Running With Pepper

Decided to run my 5 mile circle route in the neighborhood across route 7. Wanted to run rather slowly, yet couldn't keep the speed down because I felt so good. Tried to get my breathing regulated for the entire run and was somewhat successful. After the long and really steep 1/4 mile hill, my breathing felt much better. I'm going to try something new tomorrow and get up at 4:45 to go for a morning run rather than worry about running at night. Hopefully that works better than I think it will. Finished this run in 40:42.

(Brooks Infinitis 124.2 miles)

Ok, so tonights run wasn't all that bad, but it could have been worse. It all starts last night when Pepper decided to start barking at something outside at 2am. Needless to say, I wasn't at all amused as I would have liked to sleep a little more than what I got at that point. Of course it was the first night where I was trying to go to sleep earlier so that I could begin to get on a morning running schedule. Because it's the summer time, I also have the option to work 9 days and record my 80 hours every two weeks vs. my normal 10 day and 80 hours. This means that if I do this right, and go in early, I get every other Friday off so I can go to the beach, go hiking with Pepper out at Great Falls National Park, etc. Well....it hasn't worked all that well so far. I have no idea what he was barking at, although he only barked a few times, but he then kept whining, looking out the window while banging the blinds all over the place. Not all that loud normally, but when you've been rudely woken up, it's quite loud. All in all, I didn't sleep all that good last night, as my sleep recording indicates. I was tired at work today, actually had to get some tea in the afternoon as I needed the caffiene, and I think I almost fell asleep at my desk while I was reviewing some documents. Ouch...not good...especially when you're working on a huge proposal for the government. I didn't manage to run this morning so I had to run tonight. Although I was tired tonight, I did get in my 5 miles in 39:43. I ran the same route as last night, but did it backwards (going down the huge hill) from Monday night.

I'm slowly trying to build back to a minimum of 25-30 miles a week before I start back in my longer weekend runs. I really feel like I need to get back to that really soon as I believe that work is going to be really crazy starting in July. Oh well, at least I got my run in and I'm moving forward with my training. Maybe I'll start running at lunchtime if I can't get my morning/evening runs in. We have a shower at the gym in my office, so that's mighty convenient. Here's to hoping that Pepper lets me sleep well tonight... :)  

(Brooks Infinitis 129.2 miles)

So I didn't plan on running this night, but I did plan on doing some walking with Pepper to stretch the legs out. This is where it gets a little odd. We had these terrible thunderstorms in the are with a few tornados touching down. Although I didn't see a tornado, I did see the aftermath in some of the areas near my home. Now I take public transportation to and from work (Washington DC Metro System) and it is usually pretty reliable. Well, as I was heading home at 4pm yesterday I learned that because of the storms, the Metro stopped at a station before the one I usually get off at. I then learned that all the roads heading west in Falls Church were packed/not moving! Well, I got off at the East Falls Church Station (couldn't go any further because of lack of power) and decided to walk home, which was about 4.5 miles. Now, I didn't have my sneakers and made the walk wearing my business dress shoes I wore to work for the day. I also had my backpack containing about 20-25 pounds of work stuff. Upon completion of my walk, my legs were killing me, my feet were beginning to have blisters, and I was completely and utterly miserable. My pain did not end there as I didn't have power at my place and Pepper needed to get out because he was cooped up all day.

Lesson learned: Running shoes are great because they really take care of your feet and lower body. Cushioning goes really far when it comes to running shoes. Walking such a long distance in my running shoes would have been fine, but in dress shoes, it was painful on my lower body. I am more sore today from my walk then I would be from running 10 miles. I will now carry my running gear to work in the event that I have to run/walk home because of our wonderful public transportation system.

I'm going to go for a run at the office today and possible run into the district from my office by the Courthouse metro.

Took some time out of my busy work day and went for a nice run in the heat and humidity. Once I do this several times, I know that I'll become more acclimated to the weather again, but it just takes some time. Started from the office, ran down to Rosslyn and across the Key Bridge and ran out on the C&O Canal trail for a bit. Turned around and then ran back to the office so I could subsequently sit in a meeting for four hours (ugh!). Overall, it was a good run where I felt pretty good, yet the heat/humidity really sapped my strength when I got to the hill heading from Rosslyn to Courthouse. I may continue to run this route as it has some really nice features (hills, flats). I may run with the boss today, so it should be a good day. 5 miles in 41:08.

(Brooks Infinitis 134.2 miles)