If you don't succeed at first...

I was so pumped for my long run on Tuesday.  I had enough carbs on Sunday and Monday that I was actually getting tired of bread and pasta.  I routed a run starting at Union Station in the District, finishing at the Franconia-Springfield metro station near my home.  I even set everything out the night before.

Socks in the shoes, body glide at the ready!

Breakfast too.  I should add that there's more to "breakfast" before a long run than just the breakfast.  I set out everything that goes into my body before I make my way out the door, all in one place, so that I'm sure I wont forget anything.

Left: Dry oatmeal plus craisins, dried coconut, crushed pecans
Top Left: Glass with pre-measured scoop of chia seeds
Top Center: Vermont maple syrup for oatmeal
Top Right: Pre-measured water for oatmeal
Bottom row: Coffee mug (timer set to autobrew), ibuprofen, banana, oatmeal bowl

I got dressed as I ingested each of the things on my breakfast tray, and then drove over to Franconia-Springfield metro, leaving a towel in my car for the ride back.  Then I was off to Union Station.

Union Station, taken just before I started.

From Union Station I went straight to the Capitol, and then started west towards the Lincoln Memorial, taking a break for a few photo ops along the way:

This is that building where nothing gets done.

Taken from the front of the Capitol, in the background here you can see the crane at the future site of the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Welcome to DC.  Please excuse our renovations.

That monument.

World War II Memorial

Again.

Right after I took this photo, I saw another runner sporting this year's Parkway Classic tee.   I ended up running the length of that race later on in the week.  

Lincoln is hiding in there somewhere.

Reflecting pool, again.  This one is prettier I think.

This is the Korean War Veterans Memorial.  I didn't know it existed until I nearly ran through it.  Oops.  

You should know if you ever decide to do a running tour of DC's monuments that you are not supposed to run through this memorial.  The (very polite) park service person will probably ask you to walk until you get to the other side.   My bad. 

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it was about this sign that made it so encouraging.

Teddy Roosevelt Memorial Bridge!

Taken From the bridge, facing south.  DC on the left, Arlington on the right.

Ronald Reagan's rear end.  Alternatively, National Airport, taken from the Mr. Vernon Trail.

Shortly after National Airport, I passed a marina and made my way into Old Town Alexandria.  Just as I was getting to Founder's Park I realized that I hadn't eaten anything, or taken any salt pills.  I was about 10.5-11 miles into the run, and I typically try to eat something and take a salt pill every hour or so.  Oops.  I guess the excitement of my running monument tour caught up to me, because I was starting to feel pretty gross.  I slowed to a walk and ate my granola bar, along with a pepto chewable to try and settle my stomach.  Nope.  I tried to run a few steps and was met by a wave of nausea.  For the record, I did not puke.  Instead I ran into this lady and her matching dogs right outside the Torpedo Factory:

The dogs all had on the same kind of harness, each in a different color!  

I walked around for a bit until I felt better.  I still had nearly 10 miles to go to get home, so I considered my options.  I could try to tough it out, even if it meant feeling like hell for the rest of the day, and probably tomorrow too.  That would probably also mean that I would really struggle to finish and end up doing lots of walking, meaning any hope for maintaining a consistent pace was gone.  The other option was to take the metro back to Franconia-Springfield, and make a second attempt at the 20 miler later in the week.  Hmmm.  Tuesday is early enough in the week to make this plan work.  So I called my mom and said hi to her before walking up to King St. metro.  I also decided to hit up Five Guys on the way there.  I felt much better after walking a mile or so, and scarfed down this delicious burger, no problem.

I regret nothing.

So I did two easy 5 mile runs on Wednesday and Thursday.  Friday I set out to make my second attempt at the 20 mile run.  This time, I set out to run from my apartment to my parent's house, via Old Town and the other end of the Mt. Vernon Trail.  I figured that maybe it would help not having to worry about navigation, especially since I've found it to be a bit of a confidence booster to run on trails that I'm familiar with.  My ForeRunner ran out of juice mid-run, but luckily I was using my phone as well since I knew my watch battery was low.

Friday's route (via RunKeeper)

As you can see I hit the 10 mile mark in Old Town yet again on Friday, but I felt much better this time around.  It may have also helped that I wasn't goofing around taking pictures the whole first half of the run.  Something about momentum and inertia and science stuffs makes me think that I had a better time finding some rhythm without the distraction of pictures and monuments and navigation.  Still, running through DC was fun.  I plan on doing it again.

At the end of my run on Friday, my mom met me at the 0 mile marker of the Mt. Vernon trail.  The way I routed it, I would have ended up running 22 miles if I had gone all the way to her house, or an even 20 if I quit at Mt. Vernon.  I decided to pass on the extra credit this week.  Mom took me home for a minute and fed me before driving me back through Old Town again to pick up Becka on the way back to our apartment. (Wasn't that sweet of her?)  I realized on the way home that we sort of accidentally ended up retracing the run, which was the perfect way to end to a really fantastic run.

New shoes!

I have good news and bad news.  The bad news is that my Brooks Pure Cadence shoes are starting to fall apart.  The heel is fraying, causing the fabric to bunch up, and it's starting to lose little pieces of the sole.  This is a bit disappointing since I've only put 293 miles on this pair (I can usually get 500-600 out of a pair of shoes) but according to the website, 250-300 is around average for this shoe.  Oh well.  I don't really have time to break in a completely new model, and I do love this shoe, so I went back to Pacers and asked for another pair.  The clerk went and got the last pair that they had in my size, and apologetically explained to me that they didn't have any left in the purple/black color scheme that I was wearing.  "Oh man,"  I thought to myself, "I hate white shoes, but I should stick with what I know works for me."  Then she opened the box:

This image does not do justice to the shade of pink.  They are blinding really. 

To say that I was thrilled is an understatement.  I love me some neon, and I love me some running gear, so any disappointment that I was feeling about buying another pair of running shoes that I knew wouldn't last too long was quickly forgotten.  

Thirteen miles later, they felt just as good as the old pair. Another perk is that my family will have an easier time picking me out in the crowd on race day.

My long run for this week was also exciting because I found a new trail near my house.

It was woodsy enough to feel secluded, but still well-maintained. 

There was a little stream to the right of the path here that opened up into a lake a bit further down the path. 

The lake, with power lines running along the opposite side.

It was a great run Tuesday, and it made me feel good about my new purchase.  This week I have my first of two 20 milers coming up, and these will be my longest runs until race day.  I'm hoping to get up early enough on Tuesday to take the metro into the district and run home from there, passing some of the landmarks that I'll see on the day of the race.

Hal Higdon, I think you're onto something.

It's been a fantastic week for running.  The weather has been beautiful, and I have been feeling like a boss.

In preparation for the marathon, I've been following a training plan designed by Hal Higdon.  This week called for an 8 mile run at marathon pace on Monday and an 18 miler at a comfortable slow pace on Tuesday.  Hmm.  If I combine results from Monday's 8 and Tuesday's 18 I get a total distance of 26 miles covered in a total of four hours, ten minutes.  Not bad, especially considering I've got a month and a half to go until the big day, and a goal time of four hours.

My long runs have been rough these past few weeks.  For about a month or so, I've been struggling with nausea towards the last hour or so of these long runs.  Luckily for me, Tuesday was different.  I felt strong and light and swift, especially towards the end of the run.  Let's hope this continues as we get closer to the race.

My map for Tuesday was pretty boring, but for a good reason.  I really think it helped my mental stamina to run paths I was already familiar with, but the result is really just a series of figure-eights through the neighborhood:


Anyways, back to my man Hal.  I did a post recently about my summer reading list.  Well just a few days ago, Higdon's Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide has made it's way onto the list.  I'm only 15% through on my kindle, but I'm already wishing that I had started my exploration into running literature with this book.  It's a lot more technical than most of the others, but still very easy to read.  It's also my first running book that is specific to this distance.  I have to say, I'm a fan of his plan too.  I don't think Tuesday's 18 miler coming off an 8 mile "race pace" run the day before was a coincidence.  Next week I'll take a step back in mileage to recover a bit and get ready for a 20 mile run the following week.  These numbers keep getting bigger.

What a great long run I had this week

It was just the right mix of fun and challenging.  I ran a route that was completely new to me, and I didn't get lost!  It was also the longest run I've been on since my first marathon, nearly two years ago.  The best part is, I felt great afterwards.



I decided to put off my gear review post until next time.  I had so much fun during my long run on Tuesday, that I'd rather just do a recap.  Still, I'm a pushover, so here's a preview of me in some of the gear you can look forward to hearing about.

Bathroom mirror shot.  This has myspace written all over it.

My run on Tuesday felt sort of like an urban expedition since I was exploring routes that were new to me.  I started north up Van Dorn out of Kingstowne and the traffic was moving slow enough for me to keep up with some of the cars for a few minutes at a time.

Approaching the Capital Beltway!

The sidewalk/path/whatever you want to call it that runs along Van Dorn is sweet.  It's asphalt, which apparently is much easier on the joints than concrete, and it's got some nice views too.

Traffic, Alexandria, 495, wildflowers.  What more could you ask for?

As I got a little closer to the 495 overpass, I noticed something genius about the path.

Notice how some stairs are longer than others?

Now I don't know if the stair-making people did this on purpose, but I like to think that they did.  I might be the only person to have noticed this, or maybe every slightly OCD runner is thankful for this detail as they trot down these stairs.  Anyways, I think it's marvelous.  These stairs are spaced out so that each there's a break after each little series of quick steps, making it so that while running, you naturally end up leading off the next series of quick steps on the alternating foot.  (I keep typing and deleting and re-typing this sentence trying to make it less confusing, but it's just not happening.  Trust me.  The stairs are great.)

Another cheers to these stairs.  That's how brilliant they are.

 And then the 495 overpass.  Here's the little bridge for pedestrians crossing underneath the beltway.

This is also where traffic started to thin out and where I cut past the Van Dorn metro, down Eisenhower. 

The walkway under 495 was pretty neat, and well lit, but I still think I'd be a little creeped out to take this route after dark.

I'm glad it was daytime with plenty of cars out.

After heading down Eisenhower for a bit, I took a bike trail that cuts through to Rose Hill, my old neighborhood.

These stairs coming up from the Eisenhower Connector were much less forgiving than the first set I came across.

From Rose Hill, it was a straight shot down Telegraph to get home.  Then it was time to watch some Olympics while I ate everything in sight.

So my fridge wasn't quite that empty at the end of the day, but it felt like it.

Spotlight on a few favorite trails in the area...

After complaining about the smelly and generally unpleasant Kingstown Shopping center in my first post I was feeling guilty about being so negative.  This means so today I must take a moment to point out some of the greener paths and trails near my new home...

First is the trail that runs alongside Van Dorn right before it meets telegraph.  It starts off just behind the BP and cuts through the woods which is a nice shady alternative to the intense sun that beats down on the Van Dorn sidewalk.

There is however this blind corner, where I narrowly avoided a collision with another runner a week ago.

Soon after Van Dorn is this trail along Old Telegraph Rd.

It's beautiful and shady, but there is tons of poison ivy.  Eek!

Last, one of the reasons why I really do like Kingstown - they take good care of the trails around the residential areas like this one here.  It's a steep climb up this hill, but the view makes up for it. 

These were all taken on Friday so first Friday's stats:

And Saturday's:

That marks the end of my first week of scheduled training, and I'm happy to say it was a successful week.  On Saturday I hit the 300 mile mark for this year, and I managed to stick to the schedule (and actually ran an extra mile on Saturday by accident!)