Back In Action

I am back!  And things are changing...aka I will now be getting back to training for ANOTHER MARATHON and I am ready to start writing about that training as much as possible!

Remember how I was supposed to run the Rock 'N Roll Phoenix Half Marathon?  Well, that's not happening anymore.  I am still going to Phoenix to have a reunion weekend with UD friends, but will not be running the race.  Neither Liz nor I were training as much as we would've liked and since the other girls were not planning to run the race, we decided not to either.  This way we'll just get to hike, relax, and spend time with each other.

So what races do I have planned for this year so far??

April 6 - Go St. Louis Marathon Relay - Liz, Angela, and I (and one other girl - who wants to join our team?!?) are going to run the marathon relay so about 6-7 miles each.

May 4 - Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon - Technically I am not registered yet, but I really think I am going to make this my goal marathon.  Angela and I talked about it last week and decided it would be a fun one to do together and so it was settled.  There is a price increase at the end of January, so I will decide for sure by then, but I think this is what I'm going to go for.

And that's about all I have planned really, but I am sure more will come up.  Catherine and I have talked about doing the Elmhurst 4 on the 4th again and I also like to always do the Arlington Heights 4th of July 5k.  And I still really want to run a fast half marathon sometime, but I guess I just don't know which one yet!

So, starting today, I have 17 weeks to train for the Flying Pig Marathon.  Despite the record-setting frigid temperatures in Chicago (right now we are at -11, feels like -37), I really didn't want to miss day 1!  I haven't ran since 2013, over a week ago so I wasn't really sure what to expect.  But after risking my extremeties and face to walk half mile to the gym, I had to make it worth it.

I wore 22 articles of clothing on th way there, but on 7 articles of clothing to run in.  2 of these 7 articles were my brand new Nike Flyknit shoes that I got for Christmas.  They are super light and I thought they'd be perfect for running on the treadmill in the winter.

I started at 7.0 (~8:30 pace) and increased the speed by .1 everytime the song changed, so I ultimately ended up at 7.7 (7:47 pace).  I completed 4 miles in 32:40 (8:10 pace total average).  Right when I stopped, I thought I was going to pass out, so I tried to walk around a little and then just sat on the end of the treadmill.  I guess that's what not running for over a week will do to you.  But then I recovered and did some ab stuff.

Have you ever done a marathon relay?  Or any long distance relay?

Any good song ideas for a new running playlist?

Guest Post: Erin's "17 Things About Colleen"

Today I have a special treat for you - a guest post written my by lovely cousin Erin.  We are like peas and carrots.  She is the one who got me into blog reading and encouraged me to start my own.  And now that I have been working hard on this blog and just yesterday finished my "About Me" page, Erin decided she would like to give my readers a little more insight...

Hey there! My name is Erin, and I am Colleen’s cousin. I am also a 20-something living, working, and working out in Chicago…I just don’t run insane distances like CSmith. I graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2012, and the only other real things you need to know about me are that I am obsessed with Christmas, the Cubs, and the number 217. The last one usually needs a little explanation, and it’s pretty simple: I was born on February 17.

In light of the fact that today is 817 (aka halfway to 217!), I figured today would be an optimal day to write 17 things about Colleen that you cannot learn from her About Me page. I could probably come up with a full 217 list items seeing as I have known Colleen since the very first 217 that I celebrated, but I think that’d be a little much for you to read. So here goes!

1. Colleen and I once bought a sign at a craft fair that said “Forget the dog, beware of Colleen.” We hung it up on the door of her room. I think she still has it.
2. Pennellwood Resort is Colleen’s (and my) favorite vacation spot. I know she already posted about it, but it’s so important that it deserves its own list item here, too. There are plans in the works to perhaps open up our own Pennellwood one day.

3. Colleen loves Christmas almost as much as I do, and we both love Christmas music. I start listening to it on October 17 (aka 1017) each year and force her to do so also. Our favorite Christmas song is “Joy to the World,” by Neil Diamond. We – along with our cousin Katie – made up a dance to that song and filmed it in 2002. We all wore our matching pink North Face fleeces in the dance.
4. Colleen ran the 2010 Columbus Marathon all by herself and with no spectators. Most importantly, she was number 217 for this race.

5. Colleen loves bread, specifically Pennellwood bread. Pennellwood bread is just what you’d expect it to be – bread that Pennellwood Resort baked each and every morning. It was fresh and delicious, but no one loved it more than Colleen.
6. Plaid skirts are always in style on Christmas, and Colleen and I (accidentally) coordinated our Christmas Eve outfits one year to keep with the trend. Great minds think alike.

7. Colleen, our cousin Katie, and I have dubbed one night each year “D-Day.” We use this night to annoy Colleen’s dad, Don, and it falls during the week of Thanksgiving. Examples of past annoyances include putting post-it notes all over the kitchen walls, turning on every single light in the house, and filling his car with random objects so that it’s nearly impossible for him to get in let alone drive. They are harmless pranks, but they are fun. And he gets annoyed, which is the point.
8. Tubing on our uncle’s boat (we call him Captain Ron) is one of our favorite memories and things to do. Sometimes we both tube at the same time and then execute a mid-ride tube switch.

9. Nesquik is not called Nesquik when conversing with Colleen. It is referred to as “the Q,” because she used to drink so much of it that it was essentially her drug.
10. Colleen and I once made a commercial for Juicy Fruit gum when we were about 13 and 11 respectively. It had something to do with Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi” as the background music I think.
11. Usually, for our birthdays, Grandma and Grandpa Smith give each of us cousins a bag of chocolate chip cookies as part of our gift. Going along with number 5, Colleen instead receives a bag of rolls for her birthday.

12. G-chat is where Colleen and I spend our time conversing every single day. We also text very pointless messages to one another, which occasionally include random Forrest Gump quotes.
13. Pizza Hut used to be a huge food staple in Colleen’s life. We spent many a Friday night sleeping over at her house and ordering from “the hut.” Their breadsticks are divine.
14. For about four years in a row (maybe more?), Colleen was a parrot for Halloween.

15. Acronyms are used far too frequently in our conversations. A few commonly used examples include: DTJ (“do the job” or “did the job”), BOG/GOG (“be on G-chat”/”get on G-chat”), YATWL (you are the weakest link”), CCC (“Colmone Country Club), LNPTDID (“Let’s not put the ‘duh’ in ‘dumb’.’’), and HIHACLY (“Happiness is having a cousin like you.”). That last one is a phrase we saw on a plaque at one of the Arlington Racetrack Craft Shows we attended.
16. The 4th of July is a big day for Colleen, although we typically call it “the FOJ” (gotta keep the acronym theme alive). A lot of our family members come to Niles to watch the Niles Parade, since it is pretty great. Colleen’s favorite part of that parade is the Little People.

17. Colleen and I enjoy making lists, and our best one was “CAEUSTDL 2010,” which was “Colleen and Erin’s Ultimate Summer To Do List.” It included a number of things that we never accomplished, but obviously we still have it and will cross everything off eventually. I hope you’ve enjoyed this list and keep coming back to CSmith Run to do just that!

Stampede Run 5K & Race Time Calculator

Today I finished the Stampede Run 5K in 21:30.  I wanted to be closer to 21 minutes, but kind of expected more like 21:30 and my time averaged 6:55 pace, so I'm OK with that for right now.  I thought I'd be able to run faster since I ran a 3.5 mile race over a month ago at 6:57 pace.  My splits were 6:42, 6:58, and 7:49 for the last 1.1  - there was a 3 mile mark I realized after the race but I seemed to miss it while I was actually running.  So that last mile was right around 7 minutes also.  I obviously checked the race results online and would've easily taken first in my age group, but I had a registration fail.  I did not register ahead of time and apparently they only accept cash at race day registration and I only had $20 with me, not the required $35.  So I ran the race bandit-style.  Unfortunately, this meant no race shirt and no prize for winning my age group which is an awesome pint glass.  I do already have 3 of them from past years, but would've liked another.  After the race, I got to watch Julianne finish the 5K and then ran backwards along the course to find Jessica and run the last mile of the 10K with her.

Something we talked about during yesterday's long run was training paces and how different race distances can help predict your marathon time. However, I still don't think it's always necessarily a good indicator. Even Dave, who I ran with yesterday, said he ran a half marathon in 1:24 and could not seem to break a 3:10 marathon. He said he believes a lot had to do with the fact that when he was in that good of shape, it was snowing the day of the marathon and some people are just better at shorter distances and some better at longer.

I looked online and found what appears to be a very popular race time predictor here.  I was playing around with the calculator and put in today's 5K time, last month's half marathon time, and my goal marathon time.  I doubt anyone would ever run exactly the times such a calculator would predict, but it does seem to provide a good general idea/range of times.  Here's what I got:

So especially based on this, I should've ran a little faster than I did today.  Even the 10K time it predicted based on today's 5K would be slower than the first 10K I ran in last month's half marathon.  But I think it all just has to do with the conditions of the day.  Today was almost 80 degress already in the morning and that half marathon was rainy and cool.  My training this week was also a little skewed due to other circumstances and my mental state was not 100% this morning due to the registration issue.  I definitely still have some work to do though to feel more confident in the pace I want to run the marathon.  I wasn't planning to do any other races between now and the Chicago Marathon, but might do the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon in 2 weeks.  But that's probably going to depend on how the next 2 weeks go and probably what the weather is looking like that day.  Even if I don't register, I'd probably still go downtown for it and jump in to get in a solid run around other people.

Do you ever run races without registering? - I do quite a bit...usually if I'm just using it as a training run or to run with someone else.

4 on the 4th

Happy 4th of July! Today was the Elmhurst 4 on the 4th race. Mom came to watch and Catherine and Matt came to run as well, as did my new running friend Mac. This race was a FAST field. Elmhurst is definitely a running town.

Catherine and I finished in just at 29 minutes averaging 7:14 pace. We stayed pretty steady at that pace each mile. Both of us were really skeptical with racing all out today because she just did a hard track workout on Tuesday and leg weights with her trainer and I hadn't ran since Monday and was not feeling mentally ready for a race. We ran the whole way together and made it a great tempo run. Both of us agreed that we would not have been able to give that hard of an effort if we were on our own so I'm glad we had each other there!

Next year we need to dress more festive like we do for Thanksgiving. Matt had a good race too! He was the one who was able to confirm for us that there was indeed a fast field up at the front since he was much closer to that action. Catherine and I even recognized our track coach from freshman year of high school who we have not seen since. Another positive was that the race was well organized and there were good snacks/drinks afterwards which is always a determining factor in how good a race is, just like how quickly free bread or water appears on your table determines how good a restaurant is. I don't like waiting for my bread and water.

So now since I titled this 4 on the 4th for the race, I here are 4 random thoughts I've had today:

1) Freeze pops are an amazing summer treat, especially after running. Catherine and I did a summer running camp in high school and they always had a cooler of freeze pops when we finished. And then I got one at the parade today and remembered how great they are...except for the fact that they drip blue onto my nice white shorts.

2) Catherine gave me a great idea for marathon outfit ideas for Angela and I to wear in the Chicago Marathon. I cannot reveal that yet though until this plan is fully realized.

3) I want a pool in my backyard when I have a house.

4) I wish my cousin Katie would come home from St. Louis because being at their pool isn't the same without her.

And here's my Bailey being festive:

What is your favorite post-race free snack?