Saturday, October 9, 2010

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






18 comments:

Robbie said...

Great article! I always love your "stories". I feel like I'm there. A BIG Congratulations on your win and ALL that $$$$$. That's great! Keep it up. You're still my hero, girl!

Unknown said...

No judgement on the food, it's all fuel and if it tastes good, go for it! The cheesy bread sounds great.
How fun that you placed and won $$, that is SO cool! Pretty good for a "training" run, Ginny!
Have a great Sunday.

Tri-James said...

Does that mke you a PRO now? Congrats on the race and the $$$.

Caratunk Girl said...

Congratulations on the big win!! Not bad for a training run!

Cate said...

Congratulations on the win!!

Jill said...

I love to use marathons for training - it's just so fun to be around others running the same distance yet not have to push to crank out a great time. $250 is awesome, wow!!! Go out and have a little treat with it - something running, related of course :). Congrats!!!

Lindsay said...

you're a pro! congrats on the big win! i'm sure your competition will love to know you weren't even running hard ;)

chick fil a is yummy what are you talkin' about? i guess i never noticed the grease compared to KFC, etc. lol.

Jennifer said...

Yay Ginny! What a great race, so happy for you and proud too! Let's see if you can top that at Huntsville! (Wink, wink!)

Tara said...

They had Chik-fil-A at the race! YOU ARE LUCKY! :)

Congrats on your win and the $250, that is absolutely awesome! Enjoy your recovery week, you sure have earned it after all those miles.

HappyTrails said...

You won money???!!! How fun is THAT, especially in that you took it easy! I like Chik-fil-A too - but I usually get their grilled chicken - not so greasy. :-)

Scott McMurtrey said...

Can't be that small of a marathon with all that $$ to give away. Congrats!!

I love when training runs can be marathons. :)

Iron Mike said...

Damn, if I ever make $$$ on a training run, you'll be the first to know.
And um, that must have been the best tasting Chick-Fil-A ever. Definitely on my post-marathon request list. Already have fulfilled Taco Bell in the past, heavenly.
As far as the difficulty, and I think any difficulty beyond Mile 18, I attribute it to fuel. So fortunately since it was JUST a training run, hopefully you can identify some opportunities to improve your fuel, whether hydration or calorie consumption (maybe increased gel frequency) during the race.

salomon shoes said...

This post is really really interesting. I like the way you wrote this one. More power to your blog and have the best run always! :)

Julie said...

Way to go Ginny! Holy cow! Way to win the masters and take home $250!!!! I think it was a great day for you...awesome job! Look at what you can do with a training run:)

LMC said...

Nice job Ginny! I like that you stuck with your planned pace and won some cash to top it off. You should arrange for this with every training cycle!:) Hope this recovery week goes well for you!

Jenn said...

$250 bucks!!! Sweet is right! I just bought some Accel gels at the marathon expo last weekend but haven't tried them yet. What a fun way to get in a long training run! Great job!

Bethany + Ryan said...

you are a professional runner now! right? you got paid for your performance! awesome!!

come join us in 2011!! Reg opened on Monday and it sells out fast, may already be sold out.

Chris K said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your comment on my Blog about not missing a workout. Finally, someone gets it :-)