The Road to Dopey: Week 4 - The First Race of 2016

January Miles: 40.8
Average Pace: 14:32 min/mi
Yoga Sessions this week: 2

January has come to an end. And what a productive month it was. My workout calendar was almost completely marked off for the month! A couple things became clear this month:

1. I don't have to get to school super early every morning. The world will not end if I'm not there until 8 am or later. Case and point? I have not gotten to school before 8 am for the past few weeks and we're all still here. 
2. I have trouble completing my Friday morning yoga. I have a theory about this. My book group meets on Thursday nights and I'm usually out later than I normally go to bed, so when I wake up Friday morning, I'm still a bit sleepy. This week I woke up with enough energy to do my Yoga on Friday, however, but with my race this weekend (which I'll get to in a minute), I didn't want to do it, because sometimes it makes me a little sore.

This week was pretty good training wise (even if it was less than wonderful life wise). My yoga was good and my training runs were great. I have decided to introduce some hill training, which I started Thursday. Now to just find some hills in this flat part of the world.

I had two races this weekend, a repeat of an event I enjoyed last year, called the Phoenix Challenge (part of Miracle Match Race Weekend). The Phoenix Challenge is a 5K on Saturday and then either a half, a full, or an ultra marathon on Sunday. I ran the 5K on Saturday, and purple power led me to a PR! Last year I ran that 5K in a 39:09 and this year I ran a 38:35. Which also means I ran a 12:22 pace (which I haven't done in I can't even tell you how long). It was very exciting because to me, it meant that my consistent training was already showing an improvement in myself.

Sunday, I ran the half, which went less well. I haven't run anything over 4 miles since my half in December, so I knew it wasn't going to be easy. I had those moments around miles 6-10 where everything started to hurt and I had to allow myself to walk more, eventually quitting my intervals all together. This is the point in the race where I usually have to text my unofficial Dopey coach (and accountability buddy) Catie, and she tells me to keep going. This was also the point in the course where the hills got intense...I think there's a correlation there.

Miles 10-13, I was exclusively walking, and I started getting passed by marathon finishers, whose words on encouragement kept me going. In those miles, it was hard to believe that I will join their ranks in less than 2 years time. And with my race the way it was, Miles 10-13 were spent second guessing my decision to even attempt Dopey 2018. 

But I did finish, and I got my bling. The ladder indicates that I also did the Jacob's Ladder Challenge around mile 11. Basically, I climbed up a cliff face. Wasn't easy, but I took a nice little rest when I reached the top and catching my breath there really helped me make it to the finish, I think.

Tomorrow, we start February. Who knows what trials of life and training February holds, but we'll get through it together.

Until then...