The Epicurious Runner

I signed up for a last minute race last week and never really got around to telling anybody about it. I made a goal to run 12 races this year and I’m a little behind, so I’m trying to catch up! This was race # 5 and next week’s Bronx Half Marathon will be # 6. I will be halfway there. I’m also signed up for the Warrior Dash on September 18th and of course, my marathon on November 7th. So that leaves me with 4 more races to sign up for and complete.

I especially liked my number for this race. So simple and such a low number! I woke up around 6:40 on Sunday morning and was out of the door by 7:10. I almost forgot my sunglasses and my Garmin, I had to run back upstairs for them! I wasn’t taking this race super seriously, it was more of a fun run, especially because I ran 11 miles the day before. I was sore on Saturday, but felt pretty good Sunday morning. I more tired than anything else.

Luckily I didn’t have to wait too long for the subway and I got there with enough time to spare. It wasn’t a huge race, but it still had about 750 runners. The race starts on the manhattan side of the bridge and we ran on the path that goes right through the middle of it.

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This is basically the amount of room we had, but only half of it because there was a turnaround point at the end. The second half wasn’t so bad and I had a little more room, but I felt like I was basically fighting for my space the whole time. There were 2 good hills, but if I had the space, I could’ve done better, but it really didn’t matter. I was running this race for fun and not for time

I would just like to point out my matching race gear! hahaha, I feel like I never match my clothes at all when I run and I purposely saved this clothing to wear at my race.

The one thing I was really impressed with at the race was that the distance was spot on! My Garmin never matches up to the actual race distance, most of the time it’s usually longer than the actual race. But, this time I finished right at 3.1, it was pretty awesome. I guess there wasn’t much room for error though. We basically ran over the bridge and back over and then through a small park until the finish line.

The course wasn’t chip timed or anything, well we got chips, but basically whatever time was on the clock when you finished is your official time. They didn’t start it at any specific start line, when they said go, the time started, no matter how far back you were in the crowd.

I was very happy with my negative splits! Here are my stats:

• Distance: 3.1
• Duration: 28:43 – Garmin / 29:11 – Clock Time
• Pace: 9:16

Mile 1: 9:45

Mile 2: 9:23

Mile 3: 8:45

.1: 50 sec. (8:34 pace)

It was a fun race overall. I ate a bagel and an orange slice after with some water. Then I hopped on the train, got home in about 40 minutes, then went back to bed for 2 1/2 hours! I was exhausted from the long weekend of running! I haven’t run that much in a long time, it felt great, but it was definitely tiring.

I ran 17.1 miles in 3 days, that’s a lot for me! But, it’s nice that my body held up with out any kind of injury or real soreness. I feel so good about my marathon training and I am really looking forward to the Half Marathon next weekend. Stay Tuned!

New York City may be over crowded, dirty and filled with millions of cars and even more people, but every once in a while the city gives back to the people and I must say this is one of the coolest things I’ve yet to experience here.

I ran the route, down and back and racked up a total of 11 miles. It was a beautiful day out with perfect weather, I couldn’t have asked for more! I was supposed to meet up with my friends at 8am, but I got out of work really late on Friday night and there was no way I would’ve been able to get up that early. I ended up getting there around 10:15.

I finally feel my speed coming back. Every week my long run pace is coming down significantly.

• Distance: 11 Miles
• Duration: 1:50:11
• Pace: 10:01

Splits:

1. 10:12
2. 9:44
3. 9:29
4. 10:01
5. 9:32
6. 10:35
7. 9:50
8. 9:14
9. 10:42
10. 10:01
11. 10:45

I had to stop a lot on my turnaround trip, there were a few intersections that were still open, so when the light changed they had people standing there with stop and go signs and I managed to hit a lot of stops on the way back. Either way, I am very happy with my run because I felt great the whole time! I feel like this is my first run since being back where I felt like myself. I’m really looking forward to the Bronx Half Marathon next week.

After my run, I had plans to meet up with Derek and Dave at Shake Shack. I was a little late, but they sat and had a beer while they waited at a nearby bar. Shake Shack was amazing of course. I made sure not to eat too much, because I didn’t want to feel overly full the rest of the day. I got a double Shack Burger and a Concrete. My concrete was full of calories, but I didn’t care, it was worth the splurge. It was called: Jelly’s Last Donut and it had donuts, cinnamon, raspberry jam swirls inside of vanilla frozen custard. Mmm, it was so good.

For some reason, 10 miles is my favorite distance to run. It’s a pretty long run, but it’s doable, I just love being able to say I ran 10 miles today, what did you do? haha, just kidding. Anyway, I woke up later than I had planned, which is usually what happens because I am not on that early morning schedule anymore. I went to bed around 11:30 last night, but probably didn’t actually fall asleep until closer to 1.

I woke up around 8:30 and decided that I would go to Central Park to do my run, I just wasn’t looking forward to running 10 miles in Astoria, where I would have to stop frequently and would have to wind up and down roads just to get my mileage up.

The weather wasn’t too bad today. It was probably 74 or 75 out, but the sun was shining strong. I was faster this week in my long run because I haven’t been wearing those arch supports that I bought. They made my feet feel like bricks when I wore them last weekend on my 9 mile run.

Though, I wasn’t very fast either.

Unfortunately that is what happens after you don’t run for 5 weeks and it is the middle of the summer. I’m sure time will heal my slowness and until then I will keep on trekking on.

Here are my splits and stats:

• Distance: 10 Miles
• Duration: 1 hr. 42 min. 45 sec.
• Pace: 10:16

1. 10:46
2. 10:02
3. 9:40
4. 10:34
5. 10:07
6. 10:22
7. 10:05
8. 10:07
9. 10:35
10. 10:22

After I got home, I stretched A LOT! Then I ate this delicious egg sandwich with tabasco sauce.

I set out this morning, not only on my first long run for the marathon, but my first long run in over 6 weeks! I knew it was going to be tough, but I certainly didn’t think it would be the slowest run of my life. Okay that sounds dramatic, but it was a really tough run and I ran really slow comparatively. I’m not focusing on speed, at all, endurance is key this time around.

Let’s start from the beginning though. The woman I went to see that fixed my foot suggested I get some shoe inserts to support my arch. She suggested the Spenco brand, so that’s what I ordered. I ordered these last week and they came three days later! I was excited to try them out because they got really good reviews. I also got them for a great price thru Amazon.com

Let’s just call this my official review for these Spenco Orthotic Arch Supports. These are the 3/4 length and as soon as I put them in my shoes, I knew I should’ve ordered the full length. They obviously don’t go to the top of the shoe and if I only have these inserts in there and I take out the insert that comes with my shoe, I can feel the edge of this insert underneath my toes and it drives me crazy! So, what I did was take out my shoe insert, put the Spenco supports in and then put the shoe insert back in over these, so that I would not have to feel that gap. My feet were a lot higher than normal, which didn’t seem so bad, but they were also a lot wider. I have narrow feet, so it was odd to have my sneakers look really wide and to have really short shoe laces.

I tried these out for the first time today on my 9 mile run. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have used them on such a long run to break them in, but I don’t know how they work. Shouldn’t they automatically be comfortable or do they need to be broken in like shoes? Anyway, they felt all right in the beginning, but as the run went on, my feet felt heavier and heavier. Seriously, the last 2 miles, I might as well have been wearing bricks on my feet, they felt so incredibly heavy and terrible!

I honestly think these played a big part in why I ran so slow today. I didn’t think I was going to run very fast today, but I know myself and my running to know what I can and can’t achieve. I’ve never had a run like this and most importantly, my feet have never felt like that and I did not like it.

• Distance: 9 Miles
• Duration: 96:10
• Pace: 10:42
• Calories Burned: 908

Splits

1. 10:16
2. 9:39
3. 10:20
4. 11:08
5. 10:51
6. 10:53
7. 10:56
8. 10:58
9. 11:07

I’m not embarrassed to run slow, but this just didn’t feel or seem right to me. I’m not convinced I need arch support. I never thought I had high arches, until a few weeks ago. Granted, I haven’t been running 10 years, but I have been running 2 years without any major problems. All I know is that this was a tough run where I had to walk a lot! It was warm out and the sun was shining, but again it wasn’t that HOT comparatively, it was actually kind of nice and breezy. I’m not sure if I’m going to wear these inserts again, they add way too much weight to my shoe and if for some reason I do need arch support, I may as well find a whole new shoe that can support me in that way.

This was kind of a test run for me, but unfortunately I didn’t learn what I wanted from it. I wanted to test my body to know what it can still handle and at one pace. I never doubted myself being able to handle the 9 miles, but I didn’t see this coming. I guess I will have to wait and see what a real run will feel like without any inserts on my 10 miler next weekend. Sure, I will be doing shorter distances during the week, but like I said I need the longer runs to really test myself.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so grateful to run before, but my foot is finally healed and I can run again!!! I went to see someone last week and luckily it was a simple fix. It was actually my calf muscle that was super tight and stuck in the wrong position, so it was therefore making my foot curl inward. She stretched out my muscles and after a few minutes, I heard and felt it release! It was crazy to be able to feel it, but once I did, I knew right away that had to be definitely what the problem was. I did a few more exercises there and she showed me how to stretch properly, overall it was well worth the visit and I wished I had gone sooner!

I’ve officially started training for the Manchester Marathon! I am a week and several miles behind, but I feel confident enough that I will be able to catch up and move forward successfully. The first run I attempted after I was healed, was a 5 miler up at Squam Lake. I didn’t realize until I was done that it had been the longest I had run since the 12 miler where I hurt my foot. I was so happy to end that run with no pain at all! It was amazing. I also ran 4 miles yesterday and other than the heat, I felt great!

Now it’s time to catch up with my long runs and to really finalize my training plan for the next few months. I am going to try and run 8-9 miles this weekend, I have a half marathon coming up on August 15th so I have to at least be ready for that. I’m not going for any kind of time, just endurance for now. 10 minute miles would work fine for me

I’ve had a fun, but also stressful past couple of weeks. I’ve just been real busy and I’m ready to settle down and catch up on lots of stuff.

I took 5 weeks off from running, I am so ready to be back in the game! What’s the most amount of time you’ve taken off for an injury?

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