Every Mile is a Miracle

Just be prepared for so many people to call it the Hurricun Half Marathon. Because yes, that's how the locals pronounce the name of the city.
Ahhhh, one of those cities. Like some places in the midwest trying to pronounce Nevada wrong. ;)

2. In your presentation of pros and cons, you seem (to me) to be making the case for Utah. The question is: are you giving up a PR attempt because of the hills and are you OK with that?
Lemme be honest: no, I am not okay with ruining my chances at a PR. But maybe a PR just isn't in the cards for me this weekend no matter what. Would I realistically PR in 90% humidity, it's doubtful. Do I have an even less chance by doing this hilly course? Probably. All I can give is all I got, no matter the conditions I guess.

4. Beer options in Utah. You're driving, pack it in!
TRUE. And I have plenty of beer to bring. Haha.

Was this a race to use as POT?
Yup. Which is why I care so much. Otherwise I wouldn't be making as much of a fuss.
 
Ahhhh, one of those cities. Like some places in the midwest trying to pronounce Nevada wrong. ;)


Lemme be honest: no, I am not okay with ruining my chances at a PR. But maybe a PR just isn't in the cards for me this weekend no matter what. Would I realistically PR in 90% humidity, it's doubtful. Do I have an even less chance by doing this hilly course? Probably. All I can give is all I got, no matter the conditions I guess.


TRUE. And I have plenty of beer to bring. Haha.


Yup. Which is why I care so much. Otherwise I wouldn't be making as much of a fuss.

Well crap! I thought so with the goals that you listed. Maybe they’ll have a better idea tomorrow what the conditions will be.
 


Looks like Florence may be headed more my way than D.C.'s way...so you may be good! This just probably makes things more complicated for you though. On all of the forecasts, I think D.C. is on the stronger side of the hurricane. I think it is normally strongest on the right side. I would probably still just do the one in Utah, because I am risk averse.
 
Last annoying post about this (I kind of promise).

I cancelled my hotel room in D.C. earlier today. I know the hurricane is said to be moving more south, but that doesn’t stop the rain that is still forecast to fall all this week and it doesn’t stop the fact that one point of the course is already flooded. It will only cost me $12 to get my flights changed to my Marathon Weekend trip, then that will be one less thing to worry about! I can defer my race entry until next year but apparently it will be $32 to do so. I am fine with it but it still bugs me that they are really not giving two craps about this hurricane and how it is effecting people who are flying in for their race. Someone on Facebook made a valid point that not only is there flooding in D.C. right now, and the Mayor put the city in a state of emergency already, but the city is probably going to have an extra influx of people who are evacuating from the south. So yeah, I feel like I made the right decision and I am okay with it. Even though I loved that medal a lot. :(

Time to put some things into perspective.

While, yes this race was also going to be my PoT for WDW Marathon Weekend, it was much more than that to me. At the beginning of the year I set a goal to race a 2:20 Half Marathon, which low-key turned into a sub:2 hour HM, and then into an even lower time to lock in Corral B for the Marathon at WDW. Right now, I am sitting at 2:22:22 for my Half PR which I set back in January. I know I have gained so much strength and power in the past 8 months but I want to prove it to myself in a race. The Navy Air Force Half Marathon, in the conditions that are forecasted, was not the race to do this in. The Hurricane Half Marathon in Utah that is happening this weekend, is also not the race to do this in. So that led me back to the internet and searching for a race that was a) before the PoT deadline and b) in more ideal running conditions.

That leads me to my next race: the Oregon Women’s Half Marathon in Eugene, OR.

The race is on O̶c̶t̶o̶b̶e̶r̶ ̶6̶t̶h̶ October 7th (thank you @SarahDisney for keeping on top of things for me) so I now have 3 more weeks of training tacked on to my already never ending training plan, haha. I am going to fly up to Portland and some friends of mine are letting me hang with them that weekend. They are going to a college football game in Corvallis and staying the night then they will drive me to my race on Sunday and we will hang out in Eugene after for the day. It should be really fun and still cheaper than going to D.C.

So that is that. Now if running could go back to being fun and not stressful that would be great.
 
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Sorry you're disappointed about this weekend. At least this gives you a little more time to prep!
 
First of all, the race is October 7th, not October 6th. October 6th is a Saturday. Don't scare me like that! I was all excited to send you encouraging texts mid-race and I couldn't do that if it was on Saturday.

Second ... I think you made the right call. Even if things do end up dry and good weather in DC this weekend, you wouldn't be going into the race at 100% because you've been worrying about it so much. As pretty as that medal is, I definitely think this was a good decision.

Third, this new race seems perfect. I looked at the website and the course seems mostly flat (elevation gain of 74 feet? score!). And there's wine at the end. So just keep running towards the wine and you'll get that sub-2 hr half for sure! You may even end up getting yourself many many corrals ahead of my slow butt.
 
The race is on October 6th so I now have 3 more weeks of training tacked on to my already never ending training plan, haha.
I've been training for something or another since last October so I know the feeling of the never ending or constantly changing training plan.

I think you made a smart decision. Given your goals for this race, circumstances beyond your control may have well prevented that from happening this weekend. Hopefully the medal next year will be even better.
 
It was a tough choice, but I think you made a good decision. The weather conditions will be so much better in OR when it comes to humidity! That course elevation is perfect too :car:
 
Sorry you're disappointed about this weekend. At least this gives you a little more time to prep!
Yeah definitely looking at the silver lining. :)

Sounds like a solid plan! And hopefully you will get a similar awesome medal when you do that race next year.
Hoping for an awesome medal and no hurricane!!

Solid decision and sounds like you found a great PoT substitute race. You'll crush it!
Thanks!!

Love your plan! And another positive: plenty of great beer in Portland. :)
Ohhh yes. And my friends I am staying with are beer nerds like me, so I am in perfect company. And the race starts and ends at a winery. There really isn't any reason to not be excited about this. Haha.

First of all, the race is October 7th, not October 6th. October 6th is a Saturday. Don't scare me like that! I was all excited to send you encouraging texts mid-race and I couldn't do that if it was on Saturday.

Second ... I think you made the right call. Even if things do end up dry and good weather in DC this weekend, you wouldn't be going into the race at 100% because you've been worrying about it so much. As pretty as that medal is, I definitely think this was a good decision.

Third, this new race seems perfect. I looked at the website and the course seems mostly flat (elevation gain of 74 feet? score!). And there's wine at the end. So just keep running towards the wine and you'll get that sub-2 hr half for sure! You may even end up getting yourself many many corrals ahead of my slow butt.
1. Always keeping a look out for me. Hahaha. Thank you, fixed it. Yesterday was a day, lemme tell you.
2. Thanks. I need to hear that as much as possible.
3. The wine will be a huge motivating factor.

Good job!

I've learned that things that seem bad at first, turn out to be good. (Unfortunately, it works the other way around too.)

I'm thinking the weather/travel/airlines 'powers that be' set you up for the perfect opportunity for the sub-2. A bonus to do it in Pre's haunts.
Thanks. I know that not fighting jet lag will also help. I feel like this was one of those, bad to good situations. But I won't hold my breath just yet. Haha.

I've been training for something or another since last October so I know the feeling of the never ending or constantly changing training plan.

I think you made a smart decision. Given your goals for this race, circumstances beyond your control may have well prevented that from happening this weekend. Hopefully the medal next year will be even better.
#TeamForeverInTraining because after this plan I roll into Dopey training. Weeeee. I was just really getting into the idea of the taper and maybe a week break before starting Marathon training. Haha.

It was a tough choice, but I think you made a good decision. The weather conditions will be so much better in OR when it comes to humidity! That course elevation is perfect too :car:
Thanks! This was a tough one. I am glad I have you guys to vent to and bounce ideas off of though! <3
 
I was just really getting into the idea of the taper and maybe a week break before starting Marathon training. Haha.
What's this taper you speak of? I haven't had a true taper since Star Wars Light Side 2017. 2017 Dark Side involved working 12 hours days for 2 1/2 weeks before the race and after working 2 months of 10 hour days 6 days a week. There was no taper for 2017 Avengers since I had 3 weeks to train myself, 2018 Dark Side was a repeat of 2017 Dark Side, and I spent a good chunk of the Giant Race taper period in Disneyland.

Thanks! This was a tough one. I am glad I have you guys to vent to and bounce ideas off of though! <3
It's helpful when we can talk with others who know what we're going through and are willing to hear us out and offer feedback from experience.
 
I'm behind on journals... but I think everyone has already said the important things! I am glad you found another race, I'll be cheering for you and a big PR!!
 
Monday 9/10
  • Running - None
  • Steps - 4,565
  • Cross Training - None
  • Life -
    • I slept for 10 hours and it was glorious.
    • Overall Stress Level - 21/100
Tuesday 9/11
  • Running - Plan: 5 mi @ EA (11:45) / Actual: 5.01 mi @ 11:27
    • Sometimes even easy runs feel hard.
    • Splits: 11:18, 10:41, 11:33, 12:23, 11:18 (WOW I was all over the place.)
  • Steps - 13,232
  • Cross Training - None
  • Life - Taco Tuesday
    • My husband's side job started doing $1 tacos on Tuesdays so we gave them a try. They were amazing.
    • Spent all day stressing about my race this weekend.
    • Overall Stress Level - 24/100
Wednesday 9/12
  • Running - Plan: 4 mi @ EB (10:58) / Actual: 4.02 @ 10:46
    • Still in taper mode because I hadn't made a decision yet when it was time to run.
  • Steps - 11,638
  • Cross Training - None
  • Life - Decision Day!
    • Cancelled my hotel for D.C. and found another race to run in a few weeks.
    • Reached out to Coach and had him add on a few more weeks of training.
    • I had a huge anxiety attack after work, that sucked.
    • Overall Stress Level - 16/20 (Surprising)
Thursday 9/13
  • Running - Plan: 1 mi @ WU + 3 mi @ HM Tempo (9:24) + 1.5 mi @ T Pace (9:04) + .5 mi @ CD / Actual: 1 mi @ 10:58 + 3 mi @ 9:13 + 1.5 mi @ 9:11 + .5 mi @ 12:27
    • Goodbye Taper, hello hard workout. Just when I thought I was getting used to it....
    • You know what's hard? Going from fast to faster after your legs are tired.
    • Doesn't help that I went too fast on my HM Tempo Interval. Oops.
    • I did pretty good until that last .5 mi of the T Pace. I tried but couldn't push anymore.
    • This could have been a PR 10k if I tried.
    • Splits: 3 mi HM Tempo - 9:15, 9:10, 9:17 / T Pace - 8:57, 4:38 (.5 mi)
  • Steps - 12,539
  • Cross Training - None
  • Life - It's hard
    • I am glad I have my race fiasco figured out. Shout out to all the people I perpetually annoyed via text about this.
    • I transferred my race entry to 2019 and had to pay $46. Thanks a lot Active dot com fees.
    • Overall Stress Level - 16/100
 
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I don't feel like doing an actual running update. I ran both of my 8 milers this weekend. My paces were all over the place but on average I hit my goal pace on both of them. This means I did all of my workouts this week. Go me.

20 days until my half.
14 more workouts until my half.
3 more hard workouts until my half.

Saturday night we watched "A Quiet Place". I have so many questions. Anyone else seen it?

Yesterday, I found my underwater camera case and we spent all afternoon at my in laws pool having fun. Gotta love living in a place where summer never ends.

IMG_5826.jpg IMG_5848.jpg IMG_5881.jpg IMG_5907.jpg IMG_5944.jpg IMG_6012.jpg IMG_6127.jpg IMG_6292.jpg
 

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