Silver Strand 5 Minutes Faster

I PR'd at Silver Strand.  Runner's lingo for setting a personal record. Which is great.  2 minutes faster than my last half marathon.  And 5 minutes faster than when I did the same half marathon 2 years ago. So by mile I ran the race at a 10:10 pace and 2 years ago at a 10:35 pace. It seems like such a small difference; 25 seconds per mile faster.  But man is that hard.  I ran as hard as I could the whole race.  I spent a lot of time looking down at my watch checking my pace.  And at the end I felt a bit nauseated.  All for 5 minutes.  Have I mentioned that this running thing is hard?  Not that I am complaining.  I had a good time.  And I actually ran close to 16 miles this race as my coach had me run for 20 minutes before the race and then 20 minutes after.  Though I was so wasted by the end of the race that I only ran about 13 minutes after the race.  Really I hobbled for 13 minutes after the race.

The starting line n Coronado

Before each race they have the National Anthem

One amazing thing about this race compared to other half marathons I have done is that 2 days later I ran 5 miles, the next day 4 miles and the next day 7 miles.  All with no issues or pain or soreness. (well almost- my right big toe still hurts a bit).  It is exciting to see improvement and to develop strength and endurance I never knew I had. That is probably what this is all about.  I like pursuing a goal.  Right now it is a physical goal.  And I love having a coach take away the mystery of the process and just lay it out for me.  It was the same with pursuing a medical degree.  Just do this and do that and you will get there.  (with just a bit of work, of course).

I run with my hands open like that. It looks funny.

Here are some interesting statistics from Runner's World in 2012.  I like the first statistic the best. If I actually accomplish this thing, and that is still an unknown, it will be pretty cool to be in that 0.5% group.

Marathon Statistics
Percent of the U.S. population that has run a marathon	0.5 %
Record time for the fastest marathon ever run	2:03.59 hours
Total number of U.S. marathons held annually	570
Total number of people who finished a marathon in 2011	551,811
Average amount of people who finished an individual marathon in 2011	171
Total percent of people who finished in a top 10 marathon in U.S. and Canada	37%
Total percent of decrease in marathon runners in 2011	45%
Total number of marathons ran on May 1st, 2011	24
Total number of marathons ran on October 16th, 2011	23
Total fee the for the New York City marathon	$255
Average cost to run a marathon	$67
Number of marathons that cost over $100 to enter	41
Average number of sneakers a marathon runner goes through during training	2
Average number of calories a woman burns during a marathon	2,880
Number of miles in a marathon	26.2 miles
Average amount of time per mile for the fastest marathon ran	5:10 minutes
Average number of miles ran per week during marathon training	40 miles

Tomorrow I will be doing a training run called Yasso's 800s. First I will do a 20 minute warm up and then I will do 8 rounds of 800 meters at a 9:04 pace (ouch, that is fast for me!) In between each 800 meters (2 laps around the track) I will jog or even walk 800 meters as, per my coach, I need to be fully rested between each fast round.  Then at the end I'll run another 20 minutes of a warm down.  I'm looking forward to doing it.

The guy behind me with the pack on played his music out loud and it bugged me but I ran ahead of him.

Then we are off to the desert for a few days for a little vacation.  I'll be running out there too, of course.  Hopefully I can find a safe place to run.  I need to run 100 minutes on Sunday and 70 minutes on Tuesday.  I get freaked out in the desert when I get too far away from camp.  But I am sure I'll figure something out.

Greeted by my favorite fan right before the Finish Line

Thanksgiving is almost here and I am super excited. It is going to be a different celebration this year.  More on that to come.

Tags: what is the average time it takes to run a marathon?, how many people run a marathon each year?, how many people finish a marathon each year?, what is the most expensive marathon fee?, what is the average marathon fee?, how many miles does a marathon runner travel during training?, how many miles are in a marathon? what percent of the population has run a marathon

Still running...

Cross training with the family in Austria

Kelly keeps bugging me on why I haven't written on my blog and how annoying it is when people start a blog and then don't keep it up so here I am once again.  And though they have nothing to do with my running or what I am writing about below I put in a bunch of Europe photos since I haven't been taking very many running pics lately and besides Europe is the best!

Beautiful Salzburgerland

So much has happened since my last post many moons ago.  Let's see... how many injuries from running can I discuss in tedious detail.  Hip, ouch that one hurt, sharp and also dull.  Visits to the primary care doc and to the physical therapist and lots of focused exercises on my butt and the hip is surprisingly and happily much better.  And the plantar's fasciitis, again, involved the primary care doctor and the podiatrist and lots of exercises and stretching and also has almost completely disappeared.  And now my big toe hurts but I am pretty sure that will get better too.

I loved running in the morning in the streets of Paris

Mummies at the British Museum

It probably seem ridiculous to non runners.  Why do this when one injury seems to pop up just as another resolves?  Oh, and then all the mornings of waking up at 4:30 or 5:00 to get a 6 mile run in the dark before work starts.  How is that fun?  And then there are the aches and all the time spent rolling my muscles and taking epsom salt baths or even better taking ice baths.

Somebody photo bombed my selfie at the Louvre!

All of this just to run 26.2 miles.  Twenty six point two long miles.

Taking a break on a long bike ride

Nutella on a waffle as a bribe to visit Westminster Abbey

The best thing I have done though was to get a coach.  I, honestly, think I would have quit this quest by now if it wasn't for her help.  She has guided me through the aches and pains.  And every day she has a training run set out for me in detail.  Last week I ran a total of 49.3 miles.  I never thought I would run that much.  And we are just starting to up the ante as we get closer to the big day.  The Carlsbad Marathon, January 18, 2015.  Five days after I turn 50.

At The Lion King, which was AWESOME!

As seen on my run in Vienna

But first a lot more miles in the dark, on the track, on the trails and around the neighborhood.  And I will also be doing a couple of half marathons (Silver Strand this weekend) before Carlsbad.  I just pray not too many more injuries come up before then.  I hope my 49 year 10 month old body can make it as the miles pile up.

I love these boys!!