catherine's running efforts

Out University and back on Freedom. 

With Eric. 

I really like my Kinvaras. They're super comfy. I wish I didn't occasionally get sore calves/shins from them, but Eric says it's probably just from the lower heel-toe ratio and that I'll get used to it. Makes sense. 

My first time in the Cardio Cinema at Gold's Gym. Spiderman was on. I loved it because it was comfortable, the bathroom and drinking fountain were conveniently close, and I could just zone out and watch the movie. 

At the Cardio Cinema. Sick after, despite not having eaten anything before the run. Oh well. 

Started at the cardio cinema, but the movie was the most stupid movie ever (some Transformers movie). Turns out that the regular TV treadmills are better. 

I think I like this gym treadmill thing because we don't really watch TV. We have shows that we like to watch, but for the last year we've only had time to catch them on Hulu on the weekends. So it's kind of a treat to go and have a mental break. Plus, doesn't Lindsey Dunkley do most of her training on a treadmill? And she's crazy fast.

At the Cardio Cinema with Eric. It's nice when he can take a break to spend time with me. 

Tried out some minutes at 6:30 and 0.1 mile at 6. 

I didn't hate this race as much as Eric did, but it's still probably my least favorite race ever. 

The whole reason for doing a 5K today was so that Eric could get a new PR. His old one was from January, about two weeks after he had really started running. We hadn't decided between the Beat Beethoven one in Pleasant Grove or another race in conjunction with a half-marathon in Spanish Fork, but at the last minute this morning we decided to go to PG since the SF race might be crazy with the half and a fun run going on at the same time. Plus, we'd get to see Awesome Allie. 

We got there and were charged a price different than what the registration form said, but they fixed that. Then when we were getting ready to start the person giving instructions said that the course wasn't marked and to follow the lead people. Eric had said he wasn't feeling well, so I thought that probably Allie would win, and it sounded like she had memorized the course turns. I figured there'd be enough people ahead of me that I wouldn't have to figure out where to go on my own, and since Eric wasn't feeling well I thought he wouldn't have to worry about the unmarked course either. 

Everything went okay for me during the race. I saw several people dodging cars (for real...and then a couple of cars just stopped in the road because they didn't know what was going on) as we crossed through intersections, but I never had to slow down because of the lack of directions or traffic control. Near the end I passed a guy because he had to slow down for a truck, so I kind of felt bad for him there. I knew I'd be several minutes behind Allie, but there was another girl I could see for the first two miles who I kept hoping would run out of steam. But then she disappeared around the turn to the finish, so maybe she was banditing? Or she took a wrong turn? So I ended up second woman, and *almost* made it under 21 minutes. After looking at my splits I wonder if I should have tried harder, but it sounds like I'll have another chance sometime soon since Eric still needs a new 5K PR. 

To sum up, I wouldn't do this race again. I like the "Beat Beethoven" idea, and I believe in libraries and museums and stuff, and I like runnercard timing, but it was kind of dangerous to send people out on a course and not tell them that there's no traffic control, and it was kind of annoying that there were absolutely no course markings (no mile markers, but also not even one "turn here" marking or volunteer (except the people at a water station on a corner)). Plus, I know it's not supposed to be the point of a race, but I really like the "race atmosphere," and that wasn't here either. It was good to spend a morning with Eric, though, and it was fun to see Allie.

It makes me wonder, though. Sometimes a course isn't marked, sometimes someone misses a marking, sometimes there's a huge crowd at the start that we can't get through, sometimes a volunteer sends someone in the wrong direction. But everyone uses race times as PRs instead of  just going out to a track or something. Why? And what's the line between runner's responsibility (specifically in road races and not those trail races where part of the race is to follow a map or something) and race director's responsibility? 

Splits: 6:51, 6:58, 6:48, and then whatever for the last 0.1.

I didn't think I'd be into it, but now I'm really looking forward to watching the rest of Mission Impossible 3. 

9:14 for 7, 8:00 for 0.5, 6:44 for 0.5. 

I wanted to get 12, but I forgot/didn't know the gym closes at 9:00 on Saturdays. So I had to do the last half mile at 7:03 to even get to 11. Maybe I would have hit 12 anyway if I hadn't had to run a little slower than usual because of a too-recent (but yummy) Pei Wei dinner. Let this be a lesson to me on planning...

And congratulations to everyone who rocked T of U! You're all my heroes!

9:13 for all, then hanging leg-lifts and fake pull-ups. Felt kind of sickish since the bus home. Perfume/cologne/smelly lotion on the bus is like the same in the gym. Gross. 

A bit of tummy trouble. And that new Will Arnette show is only a little funny. 

8:49 pace. Wanted to do 6 miles but had to go meet Eric.

8:49 for the first 3 miles, then a lot slower for the last mile. The Office was okay. I was sad that we accidentally missed Community. 

Hiked to the Y with Eric and his siblings. It was fun. I definitely never want to have to run it, though. 

At the gym. 9:13 for 11, 7:41 for 1. Saw part of Rocky for the first time, then the first bit of Pink Panther. Then did the v-crunch machine and fake pullups and fake dips. 

Eric's on a trail run and thought he might finish at the same time I did, so I drove up toward where I thought he might be coming out of the mountain. I didn't find him, but I saw these two girls doing a trail run and felt like a bum for doing all of my miles on a treadmill. But then I figured that I am where I am and there's no sense in trying to compare myself to people who probably have completely different lives and backgrounds than I do.

*Note - Eric called from his sister's house while I was typing this. He had gotten lost on the trail. :)

3 miles in the morning to make up for not running yesterday, then 5 in the evening. 8:49 for all. 

Glee was on tonight. Rachel has a six-pack? Maybe I should put in some elliptical time. 

Usually Eric wakes up at about 5:00 and leaves for his morning run, and I wake up at about 6:00 and get ready to catch the bus at 6:29 (yeah...since we moved to Provo I've reduced my morning routine to just brushing my teeth and taking a shower). The bus brings me home at about 5:00, and then Eric and I go to the gym and get/make (usually get) dinner and I'm in bed at about 9:30 (Eric usually stays up late to study). (Yes, this brings up the question of why I need so much more sleep than Eric does. I don't know. I just know that when I don't get 8-9 hours of sleep a night I get really cranky and anxious and cry-ish.) This week, though, I have to spend more time at work, so I'm driving every day and I went to the gym with Eric at 5:30 this morning so that I don't have another Monday (when I got home at bedtime and didn't want to run). My legs felt more tired than they did last night, and it took two miles until I felt like I didn't want to quit. I was tired at the fake pullups and dips, too, but everything went okay and it was nice to get the (shortish) run out of the way early in the day. Maybe I could shift my sleep and do my run every morning. Or maybe I could get used to just 7 hours of sleep. Or maybe after this week I'll just go back to the evening runs.   

9:14 for 3, 7:30 for 1. 

The hard part of this week is over! I got about 4 hours of sleep last night, so I was pretty tired by the end of the day. The three miles were at 9:14 during an okay episode of Friends (the last two seasons just weren't as good), then I did hanging leg lifts and Eric and I hung out in the hot tub for a few minutes.