*Week #1, October 5-11

Monday:

• PLAN – OFF
• ACTUAL – OFF

Tuesday:

• PLAN – 3 mile warm up (11:00-11:30’s), 1 mile at 10:00, 1 mile at 11:00, 1 mile at 10:00,
  walk 5 mins cool down
• ACTUAL – 6 miles @10:16 average pace

I don’t remember much about this run except that I did really good.  Splits are:
Mile 1-10:51
Mile 2-10:15
Mile 3-10:12
Mile 4-9:46
Mile 5-10:38
Mile 6-9:52

Wednesday:

• PLAN –25 minutes on spinning bike (10 minutes warm up then alternate 3 minutes fast with 5 easy)
• ACTUAL – 26 minutes on spinning bike

This seriously was the last thing I wanted to do.  But I went to the gym and before I knew it, it was time to go.

Thursday:

• PLAN- 3 miles and 10 strides
• ACTUAL- 3 miles @9:57 average pace

The plan was to make it to a fun run with Bart Yasso hosted by Eddie Bauer.  I stayed too late at school and knew I would not make it on time for the run.  Plus, I did not want to deal with traffic heading to the north side of the city.  I did this run by my house.  It was weird knowing that it was my last run before the marathon.  Splits are below:
Mile 1-10:24
Mile 2-10:05
Mile 3-9:20

Yes, negative splits!!

Friday: 

• PLAN – OFF
• ACTUAL- OFF

Saturday:

• PLAN- OFF
• ACTUAL- OFF

I did make it to a fun run hosted by Runner’s World and Fleet Feet Chicago.  I did not run but went to see Bart Yasso, Sarah Hall, Josh Cox, and Deena Kastor.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing in bed.  I love how Lola loves to hang out with me.

Sunday:

• PLAN- Chicago Marathon
• ACTUAL- Chicago Marathon in 5:21:17 finish time

What a race!  Love, love this marathon.

*Runs on treadmill are done on 1% incline.

Thoughts:

• I chafed pretty bad during the race that it hurt more to walk because of it than from the actual race. I am doing much better now but wow it was painful.
• My goal was to PR (5:16:53) but that didn’t happen.  I know I shouldn’t rely too much on my watch but according to it I ran 27.64 miles.  Now, I know in all of my races it is always a little off but never this much.  Another friend posted his time and distance and his came out to 27.10 miles.  So weird.
• Yesterday after the race I told myself I would never run another marathon.  I was sore, tired, and hungry.  Can’t wait to sign up for the marathon next year!!  🙂
• So what now?  For now I am going to take some time off to recover and then start training for RnR NOLA in February.  I’ve never officially trained for a half marathon and am excited about it.