13 Half Marathons in 13 Days: Day 1 & 2

A facebook friend (and friend of the blog) Katrina, is aiming to complete 13 Half Marathon distances in 13 consecutive days. I've asked her if I can share her story as she writes daily about her 13.1 mile experiences. She attempted this earlier in the year and had to stop short due to a nagging injury and is giving it a second go around. Here is the kicker, she's doing these on a treadmill in her basement. (Inside joke, I'm calling her Milly.) Here is day one and two:

2/17: First 13.1+ down ... and a blown breaker ... or two!

I woke up this morning and wasn't planning on starting my 13 half marathons 13 days in a row until after Saturday, maybe Sunday. H has to go on another training trip and leaves Saturday — so I was planning on just starting it after he left. BUT ... the minute I hit the treadmill, I knew it was going to be a good run, and that I might as well just start :)

At first, I thought the treadmill was running/going *slower* than it usually does — or maybe it was just me. I felt like the treadmill couldn't go fast enough! This is a pretty rare feeling for me — so I went with it and enjoyed it for as long as it lasted (throughout the whole run!)

I had no problems whatsoever during this first run — I drank water throughout it — and was glad my iPod didn't die! This picture is of my post-run first meal. Classic. I was thirsty, so I had a Fuji apple with yogurt. And some juice! But...

... Because I do run a small space heater while I am running (I'm in the basement — and when you're covered in sweat at about the 8th mile — you start to get a bit chilled ...) I did end up blowing the breaker ... TWICE. Talk about FRUSTRATING! And this is actually quite odd — because I run every day with the space heater (and I set it so that the heater does not kick off — and then back on - creating the surge to kick the breaker.) Not sure what was going on, but because of this — I had to restart the treadmill both times.

This is why my first day mileage is at 13.1+ because I am pretty sure I went over a half marathon mileage. I think I might have run 13.5 miles — I'm not sure — but I ended up rounding my mileage DOWN every time the treadmill shut down on me — so that I didn't cheat on my mileage :)

Overall thoughts: No pain — no calf pain, no feet/toe pain — a great first day run. However, the first day is ALWAYS a good day. I found this out on my first 13.1 for 13 days trial — AND — I found this out while running these past 10 years. No matter how many miles I ran on the weekend, my Monday (first day of the work week) mileage was always a good run. My Tuesday run — even if it was the same — was always ROUGH.

I think you can tell what my next run blog is going to be like

2/18: Day 2 Half marathon knocked out!

Today's run started a little rough — which I expected — but as I warmed up and shed my long-sleeved layers — I started to feel a bit better. I wasn't sore until the very end, the last few miles were a little rough. I also sweated a lot *more* this run, than I did yesterday. I ended up drinking my whole quart water bottle BEFORE I was even done with my run.

Yesterday's run - I barely drank half a bottle. So I'm guessing my tired-leg feeling came from being a bit dehydrated — and from yesterday's run, too. But it wasn't too bad. I expected today to be rough — because the second day — ALWAYS - is.

As far as injuries go — no foot pain/toe pain at all. Since my last trial at this — I've been watching my pinkie toes especially — but they are completely fine. It also helps that my Asics (3 pairs) for this trial are all broken in :) Hopefully this will pay off!

Tonight I did notice a bit of posterior shin pain — shin splits — nothing *too* bad — I don't feel it when I walk - but only when I actually *touch* my shins or the front of my legs. I didn't feel it at all when I got done running — but since I only started to feel the tenderness now — I have sat for about 2 hours with a heating pad on both shins — and it feels better.

I will probably heat them tomorrow before I run — or rub some Icy Hot on them to just massage/warm them up a bit — and then see how the run goes tomorrow. If I still feel the pain — I'll be sure to watch it — and ICE IT right after my run. Since I didn't feel the tenderness immediately after running — I didn't ice my legs - which would have reduced some inflammation. However, tomorrow — I am going to specifically check for this — and ice it if it happens. Should help nip it in the bud.

I'm also going to do some specific stretches aimed at my shins — along with the rest of the stretches that I've started doing quickly before I run (since my last 13.1 trial.) This usually consists of some calf stretches and thigh stretches - and then some lunges and jumps to get my legs stretched gently for impact.

Overall — a good, but harder, second half marathon! We'll see how tomorrow goes! I've now ran the mileage of a full 26.2 marathon over 2 days.

(p.s. - Rihanna and Lady Gaga sure do make that extra mile go easier! ;-)

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Thank you for reading. I'll be sharing her write ups over the next 11 days. Feel free to leave comments below, advice, cheers, words of encouragement, etc. You can also leave them on my facebook page (link to the right). Go get em Milly! and thank you for sharing your story with us. :)