It’s been close to two years since my last full marathon and that marathon was a bit of a disappointment.  But, I started getting the bug to give the marathon distance another try over the summer.  Training in the fall and early winter is perfect in Albuquerque since you avoid the hot summer days and our early winter is typically quite mild.  That left me looking for a new state to tackle in January.  The marathon choices are a little limited in the winter, but I stumbled across the Carlsbad Marathon in Carlsbad, CA.  A win on three fronts:  1. Right time of year, 2. Majority of the run is along the coast, 3. Legoland – a favorite spot of my kids.

I went to the expo the day before to pick up my packet.  The expo was easy and well run.  All marathoners get, in addition to a long sleeve tech-T, a really nice finishers jacket.  Definitely a bonus!  The saturday before the race, they hold a kids one mile run at Legoland.  The race fee gets the kid into the park for free and up to two adults in for 1/2 price.  Such a great deal that we made our 12 year old do the race even though running isn’t really her thing.

After the race, we spent the day at Legoland.  The kids loved it and I appreciated that it’s not a huge park and there were plenty of places to sit and rest while the kids went on rides – I did have a marathon to run the next day.

The marathon start was at 6:15 am.  Half marathon start was 7:45.  The majority of runners were completing the half with just over 1000 runners finishing the full marathon this year.  Because of the relatively small number of marathon runners, the morning was easy with no corrals and a quick and easy walk to the starting line from the heated tents.  It’s an out an back course with the majority along the coast and a short out and back run inland.  The views of crashing waves were beautiful.  Lots of volunteers, some spectators (many more when we rejoined the half marathon course).  The course was not crowded until around the 20 mile mark when the marathon rejoins the half course.  Unfortunately, because of the timing of the starts, that left those of us that were running a 4 hour marathon with the half marathoners who would finish at about 2 hrs 45 minutes which meant quite a bit of weaving in order to keep up the pace.

All told, I had a great race.  A 13 minute PR and a great family weekend in California.  We were all exhausted though by the afternoon.  Quick naps and then to the airport to get back to work on Monday.

2 states down, 48 to go.

I’ve used several different training plans to train for both full and half marathons (Hal Higdon, Runner’s World, Sage Roundtree).  This time around, I decided to use the Hanson Method.

I have to admit, I was mostly enticed to use the Hanson plan because I heard the long runs peak at 16 miles.  I absolutely HATE the 20+ mile training runs.  In fact, those long runs are probably the biggest reason I haven’t run a marathon in close to 2 years.  With a intense job and two kids, it was really hard to put aside 4 hours to run (never mind how long it took to recover).

Just a quick read of the book, though, made it clear that this would not be an easy plan to follow.  Despite having run 6 marathons and over a dozen half marathons, I decided to follow the beginner plan since that called for more weekly mileage than I had ever run.  With only one rest day and midweek runs that got at high as 12 miles, I was slightly intimidated.  Because I was so nervous about never doing a long run over 16 miles, I followed the plan religiously, only deviating once or twice when I just didn’t have the time to fit in the full workout.  I actually really enjoyed the workouts.  There was one speed workout, one tempo workout and one long run each week.  The rest of the runs were easy runs to get in the miles and get my body ready for the marathon distance.  The easy runs were quite enjoyable and the more difficult runs were challenging but helped break up the weeks.  During the peak weeks, when I was running 50+ miles (more than I had ever run in a week), I was tired but never injured.

As race day approached, I was anxious that I hadn’t done any 20-milers but I was also confident because I’ve never felt in this good of shape. I felt strong in all my difficult workouts and although I was tired, I felt like I was recovering well.  But, the real test is how did I feel on marathon day.  For that you’ll have to wait for the marathon recap, but I’ll give you a hint by telling you that I had a 13 minute PR.

 

First stop on the 50 state adventure is Texas.  Chris and I ran the BCS Half Marathon in College Station Texas on December 13, 2015.

We chose this race because Chris’s brother and his fiance live in College Station, so we were able to combine a race and visiting family.

We spent the day before the race visiting and touring the Texas A&M campus.

Nate and Maggie both fell in love with all their animals.

As you can see from the race photo, it was a rainy weekend in Texas.

I have to admit that as I lay awake, listening to the rain at 4am, I was hoping that we would get an email letting us know that they decided to cancel (not the most positive thinking for my first run of the 50 state adventure).  Checked my email in the morning and there was a message saying the race was on, so Chris and I reluctantly headed down to the starting line.  Despite the rain, folks were in a great mood for the race.  Lots of people using garbage bags in an unsuccessful attempt to stay dry.  Once we got to the start, my attitude changed and we decided to make the most of it.  Within the first 1/2 mile, we were soaked but having a great time.  Super fun race, lots of amazing volunteers standing out in the rain.  The course was relatively flat with just a few small hills.  Fairly scenic – ran through some beautiful neighborhoods and around the campus.  It was well organized with a big food spread at the end (not many vegan options, but oh well).   Overall, we had a fantastic time despite the rain.

One down, 49 to go.