I'm back. To running and blogging again. I took almost two years off of running for any races (AFCEA 5K - 5/8/2014 - time: 22:26) and I haven't run a marathon since the Marine Corps Marathon 2013. Well I have registered for and received a lottery entry for the MCM 2016 race and I don't plan on wasting it. Yesterday I scraped together a 30 week training plan that will be mostly based on Hal Higdon's Personal Best Training Plan. I am 40+ now and haven't been training to run hard for quite some time. I will need to assess my fitness over a longer period of time. I hope for an improvement on my last marathon's personal best time of 3:33:5, but my 'A goal' is to run that elusive Boston Qualifier of 3:15:00. Definitely a stretch but I am aiming for it.
So... today's run was scheduled for an easy pace workout. Three miles at a little bit over 9 min/mi pace. I hit my marks: 3 miles exactly in 26:59, I wore my heart rate monitor and foot pod so I had my HR (avg 155 bpm) and Cadence (89 spm) data. I set out at around 5:30 AM with no breakfast or snack just about 8 oz of water and had to spend a good 15 minutes acquiring a satellite signal for my Garmin. Good run. I intentionally worked on my running form to have a fairly high cadence and upright, balanced running form. I noticed that I had a tendency to land heavy on my left leg and flare my right knee. When I ran lighter (read: more rapid cadence with a more elongated spine) this straighten out, but I did feel a bit of weirdness in my right hip. Probably nothing, but I'll watch it. I didn't stretch after the run - I forgot to do it. I'll stretch after weight lifting tonight.
Interesting story of this morning. While pacing to get a Garmin signal and looking up at the sky a lady jogger passed by me removed her headphone and said Good Morning. I greeted her back but honestly I felt awkward because I didn't want to scare her or make her uncomfortable. See encountering an unfamiliar 6'4" black man in dark clothing (with a hoodie) in the pre-morning light while running alone as a petite white lady must be scary if you are worried about such things. I assume she wasn't because she just kept running and minding her business, but I thought it was wise of her to remove her headphones until she had gotten well away from me. Obviously I have no ill intentions, but the optics on the scenario wasn't good. I had not yet started running and was pacing in the neck of my cul-de-sac wearing a dark blue cotton sweatsuit which doesn't say runner at all. I didn't want to make her nervous so I walked to the street-lighted area across the street rather than walk down the street as I intended because it would've meant following her down her running path that was a kind of dead end. I would've thought that was creepy. No worries though, she probably didn't think more than a second about it I probably overthinking how I was perceived. If she's a regular runner we'll see each other regularly on the streets of the neighborhood.
"Perception is everything", they say (whoever they is). Personally, I would like to think she would be wary if she came across a white male, or even a husky female for that matter, with that description. It was good for you to be as aware of your situation as you thought she to be. These days you have to be! I remember running the MCM back in the 90's and the DC Marathon as well. What I remember most are the smells of the city in the morning - not the bay smell you get in Baltimore, where I am now, but the BBQ smells that make you feel starved after several hours of running. Good luck on beating your time!
Good to see you posting again. I've take some time off as well, turned 40 last year and had to have a hip replacement...doc says it's not running related. Anyway, run for us who cannot and keep blogging.