2020 Hindsight

Despite most races being canceled, I had a decent running life in 2020. In fact, I've logged 2,855 miles this year, which is 160 more than last year, making it my highest mileage year ever. And there are still four more days left to add some mileage! Below is a graph of my mileage starting in 2012. I'm not sure if I will ever have a year of higher mileage than this year, so this could be a lifetime PR. Part of the reason I was able to log all of these miles was lack of recovery from live marathons, lack of illness, and lack of injury.

Longest run streak
Along with my highest mileage year ever came my longest streak ever: 181 days. From January 14 to July 12 I ran every day, totaling 1,461 miles! The streak started after taking time off from Posterior Tibialis

Tendonitis in January, and ended when I felt run down from the heat and humidity in mid July. I will likely never again have such a long streak because I would typically not go for 6 months without running and recovering from a marathon, necessitating time off. 

If you decide to start a streak, the most important thing to remember is that you control when the streak ends and not vice versa. In other words, the streak will have to end at some point and you want to have it end because you choose to end it, and not because you are forced to end it due to injury or illness. 

I had another long streak between July 17 and November 6: 112 days. This streak ended when I took a rest day two days prior to the Harrisburg marathon. The combination of these two streaks (181 days and 112 days) helped me reach that high yearly mileage total. 

Highest mileage week
My coach challenged me to run a 90-mile week in April. This included the virtual Boston Marathon on April 20, which I ran at my easy pace. I was able to log 7 miles the next day and continue on with about 10 miles a day for the rest of it, including a 19-miler. 

Because I have been working from home since March, I have had more time to devote to running and recovering from my runs. Not having a commute and not having to do my makeup has been a big time saver. I'll admit that I am now spoiled and once I return to the office, it will take me a while to get back into that rigid schedule. 

Virtual races
I'm not a huge fan of virtual races, but when real races simply don't exist, virtual races are better than nothing. I also thought it was important to support our local running store by registering for a few of these. 

• Cherry Blossom 10-Miler: 1:09:46.  Since the race was canceled and I was already trained, I figured I would get credit for it and appear in the results by running a virtual race with Greg.
• Boston Marathon: 3:40:02. I ran this race on April 20, which was the originally scheduled date of the Boston Marathon. Their official virtual race took place in September, but they allowed me to use

  

  Virtual Boston Marathon

  my April race. I was thankful to receive the medal and the shirt!
• Mother's Day 4-Miler: 26:27. Greg and I raced this one for the primary purpose of supporting Potomac River Running, our local running store. Plus, when races started getting canceled in March, we all thought that by May things would be back to normal! So in my mind I had planned on running this race as a real race.
• Indianapolis Monumental Mile: 5:58. I ran this one on a track. I had actually run a faster mile in 5:52 two weeks before, but on the morning of the virtual race I felt a little stale and the weather was warmer (it was late June)
• Firecracker 5K: 20:19. No race report for this one. This is the fastest 5K I've ever run in the summer so I was thrilled with that. We lucked out with lower-than-normal humidity for July 4th and because it was a virtual race, we were able to start it an hour earlier than the live race would have started. It wouldn't have felt like July 4th without a race, so we did it!

I also was a virtual finisher of the Lucky Leprechaun 5K (tempo run) and the Run with Stride virtual 5K (tempo run). The virtual races were an interesting experiment, but I hope to never run one again. 

New PRs
Do you count a virtual PR as a PR? I think so! After all, the "P" stands for personal. Also, if the answer to that question is "no," then what motivation do you have when running a virtual race? If you don't consider the result to be legit, it will be hard to motivate yourself to push hard. Repeating "it matters, it matters, it matters" over and over again helped me get through all of my virtual races. That said, I make a mental note of whether or not my PR was run in a live race or a virtual race. In my Race History, I have all the virtual races in italics. 

• 1-Mile PR of 5:52 (time trial) and 5:57 (live race)
• 4-Mile PR of 26:27 at the Virtual Mother's Day 4-miler
  
• 10K PR of 41:33 at the live Christmas Caper 10K
• 10 Mile PR of 1:09:46 at the Virtual Cherry Blossom (although I have run faster 10-milers in live half marathons, so this one is tricky).

That's a good amount of PRs in a year where most races were canceled and I'm 42 years old, either at my peak or approaching my peak.

Loudon Street Mile in July

Real, live races
I did manage to run two live half marathons this year and a live full marathon. The first live half marathon was before all of this started, the first weekend of March. The other was in October in Hanover, PA. That one didn't go so well because of the hill profile, but it was still nice to be in a live race setting. 

I ran the live Harrisburg Marathon in November. Just two weeks later, the state introduced new restrictions which would have made the race a no-go. I am so relieved I had the opportunity to run it, even though digestive issues made the race a slow slog.

An of course, setting a PR at the live Christmas Caper 10K earlier this month was a huge mental boost. Especially at a distance that I had struggled with since 2017.

Predictions for 2021
Of course we all expected things would be back to normal in 2021, right? Not happening. There's no clearly defined goal post for a "return to normalcy" as we know it, which to me means that things will not return to normal within the next year, two years, three years, or maybe ever. I know that sounds pessimistic, but once you set a precedent of closing businesses, canceling events, closing schools for the sake of public safety, then it suddenly becomes acceptable to close/cancel them again.

I don't think large marathons like Boston, New York, or Chicago will occur in 2021. If they return in 2022, I imagine they will be different from how we know them. 

Thinking about the timeline of things, here is what we all thought would get us back to normal:

• Flattening the curve (March-April)
• Slowing the spread (May-June)
• Vaccines become available (July-October)
• Everyone is vaccinated (November - ?)
• Everyone is vaccinated from all mutations and new strains (future)

While my outlook for things in general may seem bleak (and I hope I'm wrong), I mainly just focus on what I can control and I do believe that I can have an active running and racing life in 2021, just like I did in 2020. It will mean spending more time doing research, having less flexibility over when I race, running on courses that might not be ideal (gravel, etc), and having a plan B, C, D, E and F. 

We do hope to go to Africa for our postponed safari in August. Right now I am 50/50 on whether or not that will happen. 

Final Thoughts
This year has been stressful for all of us, but I was fortunate to have a stable job that allowed me to work from home, and so was Greg. I didn't get sick at all this year -- no mono -- which is always a win for me. Thankfully I don't have children to worry about and never have we been more confident in our decision to not have children. Running has helped me keep my sanity and if it weren't for my running I don't think I would be in as good of a spot mentally. It has provided me structure, routine, purpose, and excitement. 

Happy new year to all my blog readers. 

471 Runners Weigh In on Virtual and Live Racing

Do runners want to return to racing? Are virtual races a viable substitute? What type of runner is the most likely to run a virtual race? My hypothesis: it all comes down to why we race.

I surveyed 471 runners to find the answers. The respondents are my social media followers and members of a Facebook racing group. I think this is a large enough universe to be statistically significant. This will be a long blog post so I have summarized the key points below:

1. The top reason that runners race is because it motivates them to train for something and stay active. Over half of the runners surveyed cited this as one of their top two reasons for racing. 

2. Of the runners who typically run 6 or more races per year, 46% of them have not registered for a virtual race. Within this same group, the top reason they race is the atmosphere (spectators, cheering, volunteers, etc).

3. Of the runners who are most motivated by the opportunity to set a PR, 59% of them have not registered for a virtual race. One could infer that they would not view a PR from a virtual race as legitimate. 

4. Of all runners surveyed, 50% of them have not registered for a virtual race.

5. Of all runners surveyed, 12% (57 runners) believe that nobody should race a live event until there is a vaccine. Ironically, of these 57 runners, only 17 of them said they would choose the virtual option over the live option if a race offered both options. 14 of them said they would definitely race the live event, and 26 said it would depend on the size of the live event. I guess there is ideology, and then there is reality! 

6. 22% of all runners surveyed do not agree with race cancelations, while 12% believe that nobody should race without a vaccine. The remainder fall in the middle.

The decision to run a virtual race is generally not correlated to motivation for racing.
My hypothesis was that certain types of runners would be more inclined to register for a virtual race than others, based on why they raced. This survey did not find any such correlation except for those whose primary reason was to set a PR. Within that group, the majority of them (59%) have not registered for a virtual race. Among the entire population of runners surveyed, 50% have registered for a virtual race.

I had suspected that the following primary racing motivations would equate to less virtual racing, but I was wrong. Within these groups, it's about 50/50 for virtual vs. not registered for a virtual race:

• The feeling of accomplishment and crossing a finish line
• The competition against other runners

Only 43 respondents (9%) listed the medal and the shirt as one of their top two reasons for racing. Within this group, 63% registered for a virtual race. This indicates that those runners who care most about the medal and the shirt are more inclined to run a virtual race than other runners. This is no surprise because you get the same medal and shirt from a virtual race that you would get from a live race. But race directors offering virtual-only events should keep in mind that over-promoting this SWAG won't necessarily be a strong marketing point. Only 9% of runners really care about the medal and the shirt as a reason to race.

As I mentioned above, the top motivator for people to race is that it motivates them to train for

something and stay active. Over half (52%) of respondents listed this reason in their top two. The second most common motivator is the feeling of accomplishment & crossing a finish line. Arguably, you do get a feeling of accomplishment from a virtual race, but you do not get the feeling of crossing a finish line. Well, unless you created a DIY finish line and had a few people there cheering. 44% of runners indicated that this feeling of accomplishment was one of their top two motivators.

Some of the write-in responses were:

• To try to pull out the best in me
• Trying to run a marathon in each state (multiple people stated this)
• To stay healthy and sane; lower anxiety
• To qualify for Boston
• A day to compete and get away from life

Live races turned virtual: most runners won't run virtually

82% of respondents were registered for a live race that turned into a virtual race. For the purpose of this section, I am referring to only those runners within the 82% (386 runners). 

Only 17% of these runners responded that they always ran the virtual race whenever this happened to them. This leaves us with 83% of runners registered for a race that became virtual, that they didn't end up running at least once. Why not? I didn't ask that question but I can think of a number of reasons:

• The race was a half marathon or full marathon and they didn't want to cover it without support
• They had no interest in a virtual event
• They signed up for the race as a backup to a live race, but then that race also became virtual
• They didn't have the motivation
• Their primary motivation for registering was not going to be met with a virtual event

For the Cherry Blossom 10-miler, only 12% of registrants ran the 2020 virtual race, myself included. That's lower than my survey suggests as typical. I suspect, however, that a 10-miler might fall into the category of being too long to run as a virtual race, whereas a 5K and a 10K are more manageable distances.

Virtual races are not as popular as live races

This shouldn't surprise anyone, but how much less popular are they? In this context, I am referring to runners registering for virtual races, knowing that they are virtual. NOT participating in a virtual race that they had originally registered for as a live race.

Only 28% of all respondents registered for 2 or more virtual races knowing they would be virtual. And yet, 97.5% of respondents typically run 2 or more live races per year. This shows that runners are racing much less and are less willing to pay to run a virtual race.

I'll stray from the data a moment to add my own perspective on this one. I have paid to run 3 virtual races: the Mother's Day 4-miler, the Firecracker 5K and the Indianapolis Monumental Mile. In the case of the 4-miler, I did it to support the local running store. For the Firecracker 5K, I also did it to support the local running store and for a sense of maintaining tradition. For the Mile, I wanted the shirt! And I wanted to have an official mile race to train for. However, now that some live races are coming back, I do not think I will register for a virtual race again.

Most runners think that small races can return safely
Of all runners surveyed, 12% (57 runners) believe that nobody should race a live event until there is a vaccine. The rest of the respondents think that small races can return safely, or they flat out do not agree with the cancelations. 103 runners responded, "I don't agree with the cancelations; let runners choose if they want to participate." 

This was a higher number than expected. On social media, I see so many people saying "it was the right decision" to cancel a race. But not everyone believes that. Rarely do I hear runners speak out against cancelations. The more vocal crowd seems to be the smaller number of people who believe we need a vaccine for races to return. 

269 runners responded, "I think small races can return safely, but we need a vaccine for larger ones." This is where the majority fell, and it's not surprising. I think this is where we are as a society. As I mentioned in my previous post, there are no hard-and-fast rules about what makes a race safe. It truly depends on who is making the decisions. It is typically the government officials who are the ones denying race directors the permits. But in some cases, the race directors don't want the responsibility.

I don't know of any races of more than 500 people that have occurred since March. Marathons and half marathons are more likely to be canceled than shorter races, likely due to the number of volunteers required.

Some runners wrote-in responses. Here are some interesting ones:

"I personally am not comfortable with live racing, but if runners want to safely participate in small events with guidelines, then let them."

"I think we need to learn more about the virus before we return to large races."

"If races use smart safe precautions then let's have them. Both large and small races. As long as they

take every precaution."

"I don't think a vaccine needs to be in place. Start small and with distancing."

"I think right now we have figured out how to do small races and we could be having more of them."

"If a race doesn't want the responsibility/burden/guilt of potentially spreading a deadly virus, I'm not going to disagree with them."

"I wouldn't go so far as to say a vaccine has to be available for large races to happen, but I would need to see what steps were being taken to minimize risk."

"Have runners bring their own fuel and sign a waiver."

"I think races of any size can be held with planning. Split participants into smaller groups and stagger start times. Require wearing a mask at the start line."

"Frustrating but understandable. My distance and pace PR goals don't stop because events stop."

"I think running is fine because everyone is spread apart most of the time. The only issue is the start and finish."

Final thoughts and Key takeaways

I think the return to racing is a "we have to walk before we can run" approach. Small live races are happening today with precautions in place. Even though it's truly arbitrary, many see January 2021 as when things will start getting back to normal. That's most likely because people can't envision these cancelations continuing into another calendar year. 

After reading through 471 survey responses, the overwhelming sentiment is that runners want to race. Not all runners, but most runners. They do want to race safely, of course, but most of them believe that we are ready to do that today. Even some of the runners who believe that nobody should race until a vaccine is available said that they would run a live race if given the opportunity.

Many runners are participating in virtual races, but they are not running nearly as many virtual races as they would live races. While virtual races offer runners the ability to train for something and gain personal satisfaction, they are not a replacement for live races.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this survey.

Virtual Race Report: Indianapolis Monumental Mile

Yesterday I ran the Virtual Indianapolis Monumental Mile on the track with Greg. I had been training to run the mile distance for about 4 weeks.

Time Trial #1
On May 25th, I ran my first ever timed mile. I had absolutely no idea what I was in for. I've read many 1-mile race reports over the past few years and I even spectated a 1-mile track race about eight years ago. However, I never had the desire to race this distance. In the spirit of taking on new challenges during the Covid era, I decided now would be the time.

We decided that Greg would go first and I would time him using my phone's timer. I would collect his lap data and cheer him on. Then it would be my turn. He would take photos and videos and cheer me on. You could make the case that we would have been faster if we ran at the same time, but I wanted to "run my own race" and not be distracted by what he was doing.

My biggest fear was totally blowing up and running far slower than my capability. So I decided to start on the slower side and finish with a hard sprint.  My goal for the first time trial was simply to get a baseline for future time trials, but I decided I would shoot for 6:00.  My splits for each 400m lap were:

1:32 (1:32)
1:33 (3:05)
1:30 (4:35)
1:26 (6:01)

My time was 6:01.8. I was good with this time, although given how fast my last lap was, I wished I had gone out faster. Greg ran 5:46.

Time Trial #2
Our second time trial took place one week later on June 1. I should note that the weather for both the first and the second time trials was unseasonably cool. Mid 50s with low humidity.

Now that I had some practice under my belt, I decided I would try to go out more aggressively and run sub 6:00. I also knew that my mental game needed to be stronger. During the first time trial I kept having visions of stopping and not finishing the whole thing. For time trial #2, I vowed that I would stay positive the entire time and remind myself to push as hard as possible while staying relaxed.

1:30 (1:30)
1:32 (3:02)
1:29 (4:31)
1:25 (5:56)

My time was 5:56.0.  Over 5 seconds faster! Once again, I felt like I was flying during that last lap and I wished I had gone out faster. Greg ran 5:40, so we both shaved nearly six seconds off of our first attempt.

Time Trial #3
Once again, we waited one week and ran another time trial. It just so happened that Mondays offered the unseasonably cooler weather. It was in the upper 50s and sunny, but the humidity was low. I promised myself I would go out even faster and I would push, push, push all the way through. With two time trials behind me, I was much more confident in my abilities.

1:30 (1:30)
1:28 (2:58)
1:28 (4:26)
1:26 (5:52)

My time was 5:52.5, a PR by 3.5 seconds! I was so thrilled with this. And for the first time, I felt like I really gave the run everything I had in me. I was totally and completely spent by the end. After the first two time trials, I felt like I still had more to give. Greg had similar gains, running 5:37.

The Race

I wore briefs for the first time. Felt so free!

For the virtual race, we were allowed to run on any date between June 22 and June 30, so the race is still going on. We picked yesterday, which had the coolest weather. It was 62 degrees, compared to all the other days that were around 70. It was a humid 62, though, so it was definitely not as nice as any of the previous 3 attempts. I had no idea how much of a factor the weather would be for a race that lasted less than 6 minutes. I mean, how much can the humidity really get you in such a short time span?

Turns out, both Greg and I felt flat. I didn't feel like I had the power that I had during my previous attempts. My goal was to break 5:50 and run the first lap in 1:28. I think it was partially the weather but also partially that I just didn't feel great. Training in the heat has a cumulative effect so even if the actual race has good weather, if you've been training in crappy weather in the week leading up to the race, you likely won't feel your best.

Ironically, this is what happened at the Indy Monumental Marathon in 2017. I trained really hard during an unseasonably warm autumn. The race weather, however, was ideal. And yet I totally crashed and had a horrible race. My splits were:

1:31 (1:31)
1:31 (3:02)
1:30 (4:32)
1:26 (5:58)

My time was 5:58.0. When I saw my split for lap 3 I knew I needed to book it just to break six minutes! It seems like I am consistently able to run 1:26 in the last lap, but I can't seem to get myself to push harder earlier. I don't know if that's lack of confidence or that my legs need to warm up more. I was really, really hurting by the end and it took me a while to feel recovered after I finished. I felt like I pushed harder in this virtual race than the other time trials, and that is supported by the heart rate data below.

Before these time trials, I do drills and a few 100m strides, so I feel loose and ready to go.

In any event, I was happy that I ran sub-6:00 but disappointed that I didn't reach my goal of sub 5:50. And just like in the time trials, Greg was slower than his PR, too. He ran a 5:42. Both of us were faster than time trial #1, but slower than the other two trials. It was just not the day to PR.

Because I love charts:

Date	Lap 1	Lap 2	Lap 3	Lap 4	Time	Average HR
May 25	1:32	1:33	1:30	1:26	6:01.8	158
June 1	1:30	1:32	1:29	1:25	5:56.0	151
June 8	1:30	1:28	1:28	1:26	5:52.5	158
June 26	1:31	1:31	1:30	1:26	5:58.0	160

As for my training, my has been relatively low, as it tends to be in the summer. I plan to take the month of July very easy and then start adding more volume in August.

160 Days of Running

Today I hit day 160 of my run streak! Not having a marathon to recover from makes it possible for me to run every day and I am lucky that I can do so without injury or illness. I have no idea when I will end the streak, but I hope it's by choice when it happens. Here are some highlights of the past 30 days.

Training for the Mile

I'm training for the Indianapolis Monumental Mile. This is a virtual race when I can run at any time between June 22-30. I'm planning to run it on Friday or Saturday and will blog about it once I do. The beauty of training for a virtual mile is that I've never raced the distance non-virtually. So I am only comparing apples to apples where a PR is concerned. My goal is sub 5:50.

My coach has prescribed some high-intensity speed work on the track which has really helped build my confidence and ability to pace. I've done 3 time trials on the track, which I will write about in more detail when I recap the virtual race. I've managed to get faster and faster each time, which I mainly attribute to knowing how to pace it and gaining the confidence to start fast. My biggest fear with this distance is crashing and running far under my capability.

Strength Training
I started working with a running-specific strength coach at the end of April. We have weekly sessions over Zoom and in between those sessions I have a program I do on my own. I really like the accountability of a coach (since I always seem to have an excuse for not strength training) and I like having the feedback on my form. Plus, she has been able to identify my areas of weakness and build a personalized program.

Most of the exercises are compound exercises which require a very stable core while I am lifting a weight or pulling a band. Glutes and hips are a big focus, but also the lats and the shoulders of the upper body. I do feel like I have more power when running and that I can get my knees higher and drive forward more efficiently.

Snake in the Basement
My run streak almost ended on day 150. I woke up feeling abnormally tired. I felt lethargic and like I didn't have my normal energy. That was a "yellow light" for me, meaning that I might be on the verge

This snake was in our basement

of full-blown mono, so I decided not to run that morning. I figured that I could always run later in the day on the treadmill if my energy level improved.

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I had planned to run on the treadmill, but since I didn't, Greg went down to the basement first and he saw a snake! This prevented me from having to see the snake, or run on the the treadmill with a snake nearby. I was able to find a local snake expert to come by and help, but by the time he arrived, the snake was nowhere to be found.

The adrenaline of the snake situation really perked me up and by the end of the day, I felt completely normal. I decided to run just 2 miles outdoors to keep the streak going. No way was I going into the basement! Thankfully, Greg heard the snake moving around two days later, called the snake expert, and he was able to come over immediately and remove the live snake with his two hands! It was a lot larger than I had imagined. We think we identified how it could have gotten in and sealed up that area.

Poconos Mountains

The Lodge at Woodloch

We dealt with the snake just in time to leave for a mini-vacation to the mountains. We were so worried that we'd be gone for four days and that snake would just be hanging out. Greg and I booked a 4-night stay at the Lodge at Woodloch-- and all-inclusive spa retreat in northeastern Pennsylvania.

We really just wanted to get away, take some time off of work and focus on relaxation. We didn't do much while we were there other than relax, eat, and take in the beautiful scenery. The running situation was challenging. It was the mountains so all of our easy runs had insane elevation gains and losses. One of the runs was only 5.4 miles but had 540 feet of gain! I usually don't even run that much gain during a long run.

Thankfully, two of the four days were prescribed track workouts. We found a high school track that was relatively close to our resort and we were able to run on a flat surface. The weather was amazing. Each morning it was in the low 50s with low humidity. A dream come true! During the day, it would rise to the low 70s, still with low humidity. We were truly blessed, particularly because we had to eat all of our meals outdoors.

Lucky Leprechaun
When the St. Pat's 10K was canceled last spring, I signed up for a smaller race: Lucky Leprechaun. But 24 hours after registering, that race got postponed to June. And then at some point in May it turned into a virtual race.

I had pretty much forgotten about it, which was kind of a shame because we had unseasonably cool and non-humid weather on the morning when the virtual race was to occur (June 13th). Instead, I had a long run on the calendar. So I decided to run 11 miles at my easy long run pace, and then restart my Garmin for 3.1 at the end.

The 11 miles averaged 8:28 and then I ran a 5K in 22:41. Splits were 7:18, 7:19, 7:15 and 6:50 for the last 0.11. This was good for 5th female out of 190. Not to shabby, given my 11-mile warm up! I was encouraged that my endurance was still in a good spot if I could start hammering really hard at the end of a long run.

Fall Races
I am still undecided about my fall race plans. I originally signed up for the Rehoboth Beach Marathon because I wanted to run a late fall race. But now that we are no longer going to be in Africa at the end of August and into early September, I could start training earlier and run an earlier marathon. I am actually looking at running the Marine Corps Marathon for charity because it's local and I have not run it since 2006. As of now, the Marine Corps Marathon is not canceled so I am optimistic.

Another choice would be Philadelphia. That has been on my list for a long time and I've never done it. It would not require a flight and the weather is likely to be cooler than Marine Corps. Pennsylvania, however, is one of the the strictest lockdown states, so I am not as optimistic about that race occurring.

I do have a hotel reserved in Indianapolis. I ran really well there last year for the half marathon and was hoping to return. But it does require hopping on an airplane and it will not be a new experience. Indy Monumental is currently planning to have both a real race and a virtual race. Indiana is not as strict with their lockdown as other areas, so it could actually happen!

Rehoboth is still a possibility, but I might want to save that for 2021 because we are planning to go to Africa in August of 2021 and we will need a later fall marathon. I've heard that Rehoboth Beach is very strict with their lockdown, so that race might not actually occur.

We're coming up on a particularly warm and humid week here in the DC area, so I need to take it easy in preparation to race the virtual mile this weekend.

It's pretty humid here!

Mother's Day 4-Mile Virtual Race

On Friday morning, I ran the Mother's Day Virtual 4-Miler, put on by Potomac River Running (=PR=). This was the first race I registered for as a virtual race, as opposed to registering for a real race and then having it turn into a virtual race.

=PR= sent out medals, bib number and race shirts about a week in advance of the race. We were told that we could run the race at any time on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. We could run it anywhere we chose, except for the official race course that had been used in previous years.

Initially, I thought I would run the race on Saturday. That would get it out of the way early and then I could still do a long run on Sunday. But as the forecast solidified it looked like it would be windy on Saturday, with Friday and Sunday being better options. Ultimately I went with Friday so that I could run my long run on Saturday, and not have to wait all weekend to do the race.

I have to admit, I am getting spoiled with virtual races and the option to choose the best weather day on a course I map out! I guess those advantages make up for the disadvantage of not having competition and a real finish line to run through.

In general, my thoughts on virtual racing are that they are the best option we have right now for racing, so we might as well do them. It's a great way to support local race organizers and increase the chances that they will still be in business once races are allowed again. The racing industry is getting hit HARD right now, so I will try to support race organizers as much as possible.

I would never choose a virtual race over a real race, but in the absence of real races, I would rather go virtual than not have any races at all. I enjoy pushing myself, having something to work towards, and the satisfaction of tackling a challenge. I'm honing my mental skills of pushing hard so that when real races come back, I will be in shape both mentally and physically.

Do virtual races count as PRs? Remember, the "P" in "PR" stands for Personal. So yes, if I run the distance faster than I ever have before, I am counting it as a PR. Plus, virtual racing is arguably more challenging than real racing because you don't have the race day adrenaline and the other runners to feed off of.

Before the Race
Greg and I woke up at 5:45 with the goal of leaving our house at 6:30. I wanted to start the race at 7:00 before it got too warm. I had half a serving of Generation UCAN Performance Energy, plus a Maurten gel with caffeine. The purpose of the UCAN was to ensure I had long-lasting energy, and the purpose of the gel was to get the caffeine.

We drove about two miles to the neighborhood where we would run the race. I had mapped out the course earlier in the week. The actual Mother's Day course starts up a big hill. So I designed a course
that started with a hill. From there, we would run down the hill and then it would be mostly flat to the end. The actual course continues to be very hilly until the end, so our course was definitely easier than the real thing.

In 2016, I ran a time of 27:51.
In 2017, I ran a time of 26:57.

Mother's Day 4-Miler 2017

My PR was 26:57, so that was the time to beat. I should also note that there used to be another popular 4-mile race that was held in the summer in the evenings. My PR for that course is 27:32. It's a flatter and much easier course than Mother's Day, but the 80+ degree weather makes it far more challenging overall. The race was discontinued last year and I don't think it will come back.

My goal was a sub-6:44 pace, which would be a PR. However, I really wanted to run an average pace of 6:36, which was the same pace as my 5K time trial a few weeks ago. I really feel like I could have pushed that race harder, so running a 4-mile race at the same pace as a recent 5K would be a nice win.

We warmed up for two miles. The weather was ideal. 48 degrees, mostly cloudy, and no wind. I give this a 10/10 on my weather scale, especially for May! Typically it needs to be in the low 40's to get a perfect weather score but for a short race like this, and with there being no wind, it was absolutely perfect.

Mile 1: 6:52
My plan was to run this mile conservatively because of the big hill and then go all out for the other three. When we started, Greg shot ahead as he tends to do in these races, and I had no expectation of catching him. He took the hill faster than me and was leading by about 15 seconds as we finished the first mile.

Mile 2: 6:36
Okay, now it was time to rally. I kept repeating to myself "It matters. It counts" as a way to push to my max and get the best out of myself. I don't think I gave it my all during the 5K time trial so this was my chance to prove to myself that I could push really hard in a virtual race setting.

Mile 3: 6:28
After hitting the halfway point and realizing that I had less than 15 minutes to go, I had the confidence to crank it up a notch. Often in races, I ease up in the second to last mile because it really hurts and I feel like I need to save some energy for the last mile. This time, I had the confidence to push really hard, knowing that I would still have energy left for the final mile.

I also noticed that Greg wasn't getting any father ahead of me. The gap was staying the same and it seemed like we were running the same pace. This was later confirmed by our splits. And I was thrilled to see that my 3rd mile was faster than his by a few seconds! One of my goals during this race was to push hard in the middle miles and my 6:28 split shows that I did just that.

Mile 4: 6:26
I flew during the last mile. I was hurting from the effort level but feeling so strong at the same time. I wish it always felt like this during the last mile of races. It wasn't that I had "saved" it all for the end either. If there had been a real finish line with a crowd, I probably could have run a little faster but since there was no finish line and I was waiting for my Garmin to beep, I didn't have a huge kick.

Final time: 26:27, a PR by 30 seconds from 2017.

And it counts! Greg ran 26:05, which was a PR for him too.

We cooled down for a little over a mile and then drove back home, where we began our work day. I didn't love having to go to work after a race; I would have rather basked in the satisfaction of my new PR. But it was worth it to race in non-windy weather.

As for the results, runners have until the end of the day today to submit their results, but as of 12:30pm on Sunday, I am in 3rd place out of 149 women. The results don't have age groups; just male and female divisions. I should mention that the 1st place female ran in the Olympic trials, so the competition here is pretty serious! Her time was 20:05 (average pace of 5:01).

Greg is currently the 4th male out of 39. I guess since this is a Mother's Day race, there are far more women participants!

Final Thoughts and Key Takeaways
I achieved all of my goals in this race:

• Push really hard in the middle miles, don't ease up on the effort
• PR by running faster than 26:57
• Run the same pace as my recent 5K time trial: 6:36

I think that of all my virtual races, this is the one I am most proud of. Except for my "virtual" Boston marathon, which was not race effort, but was still extremely challenging due to the hills and the humidity. 

Looking Ahead

The summer is usually my "off season" for running because I can get really sick if I push hard in the heat and humidity. I need to be extra mindful of that with the coronavirus going around. So far, though, it's been unseasonably cool which has extended my hard training.

My next big challenge will be the mile. I have never raced the mile and I often get asked "what's your fastest mile?" To date, my fastest mile is 6:11. That was a downhill mile at the end of a Turkey Trot 5K with a tailwind. If I tried to run a mile right now I think I would be somewhere around 6:00. I would probably struggle to get under that. I think with some mile-specific training I could push it to 5:50 or 5:45. 

I've also started a strength training program with a strength training coach. This happens virtually over Zoom. We did an assessment about a month ago in which she identified the areas where I could gain running efficiency if I had more strength and stability. Based on the assessment, she wrote a program for me and we have sessions every week. I've had two of these sessions so far and I love them. Having a coach provides accountability because historically I have never been able to keep up with a strength training regime for more than 6-8 weeks before quitting. Also, now that I know I'm doing exercises that will help me be a faster runner, I'm more motivated. 

When do I think races will come back? There is an increasing amount of research and evidence showing that the virus does not spread as easily outdoors as it does indoors. Also, we haven't seen major outbreaks from the LA Marathon and other large races that occurred that same weekend-- when the virus was clearly in the US but we hadn't yet started social distancing. 

We've also flattened the curve to the extent that the healthcare system is not overwhelmed with patients. Does that mean races will come back? No. From everything I am hearing, the overwhelming objective is no longer to flatten the curve but to "prevent the spread" of the virus. And if that's the case, we will need to wait for a cure or a vaccine.

Back when it was "flatten the curve" I was optimistic about races coming back in the summer. Now that it's "stop the spread" I don't see races happening until 2021. At least not races with more than 1000 people. But I love running and racing so I will continue to do whatever I can to keep it in my life. 

Greg's PR and my PR

Virtual Cherry Blossom 10-Miler

This morning, Greg and I ran the Virtual Cherry Blossom 10-mile race. The race was canceled due to the coronavirus, but they offered a virtual option. The virtual option allows you to run 10 miles anywhere and submit your results to the race. On Tuesday, they will publish the results on their site.

I wore my bib from 2017

Initially, we were planning to run this race on the W&OD trail with our friend Amber. She's the one who ran the 10K with me a few weekends ago. But she lives in Maryland, and for obvious reasons did not feel comfortable traveling to Virginia for a virtual race. This made things easier logistically because it meant we could run on our local neighborhood route which is flatter and less crowded than the trail. Our neighborhood route has wide roads and plenty of real estate with no major intersections to cross. It does, however, involve a lot of weaving back and forth to cover a long distance:

Virtual Cherry Blossom Race Course

We did an out-and-back on this course so it would be "fair" from an elevation standpoint. We also said we would run 10.04 miles so it would reflect the actual distance of a 10-mile race. This route is made up of gentle inclines. There are no flat portions but the inclines and declines are not steep. There is one long hill and a few very short hills; everything else I would classify as an incline or decline. According to Strava it has a total elevation gain of 185 feet. Also according to Strava, the Cherry Blossom 10-mile course has a total elevation gain of 93 feet. So our route was about twice as hilly.

I should also note that these turns are not sharp; there is plenty of room to turn like how you would on a track. It was nice not having to worry about tangents!

My official10-mile PR was 1:09:54 from 2019, so that was the time to beat. However, I had covered the 10-mile distance as fast a 1:09:06 during a half marathon, so I really wanted to beat that time.

Before the Race
We treated race morning like we would any race morning. We both wore bibs, I had half a bagel with peanut butter. I drank a serving of Generation UCAN 30 minutes before we started. We left the house at 7:05 for a target start time of 7:30. It took us about 5 minutes to drive to our start line, and then we warmed up for a little over a mile. I wore my adidas Adios 5 shoes, which are the same shoes I wore in the 10K time trial. I debated wearing the Vapofly Next%, but I realized I got those mainly to be more competitive and it wasn't worth the injury risk on a virtual race.

It was 43 degrees at the start and sunny, warming to about 49 by the end. Winds were about 4-5 mph and noticeable in some areas. Thankfully, it seemed that any headwind I encountered was also on a downhill portion. On my personal race weather scale, I give it a 9 out of 10. To have gotten a 10, it would have either needed to have been overcast or 5 degrees cooler. Obviously, I am not complaining. A 9 is pretty darn good!

After the warm up, we were both wishing for porta potties, but there was nothing around. Ironically, there were bathrooms all around us. . . but they were inside strangers' houses! After taking a final swig of water, we locked the car and were ready to go, right on time at 7:30. Neither of us carried water or took any fuel during this run. I made sure to hydrate really well on Friday and Saturday, using Generation UCAN Hydrate.

Miles 1-3
The race started and Greg shot out ahead, as I knew he would. I thought he was capable of running a sub 6:40 pace based on his training. My plan was to start at a pace of around 7:00 and gradually get faster, resulting in a negative split. On my home turf, I know this course VERY well as I run it at least twice a week. I knew that the first two miles would be net uphill, so starting on the slower side would be especially important. I focused on keeping it controlled and relaxed. Normally the first two miles of a 10-mile race feel relatively easy and sustainable, but these first two miles felt like 10-mile effort right from the start!

Mile 1: 7:02
Mile 2: 6:56
Mile 3: 6:52

Miles 4-7
That 6:52 mile for mile 3 was a little faster than planned, but I just went with it. I knew that miles 4 and 5 would both be net downhill, so I expected my pace to get faster without having to exert much more effort. I ditched my gloves during the 4th mile. I tried to throw them into a bush, but they landed on the sidewalk and I hoped they would still be there when I got back. For a split second, I had the urge to stop the Garmin and move them, but then I remembered this was a race and I couldn't stop!

It was hard to motivate myself. I had to continually repeat "it counts" and if I set a PR it would count as a real PR. It would have been so easy to stop with nobody around! The mental game was so critical here as I had no crowds cheering for me, and no other runners to compete with. It was just me and my mind, all alone in this virtual race.

When I got to what should have been the turn around based on my mapping tool, my Garmin read 4.9 so I just kept going until it was the halfway point based on my Garmin. Shortly before turning around, I saw Greg, who was over a minute ahead of me at this point. I knew he was totally crushing it and was going to PR. Miles 4 and 5 were net downhill, so I knew it was going to get harder once I turned around. I held it together for mile 6, clocking in at 6:55, but mile 7 was pretty rough and I felt like I was fading at 7:04.

I was hoping that the people out walking their dogs would notice two fast runners wearing bibs and running really hard in the middle of the street and cheer for us. But no such luck. People basically just ignored us. And probably some people were annoyed by us.

Mile 4: 6:54
Mile 5: 6:50
Mile 6: 6:55
Mile 7: 7:04

Miles 8-Finish
I had a choice: I could just coast my way to the finish time, not PR but still get a respectable time, or I could really push and see what I could do. I decided I was going to really push. Mile 8 is the mile with the "one long hill" I mentioned earlier. It starts with a nice downhill but then the uphill seems to go on forever. I knew going into it that mile 8 would be the hardest, so I tried not to look at my Garmin and focus on pushing my way up that hill. I was so gassed and clocked in at 7:10, but with only two miles left, both of which were net downhill, I told myself I could recover and maybe still PR.

Approaching the finish

At this point, my Garmin average pace read "6:59" which would have been a tie with my PR. So I knew that all I had to do was get those last two miles under 6:59 and I would be golden. But I wasn't sure if I could. I was so exhausted and everything hurt. Being on my home turf helped because I knew exactly how far away I was from the finish and I just needed to stay strong for a little while longer. When I hit 6:59 for mile 9, I knew I just had to run one mile as hard as I could and the PR could still be mine. So that is exactly what I did. I really rallied and gave it my all, and ran a 6:51 final mile.

As I was closing in on the finish line, I saw Greg approaching with my phone, and he snapped some photos of me. I can't believe he had enough time to finish, unlock the car, get the phone, and then position himself there!

After my watch beeped, I kept going for a little bit, as the goal was 10.04, but ended up stopping at 10.02 because I mis-judged the distance. Oh well! I was actually quite pleased when I realized that my Garmin also measured 10.02 for the 2019 Cherry Blossom race, which held my PR.

Mile 8: 7:10
Mile 9: 6:59
Mile 10: 6:51

After the Race
My official time for 10.02 miles was 1:09:46, which is an 8-second PR for a 10-mile race! And Greg ran 1:06:40. That is a huge PR for him! I knew he could do it though.

Greg and I drove the car to get my gloves, which were right where I had left them, and then cooled down for nearly a mile. I was so happy to be done and I was glad that I pushed myself at the end to run faster than I did last year.

Final Thoughts, Stats, and Takeaways
For the fun of it (or maybe to antagonize myself) I looked back at the three half marathons in which I ran faster than 1:09:46 for 10 miles. And then I added 8 seconds onto each of them because it took me 8 seconds to go the extra 0.02 today (I was sprinting at that point).

October 2019 Columbus: 1:09:32
November 2019 Indianapolis: 1:09:14
March 2020 One City: 1:09:29

According to Strava, my best 10-mile effort is 1:08:45. I assume that is miles 2-11 of Indianapolis, as opposed to 1-10 as I recorded above. And adding the 8 seconds, that would be 1:08:53. So I know what I am capable of. I just need the right day. And that could have been today if the race wasn't canceled.

So even though today's 1:09:46 is my fastest time for a 10-mile race, I am having trouble really seeing it as a PR because I have covered this distance faster in the past. . . three times! And then I start to wonder, if the race hadn't been canceled, and I had the opportunity to run a faster course with competition, would I then maybe have run my fastest 10.02 miles?

Looking at the big picture, I know that all of these times are within 6 months of each other, so I shouldn't expect to be getting that much faster. But part of me still feels like I am hitting a plateau and I need to do something different if I want to really breakthrough and run 1:08:xx. I think that thing is strength training. Over the past two months, I have been doing more strength training than I usually do, but it's mostly core work and I think I need to be more consistent and follow a more structured plan. The summer will be a great time to do that.

I really have no excuses now, since I don't have to commute to and from work. I could easily take a 20-minute break from work to go in basement and strength train.

A note on the shoes: my feet started to hurt during that 8th mile and I was wishing I wore my older pair of adios- the version 4. I wore the adios 4 for the One City Half and my feet felt great the whole time, but the version 5 stopped feeling good 8 miles in today.

Overall, I'm really proud with my effort level and that I simply went out there and got it done. Yes, I probably would have run faster in an actual race. And yes, I would have liked to have beaten those half marathon 10-mile times. But I gave a lot out there on the empty streets all by my lonesome, battling thoughts of "Does this even matter? Does this even count?"

We will have PR cake tonight, with Greg's PR in bigger numbers than mine. While I do think I can officially call this a PR, it just doesn't feel like one knowing that I have run that distance faster. But that's not what is most important: PRs are NOT what is most important! What is most important is everything I said above: my effort, the fact that I got out there, and the fact that I really crushed that last mile.

Up next: I think I am doing a 5K time trial, but I'm not 100% certain on that yet!