I Probably Should Make My Blog Public again

4 treadmill miles. Because of the time change, I'm able to run more miles outside, but I missed my window today. The treadmill was treadmill-y.

This run was ridiculous. I decided it would be a good idea for the boys to ride their bikes with me while I ran.

It wasn't.

Caleb was fine, but Eli lagged behind, partly because he's Eli and partly because there is something wrong with his bike(the brakes rub against the tire on one side). So we went 1.5 miles to my sil's. Caleb almost got hit by a car because he crossed the street without looking for some inexplicable reason. I left Eli at her house and Caleb stuck pretty close to me on the little more than a mile journey home because he was pretty sensitive about his almost getting hit by a car error.

So that part of the run was a little over 2.5, but I can't be sure because I forgot to start my watch after one of the many times I stopped it while we were on the way back home.

Then I picked up Eli.

Then I really wanted to add some more miles, so I got on the treadmill I ran 2.07 and then one of the kids came up to tell me that Chuck needed help. I went downstairs to find that Charlotte had thrown up, so I gave her a bath and generally helped to clean up.

Then (don't judge me) I hopped on the treadmill for .43 miles so that I could end with 5 miles.

A half mile warm up and then a ladder workout. 1 minute hard, 1 minute easy, 2 minutes hard, 2. Minutes easy, etc, up To 4 minutes, then back don to 1. Then however much I had to run to get to 5 miles.

Charlotte is still under the weather, so I did this after she went to bed.

10 miles at 8:50 average pace. I had to flip flop the mileage that I had planned for today and tomorrow because we are driving to Chiccago and I was afraid I wouldn't have time tomorrow morning to do 10. I didn't push the pace at all, just kept it nice and even.

Then I talked to my brother, who told me that his goal for the half was 8 minute pace. Kinda made me wish I had trained better because I enjoy running with him. I just don't think I have it in me right now to pr. I haven't really put in a lot of quality miles. But I guess I can see. The only thing I don't like about running with him is that he goes out too fast. If I go out too fast I just die.

Ran on the treadmill at my sister's after a fun filled day of driving and birthday partying. I ate a lot. But I had a good run.

I warmed up 8 minutes at 9:13 pace, and then increased the speed to 6.7. I increased my speed up one every 8 minutes. Then at 48 minutes, I started to increase every 2 minutes. The last 2 minutes I had worked my way into just under 7 minute pace. It felt comfortably hard. Don't know how long I would be able to sustain, but at some point I'd like to sustain it for a 5K.

Ran 1.2 miles with Eli. He did much better on a different bike this time. Then I ran with Caleb, and he was whiny. He went 3 with me. He fell about half way through his ride with me and told me "I literally cannot continue." He obviously did, but I had to run ahead of him for a couple minutes. Eventually he went zooming by me again.

Then I ran until I hit 5 miles.

Ran almost 6 miles to the polling place, had an awkward conversation with one of the volunteers there, and then ran a little more than 1 back home.

I dragged myself into 5 treadmill miles. I am glad I did, but I didn't enjoy it while it was going on.

The only reason I am actually making this a race report is because I won it. Ha.

A recent graduate and her parents were killed two summers ago in a plane crash. This was the 2nd annual 5K in their honor. The proceeds support a scholarship for our school in their name.

When I woke up, my cell phone said it was 56, so I dressed like it was 56 and headed to school. I meant to get there at least an hour before so I help with set up and still be able to run 5 or more miles, and I was already running late, so when my car thermometer showed 39 (which took a while since it was in the garage), it was too late for me to go back and get a long sleeved shirt.

So after helping a little, I ran just under 4 miles. IT WAS SO WINDY and I was underdressed. Nothing for my ears or hands, but at least I had worn pants (planned on changing into shorts) and a jacket to throw over my t-shirt. Going into the wind was misery, but it was acceptable when I wasn't headed to the wind.

Then the race started. It was on the school grounds, sort of on the cross country course, but they modified it a little because it was wet, muddy and even swampy in some areas. I ran and chatted with a couple of the boys on the cross country team (state champs!!) for most of the race. I had forgotten to reset my watch before the race, so I don't know what pace we were going. They had someone calling out splits at the mile and two mile, but I think the loop was a little short, because we were dead on 8:15 pace according to the splits, but my final time was 25:34, so I'm sure that's wrong.

Anyways, there was a guy who was running right behind us for most of the race, and after the 2nd mile, I told one of the kids that I was running with that if he was close behind me, I would let him win because I was a little embarrassed to come in first. Well, when we got close to the finish, the kid who was running with me stopped so he could direct traffic, and told me that the guy was far enough back, so I should just take it.

So I picked up the pace and took it. But the kid was exaggerating, because the guy finished 10 seconds later. It was okay, though, because you will never see me winning a race again.

Then the 2nd place guy and I ran a lap around the track so that I could finish up 7 miles for today.

I wanted to go longer, but I had a kid inside serving a Saturday detention (that's a long story), so I had to go in and check on him. After I got inside I lost my will to go back outside, partly because it took me 5 minutes to open the door with my key, since my hands were so frozen.

Words cannot express the myriad of emotion that I feel about what happened today at the Boston Marathon...shock...outrage...sadness...gratefulness for all those who helped victims...

Forgot to log this. Don't really remember what my pace was. It was on the treadmill.

I think God might have commissioned someone around here to build an ark. I haven't seen any animals yet, but I've seen plenty of flooding.

Four treadmill miles very late in the evening. This has been an exhausting week for no evident reason.

I am glad this run felt great after a blah sort of week. My legs felt heavy during every run this week. Not sure if it was because I had to do more treadmill runs than I had been doing the past few weeks.

I started to feel pretty good after 4 miles. Then I pushed the pace for 4 miles. Paces were 8:30, 8:00, 7:50, 8:08. The last fast mile was a bonus. I had originally intended to slow down, but when I was feeling like I slowed, I looked down at my watch and I was still in the low 8's, so I continued to push. The wind was against me in that last mile, and in the two cool down miles.

I am running my half next week. I hope the temp is the same as it was for this run. Probably in the 40s, but sunny. I think I could have been okay in shorts, though pants were okay today. However, I would like to request less wind. My cheeks are burning right now.

Lots of flooding in my hometown. My sister in law sent me a pic of her view of First Avenue from the train. It was underwater. I might post the pic later. First Avenue is a heavily trafficked road that runs near the Brookfield Zoo, which also closed for only the 3rd time in 90 some years.

Argh! I can't remember how to post a pic! Or it's different from an iPad. This is a pic of some Chicago flooding.

A beautiful day for a run. Just a tad on the hot side, but the wind made it feel cooler than 70. I kept a good pace without really working too hard, and each mile was progressively faster. Paces for the last four miles were 8:29, 8:18, 8:03 and 7:56.

Still uncertain about my game plan for Saturday. Do I dare try for a pr? Have I honestly trained well enough for that to even be within my reach? My gut says no. But I think a lot could really depend on temperature and wind conditions. So I'm keeping it in the realm of possibilities.

Okay, after reviewing my best race from a few years ago, I have decided that I am going to go for it, provided it is cool outside. That year it was 75 out. If I get my wish of 50s and little wind, I think it is possible to at least come close

A long day with work stuff and a stupid conference call that lasted much too long (though really anything would have been too long). Then a quick and easy 3 miles.

3 fast miles just to squeeze them in.

I squeezed in 4 miles after work and before the Senior Night soccer game.  They were fast (under 8 min. pace).  I wanted to squeeze 1 more in before I had to get ready for the play.  

But soccer games are really long.

So I nixed the 1 mile.

For Friday (which is now today), I'd like to run at least a couple miles (3 would be great).  But it depends on how long it takes me to pick up my race packet.  I don't really want to run at 7 p.m. on the treadmill, since the treadmill always makes my legs tired.  If I don't get in a couple miles in, I don't think it will be a difference maker.

I am very pleased at how this race went. I could not have run more perfectly.

The race started a little earlier this year, at 7 instead of 7:30. My bro and I were supposed to meet people at 6:15, but we got there a little later because I thought he was awake when I went downstairs to pump. He sneezed and I God blessed him. But it turns out that he sneezes in his sleep, because he didn't know what I was talking about when he came downstairs to crab at me for not waking him up. Then, because he is a woman, he took some time getting ready.

We did hook up with my friends before the race. But then, because I am a woman, I had to use the POP. Luckily my bro came with me. We didn't see my friends till the finish. It was a good thing. They probably would have thrown us off our race.

After the POP stop, we tried to get into our corral, but couldn't because there were too many people. At this point we were trying to reconnect with friends, and we had told them we would meet them by the 1:45 pacer, but we couldn't even get inside! Once the first wave started, we were able to get into the corral, but couldn't get close to the pacer. We decided that we'd try to catch up quickly once we were able to start, just on the off chance that we'd find our friends.

In the first mile, I really thought that was a mistake. We went out too fast. At one point I looked down and we were running at 6:15 pace. Stupid, I thought. We couldn't find our people, so after a little under a 1/2 mile, we decided to settle into our pace. The first mile was 7:34.

After about 4 miles (7:51, 7:48, and 7:59 were the next splits), I thought we might have a shot at breaking 1:43 (1:45 was the original goal). I didn't say anything to my brother, but I led the next several miles (7:47, 7:53 and 7:56). Then he said something to me about having plenty of cushion to hit our goal, and we quickly verbalized the new plan, and got to work.

Next miles were through a neighborhood and park (7:45--slight downhill, 7:50, and 8:05). I could tell my brother was flagging a little. We talked about just focusing on the 5K that we had left, and then kinda settled a little too much.

Next miles were 8:01 and 8:07, and at that point, I had my internal pep talk. I told myself that I wanted to push it to the end, no sorrows at the end. Just convinced myself that I would push. At that point there was a girl in front of me that I wanted to beat, and another girl who blasted past me with about .6 to go. I went with her, my brother came along, and we finished with a 7:39 mile and :44 for the last .1.

I am really happy with my performance. I felt great at the end. Only significant problem is that I wore a skort, thinking it would chafe less, but even though I brought some lube, I forgot to apply prior to the race. My inner thighs are pretty torn up and bloody. I could feel the chafing at about mile 8, but it didn't really hurt until I discovered (in the car) how bad it actually was. What a rookie mistake!

I don't know what made the most difference today. I think running with my brother was a difference maker. But 3 years ago I think I was more faithful to actually training. However, I did have some big depressing life moments in the 3 weeks before this race. Also, it was PERFECT weather today. Sunny, but in the low 50s at the start. Don't know how high it went, but it wasn't the 75 degrees that it was 3 years ago.

I will probably have to fix my time, since my watch said 1:43:05 and my brother's said 1:43:20 (or at least that's what he says). So I'll fix when I look up the official results.

Unofficially, the results put me at 1:43:09. Right now, they have me listed as 17th in my age division (out of just under 500) and 98 out of 3310 for woman overall. That will probably change, but I hope I'll be able to say I was in the top 100 women!