A personal record can be defined as a person’s best time at a particular race distance. Many of us bloggers have our PRs posted on our About Me page or somewhere easily visible. We are proud of what we have accomplished and want to share that with others. However, this morning I came to the conclusion that the definition of a personal record is too limited. Sure, it’s about the time on the clock when you cross the finish line but it’s also about the challenges along the way. A 23:45 5K along a flat course on a cool day isn’t the same as a 24:00 5K on rolling hills during the heat of the summer. For me, the latter is a PR. Read more
This morning after my 5 miler (oh it feels so good to be back running), I took some time to reflect on my running this past year. There have been failures (my Boston DNF) and successes (my 5 mile victory) and I have learned a lot about myself as a runner. Although the race last weekend was not a PR, it was a personal best with respect to course difficulty and my mental fortitude. The same can be said for the half marathon I ran earlier this year. I know I could have run sub 1:35 on a normal course but that race was like an obstacle course. It was also the first race where I really put into use the power of the mind. I really wanted to place in the top 3 but instead, I was 4th overall female. Again, not a PR but a personal best in its own way. Read more
If you know anything about me, you know I’m a huge fan of motivation. Whether it be motivational videos, quotes, or people – I’m always looking for that thing to keep me going. However, recently I’ve been thinking more about motivation and its role in my life. I’ve come to the realization that motivation is not enough in and of itself. There is another step that must be taken past the motivational video. That step is self control. Read more
I often read about the “post marathon blues” – that feeling of now what? after the race. Fortunately, I do not experience that because my life for the past 10 years has been about training for something. I know the process will start again soon enough. (I’ve already got my next two races on the calendar.) If I suffer anything post marathon, it’s post marathon gluttony. Too much good food! Luckily, I had a physical this morning and had to go to the doctor in a fasted state. That kept me from overdoing it on yogurt and granola 🙂 . Lunch was a different story completely. Read more
Well it’s over. The City of Oaks Marathon is finally over. For having spent so much time worrying about missing over a month of training, the hills on the course, and being sick with a fever this past week, I’d say I’m pretty happy with my results. According to my Garmin, I crossed the finish line in 3:28:52. The official results still aren’t up yet, but that’s close enough. The things that worked in my favor today were all the supporters, including my husband who ran around town just to be at certain mile markers, the nice weather, Eminem, having trained on the course, and visualization. The death of me was the greenway which was hilly, and narrow with lots of sharp turns. Read more
Tomorrow by this time I hope to be fat, happy, and asleep in my bed. The race starts at 7am and honestly, I have no idea what time I’ll be finished. I missed probably the most important part of my training so tomorrow will be an adventure/experience to say the least. In my mind, I have the race broken down into three parts: the first 10 miles where there will be lots of crowd support, the next 14 miles on the greenway which are the hilliest and loneliest, and the last two miles coming off the greenway and running to the finish line. As with most marathons, the middle part will be the hardest. Read more
Today is October 4, 2012 and that means one month from today, November 4, 2012, is the City of Oaks Marathon. As I mentioned a few monts ago, after I ran this race in 2009, I vowed never to do it again. Oh well, never say never.
Raleigh Running Outfitters posted this video on their Facebook page today of the course. It got me excited and luckily, you can’t really tell the hills from the video 🙂
Even though I know the course is hilly, I went to Marathon Guide to see what others had to say. Here are some of the comments:
Going into the race, I expected a lot of hills. Now that I have finished the race, I got what I expected. This course is very hilly. I have run Boston several times, and I truly believe this course is MUCH tougher but very similar to Boston.
The course is very difficult; there are several very long uphills throughout the race, so make sure you can handle those before signing up
If you’ve read anything about this race, you already know what you’re facing: hills throughout the course. The hills present a nice added challenge to the already challenging goal of running a marathon. This was probably the hilliest course I’ve run that didn’t have ‘Mountain’ in the title.
COURSE: Absolutely fantastic. A great mix of urban and scenic. Some challenging climbs, but I would much rather have a pretty course than something flat and boring. The three miles in Umstead were some of my favorites. The half runners missed some of the best parts.
The route has changed this year and is suppose to be flatter. I ran part of the “flatter” course a few Saturdays ago and in my humble opinion, it’s still pretty darn hilly.
This year will be the sixth year for the City of Oaks Marathon. The course record for the men is 2:29:33 and for the women is 2:55:22. Last year my running idol Kelcey Carlson won second place in 3:05:13. I’m hoping she will be there again this year – she always inspires me 🙂
I’m ready for November 5, 2012. I think I might eat pizza!
My Running Inspiration – Local New Reporter, Kelcey Carlson
Run Inspired. 