New World Record!

Mary Keitany sets a new world record in the women's 1/2 marathon this weekend! Pretty ridiculous 1:05:50, and she suddenly throws her name into the favorites category for April's London Marathon. Deriba Merga won the men's race in 59:25 and had some ridiculous splits thrown in there (13:37 5K, 21:51 8K (world's fastest time for 2011), 27:31 10K, 44:53 10 miler (4th fastest time ever!), and looks to be rounding into amazing form. Cool partnership with Galen Rupp and Mo Fareh, and some good workout tips from several coaches for the marathon long run.

Thursday, Feb 17 - 4 miles total, 3 X 1 mile (5:58, 5:52, 5:48). Because of the Big River Running team meeting, went over to a neighboring high school (Parkway Central) and used their track to hit my workout. Nice weather, but a bit windy. Quick warmup, started my attempt at 2X2 mile at tempo pace but started to have some massive G.I. issues. Bathroom break, then started back up but legs were not cooperating. Really started to struggle and have that "dead leg" feeling you have during short races, and ended up having to change my workout to mile repeats. Barely got in the last rep, and was discouraging to have to really struggle to hit a workout that shouldn't have been that difficult. But thumbs up to me for finishing this workout despite wanting to quit many times. A big thumbs down to the team working out that was like a herd of cattle on the track, refusing the move to the side for their rest periods and refusing to relinquish the fast lane. If your 600 meter repeat pace is slower than my mile pace, then you need to move over. Meeting at the South City store was a lot of fun - got caught up on the state of the team, and got to see a lot of my teammates that I hadn't seen in a while since I hadn't made group run lately.

Friday, Feb 18 - 5 miles (7:55, 7:50, 7:50, 7:23, 7:02). Legs felt pretty rubbery starting out, but definitely got in a good groove once I was moving. Gorgeous evening to run after work - hit low 50's and was really cool, perfect for the trail! Let it loose coming home, not the best idea but I felt pretty good and used very little effort.

Saturday, Feb 19 - 8 miles (71 minutes). Felt like poop from Tim's going away party shenanigans, but managed to get out on the trail with Tim for a nice run. Gorgeous weather once again, our 4-6 easy run got extended because we were both feeling decent. Thank goodness this turned out pretty good, was on cruise control the entire way. Sadly, last run with Tim for a while (well, until next weekend, but who knows after that?) - was nice to have the additional company, and he definitely helped quite a few times to get me out the door for some runs. A quick shout out to Shane for his 32nd birthday - Happy Birthday Shane!

Sunday, Feb 20 - 12 miles (1:43 (I think), 8:32 average pace). Have been feeling really sluggish lately (change of season kills me for the first week), and managed to sleep for a million hours. After a monster early afternoon nap (had spent literally 95% of my day asleep at this point), finally got out the door with Mike to do our scheduled long run. Super windy, but still felt decent outside. Did the Troy route, out and back, had major chafing problems coming in, curses to me for not using any BodyGlide! Felt like garbage starting, a little better towards the end, but happy to hit this run. At night, was invited to a wonderful dinner at Pat and Crystal's - homemade lasagna, grilled peach salad, angelfood cake w/raspberry whipped topping. My fat butt consumed three helpings of lasagna, undoing a ton of my earlier workout, but it was well worth it. Just delicious!!!

42 total miles this week, a couple of quality workouts, and a pair of tired legs. 15 consecutive running days, and race week (well, sort of) may equal a few more rest days coming up this week. Not to mention, the chafing between my legs is pretty horrific and very painful. 5 more days till Columbus!