I Probably Should Make My Blog Public again

5 easy miles in the a.m. because I am chaperoning a dance tonight.  It was cold and dark.  I was pretty creaky starting out, but felt better after a mile.  I went slow, though I don't know how slow, since my garmin is still dead.  It's probably better that way.  

Since my garmin was still dead and I made no effort to find my charger on Friday, I had to go sans watch again. I had to estimate just a bit and did another out and back.  I hit the lap button at my guesses at a mile so that I could compare how I was running on the way out and the way back, and I was pretty even, except the wind was a factor.  I was 20 seconds slower on the way back in. 

I mapped my run and it was slightly over 5 miles.  gmap says it was 5.17, but I'll underestimate in case it was wrong.  So I averaged anywhere from 8:36 pace to 8:45 pace, which I'm okay with.  It didn't feel too bad, though I was wondering in the end if I really had the stamina to run faster than that for more miles.  

I did find my charger at school, so I'll be depending on that this coming week :)

I saw the dog that chased me last week on a chain by the house I thought was his.  He barked at me again, but I told him to suck it when he gave chase and didn't get anywhere. 

I also was told to "Work it, girl" by a 6 year old. 

Then I was ogled by a couple old men.  One was saying something to me as I was running past.  I'm pretty sure it was lewd, but I couldn't really hear.  So I just smiled to give the old men pleasure.  I know I'm sexy while I'm running.

An easy 6.  A cold front came through and it was also hella windy.

It was warmer today than yesterday and less windy, but it was still windy.  I have been dragging these last couple runs, but at least I got them done.  

Ran to the track for some speed.  Just 4 x 800.

The first 800 was 3:29.  But I finished into the wind, so on my recovery I ran a 600 so that I could finish with the wind.  Next was 3:30.  Third one I relaxed a bit at 3:37, and on the last one I relaxed too much at 3:41.  Wanted to be at 3:35 for all, but the last one it took me too long to get into it, and by the time I felt that hunger for speed, it was already over.

Wish I could blame the heat (it was 74!) or the wind, but really it was just my brain.

I did get whistled at on the way to the track.  That's right.  I'm sexy.

It makes me laugh.  I've never been one to fall for leering/ogling.  I don't think that when I was in the dating stage of my life that I ever started dating someone who looked me up and down appreciatively first.  I guess there have to be some girls who would, otherwise men wouldn't do that, right? 

Didn't run yesterday.  While Chuck was supervising the spring play at his school, I took my boys (plus my nephew) to see Pirates of Penzance at my school.  It was surprisingly good.  Eli liked the pirate ship.  He was a little squirmy, but still behaved himself. I'm not sure how much of it Caleb and Spence understood of the dialogue, but they seemed to enjoy the play.

Unfortunately, I will never know how it ends because we left at intermission so everyone could get to bed on time (including me).

Today's run was hard.  1 mile warm up (9:16), 8 miles tempo, 1.25 miles cool down (9:16).  My splits on the tempo part were:  7:54, 7:50, 7:51, 7:55, 8:05, 8:08, 8:12, 8:22.  8 minute pace is just not mine for the taking just yet. 

I almost quit after 5.5 miles.  Instead I stopped and stretched for a minute while giving myself a pep talk.  I almost quit again after 7 miles, but I persevered.  The last 1.5 miles of the fast part were into the wind (thus my near throwing in the towel).  It was steady around 15 mph, so I don't feel so bad for the dramatic slow down.  Well, I feel kinda bad.

This is my longest tempo run.  I do another 10 on Sunday, then my longest run is next weekend.  Supposed to be 12, but I am thinking of just going the 13.1 miles just to reassure myself that I'm good for the distance.

4 easy miles at my mom's.  I'm tired from Friday's run.

I skipped my 10 mile run on Sunday.  I got back to Chicago at noon, and it was already over 80.  No thanks.  

Easy miles today.  Running feels like a chore again, but it's probably because of other factors...

Ran a couple miles to the track, only to discover that there was a meet getting in the way of my planned 4 x 1600 workout (darn kids!).  I cursed briefly, and then did my 4 fast miles with a 1/4 mile recovery on the streets.  

My splits were 7:28, 7:27, 7:38, 7:38.  I felt okay with that.  It was windy through portions of the run, but somehow wind doesn't feel so bad when it's warm.  It was mid 60s.  It felt pretty good, but it was a little on the hot side.  I was thirsty when I was finished.

I'm starting Ken Follett's Fall of Giants, which I checked out from the library (digitally).  But I'll be racing the clock.  I have 13 days to read it, and it's pretty long.  I'm pretty sure I can do it in 7 days or less.  We'll see.  I'll let you know too if I liked it.  The only books of his that I read were Pillars of the Earth and World Without End.  Those were both pretty good, but I suspect very different from this one.

An easy 4, then on to Euchre night, where I lost again.  I was in the running till my partner (who happened to be my husband ) and I tanked in the last round.  There's always next time.

This run was bad.  I had tummy issues, and had to decide at regular intervals whether to continue running, trying both to clench my cheeks AND run fast, or run slower home.  I figured that I should just finish the workout and that I would get back faster if I ran faster.  But I questioned the decision regularly :)

Splits for the fast portion were 8:00, 7:59, 8:08, 7:59, 8:16,  8:03.  It did not feel good at all, but now that I'm done and relieved of the extra pounds I was carrying, I feel good.

TMI, I know.

I have a cold that is moving into my chest.  Usually when I am running I "ahem" a lot anyway, but my coughing this time around was deeper.  My throat was hurting before I started my run, but it didn't hurt on the run because it was wet.  My watch stopped at 5.7 miles.  I had a route in mind, but when I got to 6.25 miles (approx), it started pouring.  I headed home, and then the rain slowed about 10 minutes later.  So I decided to stick close to home, but ran around to add on as much as I could.  When I got home I estimated that I was just a little over 11, and I was supposed to go 12, so I ran past the house a quarter mile and then ran back.  

Before I mapped my run, I guessed I was at 11.7.  But I mapped it at 11.5, which is good enough.  I know that my run was slower today, more like recovery pace (probably around 9:30 pace based on the time I left and returned), but you can't win them all.  I actually felt strong in the end, so I'm not incredibly worried about my 1/2.  I would have liked to do the full 12, but I won't go any longer than that before the race.

Now I just hope I kick this cold before running again on Monday.

4 slow miles.  I don't feel great, but I feel better than yesterday.  Even so, at 3 miles breathing was harder, but I had committed to 4, so I stuck it out.

Feeling a little better today.  Glad for the day off yesterday.  I hate colds...

I think I'm finally back into it.

This week really bit the big one as far as running is concerned, and it's unfortunate that it is so close to race time.  But I still feel that I'm ready.  I'm just glad that I got sick in plenty of time to be better before race day.  Just a little lingering congestion, but nothing else too terrible.

Oh, fastrunningblog, I wish I had time for you right now!

This is the first good run I've had in more than a week.  I did 4 x 400 on the track.  Each 400 was between 1:40 and 1:45, which was where I was aiming.  Felt good, though it was on the hot side and was exceptionally windy.

If I were to create a site called fastreadingblog, I'd be at the top of the reading board for this week for sure.  After I finished Fall of Giants (I wish I had waiting till summer 2012 to finish this one so I didn't have to wait for the next one) I finished The Art of Racing in the Rain. 

I think that would be a good site.  Every night you post how much you read and the time it takes you to read that number of pages.  Then, like we have race entries, you could do a special entry for a book review and how long it took you to read the book.  Then I could brag all up and down about how fast I read.  I could figure out my PR for a book and keep trying to read things faster and faster without sacrificing comprehension. I could spend years trying to break the 30 seconds per page barrier.

I think I'd probably be the best reader on the blog.  I could give people advice on how to read faster and better.  I could critique their technique (I don't agree with the "eye sweep" technique of reading, for instance).  I could give them advice on their training (I train on InTouch magazines).  I'd probably have thousands and thousands of followers. 

Anyway, last night I was cursing you, April27, for recommending that book.  I almost didn't finish it because it was so depressing.  When I got to page 200 (that's Nook pages, so I don't know how long the book actually is) I knew I was going to spend the next 50 pages crying, and I didn't want to finish it.  The book was fairly predictable, but I wasn't sure if it was going to have a happy ending or not.  So I stayed up and finished, and was glad I did.  It was a good read if you don't mind misting for most of the book and if you don't mind knowing what's going to happen.  I did end up liking it, though, and would recommend it for the ladies.  But it's a beach read, if you know what I mean.

I know my husband will not read it, so I don't know if I would recommend it for the gentlemen.

Oh, yeah.  I also ran.  I'm finally feeling pumped for the 1/2 on Saturday.

Another quick 3.  I was going to do a couple tempo miles on this run, but the wind made me decide against it.  I thought I'd rather have an enjoyable run to get me feeling good rather than one that might make me feel less confident :)

Not my finest hour to date, but still fairly respectable.  I knew going in that my training was not particularly great, but I was shooting for around 1:50 anyway.

It was a windy day (between 20 and 25 mph, with stronger gusts), but it was warm AND overcast.  I could have done without the wind, but really, I couldn't have asked for better weather.  

I ran with my brother Greg, my running buddy, Jason, from the past two years, and two friends of his from school, Brock and Adam.  We all stayed together till about mile 8, when Jason was falling behind.  We tried to keep him with us, but he told us at the end that he had already decided to just run his own pace.  Greg and I stayed with Brock and Adam about one more mile, but they started to get faster and we started to slow a little.  

I felt great till mile 8, good till mile 10, mentally struggled through mile 12, and then I just tried to push into the finish. At mile 11ish I finally told my bro that I was struggling and needed encouragement, and he didn't quite get it at first.  Instead he just said, "I encourage you."  He did get it after a bit, but he kept saying, "Come on, let's pick up the pace."  I kept telling him to just go, thinking that maybe if he accelerated, I could follow on his heels.  But he (rightfully so) thought that I would just slow down.  I'm not sure which I would have done, follow or slow, but he said afterward that he didn't think he could accelerate.  But we finished strong.

Splits were 8:28, 8:22, 8:15, 8:18, 8:30 (but this was when I noticed that my watch was measuring long, so I hit the lap button when I passed the mile marker to keep my splits even.  Miles 3 and 4 were a little slower than my watch says), 8:21, 8:29, 8:31, 8:23, 8:36, 8:34, 8:41, 8:21, and then 6:52 pace at the end.  My splits show exactly what I was feeling.

Lots of bright sides:  I felt relaxed and enjoyed running with my bro, had some good conversation with Jason in the first several miles, didn't stop to walk through a single water station, kept pace with my bro at the end, and this is the first long race I've done where my second toes' nails did not get bruised.  Yay!  I do, though, have a lot more blisters than usual. 

On another great note, my running buddy Jason beat cancer this year, and ended his race feeling good with a time of 1:54:43.  I'm proud of him.  Last year when he was sick but didn't yet know it was cancer, he ran a 1:57:42.  I'm thinking about writing a letter to the paper.  There's a good running story for them.  The only thing that is holding me back is that I think he'd be pretty embarrassed.  But man, what a kid!