May the wind stay at my back and may angels give me wings to fly.

I started avidly running in April of 2007, 8 weeks after my little boy was born. I was only running about 15 miles a week just to lose baby weight but a friend of mine was thinking of running the Honolulu Marathon. I made the bold move of doing it with her with the simple goal of just to finish. I finished my first marathon in 2008 with a time of 5:13. In 2009 I started running more miles, up to 40 a week when my schedule would allow that much. I signed up for my second Honolulu marathon and finished with a time of 4:48. That was with only 6 weeks of training, two of them being taper weeks. I finished with tears of joy and one other thing, the strong desire to run every runner's dream...BOSTON! I have some real good days and some real bad days but I hope someone finds inspiration in my spirit and strength. If you dig deep enough you will find the strength to do whatever your heart desires. "Don't follow your dreams...CHASE THEM!"

Saturday, June 26, 2010

"Livin on a Prayer"

I titled this week such because that song happened to be playing my last mile today. Mile 13, "halfway there" to a BQ. Last weekend was one with self doubt but I had set my mind to go with my heart for this week. Well, it worked. My brain and legs are finally working together in the same direction--speed! Every single run this week was either at or below my MGP of 8:35 and that is WITH warm ups. I did hills and flats on each run and did about 8:20-8:35 going up and around 7-7:30 going back down and once I went down my legs seemed to want to keep the pace and I hung around a 8-8:15 most of the time. Each run I challenged myself with adding miles and keeping the momentum. Challenge complete! Today was my long run of 13 miles and I was 20 seconds below my time needed for a full marathon. Pace of 8:33...WITH 2 miles warm-up...
I am still overwhelmed and still trying to soak it all in. A BQ finally feels within my reach. Now to work harder and keep that pace and get these legs even stronger! I do have to stop periodically but I try to keep the stop no more than 30 seconds but I know eventually that will subside and I'm sure if I ran a half marathon race right now I would probably keep on trucking to the finish on sheer adrenaline.

I've fixed my nutrition this week as well which has helped me to recover immensely each day. No more breads or pastas or even a sweet snack. All energy fuel for my body. I'm helping the banana companies a lot... Each night I have been massaging my quads and hamstrings with Hammer balm and then using my happy stick to get the entire leg. It feels great and refreshes my legs. I've been staying on top of my protein intake and taking my tissue rejuvenator's regularly.

I've also found the perfect match for my feet, FINALLY! My Brooks Ghost 2's and balega socks. No blisters and I still have all my toenails!

I don't know what else to say except that I am extremely happy about my breakthrough in my running. I have been saying a short prayer just before every run this week. What can I say?

God is listening. A little faith, prayer, and courage goes a long way.
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2 comments:

  1. RossJune 26, 2010 at 2:58 PM

    Great work, Jennifer. It sounds like you're well on your way to reaching your BQ goal. Keep up the training, and it'll feel awesome crossing the finish line!

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  2. Kevin Patrick CoyleOctober 4, 2010 at 9:57 AM

    First, that's awesome that you had PR'd by 25 minutes in your second marathon. But see why it happened? The miles, that is critical. I read this post because I'm originally from Northern NJ and LOVE Bon Jovi. Seen him more than 10 times! :) great pace in your workouts. You'll get there. Believe and want it. I live a half marathon distance to the start of the Boston Marathon. keep it up! www.10e3.com

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