Kimi and I are quickly approaching our goal marathon for this year. It's just over 5 weeks away so the nerves are slowly increasing.'Yes' even those of us that have run multiple marathons, and a lot of races throughout the years, still get nervous about races. The main reason the nerves start to creep in for a race like this is due to the amount of time and energy spent in preparation. What I mean by that is that when you spend that much time training, you get nervous that something out of your control could happen and make it feel like it was all for nothing. Of course, typically when you put in the time and effort in regards to training, the results tend to simply follow suit. I know we're putting in a solid effort in regards to our training this year so the race should go well. The real question at that point is simply, 'how well'. This of course must wait the 5 more weeks to be revealed.
On the first weekend of May, Kimi and I went down to the Bradleyville 5k for what is usually a very competitive field. It didn't disappoint again this year. Kimi ran a new personal best for that particular course (she's run there 4 times now). This was my second year to give it a shot and boy was I in for a fight. I was racing a high school age guy who has greatly improved over the last couple years as he's learning how to pace and train consistently. He took out from the start and I didn't know for sure if I'd be able to reel him back in. For those that don't know the course, it's basically uphill for the first mile and then down to the turn around point, and then you retrace your steps. By the time we reached the first mile marker, I was in second place and was pretty sure that the race for first consisted of me vs him. He was about 3-4 seconds ahead of me at the first mile (this was down from probably a good 30 meter gap at the half mile). At the half way point, I was basically right on his heels. I intended to make him work hard up the half mile hill back to the 2 mile mark. He was determined to hold me off though but I kept the pressure on. Any time he faltered a bit, I maintained my rhythm and tried to go around. Then he would surge back to the front and I just kept consistent. Finally with about 3/4 of a mile to go, I made one final surge. This time, I didn't want there to be any doubt that I was strong enough to take the pace to the end. I quickly went by and didn't want to look back. My main concern was that I didn't want to let him stay close enough to me that he might somehow get another energetic surge and out sprint me to the finish. I took it to the finish line in 16:49 and crossed in 1st place. Not too much later, Kimi came across the line in 17:26 or so. This was a great day for us.
Since then we have turned our focus primarily to our marathon. The mileage has increased substantially as I stated above. Our workouts have grown in length as well. Just this past weekend, we ran a workout that incorporated a 5k race for Kimi. I wasn't quite up to racing because this race is usually out of my league though unfortunately, this would have been a good year for me to do it as Kimi ended up being the OVERALL winner (including men, and by about 3 minutes). We went on to run two more 3 mile repeats while waiting for the awards to be presented following the race. Just yesterday, we completed a 6 mile tempo run at the Frisco trail and just smoked it. Goal was between 5:50-5:55 pace and we accomplished our goal.
Going forward, rest becomes a critical part of training. Any time you start covering high mileage (which is relative to each individual), you must increase the amount of rest (sleep, naps, etc) you get as well to maintain your energy and performance. Nutrition also plays a huge role in marathon preparation. Fortunately for us, we had a great teacher (Cassie Dimmick, from Achieving Your Best, LLC) help us better master the art of training and racing nutrition.
I'll do my best to keep you all updated on how things are going over the next couple weeks as we do some pretty intense workouts and long runs.
Here's a couple photos of our kitchen remodel. Keep in mind that final pictures will come soon.
