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9:30 AM - I fell asleep a little earlier last night than I had wanted, but as I had finished my second final, as well as studied for a third, I was wiped out.  Plus I was told I would not be missing my long run this week!  So I decided to hit the hay because I had my work cut out for me on Sunday.

It was kind of chilly when I woke up today.  Temperature about 20 degrees.  By 9:30 it had warmed up to a brisk 24, though minimal wind so it was pretty much the best case scenario.  Overcast, and roads pretty clear, except for some black ice patches on the backroads.  Kept Sasha and Michelle's suggestions in mind as I laced up my shoes, put on a pair of long spandex, a hat, gloves, and two long sleeve shirts.  Headed out the door and down the driveway...

These are splits/ hilights from what I remember:

MILE 1: Pretty much downhill.  Hung a left onto Parkis Mills Road and clocked a 7:45.  Thinking : "Okay, Benn. Not bad. Remember you still have 12 to go.  Don't let those horses take too much slack right away."

MILE 2: Consisted of two .2 - .3 uphills.  Shortened my stride and just kept the turnover the same, and trudged, trudged, trudged up them.  Felt good and relaxed.  No soreness really from the last two 50+ mile weeks with no days off :) Good sign, I thought.

MILE 3: Hit the mark at just about 23:00.  Felt good and relaxed.  Knew the next 5k coming up would be a lot of downhill.

MILES 4 thru 6: Some nice downhills in here that I knew ended up bringing my average mile time down a bit.  Held back on the steep downgrades though.  At mile 5 met a cheerful hunting duo carrying shotguns.  Ironic that they were walking uphill, and about half a mile later at the bottom of the hill I startled 4 hens and a tom that came fluttering about 12 feet above the ground through the trees.  Guess the turkeys won today!  Accidentally passed the 6 MILE mark and forgot to check my time :(.

MILES 7 & 8:  Downhill again.  Didn't think about pace too much, so much as breathing.  Wanted to keep it in check and basically breathing once every four or five steps (my relaxed pace). 

MILE 9: Was back out on the main road this time, Rte. 29 (which I would be following all the way back to my house).  This is always my least favorite part of running routes going east, because you have to take Rte. 29 back which is the busiest road in the county.  And boy people are really inconsiderate.  At just about the 9 MILE mark, I hear cars approaching from the back of me, and I'm all the way over on the side of the shoulder, though there is an ice patch coming up in front of me so I go out a bit to the right.  There is a double yellow line and no cars coming the other way so I figure I'm good.  I'm about halfway around it when simultaneously an 18 wheeler is coming by in the same direction as me, and a hot-to-trot black BMW speeds around it, narrowly missing my arm by I'd say about 12 to 18 inches.  Needless to say I was quite unnerved as well as a little angry that someone would not only break the law, but put other people in danger.  Mind you, this was in a 40 MPH zone and he had to easily be doing 55 or 60.  Hit the 9 MILE mark on the bridge, and remembered this time to look at my watch.  It read 1:07:02!! I think this was for the first time when I realized, hey wait a minute, Benn! You're doin' alright!!!

MILES 10 & 11:  Uphill again, as the remainder of the run would be.  I didn't really want to try to increase my pace, but rather hold it, especially after the run in with the near collision!  During MILE 11, someone pulled over a bit in front of me and proceeded to ask me directions to Ballston Spa, which is a town about 20 miles away.  When I gave the simplest directions I could think of, she seemed quite angry like it was my fault she had headed west after getting off the Northway instead of south :-.  I didn't let it get to me though, and I pushed on.  When I hit the hotel which is about my 2 mile mark, I just kept the tempo up.  I was breathing hard now, about once every 3 steps, maybe 2.

MILES 12 to 13.1:  I have run this part of Rte. 29 countless hundreds of times since I started training in high school.  I felt nice and relaxed, though by now my legs were starting to feel the hills.  I pushed on though, kept the tempo - imagined like I was on my bike on the trip to Maine two years ago, just plugging away at the hills: step-2-3-4-step-2-3-4. "Knees up, Benn. Almost there".  I kept pushing, and started to think of my mantra.. and thought about how I would get to call Emmy as soon as I got inside.  "You can do this, Benn!"  I drove hard towards the finish.

And it was then, at the 13.11 MARK I knew I'd done it.  Without seemingly "racing", I'd set my BIGGEST PR OF THE YEAR!!! (and arguably MY LIFE!)   I warmed down to the house (~.5 miles)

NEW HALF MARATHON (13.11 Miles) - 1:38:31 (that's 7:31/mile PACE!!!!) That's a HALF MARATHON PR of 11 minutes 29 seconds  Old Record was 1:50:xx set in winter of 2004 when I was a freshman in college and about 20 pounds lighter!!!

I'm so glad I went out there and ran that long run today!!!! Thanks to everyone who inspires me, and pushes me to run by heart out.  I think I can finally say that I see the benefits of more consistent training, and having people that believe you can do it!  :-D

5:00 PM - Man was the commute today horrible!  While we had about 2-3 inches of snow up at the house, as I drove south to Albany, I became aware of the fine line the storm carved.  One minute it was all white and pristine, the next, slick, icy and a driver's worst nightmare.  I counted no fewer than four car accidents on my 45 minute commute!  All the local schools in Albany were cancelled (all two DOZEN OF THEM!), but our college won't close as it was the official last day of classes for the semester - blah!  But I guess it was good, because I got to celebrate my last official day of classes as an UNDERGRAD! woot!  Handed in two finals as well so I guess that's a good thing!

Next up:  Two finals on Wednesday back to back in my history classes and a Sociology final on Thursday.  Then GRADUATION ON SATURDAY!

Friday is the best day of all though:  after having a crappy dentist appointment I get to come home and wait to see my EMMY who is driving out for the weekend to see my graduation and what not! I am so excited! Haven't seen her since Turkey Day!! That girl is so amazing it's crazy!  I think I might set a world record for longest hug when I see her :-D!

So about the run.... I thought my legs were hurting.. which they are if I bend down or squat or whatever.  So I started off slow, but quickly found my legs had a lot to give.  I tried my hardest to hold back, but ended up still cruising fairly quick.  It's so hard having to run on the treadmill and not outside, especially on school days where I'm gone from the house from 6 am to 5pm!!!! DURING ALL THE DAYLIGHT HOURS! grrrr frustrating!   So I set the treadmill at 1.5% incline and set off.  First two miles were 8:00 to 8:20 and then they got quicker.  Legs felt pretty good actually. Only complaint was I got overheated running inside.  I really should see if I can't rig up the treadmill to run in the garage so I can run outside in the cold!

Total Mileage:  6.2 Miles   Total Time:  48:00   Average Pace:  7:44 (a bit too fast for a "recovery" day, huh?) but I'm getting better at pacing.  I'm determined to try and log some slower miles or something! Or maybe on the next long run I'll hold back and just hit 8's or something. I don't know.  It just feels really good to be in such great shape, as I am still twenty pounds heavier the last time I was even close to this fitness level.  And that PR yesterday is still keeping a smile on my face :)!!

Call me stupid, or anal retentive, but saw I was at 19.81 miles for the week so far, and it just didn't sit right, so went and did a barefoot quarter mile on the treadmill at 7:40 pace! :) Felt better to push me just high enough to sleep well tonight.  Now back to studying I go!

9:00 AM - Went for an easy run on the treadmill.  Was nice because right as I was finishing my cutie called me which made me happy :) Just today, Wed. and Thurs to get through, and then I get to see her on Friday! Yay!

Total Mileage:  6 Miles   Total Time:  49:16   Average Pace: 8:12 Good.  Nice and easy. 

I wanted to stay in the 8 to 8:30 range today and truly learn more about running at an "easy" pace on easy days.  I think I have been overtraining a bit, and running a little faster than I should be, as I guess Sasha pointed out to me.  Off to work 11am to 8pm.  Hopefully home to do a couple miles to put me at 8 for the day.  Then cramming all night for final exams!

 8:30 PM - Long day at work.  Came home and still felt pretty good, so hopped on the treadmill and did another 2.52 miles in 21:00 minutes.  Average Pace of 8:20.  Felt really good and relaxed.  Ironically was reading an article that stressed that many people run too hard on easy days, so I am going to concentrate on running conservatively pace wise, and allowing myself to go a little harder on the long days, to get my body used to the feel of running faster longer.

I hope this isn't a sign my body wants to quit... slept through 4 different alarms this morning and when I finally did wake up I felt like blah.  I don't really feel like running before having to go into work 11am to 8pm.  I don't know what to do! I mean I know I can deal with a day off here and there, but I've been doing so well, and I know I have a lot of stuff to do this week... finals tomorrow and thursday and then graduation on saturday.  What would you all do? Maybe I'll try to hop on the treadmill tonight for an easy couple miles. :-

4:00 PM - So the two finals went well today.  The one professor was sad to see me turn in my final. He said: "Mr. Griffin, just so you know you are really cut out for this History stuff. Best of luck to you, and if you need a recommendation for grad school, shoot me an e-mail."  So I guess that's good?

Came home a little early today since I finished final exams at 3:00.  Hopped on the treadmill at like 4ish... though I am getting really tired of running on the treadmill now.  Only did a 10k because was just too boring and wanted to be done with it. I hate winter. A lot...

Total Time: 48:52   Total Mileage:  6.2   Average Pace:  7:53 .. had to try really hard to hold back. Started at 8:34 pace but just couldn't stand it at about the 3 mile mark dropped down to 7:30s to just be done with it.

Bad snow storm today that's supposed to keep going until late tonight. And just tried running on the treadmill and it's broken AGAIN! Gr so frustrating.  So now it looks like today I won't get a run in. I was doing so well too, like 2 and a half weeks almost without missing a day! Tried to go outside and mom said I couldn't because the back roads will be too bad. There's already a bunch of accidents out on the road.  So I will try to get in a long run tomorrow morning before the dentist appt.  Have to wake up at like 6!

Was going to run outside today but that huge storm hit.  It was fine when I went in for my last final of undergrad! .. came out and 5 inches of snow, with anoher 3-4 inches expected.  Took 2 hours to drive the 38 miles home! yikes!  Happy that Undergraduate stuff is done, but found out right when I got home... I GOT ACCEPTED INTO GRAD. SCHOOL! (This after a disconcerting meeting this a.m. where I was informed someone breeched the confidentiality agreement and opened up my letter or recommendation from my religion professor which basically stated I would be a good candidate for a MS in Education... To make a long story short, the woman who opened it had no authority to do so, and was a representative of our "astute" history faculty and accosted my professor because basically she felt she was getting shafted of a good student.  He let me know the story and told me that's probably why I've had so much trouble hearing news back from them about the status of my application.  But got home and just got the news!)  So excited, so going to celebrate with an easy run downstairs on the treadmill.  I had hoped to do 7 or 8 outside, but I think I'll just shoot for an easy 4 or 5 on the 'mill today and just try to finish out the week 40+ miles. 

8:00 AM - Got up and it looked nice out. Overcast and temp in about mid 20s and all the fresh snow on the ground and in the trees.  Decided to go for a longish run so headed out the door and out onto the back roads... Man was it a mess.  They still haven't cleaned most of them so there was about 2-3 inches of slush and sand on there and needless to say it felt like I was running on the beach.  Started off pretty easy and just basically wanted to not die on the way home which was 3 miles of uphill.  Felt really calm and relaxed and despite the wind which picked up and threw snow in my face, it was a nice run.  A truck went flying past at like 45mph on a one lane road which made me want to shout some sort of explicative in his direction. But I held my tongue.  And I was rewarded.  The last 15 minutes, the sun came out and the wind died down and it was truly amazing.

Total Mileage: 10 Miles   Total Time:  1:19:15   Average Pace: 7:55

Now off to the dentist and then to the mall to find a pair of pants and a shirt for graduation tomorrow! Yikes!!