The Psychological Thin Line

This post is late, by my standards, and YOU DON'T CARE AND NEITHER DO I.

I ran 16.2 miles last Sunday. 13.1 of those miles were with Kristin, who is amazing and I love her. The Medina Half Marathon course was the focus for most of our morning.

Kristin and I are front row, second and third from left.

I should have kept going after 16, but I just felt. . .done. So, I stopped.

This is EXACTLY how I look after I run 16.2 miles.

I wanted to remind you about the title of this Blog: Run away from Trouble. I try very hard to keep this blog upbeat and positive, even when circumstances seem glum (see when I broke my foot!), but you need to know that there is a reason that I started to run: I have a lot of crazy to burn off, and I need to run away from my troubles.

Today, after lots of thinly-veiled hints from my daughter that I suck as a mom, and after a long phone call from school about my son (not my first, I might add, and unfortunately probably not my last), I decided I needed to run away.  I strapped on my phone, turned on the music, braided my hair, and took off.

Screw this. Screw everyone. I just want to run away.

It was 81 degrees during my run, and I chose a route with hills, lots of hills. At one point I wanted to cry, but I reminded myself that I was running AWAY from all of that. . .so I tried to live in the moment.

Breathe in for three. . . Breathe out for two. I am strong. Runner. I got this. Runner. Relax-er. Runner.

I ran for five miles, and when I came back, I felt better. My troubles were still there, but I was better equipped to deal with them. I talked through the school day with my son, and I helped him plan a better day for tomorrow. I warned my daughter that until the end of the school year I am psychologically unstable, so she needs to think twice before poking the bear in any way. I showered, went grocery shopping, put the kids to bed, and finally ate some dinner.

Look, I have a lot of crazy in my head. Running is one of the best ways for me to cope. Sometimes running (especially racing) can be equally as stressful for me, but quitting isn't an option. Today I told myself that if quitting the run wasn't an option, quitting my family can't be an option either. We all have miles to go before we sleep; we need to figure out how to best get through those miles. If we are lucky, we can enjoy them.

How do you view running, Peeps? I hope you can Run Happy this week!

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19 Miles!

Today I had my 19 miler--a mileage I have not run since training for the Akron Marathon. It went surprisingly well.  Here are some pictures and some lessons I learned:

1. (Re)Learn to run by yourself.  This one is odd for me. When I first started running, I primarily ran alone. I loved running long, slow distances (as well as shorter runs) and races all by myself. Just me and my music. What can I say? I'm a rebel, Dottie, a loner.




 In the past two years, I have switched my focus to running long with groups or partners. In a way it was really good for me to be sociable. As I get older, I have less patience with others, and I often find it tiring to talk to other people when I don't have to do it. Such is the life of a teacher.

Anyway, I grew to love running long with others, but unfortunately, I also grew to depend on it. When I decided to train long with groups, I forgot the fundamental rule: People will not always come through when you need them to. (It's the same rule with running with music, by the way.) As long as you depend on people, you are always opening yourself up for a letdown. Now, this isn't a condemnation of anyone in particular; it's just a fact. For example, you might set up a long run at 8:30 AM with another runner, and she/he might wake up sick. It happens to all of us, and it is nobody's fault. That, however, will not help you when you realize that you didn't take your earbuds with you because you depended on conversation as your distraction.

I've had a few situations in the past month where my runs were partly alone. Mostly I have awesome friends who have "rescued" me by running a few miles here and there during the long runs, but I now realize that I have to stop depending on running with other people.

Today I ran the first ten miles of my long run alone, and it wasn't terrible, but it would have been so much better if I hadn't gotten out of the habit of running long alone.

Technically, I wasn't completely alone. Snappy here was on the Towpath cheering for me.  Or hoping to chew off my leg.

I need to get back to depending on myself, Peeps. After all, chances are really good that I'll be running alone for the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon (unless you want to run with me?). I used to be so good by myself, and I need to get back there.

2.  Don't sit in an Epsom Salt bath immediately after your long run if you have ANY SUSPICIONS AT ALL  that you might have chafing anywhere in your nether regions.  'Nuff said.


Joy ran with me for the second part of my run: 9 miles. It has been a while since we were able to talk, and I really missed her, so we had a good time. We dodged a lot of snakes.

There were LOTS of these.

The weather was really hot, and by the end of the run, I looked like a salt lick. Joy was my savior, and I'm so grateful to her for saving my butt and getting me to finish 19 miles.

We finished at Lock 29.

I kind of screwed up my mileage plan for the marathon. Normally I should hit my 20 miler on April 30, three weeks before the race; however, I couldn't pass up a fabulous deal to run the Pro Football Hall of Fame Half Marathon on that day (for only $26.20!), so I had to decide whether I want to hit 20 miles before or after that. I've chosen the Sunday following the race, which will give me 2 weeks to taper. This is actually more than I normally schedule to taper, so I'm hoping this will all work out for me.

How is your training going, Peeps?

Do you prefer running solo or group running?

How long do you take to taper? Do you REALLY respect the taper?

I hope to see you in Cleveland. Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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Flat Is Where It's At

I've focused a bit on hills lately, which is totally good for me in every way. . .

This is EXACTLY how I look when I run hills.  See that look of joy? See the little kids in lederhosen?  

But for my dial-back run this week, I wanted something flat and easy. And pretty.  And so I chose the Towpath. I did five miles myself for the first hour, and because I didn't bring my earbuds, I did it without music!

Views of the Cuyahoga River from the Towpath

I love running in Merriman Valley; it's so beautiful, and the Towpath never looks the same from day to day.

After my first five miles, I met up with Kristin for the next ten. We agreed that the purpose was to relax and chat. We certainly chatted.  It was a surprise to both of us when the turnaround seemed to come so quickly, and it was definitely a surprise to Kristin (who has never run that section of the Towpath before) when I told her that we were in the home stretch.

Of course we had to take a picture:

Shiny, happy people

As a bonus I saw some fellow Turtle alumni who were coming in as I was going out. Ladies, you were looking strong today!

The sun was shining, the weather was perfect, the company was fabulous. All in all, I give this run an A+.  Thank you, Kristin, for being so awesome; you made 15 miles feel like 2.

I am almost at the 20 mile point for the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, Peeps.  Won't you join me by registering here? 

Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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Hills and More Hills

I had a dilemma:

I had 18 miles to cover on Sunday, and it looked like I was going to run them alone until. . . Rachel came along. Rachel is another Cleveland Marathon Ambassador; you can check her out here.

What a happy coincidence that Rachel had to run 18 miles, too. . . except she wanted to start at 7:00 AM.  In Chagrin Falls, which is 40 minutes away from my house.

This is EXACTLY how I feel when I realize I need to get up before 5 AM to be ready for a long run on my day off.

At first I said no, but after watching Moana with my kids, I decided to call it an early night, and I told Rachel I'd meet her in the wee hours of the morning.

We did two loops of 9 miles. I liked the idea of doing these loops because it wasn't the same loop, and I got to stop by my car to eat a banana and consider a wardrobe change (which I didn't need after all). The hard part (besides getting up so early) was that both loops were ALL HILLS.  SO. MANY. HILLS.

This is EXACTLY how the hills looked.  Maybe.

It was so pretty running through Hunting Valley, and we decided to take some pictures of the river.

My morning view

It's difficult to find a good running partner without too much adjustment. There is so much to think about: pace, personality, stamina, training needs. I was really lucky because Rachel and I seemed to mesh pretty well, and we stayed strong for the full 18 miles of freaking hills. I'm really glad I gave the 7 AM call a chance.

We look pretty good for being about 6 miles from the finish.

Because I was on Spring Break, I put in some good miles this week. I actually got a nine-miler in midweek by running part of the Blue Line in reverse. It was a great way to shake up the routine. I ran 40 miles, and I'm still alive and thriving.  Not bad at all. Maybe I'll be ok in this marathon after all.

Will you join me, Peeps?  Register here for the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon.  I promise we will have fun! Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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Still Got It!

First, this has nothing to do with running. Thursday night my friends and I attended Puddles Pity Party at the Cleveland House of Blues, and this happened:

Best. Concert. EVER. I highly recommend you see him if he is in your area.

Second, I was worried that my foray into trail running would give me a sense of false confidence. That is, because I allow my self to walk any time I like on a trail, I worried that I would not be able to run on a flatter surface for an extended length of time. To test this theory, I decided to run 17 miles on the Towpath today (Sunday). The Burning River Goddesses have been so kind to me; they offered to either run the full 17 with me (Marta and Kelsie) or join me for part of the fun. Jen's husband Steve, who is an honorary Goddess and a rock star trail runner who is training for Burning River (the full Monty, folks), also offered to join me for the first 12 miles.

17 miles and .4 cool down walk on the Towpath with these badasses! Lots of turtles 🐢 on the logs. #akrun #secondsoleakrun #clevemarathonambassador @jennpierce517

A post shared by Stephani Itibrout (@itibrout) on Mar 26, 2017 at 8:51am PDT

So it was that Steve, Marta, Kelsie, and I started from Lock 29 at 8 AM. I was worried that I would hold them back, and I told them all to leave me whenever they felt that they needed to. . .but they didn't. One of my big problems is that I CAN run a good mid-pack pace, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I SHOULD run that pace, especially on the long runs. My goal was to finish strong and feel good, and to accomplish that, I knew I had to run much more slowly than I normally would like to run.

We all had a great discussion on the Towpath, sometimes running fast and sometimes running slowly. I was wearing my Cleveland Ambassador long-sleeved tech shirt, and within two miles I was ROASTING, although I looked super cool.

This is EXACTLY how I look when I'm roasting, but I'm rocking a super cool shirt.

After 9.5 miles, we were back at Lock 29, where I ate a banana, changed into a short-sleeved shirt, and used the bathroom. Then we joined up with Jen and Tracy for the rest of the run.  I'm not going to say it was easy because it wasn't, but I really enjoyed my run with everyone.  We saw turtles, lots of turtles:

This was one log of four in that section--all full of turtles. 

And we talked and bitched and laughed.

At mile 16.9, I decided that the kick had to come now, and I actually picked up the pace and ran very quickly (I'm not going to say I sprinted because I didn't) to the end. Then I had .4 miles to walk as a cool down. I am very pleased with how I finished. I felt strong, and although I felt sore, I still think it was a good run.

I have a while until I need to hit my 20 miler. While talking it through with Jen today, I decided that I'm going to hover around these middle miles for a while, which is what I did when I trained for my first marathon. I would like to get to a point where I say, "Oh. It's only 16 miles." Maybe then my 20 miler won't feel as awful as it did when I ran it for the Akron Marathon.

How is your training? Have you registered for the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon?  NO??? Well, you can register here today, or you can check out the Cleveland Marathon Ambassadors to see who is giving away a race entry. Join me! You know you want to see how I handle running this marathon by myself (unless you want to run with me???).  Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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Don't Go Chasin' Waterfalls

Today I did 16 miles. I got up super early to run three miles along the canal at Bedford Reservation, and then I joined the Burning River Goddesses to do 13 more miles on the trails. Jen warned us that it would be an adventure. . .and that it was.

The adventure started with sucking mud in the first two miles. I almost lost my shoes, but curling my toes helped me to hang on. Then we got to run on the top of the valley, with a drop that was literally one foot to my left with nothing between me and oblivion. Then we hit the waterfalls:

Waterfall #1

Waterfall #2

Waterfall #3. I wish I could remember the names of these falls.

When we hit their halfway point (and my 10-mile point), there was a raging river that, according to Jen's map, we were supposed to cross. Really? Jen spent minutes looking at the river and trying to come up with a way to ford it while we took turns yelling, "We are NOT f---cking crossing that river, Jen."

This is the very shallow part of the river. You can still see whitecaps.

Jen gave it up for this time (with the promise of a crossing at a later time), and we headed  back to the car. This time we took a slightly different turn, and it led to a stream crossing that was more like a stream wading. It was about calf-deep for me (and deeper for Jen, who took a spill), and the water was bone-achingly freezing. This helped me to pick up my pace, as I couldn't feel my feet anymore.

While we paused at the river crossing, we took a picture:

Renee, Tracy, Marta, Jen, Me

All in all, I give Bedford Reservation a double thumbs-up. What a beautiful run! I can't wait to see it in fall!

How is your training going? Are you enjoying the increased mileage? Are you training for the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon? Join me there! Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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Trails Are the Answer

I'm amping up the mileage, Peeps. Last week was a fallback week--13 miles. This week I intended to return to 16 miles, possibly do 17, but there was a weird parking problem.  All the trailhead parking lots were closed at 8:00, when I intended to put in possibly 5 miles before meeting up with Jen and Renee.  No matter. I diverted to an open place and managed to run 3 road miles before the official run.

It was cold, Peeps.  Really, really cold. I was thankful that I warmed up on the road, but it wasn't necessarily a fun moment while I did it.

Once I got on the trails I felt fine. It never really got warmer, but I run hot, and the trees protected us from wind, so I had a great time.

This was supposed to be a cool picture of the trails, but it turned out to be a picture of where I broke my ass falling down.

I tried some new fuel: GU Chomps, Strawberry.  I liked the taste, but they were super chewy and difficult to break down in my mouth. At one point I was worried that I would get them sucked into my windpipe and die. I bought a whole case of them, so I need to work this out.

I love running with Jen and Renee for many reasons. Here are a few:

1. They are English teachers, like me. When we bitch about life, we do it in iambic pentameter.

2. They are incredibly kind. When I explained my future dilemma of increasing my miles and getting in a 20 miler before the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, they immediately offered to split up and each run ten miles with me.

3. They don't mind if I talk or swear. They talk and swear.

4. If they think I'm a bitch or a freak, they haven't said so or shown it.

I am going through a bit of a stressful time  right now, so I feel super-lucky that these ladies have taken me in and shared their runs with me. Long runs for me get hard after 15 miles, and the fact that Jen and Renee knew this because of their own experiences and stepped in to help means everything to me. Thank you, Ladies. You are beautiful.

We were pretty thirsty on this trail run. Jen decided to go for the gross, yellow icicles. Renee knew better.

I have some time to increase my mileage before the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, so I'm not going to beat myself up about getting in 15 miles instead of the projected 17.  My long miles were originally for Shelby, and that isn't necessary anymore.

We all need the long miles for proper training, Peeps. It's much easier when you can run with friends. If you don't have any running friends, make some now! I guarantee it will change your running experiences for the better. If you do have running friends, thank them this week. We all love appreciation.

Whom will you thank this week?  Until then, run happy, Peeps!

Like what you read? Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!