I spent a lot of time last spring trying to figure out how to race with exercise-induced asthma. Between inadequate warmups and fueling issues, I could only describe my race performances the first half of 2014 as disappointing. So instead of dwelling on that, let's move ahead to the good stuff.
Everything else about the spring was fantastic! I had a lot of fun running and volunteering at twelve of the club's races, co-directing Matt's trail race, and debuting my own trail run. Here are a few of my favorites:
Foggy Bottom Milk Run: Handing out ribbons at the 2-mile kid's run finish and witnessing no vomit fountains this year. Woo! Then, collecting course markers in the pouring rain and trying not to fall from the moving U-Haul.
Dash of Color 5K: Cornstarch Application Specialist. I sneezed purple the rest of the day. Worked with Matt, club veep Harry, and a bunch of enthusiastic high school students who probably got more color on themselves than they did the runners.
Masters Run 10K: For one race a year, club rival Bob and I work together instead of against each other. Since I'm still a decade away from being able to run this race myself, he's named me official beverage hostess. He thinks I'm doing it because I'm a nice person. The truth is that he buys way too many yummy finish line snacks and lets me go home with the leftovers. Karen always comes back to help if there's free food involved.
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| Y. Kim, SRRC photo. |
Avenue of the Giants Marathon: Working with Mr. Club Prez and Mrs. Race Director, we refreshed all the course markings for the 10K, half, and marathon, but mostly we wandered around looking for those tiny nails and washers in the pavement that may or may not still be there. All day treasure hunt+sniffing paint fumes=comp entry in the half marathon. It's just a bonus because hanging with the Timeks is a really fun way to spend a Saturday.
Grasshopper Peak Redwoods Run: From designing the course and coordinating details to the moment I pulled the last flag marker from the course, directing this run was a blast. Even though it earned the nickname "Crashhopper" because of how many people finished with bloody knees or hands, people still approach me to say how much fun they had.
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| Y. Kim, SRRC photo. |
I took most of the summer to recover mentally and began rebuilding for a marathon by climbing mountains and playing on the trails. Key speed workouts were often substituted for mountaintops and somehow momentum picked up near the middle of August.
I ran a three mile race one weekend and won (and somehow forgot to write a race report: basically I chased down two teenage boys in the last mile and kicked their butts; it was AWESOME). Then I ran the Santa Rosa Marathon the next weekend and had a dream race without feeling like I was pushing as hard as I had at the end of the last few marathons.
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| Beginning of my comeback: Hammond Trail 3.25 Mile, Y. Kim, SRRC photo. |
As has been the case the last few years, my yearly mileage increased until finally breaking 2,000 miles for the first time ever! This year, I added in a few more fun races with friends. The number of goal races remained the same: two marathons, one half marathon, one 10 mile race, and one 5K. Everything else was treated as either a fun speed workout with buddies or a sightseeing party race. I don't think I'll ever be able to add more quality races without risking serious burnout. Through my club membership and comp entries for volunteering, I ran about half of those races for free.
Summer and fall eventually made up for the lackluster spring season and I
finished my final race feeling good about the year, setting a PR at
most distances:
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| Time goals for 2015 are listed above, too. |
I'm looking forward to 2015!!
3 comments:
Sounds like you had a great year of running. Can't wait till I can get back into doing stuff like this again.
You put in an impressive number of miles! How many years has it taken you to build up to that volume?
Linda, With your determination, I'm sure you'll get there in no time. You're doing great being patient and letting your foot heal. I love your posts about Banff too, so there's the silver lining.
Molly, Thanks! I've been running since 2002, but most of that volume increase has come in the last five years. Most of that volume is because I married my training partner. I'd probably have a lot more diverse list of hobbies, and less running miles, if I had to go it alone all the time.
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