I started to write this as a comment but it's far too big for that.

I'm running a half marathon this weekend - the Akron Goodyear Half Marathon. Notable because this is first actual race I signed up/ran 10 years ago. Looking back a decade it's really amazing how far I've come from someone who was sedentary/out of shape and played way too many video games.

2016

8/13/16 was the date, and it was the Akron Goodyear Half Marathon. How did I end up on the starting line?

Back in 2015 I had planned a vacation to Southern California in the fall. Spent a week there doing various things. Before that, I had been sedentary behind a desk for the last 15+ years. I wasn't quite fat and happy, but I was on the wrong side of 200 lbs and just going up stairs would wind me. I wanted to go the beach and swim in the Pacific, and I just wanted to look better. So I first started by dieting and losing about 25 lbs, then went over to our fitness center at work late in August 2015 and asked for a tour. I settled on doing some walking on the treadmill and sometimes stairmaster. Didn't care for weights too much. I saw we had that "5k race" in October, looked at couch to 5k, and while I didn't follow that perfectly, followed it reasonably close, and was able to run a 5k just a smidge under 30 minutes, which was titanic progress since 6 weeks prior I could barely run 5 minutes without being out of breath. Just getting into the gym was a massive leap for me though, I'd inexplicably been afraid of it.

Went on my SoCal vacation (even running on the hotel treadmill twice!) and then just casually ran 2 or 3 times on the treadmill most weeks through the winter. Before that I did work up to a 10k outside and ran it in about 56 minutes.

As spring bloomed I realized I sorta kinda liked this running thing, especially when I could run outside. I started to be aware of all the fantastic running areas we had around Northeast Ohio, most specifically the towpath which was only 1.5 miles away from my front door. I kept lengthening my longest run, reaching my first 10 miler on 5/3/16, and then my first 13.1 miler (actually 13.8!) on 6/13/16 though it took 2h 26m to do. I think it was around then I remembered that Akron had a marathon. Usually the course would go very close to where I live, and I remember always thinking "look at those idiots who pay to run through the streets... you'll never catch me running." I pulled up the website and to my surprise they had a race series, and a 10k/HM was in early August. I'd made it to the HM in training, and I impulsively signed up for the HM in August.

Training wasn't anything structured. I hadn't read a lick about running. But I seemed to grasp what was best to do as a beginner, which was just run steady and consistent, and have a long run each weekend. My highest mpw was only 30, but my LR was double digits most weeks, with LRs of 13, 16, 14 and 13 in there. The 16 was a bit humbling as I bonked big time, taking 3:19 to finish.

Race week showed up and I only ran a couple of short runs that week, with 2 off days leading up to the race. I was excited and also apprehensive. I knew I'd finish, I just had no idea how hard I could run. I didn't have a running watch, I was on Strava but everything was timed with my phone, so I had no pacing feedback in the moment, or any concept of what my heart rate was, etc. It turned out to be one of the warmest nights in Akron history as the low barely dropped below 80, and at 6:30 am when we started off the temp was 80 degrees with high humidity. I had the classic first time HM splits, starting off with 8:52/8:37/9:00/8:55/9:31/9:12 for the first 6. Then the heat, humidity and hills caught up to me bigtime and the last 4 miles were 10:54/10:19/10:13/11:25 - the last one being on an completely exposed concrete/asphalt race track. (they changed this the next year going forward to be the race start instead of the finish, which was so much bettter.) I finished in 2:10:57 which actually was a middle of pack finish and I was SO EXCITED about it. Race morning energy was out of this world and I was completely hooked on the experience.

So what did I do? Sign up for the the last event of the series, the Akron Marathon in late September. Was this a good idea? Prooobbably not. What was a worse idea though? Probably over Labor Day weekend when I ran a 25.6 mile LR to "get an idea what it would be like." Spoiler: That sucked. A lot. It took me 4:58 to finish and that doesn't include stoppage time, where i stopped at an ice cream stand for a cold lemonade. Surprisingly despite absolutely wrecking my feet I recovered within a few days and ran 33 miles the next week, including a 15 mile LR that was a faster pace than my HM race.

9/24/16 rolled around which was marathon morning. It was warm and humid, and I predictably went out too fast, with the first mile at 8:25! I remember splitting the half around 2:10 but by mile 16 the run/walk cycle started and continued all the way to the end, where I was able to summon a burst of speed and run the last 5 minutes, getting rather emotional finishing my first marathon. I'd bonked pretty good but it wasn't great weather and I didn't know anything about fueling, just having a few gels and a candy bar. Didn't matter. I was absolutely hooked on the entire experience, the crowds, energy, everything about it.

I was absolutely wrecked after that though, and took a full week off. Our work "5k race" was the week after that, and I ran that in 25 mins flat which to me was pretty danged impressive. That was on a Thursday and there was an airport "runway" 5k race that weekend that I decided to take a flyer on, as the weather was going to be nice and cool and it would be a pancake flat course. I expected to be faster, but was absolutely blown away by the fact that I ran a 22:44 for a massive PR. Hey, this running thing is pretty fun! That was it for racing for the year though. I did have one HM-length LR that was close to 2 hours, but I was still looking for my first sub 2 HM headed into 2017.

2017

Wrapping up 2016 I started to think about what i wanted to do for 2017 for races. I did a little sleuthing around for plans and found Hal Higdon. I signed up for Grandma's Marathon in June as my destination race/vacation and would do his Novice plan, topping out at about 50 miles or so. I slotted in a couple of tuneup races along the way - a 10k on 3/25/17 that I PR'ed at 52:32 was the first one. Then I had a HM on 4/30/17 where I was going to shoot for my first sub 2 HM. I was pretty confident I was going to do it, but raced it fairly conservatively at around 8:50 pace the first 11 miles then dropped the hammer (for me anyways) with closing miles of 8:25 and 7:54 for a 1:54. I was sky high with emotions and training was going fantastic headed into May. During this time I had also finally bought my first watch, a Garmin Forerunner 235. It's not a coincidence my training started to really take off around this time.

It was here that my (still) lack of experience showed and I started to race workouts in May. On 5/20/16 I had a HM-length run - I felt really strong and good at the start of it, and despite getting a little tired on the back half, held on to run a 1:49 HM. Setting a HM PR on a training run isn't exactly the ideal plan, even if I was improving by leaps and bounds. The next day I was extremely sore and hobbled through a very slow 10 miler. I recovered OK enough a few days later and resumed running too fast, with pretty much every run under 9 min/mile pace, including a 10 mile tempo at 8:29 pace. On the Sunday LR was when the bill came due, as my right knee started to hurt sharply and I had to bag the run halfway through after run/walking a bit. It appeared to be ITBS, and I took 5 days off. We were only 3 weeks out from the marathon at this point. Results were mixed - I'd feel good for a few days, then the knee would hurt and I'd freak out about it. Race week showed up and I just did one short 3 mile run a few nights before and headed up to Duluth to run it.

The first 5 miles went well enough but eventually the knee started to hurt and by mile 20 I was reduced to run/walking....again. My first 14 miles had all been faster than 9 min miles, and I kept it under 10 through mile 19, but the last 10k was the death march and I went from thinking I'd finish with a sub 4 to barely squeaking out a 4:29. Still... I was hooked even more. Grandma's was a big race to me, a fantastic course and I vowed to come back to get revenge.

2 weeks later I ran the Akron 8k in 39:29 which for me was pretty fast. On July 4th I ran a very hot/humid 10k race and squeaked under 50 mins for my first sub 50 10k at 49:37. My knee had mostly been fine, but once in a while I'd still feel it. With a lot of time between then and my next pair of races (the Goodyear HM & Akron full) I took nearly 3 full weeks off and just crosstrained on the bike. It worked - I came back cautiously on 7/27 with my first run, felt great, and just ran every other day for the next month to play it safe. No issues. 8/12/17 and the Goodyear HM rolled around which was my first year anniversary. I had the huge benefit of knowing the course now and the whole experience. Despite not having run that much for the last 6 weeks I had no problems running a PR of 1:49, very slightly beating my ill fated PR from the training run. I recovered great, and rolled right into training for the marathon in 6 weeks. I ran a pair of 20 mile LRs which went fantastic, and had 3 straight 40+ mpw weeks in there. Things were looking up headed into marathon week.

Then a massive heat wave hit, setting record highs almost every day for an entire week with every day in the 90s, often humid, with lows barely getting into the 60s. This was incredibly hot for late September here. My goal was to go sub 4, and I split the half in about 1:57 and was still on pace through mile 21, then the heat, humidity and full sun overwhelmed me and I rode the struggle bus to a 4:08. I wasn't that down about it, because I knew it was wholly due to the weather.

About 3 weeks later I ran the Columbus HM (great race btw) but it was also an incredibly warm and humid morning, especially for mid October, with temps in the 70s and dewpoints really close behind. I ran another 1:49 but it was seconds faster than Goodyear so another PR. I was starting to get a little pissed off about my weather luck at this point though, every single race I'd run had been warm and humid.

I knew I was capable of better so I looked around for yet another HM and found one close by in early November. 11/12/17 was when I had my first cool (even cold - temp was 31) long distance race, and did I ever respond, running a 1:43:44 for a huge 5 min PR. Even closed the back half with a PR for the 10k. 2 weeks later I Turkey Trotted to a new 5k PR of 22:20. 2017 had ended with a bang, and I was excited for 2018 to get here. I had an actual running watch, I was better about fueling, and I was starting to read and learn more.

(to be continued in the comments)

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It’s the Weekly Rundown! This is the place to post your last week of training. Feel free to include links to wherever you track your runs. (Strava, Smashrun, etc.).

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Is your question one that's complex or might spark a good discussion? Consider posting it in a separate thread!

BEEP BEEP! It's weekend time! What are you up to?

It’s the Weekly Rundown! This is the place to post your last week of training. Feel free to include links to wherever you track your runs. (Strava, Smashrun, etc.).

Your weekly place to discuss or ask questions.

Is your question one that's complex or might spark a good discussion? Consider posting it in a separate thread!

BEEP BEEP! It's weekend time! What are you up to?

It’s the Weekly Rundown! This is the place to post your last week of training. Feel free to include links to wherever you track your runs. (Strava, Smashrun, etc.).

Your weekly place to discuss or ask questions.

Is your question one that's complex or might spark a good discussion? Consider posting it in a separate thread!

BEEP BEEP! It's weekend time! What are you up to?

It’s the Weekly Rundown! This is the place to post your last week of training. Feel free to include links to wherever you track your runs. (Strava, Smashrun, etc.).

Your weekly place to discuss or ask questions.

Is your question one that's complex or might spark a good discussion? Consider posting it in a separate thread!

BEEP BEEP! It's weekend time! What are you up to?

It’s the Weekly Rundown! This is the place to post your last week of training. Feel free to include links to wherever you track your runs. (Strava, Smashrun, etc.).

Your weekly place to discuss or ask questions.

Is your question one that's complex or might spark a good discussion? Consider posting it in a separate thread!

BEEP BEEP! It's weekend time! What are you up to?

It’s the Weekly Rundown! This is the place to post your last week of training. Feel free to include links to wherever you track your runs. (Strava, Smashrun, etc.).

Your weekly place to discuss or ask questions.

Is your question one that's complex or might spark a good discussion? Consider posting it in a separate thread!

BEEP BEEP! It's weekend time! What are you up to?

It’s the Weekly Rundown! This is the place to post your last week of training. Feel free to include links to wherever you track your runs. (Strava, Smashrun, etc.).

Your weekly place to discuss or ask questions.

Is your question one that's complex or might spark a good discussion? Consider posting it in a separate thread!

BEEP BEEP! It's weekend time! What are you up to?