Thursday, February 24, 2011

Half Marathon Update

This post has NOTHING to do with my sewing, but I thought I would give you all an update on my half-marathon training.  Warning: there aren't any pictures and it is a bit long.
As stated in my last post the weather in Oklahoma can be a bit crazy to say the least.  We started the month of February with a record setting Blizzard followed and record low temperatures.  Jenks set a record low at -14 degrees (not including the windchill) on Thursday February 10th while other nearby cities were at -20+ degrees...that is COLD!!!  Needless to say with so much snow on the ground and below zero temperatures there was not much running going on for me.  Here is where it gets even crazier...one week later the temperature was 80 degrees!!  That my friends is a 94 degree difference! 

Just before the blizzard and snow hit I had set a personal record for a long run...7 miles!  After the snow began melting, my running partner, Amber, and I hit the trails again to try to catch back up after almost 2 weeks without running.  The trails along the river had been plowed for the most part and things were beginning to melt.  8 miles later we returned to our cars with cold/wet socks and shoes and had removed a few layers of clothing...later that night I realized I actually got a little sunburn while I was out (nothing major...just a little pink).  Note to self: Sunshine = Sunburn!  The following week the temperatures stayed warm so we were able to get back into our regular running routine.  **We normally run 2 nights each week, 3 mile minimum and longer runs on Saturday with the RunnersWorld Tulsa training group**

All of this to say on Saturday, February 19th, I put on my running shorts & t-shirt to set another personal distance record...9 miles (which included 2 very steep hills).  This training run was set to go through my hometown of Jenks, OK...for those of you who are familiar with Jenks and where my house is, I must tell you that one of the hills went straight up to my house (hill??? it is more like a MOUNTAIN when you are on foot).  We were about halfway up the hill and slowing down, so we had decided to walk the rest when another lady in our training group behind us explained she was watching our feet move in step and we were pulling her up the hill so we couldn't quit!  We picked it back up and made it all the way to the top and then back down through the neighborhood onto the next hill.  We finished our route through the town of Jenks and down Mainstreet along all the antique shops back to the starting point at the Riverwalk.  We finished the training run in just under 2 hours which has us right on track for completing the half-marathon with a good finishing time.  

Upcoming Training Runs...
This weekend...5 miles
March 5th...10 miles
March 12th...St. Patrick's Day 5k to support Special Olympics in Tulsa, OK
March 17-21st...Dad and I will be joining his company in the Bahamas (can't honestly say I will be running 11 miles like the training group will be back home in Tulsa, OK, but I will try to get a few miles completed)
March 26th...at least 5 miles, but probably try to make-up for lost time on the 11 mile
April 2nd...12 miles
April 9th...6 miles
April 16th...13 miles
April 23rd...5 miles
Sunday, MAY 1st...OKC Memorial Half-Marathon!!!!

No comments: