Madison, MS Run For Life Marathon - training run

MissZippy has a cool giveaway going on here

This week my long run was a LSD (long slow distance) run in Madison, MS @ The Run For Life Marathon.  Madison is a little over 2 hours from home, so Fri., Terri and I headed out with a plan to do a little shopping.  I am not much of a shopper, but I can get excited about a trip to Academy Sporting Goods anytime.  As I headed out, I stopped to check the mail, and to my surprise, I had a coupon for Academy....SWEET!  Let's Shop!

First we went to pick up our packets, then we drove the race course.  We were starting to get a little nervous about the hills in the early part of the race, but all of the sudden the course flattened and stayed that way for several miles, maybe even for half of the, half marathon course (the marathon is a 2 loop course - which I am not the biggest fan, and about 1/2 hills and 1/2 flat - maybe????)

After driving the course we headed to Academy.  Success!  Nike yoga pants for winter, Nike visor for running, and stocked up on Accel  gels.  I have been using Gu for years, but in the spring I started experimenting with the Accel gels.  I can't say that I can tell any difference, but the Accel gels have protein in them.  I have read several times recently that the protein can aid in muscle recovery while you are running.   I have no idea if it's true or not, but just in case, I will likely continue with the protein gels.

Terri stayed with a friend, and I headed to the hotel early Fri evening.  Let me just say, I carb loaded for, I'm sure, a 50 mile race.  The dinner of choice, cheesy bread and fig newtons (don't judge - the cheesy bread worked at St. George)
Race start time 7:00 am
Race temp just before race time 57 degrees.

1st loop

Sunrise

You see the "training run" in the title.  So the goal today was to run slow, take pics, and have fun.  I had mentioned prior to the race that I would run around 10:00 min pace, but that was flexible.    So around mile 1, I asked a runner what her goal was for today, and she said 4:30.  Great!  So we talked and ran together until around mile 12.  She is from Columbia, MS (about 25 min from me).   This was her 2nd marathon, and her first was 8 years ago @ Disney.  Around mile 12, she needed to stop to stretch (she has some IT band issues).  So I continued on my way.   We were at 10:20 avg. pace.  I started picking it up a little, but then decided to wait until the half to pick it up.  So I hit 13.1 with an avg. pace of 10:20. 

 the 2nd loop - yes, now - a solo training run

We Interrupt this story for a VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE.....  I just looked at the results, and I won Masters and won $250.00.  SWEET!  When I left today, they only had the top 3 overall men's and ladies results.  I noticed that if I had "raced", I could have possibly placed 3rd, IF I had a really good day.  (it pays to be old, and  run VERY SMALL marathons).  Didn't think anything else about results until this evening.  I wanted to see if I could find the results for my new friend to see how she finished the race.   Shock and SURPRISE :)  The funny thing is, I came out much better to have run slow and won the Masters ($250) vs $100 for 3rd overall female. 

It's amazing how good you feel when you run slow in a marathon.  I felt really good, up until about mile 22-23ish.  Then it was like any other marathon - tough to finish.  And why is that??  It should have been no problem to finish this one, but it was hard.  Is that just mental or what?   I ended up picking it up enough to average 10:05 for the whole 26.55 miles, yep, 26.55.  Official time 4:27

After the race, I made my way over to the FOOD.   They had Chick Fil A.  I think that is a Southern thing, but anyway it's a fast food chicken place.  Most of my friends and family LOVE IT.  I have never understood the love affair with the Chick Fil A.  The times that I have tried it, it's a greasy, fried, chicken sandwich.  At first I told them no thanks, but then I walked back, and decided chicken actually sounded good.  Slowly, I made my way to some shade.  It was around the mid 80s by my finishing time.  Thank the Lord the humidity was much lower today than normal for MS.  (real feel around low to mid 90s).  Any-who...I DEVOURED the chicken sandwich.  It was YUMMY!  I think it had been sitting around long enough for the bread to absorb some of the grease, but it was still warm.  lol!  It's funny how food tastes so much better when you are really hungry.

I ended up with 27 miles today, and 49.5 miles for the week.   Not sure if the LONG training run will pay off, or do me in, but today, after ice, I'm feeling good.  Will see how if goes in Dec.  Either way, I won $$'s, and that's a GOOD thing.  Hee Hee  Next week will be a recovery/ "step back" wk with lower mileage.

Terri - ended up with a good half marathon.  She is having knee issues and listened to her PT who recommended NOT pushing it.  She is running the full marathon San Antonio in Nov.  She ended up 7th in her age group out of 54.  Terri's older sister, Tracie, came in 3rd overall female for the half.  Tracie will be running NYC this year.  Another local, Michelle, won 1st place in her age group, and will also be running NYC. 
Fun times in Madison, MS