2012 Resolutions

I'm not big on New Year's resolutions.  One embarrassingly recent year, I vowed to "be nicer," whatever that means.  This year's resolutions are all running related:

Run ten races.  1 down, 9 to go.  And along with that...

Do 9+1. 

Run a marathon.  Ocean Drive Marathon, I'm comin' for ya! 

Figure out pacing.  Last year, I went into races being all, "I just want to finish and run the whole thing."  I never had a finish time or goal pace in mind.  My friend Jill and I would just look at the clocks at the mile markers and go, "Yeah, 10 minutes something for that mile... sounds good."  This year I'm going into races with a goal pace and time in mind.

Figure out speedwork.  What's a fartlek?  What's that weird notation they use for speedwork? 

So excited to check these off my to do list!

A little speedwork (done incorrectly)

This morning was a quick 4 mile run.  I'm loosely following Hal Higdon's Novice 2 for my marathon training, and I try to do speedwork on a Tuesday/Thursday short run.  I'm lucky to live about a mile and a half from Princeton University's track:

 Princeton's track... it's not very photogenic.

...but unlucky enough to live uphill, so I get a hill workout after my intervals.  I usually just sprint the straightaways but today I got a little crazy with Yasso 800s - pretty much running fast 800s with a lap of recovery in between.  If you can run them in 4:10 minutes, you're in 4:10 marathon shape.  I reread Bart Yasso's page when I got home, and apparently you're supposed to do 10 repeats.  I did two.  Oops.

Tomorrow's a 7 mile pace and I'm hoping to try out one of these fun energy goops I bought at Princeton Running Company yesterday.

Maltodextrin, yum.

Looking back on 2011

2011 was a big year. I started my first full time job, moved to a new town, and ran my first races. In January, I signed up for Philly's Broad Street Run, and soon my goal was to run 5 races in 2011. Mission accomplished.

Here's my 2011 race recap:

Cupid's Chase 5k Stone Harbor - 2/12/11
PR 30:31 - 9:49 pace
My friend Jill and I wanted to run a shorter race before Broad Street, and no, we didn't have other plans for Valentine's Day Weekend. After zealous carb loading Saturday, we ran a respectable first race and more importantly, got our new favorite long sleeve shirts.

Jill says we look awkward but I don't care.

Dash for Organ & Tissue Donor Awareness 10k - 4/17/11
PR 1:02:25 - 10:02 pace
Hey another PR! Being a beginner is fun.

Broad Street Run - 5/1/11
PR 1:47:45 - 10:46 pace
This was the race that turned my friends and I into runners. I learned a lot of painful lessons that day - don't go out too fast, don't eat a fiber bar the morning of a race... I hit a wall around mile 7, but it was a good lesson in pacing.

Where's the bathroom?

Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon - 9/18/11
2:36:50 - 11:58 pace
Yeah, I know, I got slow. Over the summer, I was moving and starting a new job. I avoided running by telling myself it was too hot. My pace was slow for me but hey, it's easier to improve upon a slow time, right? The race was still a lot of fun, partly because I convinced my friends to wear neon animal print bandanas.

We're about to run 13.1 miles!

SunTrust Richmond Half Marathon - 11/12/11
PR 2:18:56 - 10:36 pace
Richmond really is the friendliest half marathon. The spectators and volunteers were so encouraging. I felt like I got my pacing right and finished the race strong - maybe because I actually stuck to my training plan this time. I felt so great, in fact, that I thought, "Hey you should run a marathon!"

Brad and I glowing from PRing.

I never thought that I would love running this much. A year ago, I literally couldn't finish my 4 mile long run. Now I'm training for a marathon. My first year of racing was a success - here's to another great year!

New blog, New PR, New Year!

Hi! I'm Lauren. Welcome to Lauren Running Wild.  I've had an on and off relationship with running since high school. I finally committed last January when I started training for the Broad Street Run, and I've become a little obsessed. I've run a few races in the last year (more on that later), and I'm now super excited to train for my first marathon in March! I feel like all I do is read running blogs and runnerworld.com, and I've been thinking about blogging for a while. With the New Year and my marathon coming up, now seems like the right time.

This morning my sister and I woke up slightly hungover and ran the Hamilton Hangover 5 miler. We've never raced 5 miles before so... PRs! Yay! My legs were sore from running 15 yesterday, so I was hoping to break 55 minutes. We finished in 52 minutes - 10:15 miles! I'll take that.

Woohoo we <3 PRing!

Happy New Year!