Marathon Woman Pt. 2

So it's down to the final inning. 20 days to go! I had my last 32k run yesterday and it went amazingly! I'm so close that it is finally becoming a reality. I trained for so many months that it was always a distant, far-off goal. But now it's almost here! One more 23k next weekend and then I start tapering.

But there is something else I wanted to talk about here. There is a reason I titled these entries "Marathon Woman". There is a fantastic book I have been meaning to bring up.

Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. Her story is amazing and very inspiring. When she was running her marathon, a race official tried to physically throw her off the road because he was so outraged that a woman had the audacity to run a marathon, and that was in the late sixties (so really, not that long ago). I think all athletes and all women should read this book. Just reading the struggles she had to go through to simply just run is astonishing, and completely eye-opening. And by run, I don't even mean in Boston. I mean just to run down the street. Women would try to run her over as she trained because they were so outraged that she was challenging the status quo. Can you believe that it was thought to be dangerous for women to run farther than 400m because their uteruses would fall out.
I know this sounds like a rant, but it is something that just seems so ridiculous to me, yet it also makes me feel very appreciative for everything I can do now that I don't have to fight for.
Another book I recommend (although I never finished reading it, school got in the way) is called Run Like a Girl (appropriate title, no?). This book discusses how incorporating sports into life can be beneficial. It also discusses the challenges women have faced and still face when it comes to the athletic world. Once upon a time, it was revolutionary when someone decided to make athletic clothes designed specifically for women, instead of just giving them the smaller, shrunken down versions of the mens clothes (in the colour pink, of course). It also talks about the attitudes of men (some men, not all!! and some of this is also in the past) towards athletic women- they are either threatened by them, or under the impression that they are at a more superior level of athleticism than women.
Reading this stuff really lights a fire under my butt. It's incredible to read the stories of other women. It's a reminder not to take everything for granted, and it's also a reminder to be appreciative of what they went through. Even as recently as 20 years ago, when my mom started running, it was a male-dominated profession. My mom even had to wear the shrunken down version of the men's athletic clothes that are mentioned in the book.
It's amazing how far we've come, isn't it?

Marathon Woman Pt. 1

Okay, Sorry, I know. I have once again woefully neglected the blog (although to be honest, I didn't realize it had been quite so long since I had written).
So you know about my amazing 19k run. Since that lovely morning I have had 2 extremely successful long runs (both at 29k!!) which made me feel on top of the world when it came to my running. In my head, I was totally winning Boston after those runs :D
Last week I had my first 32k run, which for the record, is the farthest I run before race day (leaving the last 10k for me to deal with on my own come Oct 16). It was very humid on Saturday morning and that humidity only gave way to extreme heat as the day went on so that definitely played a part in the run. This run was a little more difficult than the previous ones had been, but I still believe that had it been only 5 degrees coolers with a little less humidity I would have felt just as great as I did on the 29k runs. Once I hit probably about kilometer 26 I was ready to be done! But luckily, I was running the last 10k with my dad, and as my mother, and his friend/running buddy Shakey know, my dad has the "delightful" ability to talk anyone's ear off (As the story goes when my dad and Shakey crossed the finish line of the Ottawa Marathon, Shakey turned to my dad and said "man I just wanted you to shut the f--k up, I spent the last half of that race trying to run away from you!"). But my dad's ability to talk about endlessly about randomness paid off because it distracted me and kept me going. We covered favourite albums, books, artists, movies, songs, etc (It was once again confirmed that I am my father's daughter... we had a lot of overlap when it came to listing off our favourites). Over all though, I think it went pretty well. Not every run can be your best, and given the surprising heat of the day, and the distance, I'm fairly happy with how it turned out.
I've also come up with a new system for doing my 29 & 32k runs which are really making a difference. I  spilt the run up into 2 loops: Loop A is a long one, normally between 21-23 km, run solo or with my mom depending on her running schedule, ending back at my house. Loop B is short, between 7-10 km depending on the distance. I like to plan out the first loop so that on the second loop I have 10k or less to run. Again, depending on availability, my dad runs the second loop with me. So what happens is, I finish loop A, run inside, use the bathroom if need be, switch my belts so I have more water (which I prepared previously so its waiting for me in the fridge) and then hit the road again... so its pretty much the same as ducking into a Tim's to use the bathroom mid-run. But what I've found is that mentally, it really helps. It's almost like I think of it as two different runs. One long one (but not intimidatingly long) and one shorter one. That way I only have to focus on little bits at a time, instead of the whole damn distance. I've decided that any run I have to do over 26k, I'm going to do in this fashion. Whatever helps, right?
Also, on a side note... I did my last week of hills this morning! Woohoo! For all you runners out there, you know how awesome that is... and if you don't know what it is.. ask me next time you see me.


Now, because we're getting so close to race time I'm going to give you all a little sneak peek into what's left of my training schedule. Now keep in mind, these are just the long runs. I'm still doing 3-4 other runs during the week.

Sept 10: 23k
Sept 17: 29k
Sept 24: 32k
Oct 1: 23k
Oct 8: 16k
Oct 16: RACE DAY!!

only 6 weeks left (holy crap!) and only 2 long runs left! (is it sad that 23k doesn't seem long anymore)
and let's all cross our fingers, and do some cool weather dances and wish the heat away for me! Because as experience has taught me, my body does not respond well to running in the heat!!