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.

Long time reader...first time poster!

Thought I would hop on here and say howdy before I spook anyone else...sorry Lisa! Thank you to Megan for allowing me to contribute to aid in motivation for training this winter/spring. I just did not feel right posting until I could honestly say I was "training!" So, I think I am back in the game after a couple weeks of getting out into the COLD consistently, although I have a long way to go! I am hoping to be running the full marathon, but will be listening to my knee over the next month as to whether it would prefer the half. Either way, I look forward to running with some of you in Pittsburgh in a few months!

Go Steelers?

12, no 13 miler

I've officially decided that this is my wimpiest running winter yet. I cannot comprehend how we would go out in sub zero temperatures every day...I did remember that Amber and I had unsuccessfully tried using some cheap (and tight!) balaclavas at one point that did not help with the breathing. I found a black fleece face guard this year and I love it - combined with my hat, only my lips and eyes are exposed. Normally I run at night or in the morning so people can't really see me anyways. But this sunny mid-morning I went out knowing that I would be miserable if I didn't wear it for the two hours of exposure. I was laughing for the first few miles as I pictured myself as looking like either a ninja or a power ranger....(and power ranger only because I was wearing red)...
The run went much better than I thought as I have a mental block of doing long runs by myself. It was also a run from the last marathon that I tried to do twice and never finished it (once due to the vintage grand prix) I ran past A LOT of other runners as well as two larger running groups and I couldn't help but smile as I'm pretty sure that most of us were training for the same marathon! The brief thaw left several inches of ice on the trails in both Frick and Schenley Parks forcing some small detours. I also thought it funny that the sun only came out as I was going downhill - all tough parts of the course were a bit gloomy! As I finished up, I was so excited that I was done for the weekend! No more procrastinating!

7 mile tempo

After finding the extreme temperatures a good excuse to cross-train like crazy the last week, I knew today I finally needed to actually go out and do my tempo run. I tried to leave work on time but realized it took me 15 minutes to change into all my layers (Thank goodness for my own office) before I flew out the door to catch the last hour of sunlight. I started at the trail head under the 16th street bridge and looped through washington's landing, the strip and downtown. I was really excited as I started out running next to the river as the 'glaciers' floated down the river. It was positively gorgeous and I even had to stop once or twice just to watch the river. That was the highlight of the first three miles. All other aspects were miserable. I had not really thought that the trails would be snow covered and that no one would take care of clearing the sidewalks on the 31st street bridge. Needless to say, it was difficult to manuever between icy packed snow and slippery slush (or both). The beginning took long enough that I could barely make out the lovely sunset over the Ohio as I ran through the Strip. I was bummed I couldn't make it to the Ft. Duquense bridge to see it but was very happy to be back out running again - AND very excited to do our track workout tomorrow! (yeah, packing eveything in at once!)

Just Me & My Husky Making the First Tracks in the Fresh Snow

I can understand the difficulty of climbing out of a warm bed in the wintertime to face single digit temperatures; however, when I hear the sound of snowplows in the morning I can hardly get ready quick enough to get out into the new, fresh snow. The sound of snowplows means that there's a fresh layer to make the first set of tracks in and I love the opportunity to do that. This morning, Fresca and I had a glorious trek through Emsworth enjoying the picturesque winter scene. It disappears quickly, though. By the time we were headed back, people were already venturing out to shovel their walks and clean off their cars.

Four Years Old!

Crazy Daisies is now four years old, which is kind of making ME start to feel old. I do marvel about those days back in 2006 that I actually went out in this frigid weather to do track workouts...seriously, WHAT was I thinking and WHERE did I find the time to do it? 2007 I was a slacker - brought clothes to Hermitage, but did NO running. 2008 - did some treadmill runs, but that was it. 2009 - I'm on pace w/ 2008, though if you note from a previous post, I DID use the incline function on the treadmill which is a big step (no pun intended) for me!

A Ponytail Workout

Guess what, I'm totally able to get my hair into a ponytail now! I'm up in Greenville and we hit up the Y tonight. Since I've just been running outside w/ a hat or headband, I haven't tried to get my hair back into a ponytail, so super excited that it works!

Also, I tackled the scary treadmill tonight...and I even did a program that used the incline. I had it up to an 11% grade - it is pretty tough!

Let the training begin!

It was an odd realization that we're all somewhat on our own for the Pittsburgh Marathon doing different training programs and even different races. Without the moral support (and organization) I almost missed the first week of training... But this morning as delays were being called as the snow covered the ground (Ok, only an inch or so), Geoff and I peeled ourselves out from under the covers and proceeded to do our "track" workout. (Now you're probably wondering why Geoff got up too...he promised to be my 'rabbit' for track practices. That way he doesn't have to run the whole thing, but I have someone to help me keep up my speed. So far he's made good on his promise!!).

The workout was 3 mile repeats with a one minute rest interval. (You can tell it's a hard program since there wasn't really a rest!) We did laps around the 1/2 mile block which made it seem so much faster. And it was fast, my times came in at 7:02, 6:56 and 7:13. That shocked me but maybe all my biking/rowing downstairs is paying off :) Ok, maybe it's just that I was chasing someone with much longer legs.

I have also decided that I'm only doing two 20 mile runs (vs. the 5 in the program) Mainly because one happens in Oregon and one in Hawaii....Don't think so! I am also going to try to do a lot of my long runs on portions of the marathon course. If anyone is interested to join, let me know!

P.S. Who is Mad Bomber? I just saw the name one day and it startled me.... :)

The First Run of 2009

I definitely let the holidays, Hawaii and busy workload excuses pile up since we ran the marathon, so I think today was just about my first day out for a run since the marathon. Fres and I did a frigid short run around the neighborhood.

I needed to get new shoes after the marathon anyhow, but I was definitely realizing that I needed to get new ones today because I trashed mine with red Hawaiian mud while hiking with Deb & Nick!

Swift and Beautiful for Thee

Just got my GCC women's XC 20 year PAC champions T-shirt in the mail today. Lisa - you'll be happy to know that you are listed on the shirt as both Lisa Gregor AND Lisa Gehring.

Honolulu Marathon

In my effort to keep up on marathons around the world, it slipped through the cracks that I was going to be in Honolulu for this year's marathon. We started seeing signs on Thursday night about traffic detours, etc. and then back from the recesses of my mind I remember that we contemplated doing this marathon our senior year of college, mainly because of the convenience of the date right after cross-country season, but clearly our college incomes didn't allow us to make the trip. Anyhow, don't know if it makes my top ten list for next marathons. It starts at 5 am. Course is not spectacular, but not bad either. Its during the rainy season in Hawaii. (They got dumped on!) Here are a few pictures:

We only came across the actual marathon route because we were attempting to watch what we thought was an 8 am HST Steelers game. We did not realize it had been switched to a 4:15 pm EST game. (Still enjoyed breakfast though.)

All the soggy runners.
A Hawaiian warrior stops for some replenishment.
Two nearly nude Hawaiian men (and one is BAREFOOT)!

puppy running

Since Megan added Fresca as a member, i thougt i would post on behalf of Reggie.

This morning that aweful human person i live with let me run on the leash...normally she's all, "stop pulling me so hard." (wimp!) So i took control of my end of the leash with my mouth and dragged her about two miles...but she was such a pain and wouldnt let me stop and sniff or anything. Then just to get back at her i peed on her bed!

SO there you have it! I ask you, my friends, how far is too far for a 4-5 month old puppy? She is used to walking that little 2 mile loop and she seemed to like running it, but then i got puppy terrorism on my bed. Perhaps unrelated??? But she has NEVER done any kind of urination on my bed before and she has been pretty well house-broken for a couple of weeks. So i think it was terrorism. Do you guys have any idea what kind of distances dogs can do?

Thanks!

Calling All Spinners!

I haven't been spinning in f-o-r-e-v-e-r and am planning on going this Thursday night at 6 pm at the downtown YMCA. Todd Kart is the instructor who is friends with Emery; he has fairly recently moved back to Pittsburgh. (Emery had asked me if I knew of any accounting jobs for Todd, so that's how I am connected.) Let me know if you might come and I'll keep an eye out for you!