My Running Journey (Pt. IV)

Hello friends,

   It's been several months since my last update on my running journey! I'm nearing two years of consistently running, and I've accomplished lots of things. In my February update post, I shared that I reached a half marathon distance, I competed in a 10k night trail race, I hit my 1 year 'runniversary', and my furthest distance ran was 15 miles. Since then, I've experienced and grown a little bit each day, and I'd love to share some of the highlights! If you'd like to follow along with my day-to-day training updates, I'd love a follow on my fitness instagram @grinsandfitness. Come say hi! Anyways, here are all the latest and greatest deets.

I Ran Another 10k Trail Race

   Guys, this was a blast but also chaotic. I did the Winter Night Owl 10k trail race back in January, and knew I wanted to try again in the summer. The hiccups I experienced during the January event was that it was so so muddy, so I was definitely back of the pack. But with this one, I was excited. I was ready. And my boyfriend was even sweet enough to drive me there. But something that threw me off was that I took off at the start line and realized (pretty quickly, thankfully), that I forgot to put my bib on. For those of you who haven't participated in a race, a bib typically has a magnetic chip in it that starts and ends your time when crossing through the start and finish line. So I turned around, sprinted to the car and Jordan helped me put my bib on. I reentered the start line, took off and caught up decently quickly to several runners within that first mile, despite the delay. My adrenaline was pumping, so I kept finding myself passing more and more folks, until that inevitable point in a race where you're behind the same person for minutes, or even miles. That's honestly one of my favorite parts of a race. I love having my eye on that person in front of me and thinking, I'll pass this person and create a big enough gap where no one else will be able to pass until I'm already across the finish line. It's a big and confident energy that overcomes me, and it helps me keep that drive and momentum throughout the whole race. I felt strong this race, I felt fast. I only fell once. And I finished in the more mid-to-front of the pack. I felt so proud. It's all a learning experience and I'm so glad I persevered after that hiccup with the bib and came out even stronger than I expected.

   My goal for the next trail race is to compete in the half marathon distance. It'll be my longest trail run to date.

​I Completed Another 5k Event (And it was ROUGH)

   My sister in law and I both signed up for a 5k race in mid June. It's called the Cheddar Challenge at Young's Jersey Dairy, and I had high hopes for it. I love cows and was amped to do once near my hometown. But to be frank, I honestly forget I competed in this 5k event half the time. Like I block it out of my mind. It's not that it was traumatizing by any means, but this run was tough. Obviously our energy as humans can fluctuate day-to-day. My energy for this run wasn't there. Also, with details of it being in grass and dirt, I made a choice to wear my trail shoes. Bad mistake, I felt like my feet were so heavy and dragging more in that grass than if I just wore regular tennis shoes. I honestly wanted to scrap this race from the record, not only because of the fact that I forget about it a lot, but I remember not wanting to post my stats on it to my fitness insta because of how embarrassed I was at my performance. But the thing about my page is, I find it super important to share those fluctuations. Some events and runs will feel solid, others not so much. I went out and tried, period. That should be enough to celebrate.

I Participated In The C2C Relay (Columbus to Cincinnati)

   Something I signed up for in the summertime, which just took place in September, was a C2C Relay event. This was a fundraising event for the American Cancer Society. In this relay race, we had a team of 8 folks (our run group actually formed two separate teams). Each team ran a little over 130 miles from Columbus to Cincinnati, each taking turns at various trade-off points. This lasted a little over 24 hours, was difficult because of my heightened anxiety at that point, but I'm so proud of our team for crushing it. It's something I learned a lot from and can prepare better for if I do it again in the future. I ran just under 17 miles throughout the three distance legs I did, and don't regret any bit of that adventure. Thank you to everyone who donated!


   Also the first leg I ran felt like my absolute strongest. It was a bit over 7 miles, my energy felt amazing, and there's something about running at night that makes the distance feel easier.

I'm Prepping For a 20 Mile Run

   At the point of writing this post, my furthest distance ran in a go has been 17 miles. It was a warm one, and I completed this one in late April. Since that run, I tapered down my mileage throughout the summer months since I knew anything over 75 degrees would be tough for anything over 17 miles. I'm trying to enjoy my time and be safe, okay? I remember getting really bad sunburn and was like, wait, I did this all the time last year and I never got burnt this bad...But then I realized that literally no I didn't do this last summer. I was doing 4, 5, maybe 6 miles at a time, but never 17. I was out there for hours, trudging along and taking walk breaks. But it's about reaching the distance. I'm someone who definitely struggles in any sort of heat, so I welcomed any walk breaks. So that's why, as I sneak up to my December marathon goal idea, I'm feeling more confident about raising the mileage. When you run in the heat, your body is working hard just to regulate your temperature so you typically find yourself running at a relatively slower pace. But in the winter, on short runs I'm speedy. And on longer runs, I can hold my endurance so much easier. So I'm trying to get mentally ready to do 20 miles later this month. That's the goal, so that hopefully early December I can knock out a marathon distance. And my reasoning for doing a marathon early in the month? One, to not stress about reaching that goal...I'd rather just knock it out! And two, because like I mentioned about the Night Owl race in winter, I'd love to sign up for the half marathon this time. So I'd like a few weeks to relax after challenging myself with such a long road run in order to be recovered for the next Night Owl. Lots of planning, but that's just a runner's life I guess.

Thank you so much for checking in with my running journey today! Like I mentioned, if you'd like to follow along with my day-to-day fitness activities, please add me on instagram @grinsandfitness and say hi! I'm very passionate about that little page and I'd love to grow the community that's on there.

Keep on grinning!
Lyd