Pittsburgh Half Marathon Training 10 Miler

On Sunday, Matt hit a new PDR (personal distance record) for continuous running: 10 miles! 🙂

I say “continuous” running, because the Tough Mudder we did last fall was 11ish miles, but it’s such a different sort of running since you stop a lot for the obstacles.

As I mentioned last week, Matt and I are doing the Pittsburgh Half Marathon in May with our brothers, so we’re working on building up his distance. We’re going to do an 11 miler and a 12 miler before the race, too, with step down weeks (6 to 7 mile weekend runs) in between.

On Sunday, we got in the miles with our friend Pete. It was gray and dreary out but not super freezing, which was good.

As part of my Brooks Run Happy Ambassadorship, they sent me a shiny new pair of my fave long distance Brooks shoes – the Brooks Ravenna 5 – in a cool new spring color, so I busted them out for Sunday’s run. Cute, huh? They felt great – nice and cushy. My last pair (which were the Ravenna 4 series) must have really gotten worn out from all the miles I’ve been doing lately because these felt SO much better! I didn’t notice any big differences between the Ravenna 4 and 5 besides the cute new colors, fyi. Also, these shoes are between a neutral and support/stability shoe. 

In terms of the run, we started at our place and ran down the Custis Trail to Rosslyn, where we continued onto the Mt. Vernon Trail along the water.

From there, we ran all the way down to the 14th street bridge, where we crossed over and did a loop around the tidal basin.

Here are my running companions Matt & Pete. Thumbs up from Matt!

We exited the tidal basin area near the MLK Memorial and jetted over towards the Lincoln Memorial.

Hey, Washington Monument! I hear your construction will be done soon – can’t wait til we can run up to you again!

We looped around Lincoln & ran along the water towards the Georgetown waterfront.

From there, we tackled the hill of death and ran into Clarendon to complete the 10 miles. Whew! So proud of Matt for his new distance record. He had no problem with the run!

As for me, it was a tough one! I felt REALLY tired for the whole run even though we weren’t running at what is normally a challenging pace for me. I guess my body just wasn’t feeling it – which makes sense, considering all the running I’ve been doing lately (cough LA Marathon cough Rock ‘n’ Roll USA half marathon)! I’m dialing things back this week/weekend on the running/exercise front so hopefully I’ll be back feeling refreshed next week. 🙂

Matt’s parents were in town over the weekend so after our run we met up with them for one last meal: brunch at Cassatt’s Kiwi Café. Love this place – I had a delish mushrooms, egg, and cheese quesadilla with a big tomato/avocado salad on the side. Hit the spot, and so good catching up with Matt’s fam, too!

And now, back to work for me! Between teaching at GW, my AnneTheRD and Endurance Athlete Center client work, and this blog, 2014 has been so insanely busy – trying to keep my head above water! This morning’s GW lecture was about the fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K); on Thursday, I’ll be teaching about water and the major minerals! I can’t believe we only have a month left of the semester – it’s gone by quickly, as time tends to when you’re super busy, I suppose.

Have a wonderful day – and for those of you in DC, let’s hope that today’s snow is the last of it!

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Of interest:

• Join lululemon athletica on Saturday, April 5th at 10 a.m. for Cherry Blossom Yoga – a free, hour-long outdoor vinyasa yoga class led by Mimi Rieger and held at the Washington Monument. Sign up here. Matt and I will be out of town – sad to miss out on this!
• Running as Therapy – via the NY Times
• New Spring Fitness Classes in Washington – via Washingtonian Well+Being
• “House of Cards” Will Probably Stay in MD – via Washingtonian Well+Being – anyone else a huge House of Cards fan?! Matt and I are obsessed – working our way through season 2 now!