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Sep 30

The road to 103

I started today with 98 miles for the month of September. I’ve come a long way since January’s 68 miles. Up until June I averaged 60-70 miles a month. Then I went to New York City on vacation and only ran 38 after a horrible run (and 2:42 time) at the See Jane Run Half Marathon in June.

In July I was prepping for the San Francisco Second Half Marathon. I finished that in a redeemable 2:35:30. Better.

This weekend I run the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon. Outside of an injury that derailed my training for two weeks in August (I only ran 88 for the month) I’ve been fairly consistent in ramping up for the Dec. 4 marathon.

I rolled out of bed this morning and put on my running clothes.

“Guess what my run today means?” I asked my husband who was in the shower.

“I don’t know,” he responded. (He’s not much of a guesser or anything.)

“When I finish the first two miles, I’ll be at 100 miles for the month,” I said, digging through my collection of sports bras.

“Yay,” he said from the shower.

“I know you’ll care for about two minutes about that,” I said back. (This is our relationship, it’s fine, he just isn’t as into running as I am.)

I grabbed my waterbottle, filled it 50/50 with cold water and Gatorade. I hopped on the treadmill and started going.

Two miles later I had my 100.

I kept going. It’s not a rest day. I could keep running. I did three more miles to not overdo it before Sunday’s half.

It’s two miles short of the 105 for July. But I passed the 100 mark then somewhere in the Haight.

The mileage is harder now. It will continue to get harder. The runs are longer. They will continue to be.

The passion is deeper, though, on the road to 100+. But maybe that’s just me.

Sep 29

Gearing up

I’m in the midst of total marathon training, slowly ramping up my mileage over the next few weeks. I’m averaging about 30 miles of running a week right now. That’s great for a half marathon training schedule, not so much for a marathon.

So as I’m working on that, and running three half marathons this month, I’m also supposed to be starting swimming with Sam at her daughter’s swim school in Tracy on Tuesday. Why? She wants to do a triathlon.

Also why? I need to cross train.

I’ll admit that I haven’t done any cross training during my half marathon training. I’ve only recently actually started taking days off as “rest days.” That’s made a huge difference in my runs. The quality has increased. I’m running long. I’m hurting less. I was tempted to come home and run tonight, which is an off night, and I resisted. I’ll do a five-mile recovery run tomorrow before work instead (which will bring me to 103 miles for the month of September).

In any case, I’m starting swimming. I’m nervous/excited at the same time.

But unlike my high school self, I didn’t have the necessary equipment to get going. I turned to Amazon.com and two-day shipping to order a pair of Speedo goggles (pictured above) and a TYR bathing suit (recommended by instructor).

In total I spent about $60 on supplies so far. The lessons will cost $100 a month. I’m not learning how to swim, I’m learning how to swim better. That’s a big difference.

So we’ll see how it goes. I’m not sure when or if this triathlon will happen. But I think it will add strength to my upper body and maybe work out some muscles I’ve been neglecting by just doing long distance running.

Sep 27

The worst kind of email

This showed up in my inbox this morning just as I was about to leave work:

A race I signed up for just recently, a New Year’s Eve race somewhere other than near my house at that, was postponed until 2012.

A year from this New Year’s Eve. I couldn’t believe it. I went to the Facebook page and saw nothing. I clicked the link, but didn’t ask for my money back quite yet because I thought, maybe, it was sent out in error.

I went to a meeting with my running buddy Sam about a possible new addition to our workout schedule (more on that in a later post) and came home to find the Rock ‘n’ Roll Facebook page devoted to the race flooded with both positive and negative comments.

I’m bummed. I usually get update emails or things telling me hot to pick up a race packet and get really excited.

This is the first email I’ve received telling me I won’t be running something. And I was looking forward to this for a few reasons.

I’m training for the California International Marathon. It’s on Dec. 4.

I’ve spent most of the past six months training for it. I’m starting to significantly ramp up my mileage here in a couple weeks. And I have a sense of dread when I think about running it.

I’m scared. I don’t know if I’ll finish. Some training days I don’t even know if I’ll start. That’s kind of scary.

So I signed up for the New Year’s Eve run to take my mind off the impending doom feeling of my first marathon. There was something to look forward to then at the end of the year. Plus I never make plans for New Year’s Eve, ever.

My husband usually hangs out with a friend. I stay home. I’m kind of lame like that.

So I got really excited because I got to run 13.1 (which I know now I can handle) AND I got to party afterward. I even had my dress and shoes picked out for the party. So I’m bummed. I’m bummed I don’t get to run and I’m bummed I basically now don’t have plans for New Year’s Eve.

I’m not sure if it’s an omen either because I’m running the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose half marathon this weekend. I’m supposed to do race packet pickup on Saturday and run on Sunday. Sam was going to sign up this weekend. She was even going to inquire about a place to stay down there this weekend.

This is way different than the email I got a couple weeks ago with really good news. That one told me I was now a member of Team Somersaults for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon. (I’m hoping to write a WHOLE lot about that later.) That was a great email. This one not so much.

I know there are other races to enter around that time. I also know that I can do something else. But with everything I’ve dedicated to running in the last year, I thought it would be fun to ring out 2012 on a running note. Too bad.

Sep 26

Meet me Monday: The basics

Since this is a new blog, I figured I’d introduce myself through a series of “Meet me Monday” posts.

So, here’s a rundown of some basics about myself. Nothing fancy, I’ll likely elaborate more on this topic as I progress through writing this blog.

Name: Tara Cuslidge

Age: 27

Location: Tracy, CA

Running club: Mountain House Running Club

Marital status: Married

Favorite color: Green

Favorite college football team: Cal

Favorite movie: All of the Harry Potter series

Favorite vacation: New York City (June 2011)

Occupation: Online journalist and community college journalism instructor/newspaper adviser

Animals: Two Chow Chow dogs (Sky and Beau) and two ducks (Duff and Chloe)

Favorite distance: Half marathon (So far)

Favorite racing company: Brazen Racing (Me at a Brazen 10K on Jan. 2, 2010)

Favorite running apparel brand: Nike

Favorite place to run: Mountain House, Calif.

Best thing about running: It keeps me fit and healthy.

 

Sep 25

The morning 10

My long runs are on Sunday. Right now “long” means 10 miles. Soon it will mean more as I ramp up for marathon training and a Dec. 4 date with 26.2 miles. I run with friends who still haven’t kicked me to the curb, despite the fact that I am slightly faster and often get ahead of myself and them.

We haven’t done these 10 mile runs forever, though.

We started training in January to run Bay to Breakers in San Francisco on May 15. We ramped up our mileage together (I was already running 10 miles on weekends). We had some runs that were painful 3 miles in. Then we moved up to four. Then five.

Now our weekly “short run” together is usually six miles. I say usually because we have some weeks where we can’t make it that far. Sometimes it’s just better to stop at four and call it a night.

And then we have nights like the one last Wednesday when it was blazing hot (hotter than it has been on our recent runs) and we just kept pushing through despite it. We got to six, but it wasn’t our best time ever.

I made that comment and my friend Jennie, who I think tends to the more pragmatic among the three of us who run together, pointed out that we always break some sort of record when we run together. We add mileage, she said. More mileage than last year. More hours run.

My friend Sam always says she doesn’t care about the distance, just the time and the quality of the run.

It’s funny though. We’ve been running together nine months and the quality of the running has increased. So have the conversations. And the distance.

It’s kind of redefined what a “good run” means to me.

It used to be a good time.

I had that today (see photo above from end of the run on my Garmin 405CX) but I never have a bad run with my friends. Even if we are dogging rain and running against horrible wind, it’s a “good run” because I did it with them.

 

Sep 24

Sleeping isn’t easy

When I started the school semester for one job and high school football season for another job, I changed the day of my long runs from Saturday to Sunday.

Now I’m having a hard time convincing myself that I should go to sleep. I should sleep right now.

I have to wake up at 5:15 a.m. for a 6 a.m. 10-mile run with friends.

And instead I’m watching “The Girl who Played with Fire” on Netflix.

I have a feeling tomorrow will be a long day if I don’t get enough sleep tonight.

Sep 23

A beginning

I’ve written blog posts before. But not like this.

For some time I’ve toyed with the idea of starting a running blog. But I didn’t. Why? I felt too amateur to do so. I’ve only been running for 19 months.

I started running to get off my diabetes medication. But I ran my first 5k in Nov. 2008.

The next one I ran I knocked 10 minutes off my time. That was April 2010.

I ran my first 10K on Thanksgiving Day 2010.

I was scared out of my mind. But I ended up registering for a half marathon the next June.

I was ahead in my training, so I ran my first half marathon in Oakland on March 27 at the Oakland Running Festival.

I’ve run three more since. I’m training for a marathon I hope to be able to compete.

To get there, I’m running three half marathons in October (I hope).

This is my journey.