Race Recap: Eugene Half Marathon

I don't usually post on the weekends, but I am bound and determined to finish my outstanding race recaps before Disneyland.

Eugene Half Marathon
July 27, 2014

State: #18 (Oregon)
Lifetime: #46

 The race started very early - almost Disney early!  The race started at 6am and since there was no parking at the start, we had to get on a shuttle in Downtown Eugene.  We left pretty early since we anticipated some traffic.  Luckily for us, there was no traffic and we parked quickly.  There was a minimal wait for the shuttle as well. 

The race started right outside Hayward Field.  It was a short walk from the shuttle to the start (we did make a pit stop at baggage first).  The start area was pretty uncrowded - the race was smaller than I thought. 

It was a good temperature, a little chilly but that was prefect for race day.  The race started right on time and off we went.  The course went throughout downtown Eugene and the surrounding area.  It was flat with some rolling hills, a couple bigger but nothing major.

Since I was only 1 month out form Grandma's, I wasn't racing this one.  I was keeping the pace easy and tried to enjoy the scenery.  The second part of the course was in a nature preserve and part of Pre's trail.  It was gorgeous!  I didn't stop for any pictures as I was in a nice groove.

The race finished on the track at Hayward Field and as a running nerd, that was amazing.  When I turned the corner and took my first step on the track, I got goosebumps.  It was incredibly cool run on the same track so many incredible athlete's have run before me.  It was worth the trip to Eugene just to experience that!

Crossing the finish line, I felt good.  I wasn't feeling spent and not too sore.  For my first race back, I thought that was good!

They had a great finish line area with free pancakes for the athlete's, yoga and stretching, plus a beer garden! 

After getting taking the time to fully stretch, I got my pancakes (they were quite good!) and took some photo's with the University of Oregon mascot (a duck).

 

Once the other girls had finished, we celebrated with some beers in the beer garden!


Results
Official: 13.1 mi, 2:04:45, 9:31 pace
Garmin: 13.25 mi, 2:04:467, 9:23 pace

Eugene Half Marathon: Expo

At the end of July, I headed west to do the Eugene Half and check another state off the list.  But before you can run the half, you must head to the expo!  The expo was held at University of Oregon's arena.

We went to the expo early and wanted to get it done first thing, arriving about 5 minutes before it opened.  Unfortunately, they were a bit delayed (the shirts hadn't arrived yet), so we got to spend some extra time waiting. 

Eventually, we did head in.  It was well organized with number pick-up right at the front.  A quick check of number assignments and I picked up my number and gear check bag.  Time to head to the main floor! 

The vendors were housed on the floor of the arena.  There weren't a ton of vendors, but a good variety.  You had your standard races and gear (gu's, body glide, etc).  The race shirts and official merchandise was all the way at the end, so we walked all the way through to get that first.  When we got there, we realized the shirts hadn't arrived yet (which was the hold up to open the expo). 

Since we were there, we figured we should look at the official merchandise now and then head back into the full expo.  I liked a couple of pieces of official merchandise but it all said "Eugene Marathon" and since I was only doing the half, decided not to get anything.  While we were looking, the race shirts arrived!  Perfect timing!

I really like the race shirt - it's a soft Nike drifit shirt with a really cute design!

Once we got our shirts, we headed back to the expo starting at the beginning.  Our first stop was the Oregon Track Club booth.  Even though I'm not a member, I still wanted a shirt.  I figured it was a perfect souvenir of a running trip to Oregon.  They also had a $1 bin which some old race shirts (which I picked one up for as a throwaway) and some awesome 80s styled bags.  I have no need for it, but it was only a $1!  I couldn't resist!

Most amazing bag ever.

Next, we made a stop at the Picky Bars booth.  I've been wanting to try them since they are gluten free (and that makes my stomach feel better).  They were really good!  But the best part was my total fangirl moment when I met pro runner Lauren Fleshman.  She and her husband created Picky Bars and she runs for Oiselle (I love their clothing!).  She was super nice and even posed for a photo with me.  You know what made me like her even more?  I tagged her in the photo on Instagram and she even commented!  Love that she took the time to do that. 

After that we wondered through the rest of the booths, checking out races and seeing what freebie's there were.  I also picked up a cute (non-running) shirt from Run Pretty Far.  They had a bunch of cute sayings and I got one perfect for Wine and Dine weekend.

 

Despite our best effort to not stay too long, we ended up being there for close to 1.5 hours so it was time to head back to the hotel. 

Up next, the race!

Training recap week of 7/21 (Eugene Half Week 4)

This is the last week of my crazy work project and then I should be back to normal blogging!  I have so much I still want to share with you all, so I am excited to get some normalcy back in my life.

Monday

Scheduled: Sweat

Actual: Rest

I was stuck at work really late on Monday and wasn't able to get this in.  

Tuesday

Scheduled: 4 miles easy + Core

Actual: 4.00 mi, 40:56, 10:14 pace + Core

Wednesday

Scheduled: 6 miles easy + Buns

Actual: Buns

Was at work later then expected and by the time I got home there was a really bad thunderstorm going on so heading out for a run was not feasible.  I still got my PiYo in though!

Thursday

Scheduled: 4 miles easy + Drench
Actual: 4.09 mi, 40:59, 10:01 pace

I was at work a little late and still needed to pack for Oregon.  Plus with the early flight I needed all the sleep I could get!

Friday

Scheduled: Rest

Actual: Rest

Saturday

Scheduled: 2 miles easy

Actual: 2.31 mi, 23:00, 9:57 pace

Since we were in Eugene, we did this run on Pre's Trail which was just gorgeous.

Sunday

Scheduled: Eugene Half Marathon

Actual: 13.25 mi, 2:04:47, 9:23 pace + Strength Intervals

More to come about this race, but it was fun one!

Total miles: 23.65

Total July miles: 60.17

Miles until goal (1,250): 499.93

Training recap week of 7/14 (Eugene Half Week 3)

I am so sorry for the radio silence this past week.  It'll probably be a bit quiet for the next week or two as I am in the middle of a huge project at work and it is going to be consuming my life for the next two weeks.  Stay with me guys!

Monday

Scheduled: Define: Upper Body

Actual: Define: Upper Body

Tuesday

Scheduled: 3 miles easy + Buns

Actual: Buns

Was at work late and by the time I was able to get home and out for a running, it was thundering and lightning so that didn't make it a good idea to run outside.

Wednesday

Scheduled: 5 miles easy + Core

Actual: 4.51 mi, 42:34, 9:26 pace + Core

Thursday

Scheduled: 3 miles easy + Define: Lower Body
Actual: 3 mi, 30:45, 10:15 pace

Friday

Scheduled: Rest

Actual: Rest

Saturday

Scheduled: 4 miles easy + Sweat

Actual: 4.1 mi, 40:45, 9:56 pace

I worked 15 hours on Friday and had minimal sleep Friday night, so could barely get my 4 miles in and then slept all day.

Sunday

Scheduled: 10 miles long run + Strength Intervals

Actual: 10.3 mi, 1:37:56, 9:30 pace + Strength Intervals

Was a gorgeous morning out and got out for a run to the lighthouse.

Total miles: 21.92

Total July miles: 36.52

Miles until goal (1,250): 523.58

Training recap week of 7/7 (Eugene Half Week 2)

This week went better.  I got all my PiYo workouts in and almost all my runs.  I took my first run back on Tuesday easy just to make sure my knee was feeling fine - and it was!  I skipped Thursday run solely because I was stuck at work and feeling lazy.  Since I don't want to burn out post marathon, I am giving myself permission to skip sometimes.  It's a balancing act sometimes!

Monday

Scheduled: Sweat

Actual: Sweat

Tuesday

Scheduled: 3 miles easy + Define: Lower Body

Actual: 1.50 mi, 17:18, 11:31 pace + Define: Lower Body

Wednesday

Scheduled: Core

Actual: Core

Thursday

Scheduled: 3 miles easy + Define: Upper Body
Actual: Define: Upper Body

Skipped the run since I was late at work and not feeling up to it

Friday

Scheduled: Rest

Actual: Rest

Saturday

Scheduled: 6 miles easy + Sweat

Actual: 5.92 mi, 1:01:13, 10:20 pace + Sweat

Sunday

Scheduled: Core

Actual: 4.17 mi, 45:24, 10:53 pace + Core

Since I skipped Thursday's run and I was feeling in the mood for a run, I went out for 4 miles. 

Total miles: 11.60

Total July miles: 14.60

Miles until goal (1,250): 545.50

Training recap week of 6/30 (Eugene Half)

Sorry for the bit of radio silence.  I was home for July 4th weekend and decided to disconnect when I was there.  It was really nice and needed!  Hopefully, I'll get my posts done for Grandma's done this week (fingers crossed).

So this week was not great.  I was rushing to work on Wednesday and tripped on the subway stairs and landed hard on my knee.  It was a little sore for the next couple of days so I didn't run.  It feels better now, so that's good.  Fortunately it was still a down week from Grandma's so didn't miss too much.

Monday

Scheduled: Rest

Actual: Rest

Tuesday

Scheduled: 3 miles easy

Actual: 3.00, 29:55, 9:57 pace

Wednesday

Scheduled: Rest

Actual: Rest

Thursday

Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: Rest

Friday

Scheduled: Good Neighbor 5K

Actual: Rest

Bailed on this race since my knee was a little sore.

Saturday

Scheduled: 6 miles easy

Actual: Rest

Sunday

Scheduled: Rest

Actual: Rest

Total miles: 3

Total July miles: 3

Miles until goal (1,250): 557.10

2014 Goals - Mid Year Check-in

We are officially halfway through 2014 (holy cow is it going by fast!) and similar to last year, I thought I'd do a check-in on how my goals for 2014 are coming along.

Complete the Dopey Challenge 
This is a pretty obvious goal as I spent most of 2013 preparing for this.  I can't believe it is only 8 days away!
COMPLETED
It was nice to start the year off completing a goal right at the beginning.  In case you missed them, you can read my recaps here: 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Marathon, Final Thoughts.  It's been almost 6 months and I still have trouble believing that I did all that and how well the marathon went (second fastest at the time, third fastest post Grandma's).

PR in the Half Marathon 
My current PR is a 1:51:52 set back in 2010.  I ran a 1:55:03 this past September, so I am hoping to make this happen.
COMPLETED
We can check this one off the list!  I set a new Half Marathon PR at the Nike DC Women's Half with a 1:50:04.  Since I reached it, wouldn't it be fun to get under 1:50 sometime in the fall?  Challenges are good for you.

Check 5 states off my list 
I've already got 3 states on the schedule (Kentucky, DC, Oregon).  I have a couple of ideas for the other 2 states and will let you know once they are finalized.
ON TRACK
3 states down and 2 to go.  Eugene is already on the schedule and since we are talking 50 States, I can tell you all that as of Monday, I am officially registered for state #5 for 2014 - Maryland.  I'll be running the Baltimore Half Marathon on October 18th.  

Race a marathon 
I am not running the Disney marathon with a time goal with Dopey going on, so I would like to actually race a marathon in 2014.  I already have an idea for a race and will let you know once it's been decided.
COMPLETED
As you might remember, I just raced Grandma's Marathon during which I set a new marathon PR (which wasn't even a goal, so I feel extra good about this one).

Run 1,250 miles total 
I ran a total of 1,145.77 in 2013 according to my Garmin, but I did a lot of my Jan-Mar weekday runs on the treadmill (without my Garmin) and they are not counted in that number.  So I think this doable.
ON TRACK
As of July 1, I have run 689.90 miles or 55.19% of the way towards having this goal completed.  I'm a little ahead, which is good since I won't be training for a marathon in the fall and won't be putting as many miles in.  I have to do about 93.35 miles a month, which I think is  (probably) doable.  Got lots of halves to train for so it should be fun for the second half of the year!  This was always a stretch goal, so if I come close but don't reach it, I'm okay with it.

Commit to core work 
This is one area I have definitely been slacking on.  I really want to get back to this and to get it started, I am taking part of the Athleta 30-Day Plank Challenge.  You should join me!
SLACKING
There had to be one I wasn't doing well in right?  I started off well, doing the Plank Challenge for the first week (wow, it's sad that I just said 1 week was doing well).  Then Dopey came up and I didn't want to do anything that would interfere with that and then I just didn't go back to it.  I would do some ab work here and there, but nothing major.

This is one I definitely want to work on for the rest of the year (and I'm adding stretching in.  Man, am I inflexible).  So to help me accomplish those goals, I am going to be doing PiYo for the next 60 days (I officially started this Monday).  PiYo is a fast paced yoga-pilates combo from Chalene Johnson and Beachbody (the company that does P90X).  It's low impact (which will be good for my knees and joints) and focuses on core and flexibility, two things I am in desperate need of improving.  Moving foward, you'll see PiYo included in my weekly training recaps.  I'll still be running, so some days it will be doubles, but I think committing to this will help me get faster in the long run.  For most of the 60 days I'm doing PiYo, I won't be doing any speed work so it'll mostly all be easy runs.  I might throw in a couple of tempo runs to change it up, but not at race pace or anything.  Just slightly faster.  {Side bar: in case you are wondering, I bought and paid for PiYo myself.  I'm not being sponsored or anything - although that would be nice, right?}

Not too bad half way through!