Motivated to Succeed

First off, everyone wish EMMA a Happy 23rd Birthday today! She's old like me now!

(BUT WAY CUTER! doh!!)

4:40 AM - Woke up after an okay night's sleep. Had a nightmare that I was taking my last class for my master's degree and the major paper was an online submission rather than physical hard copy, and I had missed the deadline by a matter of hours and got a zero which meant I failed and wouldn't be able to graduate. Haha I am such a dweeb sometimes. I mean who dreams about school?! Headed to the track. Holy fog out there this a.m.! We had a huge downpour yet again last night when I was leaving work. I had to pull over to the side of the road because I couldn't drive more than about 20 mph. They said in July we had 9.91" of rainfall which is the most since they started keeping records back in 1820s!

Felt good at the track. Nickname today was man of the mist. I kept going in and out of the fog at the far end of the track. I think I surprised a few cars as they drove past and saw a sweaty bearded curmudgeon emerging and then receding back into the darkness. Oh to play tricks on early a.m. drivers! Splits were:

• Mile 1: 9:15
• Mile 2: 9:04
• Mile 3: 8:59
• Mile 4: 8:48
• Mile 5: 8:31
• Mile 6: 8:04
• Mile 7: 7:25

Total Time: 1:00:11 Total Distance: 7 miles Average Pace: 8:35

Off to work for sixth full shift in a row. Thankfully I get the next two days off. I'm going to Massachusetts to see Emmy and have Indian take out and watch movies with her. I haven't seen her since the surgery. I'm excited to get an Emmy hug and to give the Swamp Thing a big hug and a kiss if it's allowed! Great start to the day already!

10:30 AM - Overcast, humid. Dewpoint was 70 this morning and temp was 70. Ick! Temperature at the start of the run was 80. It was 82 at the finish. A very humbling run on the Ashuwilticook Rail Trail while I am at Emmy's on my weekend. Started off great and did about 4.1 in 34:34 before turning around and coming back. The last mile though I just decided to do a cool down at 10:00 pace. I was spent. I had a waterbottle in the car, but it was a Nalgene so didn't have anything with me. What does this mean for someone who is always hot and sweating? Yuck! My shirts were soaked through, as were my shorts. I weighed 197 pounds at the start of the run after eating yummy Indian food yesterday and the day before for Emmy's bday. However, after running I quickly downed 32oz of water in my bottle and was still only 190 pounds! Talk about a sweat machine! The last mile went slowly, but it was good to just cruise on in. Got a lot of weird looks from passersby as I looked like I had just jumped into the lake or something! Haha! Going to get Gatorade and try to replenish electrolytes. Back to New York tomorrow. Emmy is 23 though and old like me! :D. We're going to have an inhome movie date tonight yay! She's the best date because she doesn't mind when I sneak some of her snacks! Average Pace for the first 7.25 was 8:37/ mile with a 10:03 cool down mile. Phew!

Total Time:  1:12:31 Total Distance: 8.25 miles Average Pace: 8:47

6:20 AM - Sunny and blue skies. Slight wind. Crisp and cool! My favorite type of running weather! Temperature was about 55 degrees at the start. Absolutely lovely! Wanted to wake up earlier, but worked late last night at the bookstore and then I have to do a wraparound shift at work tonight, working until 1130 and then opening tomorrow at 8. Yuck! Went to the school and did circuits (1 loop on the track, 1 loop of the small nature trail, 1 loop of the big nature trail; repeat x 4). Felt good and confident. Only thing is I've been perseverating on the differences in definition and muscles in my legs. My left leg is substantially smaller than my right one. I don't know what I can do to strengthen it though as lunges hurt my knee since my knees go outwards rather than straight. I just don't want to hurt my left leg as my right one is doing the work. Or perhaps this is why I hurt my right leg after all last year, as it seems my right leg is pulling more than its share of work? If I can find an ankle weight I'm going to try to do quad strengthening raises on my left leg. Off to go pay my last semester of grad school! I contemplated paying with all one dollar bills, but alas I'll have to settle for a bank check for 6,000 bucks. I'm about to become a very poor grad school student indeed! Bye bye savings! Cooled down after the 4x circuits with 2 miles in the Vibrams. I like their feeling on trails, except you have to pay attention to roots and rocks as they don't offer the support of shoes. Splits this morning were:

• Mile 1: 10:14
• Mile 2: 9:54
• Mile 3: 9:27
• Mile 4: 9:49
• Mile 5: 9:04
• Mile 6: 9:24
• Mile 7: 9:33

Total Time: 1:11:40 Total Distance: 7.51 miles Average Pace: 9:32