Here I go again!

I ate too much last night so my weight was terrible today... need to continue watching myself...

Ran the Pacer's half marathon pacing my friend Ashley - My goal was to get her to run sub 2-hours... her goal was just to finish... I didn't hit my goal but she hit hers, and got a 1-minute PR. It was nice and slow, I was so glad I didn't try to push myself to PR... though it would've been a nice course to do it... It's hard being a pacer - you don't know how to motivate your runner... you don't want to push too hard but that's also what you're there for, so it's finding the right balance... A fun day with a fun friend, and I talked to some other running friends at the finish line. There should be several nice running pics of me this time - I need to find ONE good picture of me running other than the one from 5 years ago and the one when I had my mouth wired!

Next weekend is the Capitol Hill Classic 10k, I want to PR on that one. Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

Have a great Sunday! The sun is out in DC after being gone on vacation for almost 10 days!

Slow recovery run after work, but hilly - I need to get used to hills if I want to PR on Sunday's 10k and crush fellow fastrunningbloger Eric!

Went up 28th to R, then into the park, then up Massachusetts to Wisconsin, then down to the park again and up the Dumbarton Oaks hill.

Nice and easy run at lunch in sunny - yes, I said SUNNY DC! Finally! Went on the canal to Fletcher's Boathouse and back to the office. Did a couple of faster intervals. Tomorrow I'm planning on doing a few Capitol Hill repeats.

I mapped the profile of the hill with this awesome website:

http://www.heywhatsthat.com/profiler.html

and it says the hill is slightly longer than 0.4 miles, and climbs 112 feet, 4.8% grade on average... I know it doesn't seem much, but for some reason it kills me. I think the main problem is that you go down it first, and as you go down you see everyone struggling up it on the other side of the street... if you went up it first and then down it, you'd be thinking "Ok I just need to get up there and it's all downhill from there" but noooooo, after you are up it it's all flat till the .5-ish mile to the finish line...

What do you think, is it a hill worth mentioning, or am I being a sissy?

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Pictures from this weekend's race - You can tell by my big smile that I did not run very hard!

Ran from the office to Capitol Hill after work, and went up and around the hill 3 times before running home. First I tried to run up really fast... and 10 seconds later I realized that wouldn't work... So I slowed down a bit and made it up as fast as I felt it was feasible (which was pretty slow)... The first time up took me 1 minute 44 seconds, the 2nd I couldn't measure cause I didn't hit the right button on my watch, and the third took me 1 minute 43 seconds... So it sounds like it's OK hill training, about what Bonnie suggested... I feel a little better prepared to run up the hill on Sunday's race.

So, this morning, I woke up, showered, and weighed myself... 4 times... I tapped the screen thingy to make sure it wasn't a 7 instead of a 1... nope, it's a 1... I hadn't seen a 1 that wasn't following a 4 in about 5 years...  Sooooo, I ran into my closet and dusted off a bag that has an old pant suit that hasn't fit me in 5 years... and sure enough, it fits! Happy, happy, happy.

To celebrate, I ate 2 cup cakes from my office mate's birthday party.... smart, ha?

Ran to the office from home in the morning. Very humid but not too hot, a very nice morning. Felt tired... probably should've waited more time before running after doing the hill workout yesterday.

I wonder how well I'll do on Sunday... it's supposed to rain; I hope that doesn't slow me down too much. I've been training more than last year, I'm less heavy than last year, and should be better mentally prepared for that last hill... but the course is not as fast as the Veteran's day 10k where I PR-ed last November... I think I can knock off 2 minutes from last year's time, so I'd do 48 minutes and change...

My last race was an 8k at 37:27; my last 10k was 48:52 in February, and my 10k PR was last November at 46:51. The McMillan Running calculator says I should be able to do 47:12... And I hadn't entered my 8k time there as I usually do after a race to find out what my equivalent marathon time would be: it says 3:41:31... I am not that far from that BQ after all!

Biked to work on Bike to Work day! Lots of more bikers out there. I had the bad idea of sending an e-mail letting everyone in my office know that it was bike to work day... you can imagine all the smart behind responses I got...

I planned on leaving work in time to get a short run in before heading to an International Dinner Party that my friends organize every month, but my boss had something else in mind. I hate having to stay late on a Friday! Biked home and went to the dinner... no running....

Easy miles to loosen up the legs before tomorrow's race - ran to the bank to make a deposit, then ran down Capitol Hill, then up on the other side, into the school that organizes tomorrow's race to pick up my bib and t-shirt, then ran to the Eastern Market farmer's market, got some fresh strawberries to make some ice cream for my friend's graduation party, and walked home. It was supposed to rain today but so far nothing, it's very muggy and humid, hot but not too bad. I can't wait to see how everyone did in the Ogden Marathon today!!! Wish me luck for tomorrow!