Sunday's 10 miles

Yesterday was 10 miles, which is the longest I've ever run to date. I ran a 10 mile race in June and finished in 1:36:44. Yesterday's 10 took me almost 2 hours! That was kind of disappointing, but I did eat a giant steak dinner the night before, and had much wine, so maybe that made me sluggish. I know race time is always better than training time, but 25 minutes is a big window.

I felt good while I was running, and took a few walk breaks so I wouldn't burn out my legs. I'm terrified of injury right now since the Half is less than 2 weeks away, so I know I'm not pushing myself as much as I usually do. My legs were tired afterwards, but not sore. The knees were okay, too. I'm really feeling strong for this.

I need to take the time this week to map out a plan for the race weekend. There's no race day pick up, so I have to haul my suburban self into the big ol' city twice. Blech. It's against my religion to pay that much for parking once, let alone twice. Maybe I'll take the train like a big girl. The day of the race, I don't even know exactly where I'm going, or where I need to park, or anything. I'm considering just staying in the city for the night, and I can pick up the packet the day before on the way to the hotel. But I'm afraid I won't sleep as well in a strange bed. Or maybe I'll miss my wakeup call. Aaaargh. I have such issues.

I'm really excited, but the little details are messing with my head.

Morning run

I am not usually a morning runner, I prefer to run in the early evening. But, we had all kinds of crazy-ass weather blow through Thursday night, which cancelled my scheduled run. I had to either run it yesterday (Friday) or skip it. The Half is 2 weeks away, so i don't want to skip. Joe's birthday was yesterday, and I had invited people over for dinner, so an evening run was not in the cards. Friday morning it is. I woke up at the crack, and headed out a bit after 6. It wasn't so bad. Joe needed to be gone at 6:50, so I knew I couldn't do the whole 5 in that time, but I came pretty close; I did 4.5. I was really surprised how many people were out that early. I was also surprised that I could run that far on half a banana.

Unfortunately, I strolled in at 6:51, and Joe's head was exploding that I was running him late. If I could drag my ass out by 5:45, I could do a morning run again. I don't see it happening, though. That is just unreasonably early.

I love the changing weather. I can't wait for fall. I've had enough summer. Fall running is both good and bad. I love the weather, of course, but the short days make getting out a challenge. It'll be getting dark right around the time I usually go, and I don't like running in the dark. It's scary, and my eyes play tricks on me. I pick up all kinds of little things in my peripheral vision, and it makes me too jumpy. I'm also quite sure that white mailbox up ahead is the large white jacket of a homocidal stalker. (Because creepy killers tend to wear obvious, brightly colored outerwear, right?) But in order to run in the daylight, I have to take the girls in the jogger, which I don't really mind, but I can't go for as long. After a half an hour they get bored and start firing questions at me. 4 miles of hills are NOT a good time for Q & A, and I get all cranky at them. That sucks for everyone.

Tomorrow is my longie--10 miles this week. I seriously cannot believe i only have two weeks left. I kind of don't know what to do when I'm done training. I'm not sure how to go back to regular running. I guess I'll worry about it in two weeks.

9 miles

Yesterday (Sunday) was longie day. I woke up and it was pouring. I waited a bit and it stopped, hooray! So I got myself all dressed, took a handful of Motrin, filled all the little bottles on my belt with ice, Propel, and water, and prepared to leave for my 9 miles. I open the door and it's pouring again. Fuck. So I moped around the house for a couple hours, recharged my ipod, added a new playlist, and waited for it to stop.

Finally, I decided to give up and do it on Monday instead. Then the lightbulb went off. Um, perhaps it rains on September 9th? Am I going to skip the Half I've been training for all summer because it's raining?

Of course not, so I strapped my shoes back on, and headed out into the rain. I shit you not, not five minutes in, the rain stopped. Not a drop for the entire rest of the run. So weird. It was perfect out; cool and overcast. I had a great run: finished strong, and didn't suck wind the entire time. I am so ready. Three weeks to go.

Signs of progress

My run last night was great again. I think I'm in the zone right now. My left leg is a little sore, but not unbearable. I'll ice it in a bit. I did 5 miles to make up for cutting Wednesday's run short. I never know the time of my runs since I lost my pedometer and don't have a watch for running. At the end of my run I walk a block up a steep hill for my cooldown, and then stretch a bit outside before coming in and checking the time, so I know it's way inaccurate. Last night's five plus my cooldown walk and a little stretching were all done in about 45 minutes.

I've spent the last few days trying to figure out how to get a picture of myself onto this blog. I have no direct connection from my camera to my laptop because the cord was stolen when our house was robbed a couple years ago. (I know I can buy a new one, it's just not one of those things you think of while you're out shopping) I have a mac, but no mac email, so I can't send it from iphoto. I am completely computertarded, and have no idea what my other options are.

There's a reason i bring this up. I went to google myself, to see if there was a race photo of me somewhere that I could use, and I found something interesting. I always refer the 2000 Turkey Trot as my first 5K . But I was just reminded that THAT 5k was actually my second. In 1999, right after i found out I was pregnant, I did the Cincinnati race for the cure. At the time, I had never used a computer, so i never knew my results. Or cared, for that matter-it was totally for fun. I lived there for a year and a half, and a friend was visiting me, and we decided to do it. My time was 1:01:03. For a 5k. That's a 19:42 minute mile.

I've come a long way, baby.

(But no, I still haven't figured out how to get a fucking picture on here.)

Wednesday's run.

I've been bad this week. I blew off yoga on Monday to do someone's hair for a party. But at least I picked up a couple extra people and booked a gig. Yay $$$! I'm working with a new makeup artist, and she's awesome. She advertises, though, which means i've gotten a bit busier than my retired self is used to working these days. It's fun work though, so I shouldn't complain.

Anyhow, i also blew off Tuesday's run for no good reason (who am I kidding--a nice bottle of wine is an excellent reason) so up until last night i had zero activity logged for the week.

Soccer practice got moved to another field, and that worked out well. The new field has a nice 3/4 mile path around it. So i planned to run it 6x to get in 4.5 during the practice. I got around 5x, and all of a sudden the lightening siren started blaring. I got all freaked out and ran over to the kids, and cut the run short. There was no lightening in my area, barely any rain, and I totally could have done the last one. I kicked myself a bit afterwards for quitting.

I'm going to do 5 on Friday to make up for it, then I have 9 on Sunday. I've got to get more of those magical little gel things. They are truly gag-worthy, but I've got to say, they work.

Sunday's long run

Sunday should have been a great day. Should.

9am is a great time for a regular run, but I think I'm going to have to bust my chops to get out earlier for future longies. It was already getting pretty hot around 10am, and I had a couple miles left to go. Still, my 8 miles were awesome. I filled 2 bottles on the beloved fuel belt with Propel, and 2 with water, packed a gel, and hit the road. I cruised the whole way. Around mile 6 I felt it in my knees a little. (Next time I'll take 3 Motrin instead of 2) They are fine today. No worries.

So I got home, feeling all glorious and sweaty and awesome, and find out I have a houseful of people coming over in two and a half hours.

Come. On.

Then my mother calls me and says she has decided to:
1) Drive 12 hours to Atlanta...
2) alone...
3) without a cell phone...
4) now.

Come. ON.

Joe got on the computer to find her a flight since my head was exploding at the prospect of her wildly unsafe impromptu road trip. He found one, but not without starting a huge fight with me somewhere between "what time does she want to fly out" and "window or aisle".

Plus, we now have only an hour and a half until company arrives. And I still have not yet showered, because this all happened AS SOON AS I WALKED IN THE DOOR.

So my awesome running high that should have carried me through the day was erased an hour later. Ah well. It was great while it lasted.

Woo Jenksie!

Viv was right about the brightside, cuz i had a GREAT run today! :) Bummer that my Elvis-night plans got cancelled, but I'll survive.

Same route as my last one. It's an awesome route. It may be my permanent 4-miler. Very challenging hills at the right times. Anyhow, today was totally one of those runs that makes you understand why you run. 4:30pm, 85, sunny, breezy, awesome. Took off feeling great, then the weird left calf immediately started getting pinchy. But I said "fuck you, weird left leg pain", ignored it, and it went away. Smooth ride the rest of the way.

Seriously, it was the best run I've had in a couple weeks. I felt like I was flying on the downhills.

And for the icing, the Sox won. Bobby Jenks tied the AL consecutive out record. (He's my guy. I have his autograph on my visor.) It would have been great to be at the game, but oh well. Guess I'll forgive my too-busy babysitters. Who am I kidding? They know I'm at their mercy. LOL