The Amazing Women Behind the Pittsburgh Marathon

Link to article in Pop City Media

Our Own Paula Radcliffe

This morning on a chilly 3 mile run, Fresca decides to do her business right in the middle of the street - we're talkin' directly on the double yellow lines in the center of the road! (She must have really had to go, because normally she is picky about where she decides to do #2.) Nathan now calls her Paula Radcliffe...hahaha!

The Forgotten Shoes

Nathan happens to be in Key West right now (lucky dog!) and the plan was for him to take running gear and get in a 3 mile run and a 4 mile run. Unfortunately, he forgot to take his shoes! He was very distraught about it, so I'm pretty sure that he didn't actually do it on purpose. We discussed the option of overnighting them to him, but figured that we can both do the 4 mile run together when he gets home Sunday night.

In the meantime, Fres and I just did a 3 mile run in the frigid temps of lovely Pittsburgh, PA.

Media Coverage of Kat

Our co-coach for Girls on the Run last year is running a marathon in Antarctica! Check out the coverage she is getting:

• Post Gazette
• Pitt News
• You can also check out her blog at: Kat Runs Antarctica

Is That Fisk?

Since we do an out and back route for our 3 mile run, Fisk Street is both our 1 mile marker and our 2 mile marker. Since we run in the dark, it is sometimes hard to tell when you are coming up on Fisk Street, especially when you are coming back down California and every street seems like it is Fisk.

We had a succession of four streets that Nathan thought were Fisk this morning. "Is that Fisk?"...run, run, run..."Is that Fisk?"...run, run, run..."Is that Fisk?"...run, run, run..."Is that Fisk?"

"Yes, THIS is IT!"

We have since noted that there is also a large tree stump at Fisk. Possibly this will reduce the "Is that Fisk" inquiries in the future.

What a week!

Four runs and four different experiences this week checking to see how committed I am. I shed a couple layers early in the week, but still didn't expect to overheat that much in February. The rain on Wednesday and the 20mph wind on Thursday were a lot of fun. Then finished the week off with a 9 miler on a messy road mixed with fresh snow, ice, and leftover mud...not great footing, but I finished pretty strong. After encountering the variety of elements, my legs feel great and I'm excited for more. Also had a nice find at the local shoe store when they had a my shoe $20 off...Good week!

Wind Resistance

Nathan and I set out to do a "speed" workout this morning. The plan was to do it on a flatter part of our roads and do two minutes fast, two minutes recovery. The wind was absolutely incredible. During our warm-up across the bridge over Camp Horne Road Fresca was literally blown right into the guardrail. We had thoughts of turning back, but at that point we were already out of bed, so figured we should go ahead with the workout.

Nathan's speed is very fast at the beginning of the two minutes - like 100 yard dash kind of speed - but he can't maintain that the whole time, so we've got to work on pacing. We might lay off of the speedwork for a few weeks until we get a better base under our belts. The wind played a big role in giving us resistance as we ran west, but on our way back east, we got a nice push from behind! We also got to rescue quite a few trashcans from the middle of the road!

I am a Slow Runner

I'm realizing that I really need to run with other people to keep me moving. I can manage to run by myself and honestly it feels like I am running fast, but running today with Nathan on roads that I normally run on my own, I realize that I am a slacker when I'm by myself. He totally smokes me on the uphills!

Nathan and I have started the half marathon training plan! I sneakily made us do 3 miles on Sunday, but the schedule didn't really start until Monday, so we got in a run prior to the training - woohoo! The alarm went off at 5 am this morning and Nathan chipperly said, "OK, ready to go?" Good thing I was already laying down, cuz I would have fallen over if I had been standing up. I chimed in that I needed a little bit of snooze time, but we were up ten minutes later and then we headed out the door. Glad we beat the rain this morning - 39 degrees and rain is no fun.