May 2020 Monthly Running Challenge

I have to tell you all about this Flora-Bama "race" I'm doing. We are about 600K (380 miles) from where we live to the Orange Beach on the Florida Alabama border. So this guy said "hey I'm going to set up a race whoever virtually gets there first will win a $500.00 Fleet Feet gift card". So he set us up on the mymission site and on 5/7 we started and to get a finishers medal you need to be there by Labor Day (9/7). Okay it's been ONE WEEK and there are 2 guys that are almost there, one is at 320 miles of the 380 and one is at 297. Both NEVER did this kind of mileage before. The second place guy is local, 1st place is from Canada. The second place guy weighed over 300 lbs this time last year, he lost a bunch of weight and started to run, great story to follow. He does half walks and half runs and has been doing about 40 miles a day and like 8 hours of time a day dedicated to this. Meanwhile 3rd place is at 227 and the first place girl is 178 with second place from France at 114. I have just over 30 ha ha.

Besides just being amazed at these two guys, especially 2nd place who was running/walking maybe 20 miles a week before this is that we can see on the map the street view where we are. Yesterday I could see other runners around me, my friend was outside of the Huddle House (known for breakfast food) and we laughed that she needed to wait on me to eat. Skip will be going to school about 45 minutes from the finish line so my plan is to go down there that weekend and we will finish our distance at the actual finish line. Of course she will probably already be done but I know I won't.

Anyway I know some others are doing similar virtual events and I thought it was cool.

I was scheduled to do my first hill repeats today and was actually looking forward to it. But, life threw a curve ball, as it often does. The tree-trimmers for the power company cut trees at the end of my driveway yesterday. I have a gate that I keep locked most of the time that just covers my driveway. I let the area to the left of the gate "grow up" so that no one could drive around the gate. Well, in an effort to do a superb job, they cut down that overgrowth. So, today my dad and mom helped me build a section of wooden fence in that area so it doesn't look so open/tempting. Dad is 88, so we took it slow and took a 3 hour break for lunch and his afternoon nap. I didn't want to run then, so played on the computer instead. Trying to decide if I want to do the hill repeats tomorrow, and mow the lawn or just mow. I plan to do my long run on Saturday, so will probably just skip it tomorrow and cross train pushing the mower.

Weekly race report! Finally got in my 8 miler which is the final race in the Run the 901 Challenge. So I’m done with the series!

Going in I knew my knee had been sore ever since my previous 8 mile long run, so I planned to take it extra easy and try not to do the same thing a second time. Since I ran the first run easy at 11 minute pace and ended up injured, I set myself a limit - no faster than 11 minute pace overall, slower if necessary, walking if the knee started hurting. My goals (with the caveat that if I started feeling actual pain all goals would be abandoned) were to run at least the first 4 miles with no walk break, and do the whole run in under 12 minute pace (which for me on roads isn’t a running pace, it includes some walking).

My husband and I went down to our usual railroad access road, which was pleasantly blocked off today even more thoroughly than last time, so no one could drive around the traffic barrels. This left the road free for foot and bike traffic, which today was just us, two cyclists, and an elderly couple strolling. The lack of people out and about was probably because it was hot as blazes. Or it felt that way anyhow - last time we ran was the middle of a cold snap and it was 41 degrees. Today it was 86 with a dew point of 67, aka “yuck, I hate this,” weather. The temp came down as the sun descended but the humidity went up and the breeze died, so in terms of how it felt to run in, it stayed about the same. Fortunately there are trees lining both sides of the road so we got shade most of the way, but the heat was a serious handicap since we haven’t had time to adjust to it.

The access road is a little shy of 2 miles, so 8 is basically an out and back twice, with a little left over. We did our first four miles on pace (actually a little fast) with no walk breaks as planned, but by the time we reached our second turnaround we were both dripping sweat and open mouthed panting. My husband informed me he was feeling chills, which for him is the first sign of getting overheated, and my muscles were starting to do that thing where they shut down to stop you from hurting yourself. So we took ample walk and water breaks during our second half. Finished in 1:32:16 with a pace of 11:31, so pretty much bang on between 11 and 12. Finished “fast” after the final turnaround which I see from my data was about a 9 minute pace, which is honestly better than I expected given that our tongues were hanging out from the heat by that point. Ah, Memphis, I love ya, in another two months I will be remembering today’s weather with fond longing!

Got home and had a celebratory post-race party for ourselves, courtesy of my friend who owns the gyro shop. He is just the nicest person I know, seriously. We ordered sandwiches in advance so we would have food when we got home, and he recognized our name on the order so our two sandwiches arrived with FOUR pieces of homemade baklava, baba ghanoush, a side dish of spicy chickpeas and rice, plus a bottle of hand sanitizer! And “I miss you guys,” with a smilie written on the box. And then he apologized for not sending any of the cookies I like because it’s Ramadan so he hasn’t made them.

Series is over, so I finally get to wear my race shirt: