shauna maher

Marathon training officially starts today.  This should be fun…

If my Twitter feed were to be believed in the days leading up to Marathon Sunday, I was the only runner in New York not racing this weekend.   And it certainly felt like that during my six-miler yesterday—everyone else along the East River seemed to be doing short, shake-out runs while I eyed them jealously, thinking how nice it would be to be done with training instead of anxiously waiting for it to start.  Still, I was psyched to cheer for the first time ever today.  

After a lazy morning in bed watching the elites (yay Shalane!), I decided to lace up and try to catch some marathon friends as they headed up First Ave.  I normally run south to the Brooklyn Bridge, around Battery Park, and up the West Side, so I was excited to see what the East River is like above 14th Street. 

Well, I haven’t been missing anything.  It’s mostly narrow paths and FDR exhaust.  And at 38th Street, the path just stops.  What?  I stared at the chain link fence in front of me in disbelief before crossing over to run the rest of the way up on the street.  The one redeeming part was running towards the Queensboro Bridge knowing that thousands of runners were crossing it at that very moment. 

Even though it was a little after 1 pm by the time I got to 59th Street, I was able to get a spot in the crowd only two-people deep on the Southwest corner, where the runners turn up First Avenue after coming down off the bridge.  The sheer volume of runners was incredible, and incredibly inspiring.  You expect the elites to make it look easy, but I was blown away at how good everyone looked at mile 16.  A lot of the runners were cheering louder than the crowds, and smiling the way I hope to be in the Spring.  But with so many runners and singlets, I found it hard to pick out the familiar faces.  I was bummed I didn’t see Amani Toomer (who I hope got more than a few “A-mah-ni Too-mah!” chants from Giants fans along the route), but I did catch Jared from Subway and a guy who was juggling while running…because just running a marathon isn’t hard enough?  (Apparently “joggling” is a thing…who knew.)

Running to spectate was a great plan, until my fingers started to feel like they were developing frostbite after 45 minutes of cheering in flimsy layers that were overkill for my run but completely inadequate for standing around in the cold.  I sprinted all the way home, or rather, all the way to Starbucks on 9th Street for a much needed Pumpkin Spice Latte.  Next year I’ll have to have a better game plan for watching.  Or I could, you know, run it?

Congrats to everyone who ran today!  It was a pleasure to watch you run your heart out.  You rock.

After weeks of looking at race calendars, weighing out the pluses and minuses of training during the less-than-pleasant Northeast winter (which would make 20 miles in January and February nothing short of miserable), and factoring in things like the first birthday party for my yet-to-be-born-but-should-be-with-us-in-a-few-days (!) niece or nephew (who will likely turn 1 on the weekend of next year’s Marine Corps Marathon), I have finally registered for my first marathon.  On May 1, I will run 26.2 miles in the New Jersey Marathon/Festival at the Shore.  Woo!  Writing that somehow makes it all really sink in. 

I was particularly excited that I would cross “run a marathon” off my list shortly before my 26th birthday…until I realized I turned 26 last year.  Oops.  I guess finishing a full before I turn 27 works, too!

You would probably think that I celebrated last night with a nice long run.  Or a short, fast run.  Or even a short and slow run.  Instead I went out for three too many glasses of wine with coworkers.  Training doesn’t start until right after Christmas, so I guess I should get it out of my system while I can!  On deck for tomorrow is a fabulous fall run in the Park.

No, not really.  I can’t even wrap my head around the running barefoot trend.

But as I crossed Astor Place en route to the uptown subway yesterday, my right hand flew to my left wrist, where my Nike+ wristband should have been.  Instead, it was sitting on the edge of the diner booth in my apartment.  Crap.

For the past three months, I haven’t run without Nike+ tracking my every move.  I’ve never been a watch person, preferring to tell time with my Blackberry, but I now understand what people mean when they say they feel naked without their watch.

Luckily, I was off to run the loop in Central Park, so I figured it would be easy enough to get in the six miles I was planning without tracking my run.  I fought the urge to turn around, and once I got to 59th Street, I ran without any sense of pace, or duration, or distance. The result?  The park felt a hell of a lot smaller than it ever has.

As embarrassing as this is to admit, after over three years and hundreds of miles in Manhattan, this was my very first run in Central Park.  It took me a few minutes to figure out exactly which path I was supposed to be on, but once I did, I loved it.  Even the hills.  Normally I have to settle for thinking overpasses and ramps along the FDR count as “hills,” so it was a nice change from my beloved but flat flat flat East/Hudson River path. 

All in, I ran about seven miles.  I felt great overall, though for the first time since I’ve started seriously running, I felt my knees.  Not in a painful way, but in a you’ve been logging a lot of miles and have you noticed how very small we actually are? sort of way.  I’m hoping that was just due to the fact that I ran seven miles after two weeks off, and not a new chronic problem.

I didn’t mind the twenty-minute subway there or back, and treated myself to a Pumpkin Spice Latte on the walk home.  (Okay, it probably should have been a Pumpkin Spice Gatorade, but a latte is a much faster route to replacing all the calories I burned.)

I know I have a lot to explore in the park as a runner (Bridle paths! Inner loops! Harlem hills!), so I’ll definitely be back soon.  Hopefully with my Nike+ wristband.

What about you…what do you feel naked running without?

This run was the first in a series of 101 training runs and races on my “to do” list.  For more on my 101 Runs project, click here.

Amid the sneezing and rain of the past two weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my next move.  I hate not having a training schedule to follow, but I’m still not exactly sure what I want to run next.  Should I train for another half in the early spring?  Or sign up for a marathon next fall?  Or go for a full in the spring?

Though I was proud of myself for crossing the finish line in the Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon, I felt ready for my next challenge even before the gun went off.  For the four weeks before my taper, I could say, every Saturday or Sunday, that I had run farther than I ever had before.  It was an amazing feeling of accomplishment that I looked forward to every week, and really miss having now.  I had never run more than 8 miles before training for the half—and even then, that only happened once, my freshman year of college, when my sister and I decided to train for a marathon together.  Alas, we very quickly realized a freshman in college and a first year law student had more important things to do than run 20 miles on the weekend.  Now I finally feel like I have the time and motivation to follow through on the training.

I’m still not fully sure I *can* run 26.2 miles, but I know I have to try.  I’ve looked into a few spring marathons (I would love to run the Country Music Marathon or the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon), but I think I need a hometown race for my first marathon.  It was so fun to explore Philly and run a half marathon in a city I barely know, but if I’m going to haul myself through 26.2 miles, I think I want to see a few familiar faces along the way.  For me, New York is the obvious hometown, but I went to college in DC, so that counts, too. 

I haven’t had luck with the NYC Marathon lottery (in retrospect—thank god!—I just wish I’d actually entered it in consecutive years, so I could get guaranteed entry after three), so I think I’m going to plan for the Marine Corps Marathon in DC for 2011, and New York in 2012.  And then I’m thinking I’ll retire from 26.2, but we’ll see.

The only problem with that plan is that next October is so far away!  So, I’m thinking of doing the NYRR 9+1 program to guarantee I’ll get into the 2012 New York Marathon.  And that way, I’ll have to run a handful of halfs and 10Ks to keep the miles up until it’s time to start training for the Marine Corps. 

I just can’t help thinking if it’s smart to set goals two years out.  I’ve never been much of a long-term planner, but distance running seems to bring out my compulsive side.  Anyone else thinking ahead to 2012 yet?

Er…or not. 

I haven’t been able to run once since the half marathon thanks to a monster cold that keeps getting worse.  I’d planned to take a couple of days off to recoup and rest, but by Tuesday morning I was already jealously eyeing runners on my walk to work.  Every morning since, I’ve set my alarm in the hopes of feeling good enough to go, but every morning I’ve had a new symptom to snooze my alarm through.  

This will be my first weekend since June without a long run, and I’m feeling a little lost without one.  I’d originally hoped to fit in an easy 8 tomorrow morning before a friend from out of town gets into the city.  Now I’m just hoping my nose will stop running before she gets here. 

All I can say is thank god my immune system waited until after the half marathon to self-destruct.  There’s no way I could drag myself through 13.1 feeling like this.

Here’s hoping my Rite Aid supplies will come to the rescue.  (When I was little I was convinced Ginger Ale healed head colds.  I’ve never been able to kick the habit.  Whether it’s a migraine or mono, I always need some Canada Dry or Seagram’s to feel like I’m on the road to recovery.  But after a week of this cold, I’m not sure I’m even remotely close.)

The short of it is that I loved my first half. I loved racing with some many other runners. I loved the way I felt for the first 8 miles—an effortlessness I don’t usually feel even on the shortest of runs. I loved the course through Philly, past the Museum of Art and Boathouse Row along the Schuylkill River (though, really, was it necessary to make one of the only real inclines the last tenth-of-a-mile?). The entire training process has taught me a lot, but here are a few things I learned from yesterday’s race (which already feels like a long time ago, despite the soreness in my thighs):

1. Pay it forward. For a race with 20,000 runners, I was somewhat surprised by the small number of spectators. It helped that there were bands every few miles (well, except for the band right after the bridge chanting E-A-G-L-E-S…as a Giants fan, I did not appreciate that!) but there were lots of long stretches along the river with no one cheering at all. Those that did come out to support runners were great, though. My favorite was a guy who had a sign that read: “Hey there, perfect stranger. I’m proud of you!” He gets bonus points for cheering along the one part of the route that we ran past twice, by Logan Circle. I’ve never cheered at a race I wasn’t running in (shame on me), but I definitely plan to support the NYC marathoners this year. Will start brainstorming creative signs now.
2. Have a drink station plan. Thankfully my long training runs taught me I need to hydrate during a half marathon, but I didn’t really strategize when and how I would do this. I slowed at the first (or maybe second) station to grab a cup of water, but I wasn’t paying attention and ended up with Cytomax instead. Apparently only the later tables had water. At the next station, I waited until the Cytomax-branded cups were replaced with plain Solo cups…and still ended up with Cytomax! Even worse, I managed to get it in my eyes instead of my mouth. Let’s just say it stings. I finally found water later on, but I definitely threw off my pace around each station. They only had cups on the left-hand side of the road—the side that I was running on—and I never thought to move over to the right until it was too late and the New Yorker in me was annoyed at all the people slowing down and cutting in front of me.
3. Just go with it. I spent a lot of time preparing for the race—from mentally breaking the race up into 3 four-mile blocks (plus that annoying last mile) to carefully orchestrating my playlist to play to the perfect song for each part of the race. Even so, I knew I couldn’t control how things would go after the gun went off. Like the fact that I had managed to forget that my iPod Shuffle would, well, shuffle. I had to laugh when “The Final Countdown” came on around Mile 9, when I was still nowhere near the end, instead of Mile 13 as I’d intended.  Speaking of music…
4. Add “Riding Solo” by Jason Derulo to your playlist. I’m serious. I wouldn’t normally advocate for this song, but it got me going more than any other on my playlist. (Although to be fair to Taio Cruz, I was really looking forward to crossing the finish line to “Dynamite”—I just finished before my iPod got there!) When I finally met up with my friend (her corral left 10 minutes before mine, plus she totally kicked my ass, as expected, time-wise), one of the first things she said was, “Riding Solo was the best thing to happen to me.” So I’m not alone in this endorsement.
5. Find inspiration all around you. My go-to mantra when things are really tough is “the faster you run, the sooner it’s over.” It was a favorite of my high school cross country team. We would write it out in chalk along the hardest stretches of a course the night before a race, and I always found myself smiling while running up hills at Holmdel and Garret Mountain. I repeated it a lot during the last 5K on Sunday, but I also found myself surrounded by new mantras on the backs of the runners in front of me. As simple as most of them were (“No whining” and “Keep running cupcake” are two that come to mind now), they definitely helped.
6. Have fun. This might be obvious, but when I was really struggling during the last mile or so, I kept thinking of what my dad had said the night before. “Don’t worry about your time, just remember to have fun.” And it hadn’t occurred to me until then that this was the first race I’d ever done just for fun. I wasn’t on a team, or running for a cause, or to fulfill any sort of requirement. I was running for me, and actually having fun. And it helps that I totally crushed my time goal :)

What about you? Would love to hear what others have learned from past races. I’m already trying to figure out which one to do next…

ING Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon 2010

I am trying oh so hard not to micro-manage my music for Sunday, but I can’t help trying to create the perfect soundtrack for my run.  As of now, I have about an hour of extra music, which should give a good cushion for skipping songs I’m just not feeling at the time.  Nearly every song has a very specific memory or mood associated with it (hello, Cross Country team Heartbreaker dance circa 1998), but at the risk of completely undermining my music cred, here’s what I’ll be running to:

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear

Gives You Hell - The All-American Rejects

All Night Long - AC/DC

A Praise Chorus - Jimmy Eat World

Hey Ma - Cam’Ron

My Doorbell - The White Stripes

Still Not a Player - Big Pun

Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus

Piece of Me - Britney Spears

Ride Wit Me - Nelly

Good Girls Go Bad - Cobra Starship

Queen Bitch - David Bowie

Clothes Off! - Gym Class Heroes

California Gurls - Katy Perry

Put It On Me - Ja Rule

Tik Tok - Ke$ha

Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z

The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows - Brand New

Knock You Down - Keri Hilson, Kayne West, & Ne-Yo

Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood

Paper Planes - M.I.A.

Time to Pretend - MGMT

Say Hey (I Love You) - Michael Franti & Spearhead

Rally - Phoenix

Umbrella - Rihanna

Live Your Life - T.I.

BedRock - Young Money & Lloyd

Lisztomania - Phoenix

Ridin’ Solo - Jason Derulo

Heartbreaker - Mariah Carey

Take Me Home Tonight - Eddie Money

Mine - Taylor Swift

Pursuit of Happiness - Lissie

Fool in the Rain - Led Zeppelin

The Glory of Love - New Found Glory

Ignition (Remix) - R Kelly

Moth’s Wings - Passion Pit

The Final Countdown - Europe

Dog Days Are Over - Florence and the Machine

I can only hope this is what they mean by a rock ‘n’ roll half marathon in Philly.  (Please see 1:09 of this clip.)

Pursuit of Happiness - Lissie (Kid Cudi cover)

Can’t say I’m a Kid Cudi fan, but Lissie’s cover has become the unofficial anthem of my half training.

I’ve been asking myself a lot of questions lately.  Like, when did I become the kind of person who says no to happy hour because I have to run?  Or the kind of person who gets up at 6 am to get in 10 miles before leaving for a weekend away?  Two months ago, I would have classified those kinds of people as crazy.  But now, it’s just who I am.  And I like it.

Since I’ve been in a taper for the Philly half, there’s little for me to do but stress over the few race details I still have control over.  Like what to wear and what to listen to.  I’ve been steadily building a short list (er, long list) of top contenders for my playlist (even though it’s a rock ‘n’ roll marathon, I need to optimize every minute of music), but that’s another post for another day.

More pressing is what I’m going to wear to run 13.1 miles on Sunday.  I’ve been training in 90+ degree heat waves all summer, but fall has finally hit the city, with amazingly cooler temps that make me want to run even more.  So I’ve been thinking a lot about whether I should switch things up from my usual training run apparel to something more race and seasonally appropriate.

Which leads me to my next question:

When did I become the kind of person who has to spend $60 on running shorts?

I’m tempted to buy real running shorts, sweat-wicking socks, and a Dri-Fit shirt, but at the same time, I’m hesitant to change a good thing.  I might not look like the best runner (which is probably for the best, since that’s accurate), but at least my spandex and ancient tanktop haven’t let me down yet. 

Either way, there’s only three days left to decide!

Bring It On - The Gaslight Anthem

Going into this morning’s long run, I was pumped but also nervous. This was my last long training run before the half marathon, and after a less-than-stellar 11 miler last weekend, I was beginning to doubt my training plan.  Since I was 110% out of shape when I started training two months ago, it hadn’t even occurred to me to do speed workouts.  I pushed myself on my weekday workouts, sure, but never kept a close eye on my watch during the runs.  I figured I would focus on building up my endurance and hoped my pace would improve along with it.  Except with each long run, I’ve been steadily adding 5 seconds to my pace, and finding myself farther and farther from where I hoped to be.

Since I’m at my parents’ house for the weekend, I took a break from my usual East River-to-Battery Park-to-the West Side route, and headed over to the bike path that parallels the river my town is named after (though it’s a good 15-minute drive from my parents’ house to the start of the path).  

Until I started reading Mark Bittman’s On the Run blog at Runner’s World, I hadn’t thought much about pre-run food.  And up until my weekend runs hit 10 miles, I hadn’t been eating anything before my run, or even running with water on hand.  Thankfully that’s changed.  This morning I had half a cup of coffee, half a bowl of Corn Flakes, and glass of water before hitting the road.  I was going to try Mark’s oatmeal, until enough of the commenters scared me off the idea and I decided I didn’t want to risk it on this run.  I got a later start than I wanted to, but it was still a good three hours earlier and 10 degrees cooler than last week’s run.  I also drank a lot less during the run, and had the benefit of an almost constant tree cover, as opposed to last weekend’s brutal sun.  All of which is to say, things went pretty damn well.

I came in under race pace after 12.1, and could have done another mile if I hadn’t stopped myself.  Aside from the second to last mile, when I felt myself getting dangerously close to a wall, I felt pretty great.  And the best part?  Instead of having to stumble past put-together and/or hungover brunch-goers on my way back across town after my run, I got to drive—windows down, sunroof open, radio blasting—down the roads I lived on in high school.

From here on out, it’s taper sweet taper, and then…bring it on.

Two months ago, I impulsively signed up for a half marathon.  I hadn’t run consistently since I half-assed my way through four injury-filled years of high school cross country, though I’d always meant to sign up for a half or full marathon…one day.  But when you’re too lazy to register online for a race, it’s usually a good sign of what’s to come when it’s time to start training.  Still, I hoped the act of entering my credit card information meant I’d turned over a new leaf.  Armed with a Beginner’s Half Marathon Training Schedule, I set off for the East River.  136 miles, 1 black-and-blue toenail, and a ginormous blister later, I just have one long run and a welcome taper between me and  the ING Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon. 

When I started training I certainly didn’t read—or have any inclination to write—a running blog.   But as my weekend runs got longer, and my muscles got tighter, stronger, I found myself spending a lot of time on Google and clicking on blog after blog written by runners just like me (okay, fine, like me but faster).  And even though I’m already contemplating a full marathon in the spring, I know I’ll need additional accountability to keep on truckin’ (and ensure that all of the long training runs I’ve already logged weren’t for nothing, thank you very much). 

When I was a competitive swimmer growing up, I would spend lap after lap at practice conjugating irregular verbs in my head.  I was learning French and Latin at the time, and for whatever reason, I studied best when I was submerged.  My inner language dork doesn’t seem to like running so much, but my inner blogger has started coming out during long training runs.  In between the never-ending loop of “Kill me now” and “Seriously, only mile 7?”, I’ve found myself drafting posts for a blog I didn’t have.  So now I do.

• me: i need to sign up for a half asap.
• Samantha: PHILLY
• lets do it
• Two minutes later, I was staring at a confirmation email for a "Competitor Event," wondering what exactly I'd gotten myself into.