Slow & Steady Wins the Race :-)

Stupid rain canceling my run with Lisa and Anya.  I'm sick of it!  Finally at like 10pm I dragged myself to the TM and forced myself to do 3 horrid miles.  Why is the TM so feaking hard?  I watched some 20/20 attack special that is sure to haunt me as well, so bonuses all around.

Off to DC! And they let me on the plane with my temporary license! :-)

Nicole's Impromptu DC Monument Almost Half Marathon Race Report:

After a lovely evening / morning with Chris and Mahsa (think delicious noodles, Sourcecode, delicious brunch, delicious Georgetown Cupcakes, hmmm, mostly eating!) I headed out on my own DC Monument run.  I wanted it to be a half marathon but I was feeling a little nauseous and my back was hurting and most of all I was already back at the hotel so it was easy to quit early.  2 hours even, so 12 miles may be ambitious given all of the numerous stoplight stops, weaving among the millions of middle school spring break groups, and stopping to take a few pictures.

Started along a bike trail (too many bikes!) that went along the Potomac, saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam, the WWII, the Washington, all the Smithsonians, the archives, the federal reserve, the cherry blossoms, the White House, and pretty much every other famous building in DC.  Felt a little nauseous in the second hour, I'm been feeling that way randomly ever since Mexico, wish it would stop.

PS - You know you're a true nerd / grad student when you skip heading to the bar with everyone else and go to your room to do work (and write this blog post!).  :-) 

This morning: 6:30am (so really 3:30am!), hauled myself out of bed against my wishes and to the hotel gym for 3 minutes walking on the TM (while waiting) and then 35 minutes on the elliptical.  Dripping sweat by the end.  

After a long day had a great opportunity to go for a run in the lovely random 80 degree day so grabbed it - 47 minutes on the Potomac trail down to the monuments and back, we'll call it 5 miles.  The headwind was so strong on the way down, I would go into a tunnel where the wind was suppressed and coming out was like stepping off of those moving walkways - flung back by a wall of wind!  On the way back I tempo-d it, 15 minutes of hard running on the way back (with the tailwind!).  

Lovely dinner with my new travel-mates, now some work and bed, I am exhausted (they went to the bar again after, ahh to be young again! :-)

After the conference headed out into the stormy windy drizzle.  50 minutes of running, felt really good!  Felt like I was hauling, and was really proud of myself.  Maybe my recent increase in mileage is finally paying off (this is my 5th 25+ mileage week in a row).  But then later I was headed into a horribly strong headwind and thought maybe I just had a tailwind that whole time??!!

Saw even more of DC today - running is definitely the best way to tour a city!  Somehow I missed the capitol building in my huge tour on Sunday, caught that today.  Ended up at the Natural History Museum, toured it quickly, ran 2 minutes to the American History museum, toured that quickly, then ran 23 more minutes back home.  My stomach was growling this whole time and I was much slower.  Ran to Cosi, which is like a souped up more awesome Panera, where I had an excellent salad and flatbread.  Delish.  Now at the airport, back to the real world and soo much business tomorrow.  75 minutes of running total, we'll call it 7.5.

Proud of this run.  It was sleet-snow-raining this morning when I left and soooo cold.  I made myself do 3, I wanted to quit so bad after just one loop.  After 3 I felt better though and it was less drizzly as it got lighter out so I finished the full 60 minutes (probably around 6.3 miles).  Did 6 'speed-ups' in the last loop (1.5 miles).  

I taught my 2nd class last night - I love teaching!  I hope the students like it too.  Or at least don't think its TOO bad. :-)  Yesterday was rough though - at work from 7am-7:30pm.   We launched our website... it went over... hmm... okay. 

SPRING!  I actually wore shorts and a tshirt, that's how lovely it was today!  AND even lovelier, had a great run with Lisa & Denali (for 1 loop), Anya (for 2 loops), and Jordanne, Boone, and Cooper (for 3 loops).  Sunny day and awesome company, what could be better?  3 nice and easy slow loops.  WEEKEND!

Lovely trail run with Kasey at Forest Park in Portland.  9.5 miles in 1:34, so pretty much exactly 10 minute miles.  Definitely please with that considering how rocky, muddy, technical, and hilly the trails were at times.  I just love trail running, need to do more of it!  Smelled so good, fresh air, birds chirping, great company.

55 minute run this morning, down to the dog park, 2 loops, and back, with Cooper.  My ankles are sore from all the technical-ness and rocky mudiness of the trails yesterday.  Went very easy and slow.  Afterwards did 50 lunges (25 each side), I need to do better in the strength department, especially because it seems the more I run, the more I want to run!  

60 minutes outside after work.  Sun, but not that warm, windy.  Felt kind of slow and blah (took the full 60 minutes to do the 4 loops, so pretty much 10 minute miles).  I'm getting slower the more I run?  I also haven't figured out this eating thing yet, I'm STARVING when I get home, but then I eat too much and feel sick when I'm running.  

Ran with Justin and Cooper for 2 loops, kept going until 5.

At the beginning of the run there was an "incident" with Cooper's feet and mine getting tangled that left me nearly screaming in pain.  I kept going though, and the pain dissipated, until the end when it came back as a pain on the outside of my right foot (where the "incident" had happened), so I ended up stopping my loop early.  At home though, the pain was RADIATING from my foot, this was super intense, I could barely walk, it was throbbing, and I was so worried, pretty much guaranteed I had a broken foot or something.  Great, right when I'm finally running a lot and doing well.  Took 3 advil and it finally got a little better.

This morning (Wednesday) it feels way better though.  I'm resting today (maybe tomorrow too?) and am hopeful that maybe its NOT broken?  Idiot dog. 

I'm guessing around 6.5 miles?  Once Lisa posts I can steal her stats.  I need a Garmin!  Okay okay, I NEED a laptop, but I really really WANT a Garmin!  

In the good news - my foot appears to have made a full recovery after the "incident", which is great news except it gives my husband more fuel that I "exaggerate" since he didn't believe me when I was moaning and whining about how much pain I was in.  Now he really doesn't believe me!

In the bad news - today was rough.  I started the day with a physical which included a blood draw and a much overdue tetanus shot.  These were all fine, until 2 hours later when my arm feels like I did 1,000 shoulder presses yesterday.  I can't even lift it above my head.  Then I went to the eye doctor right before the run - it took FOREVER.  How annoying is it when they make a huge deal about being there 15 minutes early to 'check-in' and then THEY are the ones running 30 minutes behind??!!  I hate eyes so insert 2 hours of very high anxiety / panic levels.  I had my eyes dilated for the first time ever too, so then I couldn't see and it was so bright and I bailed on running.  Then I ate a snack and changed and decided to go after all.

And it was great!  So glad I went!  The time flew by, I am impressed we ran this long (though then we were soo late driving to Oregon later).  Lisa and Anya are the best.  Plus I got to see horses.  The end. 

Down to the dog park, 7 loops down there (water after each loop), back up, total time 2:08, 13 miles-ish.  Walked about a .3+ mile cooldown (up Hillside, sadly, I was spent by then).  I was TIRED.  In fact I just took a nap in hopes of salvaging my energy for a surprise party we have to go to tonight (the whole reason we're in Oregon to begin with!).  I also might need to try a 5 hour energy or SOMETHING!  My legs are tired, my arm is still killing me from the tetanus shot - that thing is no joke!  Went on a Garmin hunt (Leandrea said she saw the 305 on clearance at hers) but no luck.  

Easy recovery run to the dog park with Cooper.  My ankle is bothering me, the same tendonitis type injury that bothered me back in August.  Blah.  So I quit early, and let Cooper get his chase on at the dog park (the joy on his face!  He had some good chasing going on), then we walked the 1.25 miles back.  100 lunges (50 each leg).

Was excited for a sunny evening, rushed to get ready and we headed to the golf course.  When we got there, the sky was black and it was raining, BLAH!  WHEN WILL IT BE SUMMER???!!!!  

30 minutes of yoga / strength stuff - I WILL start doing 2 days of at least a mini-strength workout.  Taking it a little easy this week, 5+ weeks in a row of higher mileage and I think my ankle is telling me I need a lighter week.  And that I need to stop being an idiot and actually do my leg strength stuff. 

I'm taking it easy right? :-)  Lovely mid-day sunny (shockingly!) run at Burke-Gilman before my meeting / class.  Had time to run about 45-50 minutes, ended up running 52 minutes, last time I did this loop mapmyrun said 6, kind of seems doubtful, but whatever.  I did run moderate or hard almost the whole time.  Ran 6 minutes hard, break, 3 minutes hard, break, 3 minutes hard, break, then 6 minutes hard (mostly because I was worried I was going to be late!).  Some left shin pain early on (especially on downhill), some tiny ankle tendon pain later.  Overall felt good, it feels good to barely be able to breathe! :-)  Now to torture my meeting-mates and class-mates with my sweatiness.

In preparing for the summer in Singapore, I'm thinking of going to a full-fledged blog.  I can't decide.  On the one hand it seems to be more work, on the other hand it seems easier for posting pictures and letting non-frb-ers write comments.  Thoughts?

http://boringrunningstories.blogspot.com/

3 miles around the neighborhood this morning with Cooper - 29 minutes, 6:56am.  BRRR!  Wore my ear wrap but it was COLD.  

I have a race plan for the rest of the year!  That makes me happy.  I also ordered a replacement Garmin last night, YIPPEE.  Yay for my husband letting me. :-)  I made it 3 full weeks without it, but I miss it so much, just knowing exactly how far I've gone seems to be very important to me!  I also signed up for an Earth Day 10K in Tigard on Saturday. 

Race Plan:

Saturday April 23, Tigard Earth Day 10K

Saturday May 7, Snoqualmie Half Marathon

Sunday May 22, Keizer Iris Festival Half Marathon

Saturday July 23, Singapore Marina Half Marathon

Friday-Saturday August 26-27, Hood to Coast

Saturday September 10, Portland Warrior Dash (jumping over burning fire!)

Fall - A Fall Marathon with Lisa?  Possibly Winthrop September 25th or Leavenworth October 15th, however I just don't know if I have the motivation or the desire to be so injury-prone this year.  Maybe another half marathon instead.  Didn't see a triathlon on there?  Yeah, I'm a triathlon loser.

3:20pm, 48 minutes, 5 miles, Burke-Gilman

This morning when the alarm went off I was soooo not feeling it.  After back-and-forthing and snoozing like usual, I convinced myself that if I got up now and went to work, it would be the same as if I ran now and then went to work or went to work now and ran later.  So that's what I did.

So a nice mid-day semi-sunny run at Burke Gilman before class, 2 speed-ups in the last mile just to get the heart pumping. 

In other news, last night at the class I taught, one of my students says (this is nearly verbatim, not exagerating!), "My head is going to explode if you don't stop reading the PowerPoint slides like we're 12."  I was so taken aback I thought I HAD to have misunderstood her.  WHAT?  EXCUSE ME???  I mean I definitely want feedback, I know I have tons of room for improvement, but the exit slip where it says, "Is there anything else I should know?" would be the PERFECT place to share this, not in front of everyone in the middle of class, and so rudely!  Its good though, I need to thicken some skin. 

I was so excited to get to Oregon last night and see my brand-new Garmin.  I hugged it!  Then this morning, I woke up, and although it had said it was charging last night, it was so longer saying that.  It also wouldn't turn on.  WHAT?!  AMAZON!  What kind of crap are you sending me?  So that was a HUGE dissapointment that's importance will be revisited later.

Did the Tigard Earth Day 10K this morning, just signed up this week in my effort to punish myself some and get faster.  It was certainly punishment - I suffered big time.  Its funny that I enjoy doing this to myself, making myself want to die!  Got there too early (it was only about 8 minutes from home), did a 30 minute warmup (about 3 miles), went to the porta-potties a few times, got a bunch of free bars, and finally we started.  

Mile 1 - 7:53  (I downloaded some stopwatch app to my phone, that's where these splits came from)  Some uphill, lots of weaving at the beginning (should have started closer up)

Mile 2 - 7:50  A little more uphill, little rolling hills, this is feeling hard, but I'm continuously passing people and I like that. 

Mile 3 - 7:17  Some downhill which I try to fly down, my legs will probably feel that tomorrow!  Enter the pretty Cook Park trails (where I used to bike last summer when I lived here)

Mile 4 & 5 - 15:25 (7:44 avg) Here's where I suffer big time.  Mile 4 was a desolate time, I was feeling like keeping up this pace was impossible, and that I was going to totally bonk.  Then we came upon a fork in the road, everyone in front of me went right (looking at the course map now we should have gone left to stay on the trail), we entered some neighborhood, I was pretty much alone with one other guy and then 6 people about 200 feet ahead of us.  Then 3 of the people ahead of us turn left, the other 3 look confused and keep going straight.  I didn't know what to do!  I was already feeling so exhausted that running anything extra was going to kill me.  We kept going straight, and about 200 feet later I was certain we were not in the right place.  But we just kept going (luckily), and then we saw everyone else, relief.  I was also feeling discouraged because the mile felt never-ending!  Made sense, we missed the 4th mile marker (on the trail where we were supposed to be), and I felt SO happy when I saw the 5th mile marker.  With 1 more mile to go I knew I could do it and felt better and picked the pace up again.

Mile 6 - 7:01 (What What!!)  At the beginning of this mile a lady came up behind me and was passing and I started hanging with her, we ran side-by-side pretty much the whole mile.  I tried to pull away on this little downhill section, but after that I had nothing left, I was going as fast as I could at that point, there was no kick (if anything I went slower as we approached the finish).  So she pulled ahead.  I wanted to beat her so bad!  When I saw the results I was even more bummed because a) I got 6th (could've been top 5!) and b) because of the chip she only beat me by ONE SECOND. 

So this is an official PR - the first one of 2011!  By over a minute and a half!  I also got 6th place and 3rd in age group!  I had to leave right away to go golfing (we golfed 9 holes in this lovely 70 degree day, which I'm sure all the walking will help with any soreness), but supposedly age group awards are MEDALS?!  I would be stoked, I've never gotten anything but a ribbon before.  We'll see if they mail them.

Overall, extremely pleased.  This was very very punishing though, but that's what I set out to do - go as hard as I could for as long as I could and if I die, I die.  The only thing that is bothering me still is if it is REALLY a PR.  I think it is, no matter what, because of the 1.5 minute cushion, its a PR for me.  But I may have shortcutted .1 or so, I'm not sure (so it may be hard for me to beat this PR in the future!).  I tried to analyze the map but we're splitting hairs with the distance so without my beloved Garmin (key importance of earlier fail) I have no idea the true difference.  After I recovered I tried to go find that girl I ran with or the guy who I was running with earlier to check their Garmin splits (if they had one) but I couldn't find them, and most of the other people milling around were 5K runners. 

Anyway, absolutely LOVELY Saturday, felt great about this, lovely 9 holes of golfing, sunny 70 degrees, and a great dinner with the family and adorable precious nephew.

Happy Easter!  Got up early to get this run in before church and brunch - ran with Cooper down to the dog park, 2 loops, and back.  Nice and easy, hamstrings a little sore from yesterday but I think the golfing really helped.  

PS - Thanks to the internet (how did anyone ever live before the internet?) I figured out how to do a "soft reset" by pushing a bunch of buttons on the Garmin and it is now working!  

This run gets a 2 out of 10 on the enjoyability scale.  Although it was randomly sunny (with a backdrop of black ominous clouds) there were crazy gusts of winds and bouts of sprinkling.  I had a weird annoying side stitch and my ankle felt weak / tired.  So I quit at 3, I'm a loser.  Then we went to the bar to watch the Blazer game (ridiculous its not on basic cable, and DirecTv is ridiculous for not supplying us with the NBA channel!), they're losers too.  They better pick it up on Thursday!

4 miles this morning before work around the neighborhood.  70 lunges after, then my legs were jelly.  Felt sluggish and blah. 

Couldn't get out of bed this morning again, so ran before class again.  It started pouring and then hailing and then hailing HARD (like dangerously!) right before I went out, so almost didn't make it, but then it was dry for this whole run.  Fluctuated between a 4 and a 6 on the enjoyability scale, was going to stop at 4.5, then decided to do 5, then felt a little better so decided to do 6.  Pretty slow, TT: 59:00.  

6 lovely miles with Lisa and Denali at Soos Creek Park.  Ankle tendonitis problem still bothering me.  

Took Cooper around the block this morning, did 1 mile and my ankle tendonitis was still bothering me so I decided this was a weekend off from running.  I wish I could just do whatever I wanted and stop having all these left leg problems!  Its soooo incredibly frustrating.

Then a ton of cleaning, yard work, etc.

Later - 1 hour tennis match (I finally won!  6-1, 6-1, though I played #2), and our team won too (first team win, shockingly enough!).