I’ve been running a lot of races this year, and with that comes a lot of race stuff. I typically hang on to my bib and medal from races I’ve run. I currently have my medals hung up on a medal hanger in our bedroom.
Right now I also have most of my race bibs hung up on the bedroom wall. It’s something that started when we first moved into our new house, about two years go. But I think it’s starting to get a bit excessive 🙂
Since I’ve pretty much run out of room on the wall, and don’t want to start a new column, I have also begun a pile of race bibs on my dresser. This pile has all of the races I’ve run since April.
I certainly don’t want to get rid of my race bibs, but I want to find a different way to keep them. Right now I’m thinking of putting them in a binder, with each bib getting it’s own clear one-page display. I might even organize them by race distance, which makes my Type A personality very happy. But if I do that, the wall is going to look very blank to me. Maybe I should keep a few of the ones that mean the most to me on the wall, and put the rest in a binder?
One other random memento I still have: the timing chip from my first (and currently only) full marathon. I don’t run in the shoes anymore, but I can’t bear to cut that chip off. I don’t think those shoes have even been untied since I ran the marathon in Charlotte last November.
Totally socially acceptable, right?
What do you keep from your races? How do you display your race stuff?
Tuesday- 4 mile run with Sven. It was one of those days where I got home from work and didn’t feel like being around other people (besides Barry). Those types of days include not wanting to be around cars on the road. So to the treadmill I went. Does anyone else ever have those days?
Wednesday- Rest day.
Thursday- 4 mile run on the roads around our house. I ran the same out and back run that I did last Sunday, but my legs felt a lot better this time. I managed to make it up the first half of Black Hollow hill this time (it levels out 3/4th’s of the way up then goes up again). I’m getting closer to making it all the way up! Instead of a picture of the roads, here’s one of one of the many corn fields that I ran by:
Friday- 4 mile run on the roads around our house. I had a half day at work, and headed out for my run right around noon. It was 80 degrees outside, and that probably wasn’t the best idea. I ran a rolling hill route that I hadn’t run in awhile and I struggled a bit, but pushed through.
During my run I ran past a house that had the front windows open. From inside, I heard a little girl tell a woman “Look! She’s running on the road.” The woman replied “Yes, she’s exercising.” Then the little girl asked “Why?” Unfortunately, I had passed the house at that point and didn’t get to hear what the lady’s response was.
Saturday- 5 mile run on some new-to-me trails in the Jefferson National Forest to celebrate my 26th birthday! Luckily I didn’t get eaten by a bear. That totally would have sucked, it being my birthday and all.
Sunday- 8 mile long run on the Dora and New River Trails. My legs were feeling pretty fatigued going into this run, but I ended up having a good long run.
I felt strong and capable, despite the muggy humidity and the heat that crept in towards the end of my run. There were lots of people out on the trail too (no other runners, but plenty of walkers and bikers), which makes it more enjoyable, especially since I was running solo.
Today is my 26th birthday! I kicked off my birthday weekend yesterday with a free Slurpee on 7 eleven day. How convenient that July 11 aka 7-11 aka free Slurpee day always falls on the day before my birthday. They must have known the next day was my birthday, too, because they made sure to have my favorite Blue Raspberry flavor!
For my actual birthday, I decided to celebrate by exploring some new trails at the Wolf Creek day use area of the Jefferson National Forest, in Bland county.
I started out on the Wolf Creek Loop Trail, which was two miles long according to the sign. The map indicated another trail connected with the loop trail at the bottom of the loop. So my plan was to run half of the loop, do an out and back on the connecting trail, and then complete the loop. That’s not how things worked out, though.
Bridge across Wolf Creek
I was running along on the Wolf Creek Loop Trail, and thought I was close to the bottom of the loop. But that didn’t actually make sense because I was nearly to 2 miles. But I hadn’t seen the other trail yet. Then I got to a sign that said “parking lot” with an arrow. I thought it must be a different parking lot, so I ran down to see it. Lo and behold I was back where I started from!
I have no idea how I managed that, but I decided to just head back out on the loop in the opposite direction. This time I kept my eyes peeled for the connecting trail, and about halfway through the loop I found it! I really have no idea how I missed it the first time, because the intersection was pretty big and the connecting trail (Crooked Trail, I think) was marked.
Due to running the Wolf Creek Loop Trail twice, I only did a mile out and back on the other trail. I would like to go back sometime to explore Crooked Trail more. I’ll probably take a buddy with me, though, as I spent the majority of this run freaked out about seeing a bear. I’ve seen them in this area several times before when driving and of course that didn’t occur to me until I was out in the woods alone. During this run I only saw birds, fawns, and chipmunks. One of the latter startled me when it squeaked and ran across the trail, and made me jump a few feet in the air.
I know one of the pros of trail running is having less people around, but sometimes I get a bit spooked when I’m by myself. Especially on a trail like this where I never saw anyone else the entire time. I also learned that there are some types of spider webs that are very thick and sticky, and nearly impossible to get off of your skin when you run through them. Oh, and moss covered rocks are extremely slippery and you should not try to run on them.
I ran in my run trails shirt today and managed to get one running selfie. I finished with a little over 5 miles for the day. I definitely want to go explore trails in this area again, but like I said I’ll be bringing someone with me next time.
On the way home I stopped by the store to grab some stuff for a project I’ll be working on tomorrow (more on that later this week!). Then I came home and made French toast with cinnamon bread. Another birthday treat 🙂
This evening Barry is taking me bowling and then out to a new Mexican restaurant in the area. Fun!
How do you like to celebrate your birthday? Do you ever get spooked while running/hiking/biking trails by yourself?
Recently I began training for the Marine Corps Marathon. The race is on October 26, and training will be 18 weeks long. After much deliberation I decided to give the Hansons Marathon Method a try. Specifically, I’m following the beginner training plan.
The point of the first five weeks of the Hansons Beginner plan is to “base build.” The concept of base building is pretty basic, and not specific to the Hansons. It means starting from a base of lower mileage and building to increased mileage and more frequent running.
The first five weeks of the Hansons beginner plan is made up of all easy running, gradually building from 15 miles per week to 24 miles. Every type of run in the Hansons program has a specified pace, based on your current abilities and your marathon goal. Easy runs are meant to be 1-2 minutes per mile slower than your marathon goal pace. For me, easy runs should be between 11:28 – 12:16/mile pace. That’s slower than I typically do my “easy” runs, so it’s been an adjustment to learn to run at a slower pace. It’s not absolutely necessary that I stick to those paces at this point in training, but it’s good to start practicing now. Correct pacing becomes very important later on.
After the first five weeks, speed work, tempo runs, and long runs will be introduced into training. In order to prevent injury and to meet the prescribed paces for these workouts, it’s very important to run easy days at the slower pace. Otherwise each run ends up being close in pace, and you won’t reap the intended benefits from each type of run.
But for now, I’m halfway through week 3 of training, which gives me some leeway. The main purpose of the first five weeks is to give me some time on my feet, increase the number of days per week that I run, and create a foundation to build on during the rest of training. If your weekly mileage is currently higher than what’s scheduled, the Hansons recommend you just keep doing what you’re doing and let the training catch up with you. That’s what I’ve been doing so far. By week 5 everything will match up, and I’ll be following the training plan as prescribed from there on.
Do you follow a training plan when preparing for a big race?
"I've opted for fun in this lifetime." -Jerry Garcia
Turkey Runner 