Sunday, May 18, 2014

Capitol Hill Classic Race Round-Up

The alternate title of this post should be: "I had fun, but, geez, when did I get so bad at this?"

I know I shouldn't whine, but this race showed me that I'm in worse running shape than I was during marathon training.  My body, however, has enjoyed eating like I'm training for a marathon...a little too much, if you know what I mean.

I ran this back in 2011, and the course has changed quite a bit since then.  First, the loop around RFK turned into a loop around the Anacostia River Walk Trail.  Frankly, it was not my favorite part of the course.  There's something about trying to squeeze hundreds of runners on a very narrow trail that doesn't seem to work as well as you might think.  In a smaller race, sure, using the trail would be fine.  I think it even worked well during the marathon because the portion used was much wider (and, by then, the pack at thinned so much that it didn't matter).  The second change was that runners no longer run down (and then up) Independence Avenue.  It ranks pretty low of my list of favorite hills in DC - yes, I do have favorites - but it's a very pretty run up the House side of Capitol Hill before looping back toward the finish.  Instead, we ran the narrow-ish streets around the Capitol and the Supreme Court before doing an out and back on East Capitol, which is my second favorite street in DC.

I ran the first two miles probably faster than I should, and then had to convince myself to keep moving during the more boring parts of the course.  By Mile 5, I just wanted to be done but mustered enough energy for a strong finish.  My watch clocked 6.4 miles in 57:55 -- which is not my fastest but a good reminder of what happens when I train and treat my body like it's not a vacuum for cookies.  (Although they're truly delicious cookies that are bigger than your head, cookies are still a sometimes food.)

These days, I'm still packing up my apartment and getting ready for my cross-town move.  Thinking about all the things that one has to do before a move, I've added remap loops of various distances.  If I can convince my things to getting into boxes on their own, I'll be okay.

Friday, May 9, 2014

A Life Update

Oh, hey! It's been about a month since my last update.

I haven't been running as often in the months after my marathon.  This always happens, and I always appreciate the break.  I'm slightly worried about my upcoming 10K.  I wanted to race it, but I don't think that'll happen.  My plan is to have fun (I always say this) and enjoy having my dad here for the weekend.

I don't do life updates often, but I think this is a good time to give a quick run-down of my next few moves.

I'm starting a PhD program! 
Grad school has always been on my radar.  I'd envisioned that I'd move to DC, work for one or two years, and then head off to graduate school.  I love my job and wanted to stay on longer than I'd anticipated.  Honestly, going that route confirmed that getting a PhD was something that I actually wanted to do.  So, this fall, I'll start as a doctoral student.  I'm not leaving DC but...

I'm moving! 
I'm having ALL of the feels now that I've started to pack up my place.  I'm kind of in denial about it and I'm making excuses about things that I don't want to pack because I "need" them between now and the time I move in two weeks. This was where I landed after graduation (holy cow, my fifth year reunion is so soon!) and these four walls have seen almost five years of personal growth.  I'm so much more of an adult than I was when I moved in at 22.  Still, I'm excited to one of my favorite neighborhoods.  It'll be nice to be closer to all of the metro/bus lines that I need to get to work and class.  And, I swear, the new place is adorable! 

Knowing that I'm going to have a lot less free time starting this fall, I'm starting to give some thought into how I can work racing into my schedule.  It'll probably be a while until I run my next marathon, but I'm confident that I'll be able to work in training for early fall half-marathons. Hooray spending summer break to train!

Once I figure out my summer training schedule (there's still time for one more PR until I start school), I promise to blog more often