September 30, 2011 by Darlene

Foto Friday

Warning – there are lots of photos on this page.

First on Wednesday, our Komen Race for the Cure team which has almost 70 runners on it was interviewed for the TV news.

running for the photographer

getting interviewed

just part of the 70 member team

Click HERE to watch the news clip. Click HERE to read the story in the newspaper.

I did run 3 miles on Tuesday & Wednesday. The runs were not great but my training runs never are. They were slow (12 min pace) with frequent walking…will I ever be fast???

Anyway, I am excited for Saturday’s race. It is always such an emotional event. (Unfortunately, it’s supposed to RAIN!!)

Next, the official Adirondack Half Marathon photos (why do my thighs look huge or maybe they are & I should wear capris?) are out.

looks like I'm having fun

thumbs up pose

running cuz I see a camera

pretending like it's a not a hill

I see the finish line!

Happy Running! Have a nice weekend & Good Luck if you are racing!

September 29, 2011 by Darlene

September’s Almost Over. Bring On October!

I ran the whole month of September and haven’t run this many miles in a month since April!!

Here’s what I planned for September:

Hope to run pain-free – Almost (still sore from time to time)
Continue tennis & yoga once a week – YES
Spend a few more weekends on Lake George. – YES
Run 3-4 times a week – YES
Increase weekly mileage by adding longer runs – YES, got up to 8 miles
Prepare for Half Marathon #4 by doing 4 & 5 – YES
Survive Half Marathon #3 – YES
Run a 5k or 10K race (only if #1) – NO but I have one Oct 1.

running by Huddle Bay on Lake George

running my 3rd Half

So now what’s planned for October?

Continue to run pain-free 🙂
Continue tennis & yoga once a week
Run 3-4 times a week
Join a gym & start to cross-train ???
Increase weekly mileage by adding long runs to prepare for Half Marathon #4
Run a 5k or 10K or both

Happy Running! What are you planning for October?

September 27, 2011 by Darlene

My Next Race

‎1 in 8 women will be stricken with breast cancer in her lifetime.

In fact, here are my friends* who have all battled this horrible disease (if you read my blog, you may recognize them):

Top Row: Judy, Mary Ann, Mary M. Ava
Bottom Row: Sally, Phyllis, Maria, Sue

The Komen Northeastern New York Race for the Cure® raises money to fund education, screening & treatment programs for these women & supports the national search for a cure.

I am participating in this Race in Albany, NY this SATURDAY with the hopes of raising $1000 to help to provide for research programs in our area.

$100 for each of my 8 friends above who beat this disease, $100 for Dee, a friend’s sister who is currently fighting this disease and $100 for Dottie, who unfortunately lost her battle with this disease.

( *They are all currently cancer-free 🙂 )

So this race doesn’t fit into my training plan but it’s a race that I have to run and Albany Law School where I work has organized a team. We have 55 runners so far and we are being interviewed for TV news tomorrow.

I am happy to say my heel doesn’t hurt at all and that I feel fine!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe I could have pushed myself more on Sunday but who knew?

So what are my goals for this race?

Not go for a PR (I just did a half marathon & have to run 10 miler this weekend)!!
Not be my slowest!

This will be my 4th Komen Race & I have done 4 Freihofer’s (FRW) – That means I have run this course 7 times:

2008 FRW – 33:29

2008 Komen – 32:49

2009 FRW – 35:05

2009 Komen – 31:15

2010 FRW – 30:39

2010 Komen – 29:10 (Komen PR)

2011 FRW – 28:14 (course PR)

– 27:30 (5K PR)

Happy Running! Click here if you want to donate.

September 26, 2011 by Darlene

The Aftermath & Plans for the Future

the end of the Adirondack Half Marathon

Looking back, here were my possible plans for this race:

A. Run the whole damn thing (and hope I don’t make my heel injury worse).
B. Walk the whole thing (under 5 hours, of course so I can get a medal).
C. Run until I get tired and then walk.
D. Walk one mile, run one mile, etc.
E. Walk up the hills, run down the hills.
F. Pretend that it’s a training run for Half Marathon #4 instead of a race.
G. Play it by ear. Do whatever feels right.
H. Have lots of fun and take lots of photos.

I didn’t do A or B or D or F. I got caught up in the excitement and ran most of the the first 7 miles. After mile 8, I was done and walked up the hills and would have run down the hills if I had the chance. It makes sense since my longest training run was 8 miles. I had fun and did take photos. So I did C, E, G, & H.

Here were my goals:

Have fun.
Run a lot of it.
Walk when necessary.
Finish under 5 hours (but really I want to finish under 4 hours or maybe even in 3 hours)

ALL GOALS ACCOMPLISHED!!! YAY!!!

In 6 weeks, I have another Half Marathon.

I hope to continue training and get in better running shape. If I don’t have to walk the last few miles, my time will improve. I have no idea if this course is flat or hilly…so who knows. But I know I will have fun since I will be in LA and staying with an old friend.

After that, I will do a few 5ks and look for another Half Marathon for the spring. Yes, I said “Another Half.”

I think I prefer to train in the winter when there’s nothing else to do on weekends and it is not so hot & humid. There are also not many 5ks races to enter. I also want to run in a flat half marathon.

After that, I hope to run many 5ks in the summer as I did before except for the 10 miler in Lake George and maybe a 10k or 15k at some point.

Then who knows…

Happy Running! Anyone know of a FLAT half marathon in the spring in the NE?

September 25, 2011 by Darlene

Adirondack Half Marathon Race Report

No need to be nervous. Right? This is just a training run for Half Marathon #4 which is in 6 weeks.

But I was and stayed up late finishing a book. When I got up, I remembered that this house had all the comforts of home EXCEPT that there was a percolator. I don’t know how to use one. Neither did AJH. So since I was the first one up, I drove to Stewarts to buy some COFFEE. Got to have coffee!! Then I ate my usual cream of wheat with raisins and continued to stress out about how I would be able to do 13.1 miles.

After getting our race gear together, we headed to the race (and didn’t make any wrong turns.) There was no traffic and plenty of parking.

No problems with bathrooms either. There were bathrooms at Stewarts, porta potties and NO LINE at the boathouse (Thanks Mary for the advice).

We were at the Marathon start and needed to take a bus to the half start.

where the marathon starts

There were lots of buses. I must say that this race is very well-organized. So we arrived at the start with plenty of time for photos.

me & AJH

I bumped into the young mothers running group right away. They seemed so excited & I was excited for them.

me, Bridget, Janis, Felice & Amanda

I should mention that it was warm, sunny but not as humid as I thought. Occasionally, there was even a breeze.

The race was very scenic with views of the lake, especially the first half. The speactator/course marshall support was awesome. There was music, cheering and sometimes, they looked up your number in the program & called out your name.

the lake is on the right

What was my plan?

Really no plan. I was going to play it by ear. I had said that I just wanted to finish under 4 1/2 hours.

I felt great for the first 6 miles or so. No pain. I ran except for walking through several water stops. My time was good and I started thinking of PR…

Then came the endless hills of route 9. I mean endless.

My pace slowed and slowed and slowed. I decided to walk up the hills and run down the hills. Unfortunately that meant that I walked A LOT!!

The idea of a PR vanished so did finishing under 2:30. Yeah, I said I just wanted to finish…

As I dragged myself past the drummers, I was determined to sprint across the finish line UNDER 2:45.

I did!!! Officially 2:44:59. My slowest half marathon time so far but I’m thrilled!!

All my friends had already finished so I wandered to the food tables. What a spread!!! In addition to the usual bagels, yogurt, fruit, they had ICE CREAM!

The race ended at the beach. Perfect way to cool off your aching feet.

We hung around for the awards ceremony. AJH won 3rd in her AG but she had already headed home to Vermont. Felice won also – 2nd in her AG. She didn’t beat Sarah’s time but I’m sure this half was tougher than the one Sarah did.

Then I drove back to my friend’s river house to unwind. Believe it or not, my heel doesn’t hurt…yet.

Half Marathon #3

I’m glad I decided to do this race. Yes, I wish I was trained and ready but I’m glad I pushed myself the lst half and ran. I’m glad that I walked the 2nd half so that now I continue to train for my next race.

Happy Running! Hope you had a nice weekend!

September 24, 2011 by Darlene

Adirondack Half Marathon – Pre-Race Report

Lucky for me, my friend has a house on Schroon River which is not too far from the start of the race.

Fellow runner/blogger AJH was running this race too & I invited her to stay with me.

I planned on getting there early Saturday morning but actually AJH arrived before me. Then we headed to the Expo, my first, in Schroon Lake.

It was a pretty small expo. First we picked up our race packets. Instead of tee shirts, they gave us a cool green race jacket. So I decided to buy a tee shirt – one with the logo on the front and the name of the runners on the back. Can you believe it? I’m not even racing this one.

back of the shirt

Then we had lunch. We went to small cafe that specialized in crepes. Yes, the French teacher in me came out. It was delicious!! I had a chicken, brie, apple crepe and we split a smores crepe for dessert.

I bumped to my running friend Mary on the street who had come up to get her packet and look at the course.

AJH & I decided that we’d like to drive the course. We headed north and followed the Marathon route. It was very scenic, many of the leaves had changed colors but it was VERY hilly.

Finally we arrived at the start of the half marathon.

They said it was flat – not really but definitely less hilly that the 1st 13 miles. For most of the beginning miles you had a great view of the lake and the race ended at the beach.

I started to get excited about the race but then reality set in – I’m not racing it… I can’t. I will finish and have fun anyway. I repeat. I will finish and have fun.

a sign in front of one of the stores in town

So then we headed back to the house. It took about 11 minutes. Yes, we were pretty close.

AJH relaxing at the river house

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to Schroon Lake for the Pasta dinner. I was surprised how elaborate it was. I succeeded in carb loading – 2 plates of pasta & some cheesecake. We sat with a nice couple from NJ. He was doing his 1st half and she was training for the Chicago Marathon.

Remember that 11 minute ride. It turned out to be much longer on the way home. We missed 2 exits and then accidentally got back on the highway when we didn’t need to.

Finally got back and spent the rest of the evening on our laptops while planning our morning routine.

To be continued…

September 23, 2011 by Darlene

Goals for Half Marathon #3

Actually this is pretty easy…since I’m not ready to race 13.1.

My Goals:

Have fun.
Run a lot of it.
Walk when necessary.
Finish under 5 hours (but really I want to finish under 4 hours or maybe even in 3 hours

I am not a fan of rain. I raced in it once and that was enough for a lifetime. Here are the forecasts:

It looks like either way, it will be WARM and HUMID!!

Happy Running! Good Luck in your weekend races!

September 22, 2011 by Darlene

Half Marathon #3 – What’s the Plan?

“If you tell yourself that your goal race is going to hurt + that it won’t be any fun, your expectations will probably come true. Instead tell yourself that there will be challenges, counterbalanced by feelings of joy and satisfaction.” — Jeff Galloway

So what’s the plan?

A. Run the whole damn thing (and hope I don’t make my heel injury worse).
B. Walk the whole thing (under 5 hours, of course so I can get a medal).
C. Run until I get tired and then walk.
D. Walk one mile, run one mile, etc.
E. Walk up the hills, run down the hills.
F. Pretend that it’s a training run for Half Marathon #4 instead of a race.
G. Play it by ear. Do whatever feels right.
H. Have lots of fun and take lots of photos.

Stay tuned to see what I do…

Happy Running! Anyone faced with this situation?

September 20, 2011 by Darlene

Two for Tuesday: Train or Taper

One week until Half Marathon #3 and 7 weeks until Half Marathon #4!!

So my longest run was a little over 8 miles. That means I am training for my half marathon on Nov 6!
This coming Sunday I have to do 13.1 miles…Do I need to taper?

Happy Running? Have you ever had to choose between training & tapering?

September 18, 2011 by Darlene

Boats, Jazz, Running & Pirates

We listened to jazz from out boats last year and it was fun so we thought we’d do it again. The weather cooperated. It was sunny but cool so we decided not to listen from our boat but to drive to Lake George Village and meet our friends and listen there.

First we walked around the Boat Show that was at the public docks.

Then we went out to lunch at The Lookout restaurant which has a great view of the lake as well as great burgers. Then we headed to the Jazz Fest to listen for awhile.

Afterward, we headed up to Bolton Landing to put our boat in the water (that’s where we would be sleeping) and then back to our friends in the village for an evening of cards and watching the fireworks from their deck.

The next morning I headed out for my long run. Unfortunately, my energy level was low (I hadn’t had dinner the nite before & didn’t get a lot of sleep).

I decided to repeat my 9N South route and but to take a different detour than last week. The weather couldn’t have been better – sunny & cool (& not as cool as I was dressed for.)

Route 9N So

photo stop

and a tree house

the beautiful lake

heading back to 9N

The run was fun because of the beautiful scenery. I covered about 8.5 miles in total with a lot of stops for photos. I was fine until around 6 miles & then the lack of food & sleep took over and my pace slowed.