedule will also be a run for me. I am pumped for my half marathon in March because my Anything For 10 sister, Grace, will be joining me again! I will be running the five miler with a co-worker, and then it looks like the second half this spring will be my solo race to focus on smashing my current half PR.

Today was day 32 streaking! I have been Instagramming my streak, so if you want to keep up with me more frequently than my blogging currently allows, then follow me on Instagram @mdickersonruns! I am also sure that training will lead to more introspection and crazy encounters for your enjoyment here on my blog.