catherine's running efforts

I'm going on a little work trip to Colorado today, so I don't have to go to my office until Friday! Best week ever. I celebrated not having to ride the bus by running with Melody and her friends. They're all very lean. It was faster than I run when I'm by myself, but it went by really quickly. And it was fun. I'm glad they let me tag along. 6 miles, 7:50ish pace.

Then I went to the gym and enjoyed some treadmill time with Casino Royale. 4.5 miles (it was only supposed to be 4, but I had to find out if he saved the plane), 8:49 pace. Also did fake pullups/dips and tummy stuff. As I was driving home I saw Eric finishing his run, so I gave him a ride.

Remember how yesterday I said this was the best week ever? Really I'd trade the early bus ride and obnoxious upstairs neighbors to be home with Eric. Aww...

It was sunny and cool outside today. It was kind of hard to find somewhere to run - I kept coming to freeways. So I ended up running a few laps around some apartments about a mile away. I should have thrown in another lap so I would have gotten 4 miles. Oh well. 

After yesterday's wanderings through apartment complexes, I wanted to find out where Colorado Springs people run. This morning I made it to the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail only about a mile and a half after I was supposed to find it, but it felt really sketchy so I turned around after a couple of minutes. Plus I think I saw a gang member on my way out. So I did most of my out-and-back on some road. Now I'm off to see Garden of the Gods with my coworker before our meetings this afternoon. 9:11 AP. 

I'm so glad to be home! It was the first time Eric and I had been apart since we got married in January and I was kind of a wuss about the separation, so I was really really happy to see him when he picked me up at the airport this morning. Then we had an okay time at the dentist (no cavities, at least), and Eric had planned a nice trail run for us to do this afternoon. But it was raining, so we went to the gym instead. 9:13 pace on the treadmill, then arms and abs. 

We knew this was a race with a lot of fast people where neither of us would come close to winning, so I didn't have the eye of the tiger going into it. I had a vague goal of being under 21 minutes, but I knew that it was a harder course than the one about a month ago where I was just over 21, so I knew that'd be pretty unlikely. 

Mile 1: 6:48:10. This was pretty hard because it started uphill. I immediately wished I had eaten something before the race (I don't usually because I'm afraid of having poop problems). I tried to think about things other than running.

Mile 2: 6:24:24. Easier because it was downhill, but I was still feeling tired. I kept trying to tell myself that it wasn't very hard and that it was going to be over soon, but mostly I was stressing about being able to keep the pace and wondering if I wanted to puke on or eat the blue pancakes the parade-watchers were eating.

Mile 3: 7:28:82. How embarrassing. Yeah, it was a gradual uphill, but there's really no excuse for this. At some point during this mile I had the new experience of feeling like I couldn't get enough air (usually I'm limited by leg/foot soreness or the mental game but not oxygen intake), and I told myself it was okay to slow down (and that I would never do a 5K again). I wish I could have kept it together. There was also some grass running that probably slowed me down for a few seconds. But really I just decided it was too hard and that I didn't want to try anymore (even though in the moment I think I felt like I was trying pretty hard).

Last 0.1: I don't know. I forgot to stop my watch. It was nice to be on the track, though. *Way* better than the stupid grass.

Runnercard time: 21:34.1.

I was kind of bummed for a bit afterward. I'd been used to every race being a new PR, so I wondered if this meant I had stopped getting faster. I'm hoping that really I was just extra tired and it was a harder course than I'm used to.

Later - Started a 6-mile out-and-back on the Provo BST with Eric. Neither of us were feeling great, though, so we cut it short. 3.25.