Tyler's Run + new PR

So, life was full of surprises this week and one of them was that I ended up doing a 5K yesterday morning. :-) A friend of mine told me about Tyler's Run, which is a run to create awareness around SIDS. Plus it was at Miami Whitewater AND you got a free t-shirt. Hard to pass up. Friday night I had the best intentions of not drinking any alcohol and getting to sleep at a reasonable hour. But then some pals persuaded me to go to the Comet, so of course I had to have a burrito and a couple of Allagash's (which I really do think I like better in a bottle). Anyway. You know the drill.

The 6:15 am alarm felt like it came way too early and I was cursing myself for eating Mexican before a race. Again. Dehydrated and uninterested in breakfast, I trucked over to my friend's house and a few of us carpooled across town. We registered (long-sleeved shirts - score!), huddled in the car for warmth, then finally lined up in the corral. The gun went off and the race went something like this:

.25 mile
Why did I wear shorts? It's f'ing freezing out here. Hate Fall.

.5 mile
Ugh. Lord, if I can make it through this race I will REALLY make an effort to stop drinking so much. And eat better. And get more sleep. I thought this course was going to be flat???

1 mile
Isn't it time to turn around yet?

1.5ish miles
Hooray for a water stop! Sad that I need one in a 51-degree 5K but I feel like a million bucks after a few gulps!

2 miles
A small child just passed me.

3 miles
I can hear someone coming up behind me. It's definitely a girl, which means she's going to place ahead of me in the female division (yeah, I have some competitive issues). Can I speed up??? No. No, I cannot.

Finish Line
23:58??? I won a prize in my age group! If only I knew what place I was...(guessing third)

I love small races because I tend to do really well in them. :-) They also frustrate me because I can never find the results online. How am I supposed to update my spreadsheet? At any rate, my pace averages out to a 7:43-4 minute per mile split. A new PR!

War!

Well, I've finally done it. I have managed to create the perfect storm of leg muscles (thanks, hills and weight training!) and too much body fat, which has resulted in none of my pants fitting correctly. I guess this is what happens when you only run 13-15 miles per week but continue to eat like you're running 25-30 miles per week. Blame it on the alcohol consumption, the peanut butter, the chocolate confections that surround my desk (the chocolate is for reference, really, i just can't seem to stop eating it), etc., but things are out of control. Enough is enough.

Hence, I have waged war on myself and the pants. Saturday I ran 9 very hungover miles, yesterday I ran 4.25 hungover miles, and tonight I ran 6. (Note: Yes, there is a pattern here and the obvious answer to my problems is to stop drinking and binging on cheese fries at 2 am.) I'm hoping to keep this daily exercise thing up until body parts go back to where they should be, at which point I'll stop running like a crazy woman. Probably. I also happen to be really stressed right now, so running every day is preserving my sanity and preventing me from being a surly grumpass. You're welcome, world. :-)

Almost an island

This past weekend, my parents and I piled into the family station wagon for a good ol' fashioned road trip to Erie, PA. No, we are not fun-hating masochists, we were headed to the Presque Isle State Park Erie Marathon. My dad and I have a goal of running races in all 50 states - Dad wants to run a full marathon in each place, I want to run a half. Prior to yesterday, I had only done two states:

Ohio - Cincinnati's Flying Pig Half Marathon - May 2008 - 1:56:05/8:51 pace (first half marathon ever)

Illinois - Chicago's Banco Popular Half Marathon - September 2008 - 1:55:34/8:49 pace (rained the entire race :-)

My Pennsylvania conquest advertised a flat course and the entire 13.1 miles took place on a peninsula in Lake Erie (Presque Isle means "almost an island" in French). Oh, and the field for the half was about 575 people. Packet pickup took place in the park's mess hall with the more domestically-inclined volunteers in the background cooking up a homemade pasta dinner. And all runners - even the halfers - got a reusable tote bag, a long-sleeved technical t-shirt, socks, and a Hammer Gel. I just love small races.


Checking out the beach pre-race

There was actually quite a posse of runners from Cincinnati. Two of my dad's friends from Fleet Feet (yes, he runs for the competition) were there, as well as 10 or so people from the Galloway group. We all convened at 6 am on race day, some of us sporting the essential pre-race garbage bags for warmth. (Not very green of me, I know)


Sporting our festive plastic wear

At any rate, I was one of only two people in our group running the half so I ended up starting the race alone. However, I quickly made friends. I was having quite a nice conversation with a fellow in his 40's (mile 1), when he announced that he was a run-walker and dropped off. Sneaky, sneaky those run-walkers! Next I recognized a dude I had met the day before (while he was peddling energy drinks). He was planning to run the race "at a pretty slow pace, shooting for a 4 hour". Hahaha. He dropped off pretty quickly though too, as he was frantically searching for a bathroom...in mile 2. Lay off the caffeine, eh?

Miles 3 and 4 were a bit lonely and I was trying to decide what I wanted to lock in for my race pace. Should I shoot hard for a PR or just run and see what happened? I was contemplating the latter when the guy next to me asked what pace we were running. A mathematician I'm not (and I wasn't taking splits and there weren't pace clocks on the course) but based on our mileage and my overall time, I guessed we were running an 8:45 or so. He looked a bit overwhelmed, so I gave him the talk test, basically asking him questions to help take his mind off the race but also to see if he could breathe and carry on a conversation. Turned out he could, and hence began our 9-mile partnership. His story was inspiring: a college junior coming off a knee injury and trying to prove to his football coach that he could indeed run again. It was his first half marathon, so I gave him a few pointers such as:

- Alternate between water and sports drink at each water stop and make sure to drink water on the stops after a Gu. The sports drink on the course was Heed, which tasted like HalfLytely but seemed to have more salt and less sugar than Gatorade. Not delicious by any stretch although my body responded well to it.

- It's ok to walk the water stops.

- Runners' Tourettes (e.g. yelling "shit!" aloud during a particularly hard mile) can be quite therapeutic even if it does make other people stare.

Around mile 10 we were too tired to talk and our only conversation was at the mile markers, "3 more to go, 2 more", and so on. I occasionally said things like "this race is in the bag" and "you're kicking ass", but honestly, these statements were more to help my own mental game. Yeah, I'm a self talker.

We finally finished and I helped myself to a slice of watermelon (brilliant post-race snack, btw) and a cinnamon sugar bagel from Panera. The medals, which I don't normally get that excited over, were super cool as well - a blue glass circle with the Presque Isle lighthouse etched into it, hanging from a thin leather strap.


Are we there yet?

My stepmom Pam and I then began the long waiting game while my dad and his gang ran loop two of the park to complete the full marathon. Sadly, I had to take a quick catnap in the car instead of being a good cheerleader but since I was told multiple times that "this race is just a training run for Portland", I didn't feel too guilty.


The Three Musketeers - Dad, Jen #2, Doug - finish their "training run" :-)

After the full marathon wrapped, a few folks opted for an ice bath with Mother Nature aka a dip in frigid Lake Erie. Um, pass. Pam and I collected rocks instead. At any rate, I'm proud to say I can now add a third state to my list:

Pennsylvania - Erie's Presque Isle State Park - September 2009 - 1:51:56/8:33 pace

On to Maine in October!

a lovers' quarrel

Running and I aren't getting along so well lately. I think deep down I still love him, but right now, I don't really like him. We've been fighting a lot...take this morning for instance:

Me: I don't really feel like spending 4 miles with you right now. I think I'll sleep in.

Running: Look, Muffin Top, er, Muffin, you promised me last night that you would get up this morning.

Me: I know but I'm REALLY tired.

Running: Fine. Sleep then. But need I remind you that you're 30, and the cupcake you downed at 10 pm isn't going to metabolize like it did when you were 25?

Me: Them's fightin words.

Running: Get up then! Come out and kick my @ss on the road!

Me: I hate you.

Running: Don't say things you'll regret just because you're lazy.

Me: Fine. I'm getting up.

Running: Sucker.

there is no "only" about running 16 miles

Because I love running long distances (or maybe because I'm a masochist), I tagged along with my Running Spot buddies on their 19-mile trek yesterday. I'm only doing half marathons this Fall, so I decided there was no need to run the full 19 miles. Sixteen would do just fine.

Our run started at the Loveland Spot, running north out and back on the bike trail for 4 miles then south out and back for 5.5 (4 for me). The temperature was in the 60's or 70's, but the humidity/dew point was out of control! By the time we hit the mile 4 water stop (I bring my own, since I'm a crasher), I did not have a dry spot on my shirt. Sexy, sexy. I was running with Kent and a few girls I've only met a few times, and we were all complaining because:

- The trail is beyond monotonous. At one point we actually went rogue and ran on the road, which goes right next to the trail, for a half mile. We were begging for a change of scenery, getting excited at things like fallen logs and the occasional grassy field. Sad.

- The trail is not only monotonous but flat. We normally bitch about the hills in O'bryonville but I think the flat trail is worse, because you're using the same muscles over and over with no break.

No one's Garmins were working correctly because we were in the woods, so we didn't really know how fast we were going. I also didn't get a clear read on when I needed to turn around. I left everyone some point during mile 12 and started hauling @ss because I just wanted to FINISH. The elites were passing me (they had already run the 5.5 miles and were circling back) and I felt stupid for being such a wuss, since I was doing only 16 miles. I mentioned this to one of them and he replied "there is no 'only' about running 16 miles." True story.

The end of the run was pretty miserable and by the time I hit the Spot, I could tell I was dehydrated - everything was cramping up. Tisha and I decided the best thing to do would be lie down in the parking lot, using railroad ties as pillows. Classy, we are. We were only motivated to get up by the fact that Kent was having everyone back to his house for breakfast. Score!

Our group (quite a lot of us actually) crashed Coach K's house, completely taking over the kitchen and deck. His very patient family was surrounded by gamey runners guzzling mimosas and shoveling in quiche as if we might never eat or drink again. Mmm...I heart quiche. Most of us stayed to hang around outside afterwards chatting and soaking up the sun. :-) Good times!

Once I got home, I plotted out my route on USATF to try and gauge my pace. I looked at the map and oops! I ran almost 17 miles on accident - 16.69 give or take. This puts my pace right around a 9:09. My body feels like it's been hit by a bus, I have more blisters than I can count, and two of my little toenails are black (again, sexy, sexy). As my dad would say, it might be time to take me out back and shoot me.

grumpy but speedy

Today was not a good day at work. :-) It was starting to get dark by the time I got home, but I decided I didn't care - dead bodies in the woods be damned! - I needed to go for a run. Cincinnati summer was pressing down its heavy blanket of humidity; however, my mood seemed to fuel me right up the first hill. I literally felt like I had a hand pushing at my back, and maybe I did because my first mile split was 9:20. For perspective, this split usually ranges from 10:00 to 9:30. Woot. I ended up with an average pace of 8:19 for the 4.25 miles, which is officially my fastest time since June!

I'm happy with the pace improvement although I think the better improvement was that of my mental state. I was having a pity party when I set out, but then I realized that any day I am healthy enough to run four miles can't be all that bad. Yes, I suppose I'm kind of sappy but whatever. Running helps me keep my head out of my @ss, which is a full time job really.

metronomes, beer, and pancakes

I'm so proud of myself. For the second week in a row, I got up early on Saturday morning and ran with the Running Spot group. They were doing 16-18 today from Crossroads, which I seriously considered doing. The plan was for me to run for at least 2 hours and take it from there.

Pace wise, my old group is all over the place. Coach Steve is now running with the 8-minute mile kids, no one can catch Tisha, and the rest of us are pretty scattered as well. I started off at a comfortable clip and caught up with Joan, my Winter training buddy, somewhere on Brotherton. Joan is like a metronome with a steady, even pace - complete opposite of me (I tend to run erratic splits). We were having a great time chatting though, so I kept up with her despite the fact that I knew I was running too fast to hold out for 16. :-)

The route took us on part of the Pig course - down Erie to Bramble, then through Mariemont where we did a few laps around what used to be my training loop. I was feeling pretty good...until we had to run back up Brotherton. Ugh. Once we got into Norwood, I knew I was only down for my original two hours. I ended up turning around somewhere near Floral and Smith and running back with the halfers, who happened to be trolling in the same area. I hit Crossroads at 1:59:34, about 13.75 miles at an 8:41 clip. I looked back at my training log from the Pig and this is about on target for me. At least I'm consistent!

Post run I hung around and waited for the marathoners to finish their 18 because I knew there would be...beer! And breakfast. Sure enough, Larry and Rich both had a delightful selection of imported beers. I enjoyed a delicious Lowenbrau in the parking lot of Crossroads, which is a church. Did I mention we were doing this at 10 am?? As the old joke goes, we are drinkers with a running problem. Afterwards a few of us went to IHOP for pancakes and chocolate milk. I didn't end up getting home until 1 pm! Long morning but totally worth it.

Balmy.

That's about the word I'd use to describe the weather this morning. I did 4.25 before work and by the time I finished, I looked like I was trying to win some kind of obscene wet clothing contest. However, the humidity was not my greatest challenge today. No, my greatest challenge was getting my lazy ass out of bed. I really needed to do 6 miles but kept hitting snooze. Oh well, at least I got up at all??? I did manage to do an 8:42 average pace, which is not bad considering I had a 10-minute mile for my first split. There might be hope for a Fall half marathon PR. Maybe. I'm not counting my chickens just yet.

Keepin' it classy

So, after Tuesday's dismal attempt at speed work, it became clear to me that I need to start training with the Spot group again. Also, I had promised Tisha I would go, which was about the only thing motivating me to get out of bed at 6:45 am on a Saturday. Ha! Of course I was late getting out the door and had to run up the hill but whatever - good warmup, right?

Almost all of my old crew was there this morning - awesome! As my friend Kent put it, everything was right with the world (or as right as it can be before an 11 mile run at 7 am...). I was worried I wasn't going to be able to keep up with everyone since I've been running slow lately and I swear, half of my pals have qualified for Boston and the other half probably will this Fall. Fast, these folks are.

But, either I was having a good day or everyone else was having a bad day because I had running buddies through the first 5.5 miles! We were cooking through Eden Park, until someone pointed out that we had to run UP the hill on the way back. Ha, ha, nothing wrong with a positive split I guess. It was really humid this morning and I didn't have my water bottle...I was super dehydrated by the time we hit the 5 mile water stop and had to take a nature break at 5.5, which meant I lost all my buddies. :-(

I knew the route though, or so I thought, and I was trying to run faster so I could catch up with someone to entertain me up Gilbert. I kept looking, and looking, then I started to wonder "how long was i in the freakin' bathroom???". FINALLY I caught Megan on Gilbert but she had come from another direction. Ooops, I went the wrong way coming out of downtown. It didn't matter though because all the marathoners were doing 13, so I lost her anyway in Eden Park. I did get to run with the elites for about .25 miles, since they had already done the add-on and were back on the same route as me.

I finished with 11.34 miles thanks to my detour but get this - my time was 1:36. Ha! That's an 8:31 pace!!! I was barely running that the other night on flat ground for 5 miles. Woot. Apparently running with the group really does make me run faster. It is almost like a mini race.

The best part of the morning was after the run. My friends have started a tailgate group post run, so someone brings beer every week. Todd brought quite the assortment - Bell's, Guinness, Great Lakes, Corona. Of course I had a Guiness - recovery drink! We all sat around the parking lot in O'Bryonville, at 10 am, drinking beer and making fun of each other. Super classy! Robert, one of our coaches and a fellow Nashville road tripper, taught us a valuable lesson as well...that you should never pay for drugs, sex, or office supplies. I don't even know how this topic came up. :-) Man, I've missed these people. Running and drinking before noon on a Saturday, what could be better??? Then I managed to score a free breakfast with my friend Cole who lives up the street and has a real kitchen. I'm fat, happy, and stupid. Time for a shower and a nap.

Grab bag yasso workout

With Sunday's 8-miler under my belt, I decided to try my luck with some speed work tonight. At first I was thinking of doing an interval run - the Spot group usually does two minutes on, two minutes off for these things. However, Spot runs also include coaches with Garmins, so you can tell what your pace is. I have about the lowest rent watch you can get (and I love it, btw) so I can only take my splits per mile and hope for the best. Not what I want for an interval run, really, so I decided to take advantage of Lunken's mile markers and do a combo interval/Yasso run. The plan was to run every other half mile as a Yasso 800, with a slower 800 in between. The track is five miles, hence, five fast 800s and five slow ones.

I started out and felt like I was running a decent clip...took my first 800 split, only to find I was running a 4:40 pace. Hmm. For my "fast" 800, I ended up doing a 4:08. Yikes. The rest of my splits went something like this: 4:30 slow, 4:17 fast, 4:25 slow, 4:20 fast, etc. I missed the last half mile marker and ended up just taking the full mile split, which came out to 8:28 minutes per mile. Redemption, somewhat.

In case you didn't notice, I was getting faster on each slow interval and slower on each fast interval. Truthfully, I'm not sure you can call what I was doing "speed work".

I'm trying to think happy thoughts though, since this was my first attempt at speediness since, I don't know, April? (not counting my erratic rash of 5K's in June) The moral of the story? I have to train with a group if I want to run a reasonable pace for a long (or apparently even a short) distance. News just in, but I tend to get pretty lazy on my own...

Eight is great

I'm pleased to announce that I ran eight miles today for the first time since...the Pig. Oy. I've been slowly trying to increase my mileage and I finally worked up the courage to break 6.5, lol. It was humid enough by 9 am that I was drenched in the first half mile. I stopped in O'Byronville, stretched my angry achilles (they hate Torrence) and went on my merry way at what was probably close to a 10:30 clip. I can't get over how much my pace fluctuates these days but as I keep telling myself, I need to rebuild the foundation before I start freaking out about speed.

Today's run was to Eden Park, which is a little hilly but one of the most beautiful Cincinnati runs, in my opinion. Also, running through the park brings back a lot of memories:

- The awful Art Museum 5K in 2006 where no one could find the start line, people were throwing up at the top of every hill, and I laid down in the grass at the finish line (only to get right back up because the race officials were threatening to call the EMS :-)

- Running with my friend Joe right before I started training for the half Pig and getting really, extremely lost

- The first time I ran the Overlook with the Running Spot group (didn't even know that overlook existed...)

- Training for and then running the 2008 half Pig

- Hill repeats up Cliff Street training for Columbus 2008

- Holiday in Lights Run 2008

- Training for and then running the 2009 Pig

Anywho. It took me a good 30 minutes to get warmed up this morning but once I was going, I felt amazing and managed to take almost five minutes off of my time on the way back home, which allowed me to finish with an average pace of 9:30. Glad to see I can at least still pull a negative split run out of my @ss!

Sun Run

I have been horrible at sticking to my training schedule this week! Here it was Friday and I had only done one 4 miler...oops. I've been eating like a goat this week so my motivation to get out of bed and run 6 this morning had more to do with fitting into my jeans than it did training, but whatever. I managed to be on the road by 7 and got to smirk at all the suckers going to work so early. :-) It was already super humid and I decided to do my usual route backwards, which meant I got to run UP Delta. Bleh. I swear this is worse than running up Observatory.

Even with the heat it was a beautiful morning for a run, and I am finding that early AM runners are more friendly than night runners. Everybody I waved to waved BACK and some people were waving at me first! I got really excited about this.

About two hours after my run, one of my neighbors walked his dog through the same area I had just trotted through, only to find a...dead body. Apparently it had been there so long the police couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman at first. Not sure how the person died, but this is very creepy to me because I have probably run past that very spot about 50 times in the last six months. Also, I've been known to dash into the woods on a few occasions myself (nature calls, you know) and now I'm thinking that might not be the best idea. What's worse - crapping your pants or finding a dead body??? Augh.

8:25! chafing! gerbil!

Tonight was an eventful run! I was in the pissiest mood (back to juggling eight brands don't ya know) so I hauled ass up Torrence, getting to the top in 5:48, which is a solid 30 seconds faster than I have been running up that hill lately. I was doing my new 4.25 mile route and usually enjoy the smell of Busken at the corner of Madison and Edwards, but tonight it made me want to puke. This is great because it means I was working hard. :0

When I turned the corner onto Edwards I saw a gerbil! WTF was a gerbil doing running around Hyde Park??? The little guy was running along next to me for a hot minute, then took off behind some flower pots at Wild Ginger. So random. By the time I hit Erie, I was excited to get a red light and take a break, which is when I realized I was experiencing some, er, chafing. It's a little humid out, so I was drenched, but the problem was in an area I have never experienced. Let's just say I could have used some Nip Guards. Again, WTF? I was wearing my trusty Nike singlet...maybe it has gotten worn out over the years, I don't know.

At any rate, I managed to do a negative split run and average an 8:25 minute mile pace. This is pretty exciting for someone whose fastest pace in the last two weeks has been 8:57. :-)

Back on a training schedule, sort of

I'm slowly working my way back into training. My goal for this training period is to do three runs per week, and my goal for last week in particular was to get back up to six miles (which sounds crazy given that I have run two marathons). Done and done. I actually got four runs in:

- Monday - 4.3 miler around Hyde Park - 8:57 average pace
- Wednesday - run/walk around Lunken with a friend who is a new runner
- Thursday - 6.4 miler around Norwood with Tisha - 9:02 average pace
- Saturday - 6 miler around Hyde Park - 9:32 average pace

I was a little frustrated with the pace but until I can get the mileage where it needs to be, I really don't want to focus on speedwork. Next week I would like to get up to eight miles. Once I hit that benchmark I will probably start doing Yassos, track work, hill repeats, all of necessary evils to try and get faster again. Yeehaw.

Yeah! Improvement and insights...

So, I ran on Monday night. Same route as last Tuesday night. Time last week was 40:55. Time this week was 38:05. I'm down from a 9:37 (not 10:37 like i originally thought) to an 8:57 minute mile. Still not where I should be but mega improvement over last week. Whew. And woohoo!

I did learn something over the last month. I didn't need to run in Peru. When I came back, I wondered if I was done with it - maybe running was just a phase. Nope. I'm still a runner. Unless I ever get a job doing very, very physical labor e.g. digging ditches, I will probably always be a runner. (God willing) I can't sit still otherwise...

my dad = rockstar

My dad did the OneWorld sprint triathlon this morning and finished in 1.5 hours! He braved a 400 meter swim in the Ohio River, a 20k bike, and a 5k run on a relatively humid, sunny morning and placed SIXTH in his age group. Go Dad!

i like bike

My three-week sabbatical from running is officially over. I ran twice this past week, pulling about a 10:30 minute mile both times. The first time I made it 4.5 miles. The second time I barely did 2.5. Gross. In my defense I think I have a sinus infection and bronchitis but seriously. This is not going to fly.

With the attempts at running going not so swimmingly, I decided to dust off my road bike and see what happened. Luckily, my old triathlon training partner was available to come with so we hitched a ride on the Anderson Ferry to Route 8 in Northern Kentucky and hit the road. Any outing that starts off with a ferry ride is bound to be awesome, yes? There wasn't a cloud in the sky, the humidity was low, and I managed to bike over the "rolling" hills without tossing my cookies. Awesome indeed. This is actually one of the best rides I think I've had in a long time. I didn't do any hill work last year on the bike (all paved flat trail) and my goal for tonight's ride was to stay in the saddle on the hills. Granted, the hills weren't long and they weren't terribly steep, but I am notorious for standing up at the first sign of an incline. I stayed in my seat though AND kept a decent cadence, even though I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest a few times. Sadly, the old grey mare just ain't what she used to be.

The best part about riding Route 8 is that it's out in the country (funny because it is about a mile from CVG). It was peacefully quiet (for the most part) and we got to see cool old barns, log cabins, roadside vegetable stands, etc. For a minute I pretended I was back in Peru.

My legs were pretty wobbly by the time we finished the ride but I felt great! Plus the sun was setting over the Ohio river on the ferry ride home. Double bonus for this, Mother Nature.

Enjoy this beautiful day

Actually I only got to enjoy a tiny bit of this beautiful day, because I spent most of today indoors. However, for 36 minutes I got to run as fast as I wanted on two healthy legs, in 70 degree weather. Pretty awesome.

I'm getting sentimental because this may be my last run for a while. I leave for Peru in less than two days and something tells me I'm not going to get much running in there...

Anyway, if you want to read about my trip you can do so here.

If not, peace out until sometime in late July.

Jives

I had a Blast™

Ha, ha I love puns.

In case you couldn't tell from the title, I ran the Hyde Park Blast 4-miler this morning. :-) This race is near and dear to me because it was the very first race I ever ran (June 2006). The course has changed, there's less in the swag bags and they don't give out medals to everyone anymore, but I think I will always love this race.

As tradition dictates, I met up with some pals at my friend Anne's house, who lives close enough to walk to the start line. We met about 7:30, only 30 minutes before the race start, so I was pacing around nervously waiting for everyone to get their chips on, etc. I like to get to races absurdly early and I usually freak out before each one, whether it's 2 miles or 26.2 miles.

We finally made it to the corral and I didn't even hear the starting signal (no guns in Hyde Park - I'm sure there is a rule against even having the noise) but everyone started moving so I followed. Mile 1 has a nice hill right away, but then you hit a pretty steep downhill so I was able to make up a bit of time. First split was about an 8:01, which I was happy with because I was hoping to run right around an 8-minute pace.

Mile 2 was a bitch. It is pretty much all uphill (a long steady hill) and it was 90 degrees in the shade + humid. Oy. I did have a mini reunion of sorts with the 9:00-mile Pig training group though. First I saw my friend Robert. Then I saw my Boston-bound friend Tana. Then long-run buddy Joan. All of them passed me. :-) Normally I would be having a competitive complex over this but who am I kidding. These guys have been doing speedwork for a month (and have probably started Fall training) while I have been goofing around, drinking, and running once a week (5K's on flat courses for that matter). It was fun to see everyone but we were all wilting in the heat. My split sucked - 8:36.

I had a bit of redemption in Mile 3, enjoying some flat ground on Erie and Observatory as well as some shade. I actually stopped at a water stop (punk!) but my split still ended up being 8:08. Not too shabby.

Heading into Mile 4 is...Handasyde hill. Bleh. But, going back to the Blast being my first race ever, Handasyde was also my first "real" hill. I kind of like it a little, actually. I was wheezing like a Pug by the time I reached the top, but realized I had some gas left in the tank so I was able to sprint to the finish. My time ended up being 32:55, an 8:14 pace. One second per mile slower than last year...ouch! I hate this but again, what do I expect? You can't show up for a hill race with no training and expect to hit a PR...unless you're me and like to set unreasonable expectations for yourself. :-)

Post race I caught up with my friends who had run it with me as well as some Spot pals (including Running Buddy Tisha) and enjoyed a free donut. We also watched the Elite Race, which was AMAZING. The lead male finished in 18:49! Damn. Are these guys humans or are they runners?

Later we went back to Anne's for a dip in the kiddie pool and some mimosas, another post-race tradition. Think it's about time for a nap now.

Jives in maintenance

My off season has dragged on longer than I anticipated, for a number of reasons such as 60-hour work weeks, lingering pain from the Pig, and general lack of motivation. At any rate, I had been telling people I wasn't sure what I wanted to train for this Fall (half or full), but secretly thinking I would definitely do a full. Guess what kiddies? Ain't gonna happen.

I've known all along that I have a trip planned for 17 days in July, which will probably not allow me to run (I'll be hanging in the mountains of Peru building stuff). I figured I could just pick up training when I'm stateside again July 19, until I looked at the latest issue of Runner's World.

See, my dad and I are going to Portland, ME for our Fall race, and the event is on 10/5ish. According to Bart Yasso, I should have started training on 6/15 and need to be getting into some high-mileage weeks by 7/19. It's just not possible, and jumping into high mileage after my lengthy sabbatical sounds like a good way to get injured. Even I'm not that masochistic. ;-)

However, I really want to do a half in every state and this will (knock on wood) take care of Maine. Yay! I'm bummed that I don't get to do a full, but honestly, I wasn't mentally prepared to start marathon training in mid-June. So half marathon training seems like the right thing, and will give me more free time to do something equally fun in August, like learn to play the banjo. (cue Deliverance music)