Here I go again!

Man alive was this a gorgeous day! Just beautiful, not too cold not too warm, not windy, sunny... just perfect. Metroed to Ballston with my bike and biked about 2 miles to Bluemont park where the race started. Met up and chatted with some friends before the race which is always nice and relaxing. And off we went in the mud - then on the bike trail. It was a very hilly course and I realized I'm a very strong runner in hills, going up and down, and not that great on the flats. I went out too fast and did the first mile in 7:30, the second mile I slowed way down since my shins hurt, and the rest wasn't marked well. A bunch of people past me between miles 2 and 4, and then my shins started feeling better and the hills started, and I kept passing people both on the up and on the downhills. I don't think anyone past me after mile 4. I hit mile 6.1 at 51:00 and realized how out of shape I am... oh boy... but it was very hilly. I thought for a second that maybe I could break 1 hour, but at that point I thought a 12k was 7.2 miles - hey, that extra .2 miles counts! I sped up a bit the last .5 miles and finished on the muddy terrain again - a few minutes after my friend Brent, but ahead of the other 4 people I knew in the race. Not too bad! We all went to brunch to celebrate after, and then I biked home. Need to do strengthening exercises and stretch! Happy Sunday runners!

Official results are in: I was the 22nd woman out of 105, and the 93rd runner out of 219. As long as I'm on the top half, I'm happy!

Didn't feeling well at all. Not sure what's going on - feels like blood pressure is very low, I get up and walk a bit and have to get back in bed cause I feel I'm going to faint. It's definitely not dehydration and I've been eating well, too much perhaps. This used to happen to me when I was little all the time, and still does every once in a while but it's getting worse than before. It'll get better I'm sure.

Felt really lousy this morning but dragged myself to work - as long as I'm sitting down I'm ok. Around 1 pm I started to feel normal.

After work, I ran from the office up to Bethesda on Wisconsin Avenue, past the Cathedral... The Cathedral is one of the highest places in the city, so as you can imagine it was all uphill. My shins were very painful for the first 2 miles, then they felt better. It was a bit windy and cold, not a great run but I did it.

Snowing here in DC! Beautiful!!! Woke up early and ran from Chevy Chase to the Bethesda metro... I was feeling good, so I ran down Wisconsin to the Friendship Heights metro... I was feeling good so I kept going and ran to the Tenleytown metro... I crossed the street and was going to run all the way back to work but then I thought I had to be smarter than that, with my shin issues and all, so I went back and took the metro to Dupont Circle - from there I ran an extra mile to the office. I would've ran about 7 miles if I had gone all the way... not sure if it made much of a difference. My shins felt much better today than yesterday, not sure what's the deal with that - icing now...

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No I shouldn't have but I did... ran 3 miles after work, from the office to the Smithsonian metro and metroed the rest of the way home. Tried to run without hitting the ground with the heels so much but with the ball of the foot and I think it helped a lot... I'll have to thank whomever posted that answer to Lori's question on the discussion board... Did strengthening exercises and stretches afterwards, and iced. I got some of those icing beads and i'm keeping a couple at work so I can ice there too. Good night!

Forced rest day... very cold outside, too much going on in the Senate, and not enough time in the day.

If you haven't seen these, they are great card for your running friends!

http://www.fargonegreetings.com/home.php?cat=253

Five nice miles on the C&O canal trail - The sun had just set, so I got to run with a bit of light after work. Got back to the office, showered, and went out to dinner with friends. Life is good.

Shorts and a tank top, that's what I'm talking about! A gorgeous beautiful unbelievably sunny 40 degree day! After a lot of thinking about whether I should run with old shoes (left two pairs of newer shoes at the office), or whether to bike to a trail and run in the dirt which should be better for the shins, decided to just go with it... Went by the Anacostia trail, down around the RFK stadium, to the Capitol, to the National Gallery of Art and stopped there for some water, and back on Pennsylvania. My legs felt tight and weird for the first 3 miles, and then they loosened up and I enjoyed the rest of the run.

Congrats to those of you who are racing today! I hope you get nice weather like us!