track fan

1:59:12 (1:02:43/56:28) (8:57/8:04), last 4 miles @ 7:30 and faster.   So lucky today!  Even though it was 83F and 60% humidity at 5AM this morning, by the time I got started (6:30) it was overcast ... so although I looked like I had just stepped out of a swimming pool by the end of the run (93F) it was not nearly as uncomfortable as it would have been had there been full sun.  My foot hurt so badly last night and this morning that I was afraid I might not be able to finish my run ... luckily, it did not get any worse, so I just kept going.

Two things of note today.  First, as I was driving to the trail today a car passed me, they were really jerks, I was going a bit over the speed limit and yet they had to blow by me like they were in a serious hurry.  Then, they swerved around another car (again, not driving slow, just the speed limit) -- I don't know how to describe how they were driving, it was just unnecessarily dangerous for a Sunday at 6AM.  Well, just as they swerved around their third car (coming way too close), a cop pulled a u-turn in the middle of the street and went after them.  I just laughed, it made my day.  Second, as I was trucking along on my run, Ian Burrell  (used to be with McMillan Elite, now is in law school at U of A - was 2nd American at Bix last month) came up on me and said from behind, "hi Bonnie".  We chatted for a minute about his new baby (she is beautiful) and stuff and then he just blew by me so fast I had a breeze ;-).  It was so cool to see someone running so fast, and yet effortlessly.   I guess there were three things of note, I also saw Eddy the-drug-cheat Hellybuck - but I see him around here a lot, he has some young group of athletes that he is coaching that put up some impressive times on the local racing scene. 

Dean is on his way to Virginia, he is going to see someone at the sports medicine lab there, to see if they can help him run again ... this might be the last resort so I have all my fingers and toes crossed, it has been such a hard 2 years for him.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday -- I wish the results had not gotten messed  up at Falmouth ... I am on the edge of my seat to see how the Americans did there this morning. 

AM: (10.5 miles, 1:29:01). 30:00wu/31:09cd.  15 x 200m w/200 recovery.  I did this as a fartlek (:45 on and 1` off) -- uphill x 8, downhill by 7.  91F (41% humidity).  Felt pretty strong today, although the sun was out and it felt  much warmer than 91.  

Did not sleep well at all.  As I was checking for scorpions last night (I always check under the sheets and around my bed) I found one!  Figures, since Dean was gone and it is NOT MY JOB.  I kind of freaked out and considered just moving to the guest bedroom, but decided that was silly.  So, I went and put on a pair of boots, long pants and my bathrobe (why?  I have no idea, I just felt I should be fully covered ;-) ), and then got a tupperware bowl, opened the sliding glass door, and stuck the bowl on him.   Then I kind of danced around and tried to figure out if I had enough courage to slide a piece of cardboard underneath and walk him to the door ... I have done this with mice, but they don't freak me out as much.   I took a few deep deep breaths, and did it .... RUNNING to the door, screaming and threw him out.  I was proud of myself, but freaked out.  So it took me ages to fall asleep.  Then, Keiko woke me every two hours to go out - the people at doggy daycare keep giving her food, and then she gets sick and has to poop all the time ... I keep forgetting to tell them to stop giving her food.  The short version of the story is that I got very little sleep last night ... and I have so much work to do today ... sigh.

PM: 4 miles easy. 

1:13:23.   Felt like crap this entire run ... it is hot, I am tired, and for some reason I feel sick to my stomach.  At least I never felt worse, just consistently bad. Just one of those days I suppose. 

I am working diligently to finish a paper before the semester starts ... I am teaching my *hard* class this semester ... I will have very little concentrated time to write. I am very close to having things outlined, and I think I have a solid outline, now I just have to fill in the bits.

I hope you all have a very happy humpday!! 

(Kelli, I wish I had run that fast ... but I had forgotten a "1"!!). 

AM: (9.5 miles, 1:20:16).  Easy hilly run, with the last 2+ miles at MP effort.  I say effort because I don't know exactly what my pace was, I just know that it is a little more than 2 miles, I ran it in 18:53 on my way out and 16:00 flat on my way back -- so it was a little under 8:00 pace.  I am pretty happy with this, especially given that it was 98.4F and sunny as well as being extremely hilly (the last 3 miles of this run includes at least 1.5 miles uphill and then a bunch of smaller "woopdee doos").  

PM: easy 4.

We are going to see John in Phoenix this afternoon ... I am not really looking forward to it, it is going to hurt.  BUT, I know it must be done.  

My paper is going very very well, I am pretty excited, the results are really coming together and the outline is really shaping up to something that I think is going to be able to go to a pretty good journal.

Happy Thursday bloggers! 

1:03:05.   The coolest run I have had in a long time (83F/65% humidity).

Yesterday we drove through the craziest weather coming home from John's (in Phoenix) -- first, there was a dust storm (actually a haboob I came to find out), we came through on the tail end of it ... it was like driving through a tunnel of dark sand, then the dust turned into a huge rain cloud and it looked like a war zone ... there were huge rivers of water, land on the side of the road covered with ponds of water, and billboard signs, construction signs, and a slew of cars just splattered all over.  Apparently the rain had strong winds that blew a bunch of junk all over the freeway.  The only serious accident (the driver might have died) was a huge tractor-trailer truck that had been blown over on its side in the middle of the freeway.  It was surreal ...

 The good news was that the storm cooled things down -- it was 113F when we got to John's, it was 75F when we got home ...aahhh.  It won't last long, we are destined for 100's the rest of the weekend.

I hope you have a good Friday bloggers!!

AM: (8 miles, 1:11:31).  Cooler today, it was only 87F at the start and 92F at the end today!

PM: easy 4.

Have to run, today is new student orientation, I have to go meet the incoming students, I think we have 6-8 new masters students and 4 new phd students.  I met the new statistics students yesterday (today is biostat day, yesterday was statistics day).

Have a great weekend bloggers, great job racers and pacers!!