Everything is still new!

I've been running for more than half a year, completed two 5K's, a 10K, and my goal--the Santa Clarita Half-Marathon. And yet I'm still discovering new things about running. In fact, I'm discovering them all the time.

The most important discovery I've made recently is the post-race letdown. After training for half a year to do the Half Marathon earlier this month, I've struggled a bit afterward to continue my running. While a lack of motivation wasn't too surprising--after all, I just finished a goal and hadn't set another one--what did catch me off-guard was the physical difficulty in shorter runs. I guess I subconsciously thought that after running a 13.1 mile race, twice-weekly 2.5 mile runs would be easy. Even a weekend 5-miler should be a welcome relief after previous weekends of 8, 9, and 10 miles.

Turns out it isn't like that. Or it wasn't for me, at least. Instead, I'm finding that the 2.5 mile runs are still a lot of work. Just work for a shorter duration. But they still take a lot of motivation to get out the door, they still tax my body, and I'm still looking forward to them being over before I'm halfway through them!

Lucky for me, I picked up a subscription to Runners World. I did this earlier through my kid's fundraising magazine drive for school. This month, there's an article by Kelly Bastone called The Next Step, and it discusses the very situation I'm facing. It's a big help for me to know that what I'm going through is normal, and that if I keep plugging away (and being patient with myself) that I won't revert back to my pre-running lifestyle.

10 miles per week

I ran (mostly) 5 miles this morning, like I did last Sunday. My "sustaining" plan is to run 5 miles on the weekend, and 2.5 miles twice during the week, making 10 miles per week. After finishing that half-marathon, I foolishly thought 5 miles would be easy for me. It's weird--it's been pretty tough! Tougher than I remember the 10K race last month was. I think I was pumped up for that, with a healthy respect for the distance, but this Sunday 5 miler I've been underestimating.

Run, rookie, run!

Here's how I looked running the 5k in an earlier part of my training schedule, back in early September. A few things to note...

1. I hadn't learned to smile at the camera. You'll see that I didn't learn that lesson until the half-marathon. It's pretty easy, really, since you see the photographer set up in front of you, and other runners may cheer or gesture for their own photos. Now that I've seen how these things turn out, I'm always going to smile for the camera!

2. I'm running with a water bottle in my hand. Rookie. Of course the race had water stations along the way. No need to do that unless you're on a long training run.

3. I've holding my phone/mp3 player in my other hand. Actually, it's in the neoprene armband holder I still use, but back then I had that around my wrist so I could hold the phone itself, too. I guess I was worried about it slipping out somehow. Now I use a girl's flat ponytail band to make sure it won't pop out, and wear it on my arm as intended.

The rest looks pretty much ok to me. I'm still using the same sort of shorts, the same shoes & socks, same watch, same hat. (Now that I finished the half-marathon, I also have a white 13.1 running hat.)

My running girls

Candy & Sam came with me to the first 5K of my training program. After that Candy run/walked with me. Now for the Santa Clarita run, both Candy and Molly ran the 5K. (We let Sam sleep in after a long band review the night before.)

It's great to accomplish my own goals, but it makes me feel even better as a husband and father to see these two do it, too.

I did it!

On Sunday I ran the Half Marathon in Santa Clarita, finishing with a time of 2:27:20. This was a goal I set out for myself on my 42nd birthday back in April . . . when I couldn't run around the block without stopping. And as great as it was to achieve this goal, I think it was just as amazing to know I was going to make it. I've been on a training program (from Hal Higdon) ever since I started around May 1st, and it was steady progress all the time.

There were times in the middle where I would be happy about my accomplishments, moving from a run/walk beginner's program to a 5K, then a 10K . . . but I would still worry about my ability to run more than twice that distance, the 13.1 miles of a half-marathon. My first 5-mile run was cut short by a minor injury, and when the long runs grew to 8-9-10 miles I had to cut back my midweek shorter runs to give me knees a chance to recover. In fact, two weeks before the half-marathon I really struggled to complete my 9.5-mile training run.

But the following week was notably better, helped by rest during the week, better preparation the night before, and the pressure of the nearing deadline! When I ran 10.5 miles the next weekend and felt good about it, I knew I could finish the half-marathon.

My only complication was one faced by many male runners, the dreaded bloody nipples. Ouch! Actually, they didn't hurt so much as embarrass me. When I saw a photographer or onlookers I tried to hide it with my arms, like you see above. Band-aids didn't work on my training runs, and medical tape didn't work on this final run. Next time I'll have to get even more serious with duct tape, like I read about online... This little problem cropped up even before the halfway point of the race, and I lost 2-3 minutes making a portapotty stop to try to tape up again, without success.

Now the question is: what next? I plan to keep running, but to dial back down the distance so that I don't need to take so much time off to rest. Probably something like 5 miles for my long runs on the weekend, and a couple 2-mile runs during the week.

To that I want to add some upper body strength training, something like the Hundred Pushup Challenge, just spread over 6 months instead of 6 weeks. I haven't looked ahead to other races yet, but Candy has started to enjoy the 5k runs, which I'd gladly do again. I'd also like to try another 10k, which is a good distance for me. It's a definitely challenge, but not one that requires its own training program & schedule, now that I've built up my "endurance base."