Same Time, Same Channel

Easy/moderate run. Average pace: 9:02.

Weather: 32°F, 53% humidity, wind 8 mph S.

I think I got my run in during the best part of the day. The skies were partly cloudy and I had some sun since I got out kind of late and was out for a long time. Now it's quite overcast and a storm is coming in.

I felt pretty good, especially for the first half of the run, and so I mostly ran easy but sometimes pushed the pace just a little bit, particularly when going up hill. By the end, the recurring blister on my right foot was killing me. I've been putting Vaseline on my blister spots before I run, but it didn't help today. I bought some new shoes (Brooks Adrenaline) yesterday and I'm wearing them at work today to break them in. I'll run in them tomorrow. I hope they'll be better for my feet and won't aggravate the blister spots.

I wanted to post a picture of the elevation profile from my run, but I can't because of the quirks of my work computer (security stuff). I may try to do it when I get home tonight.

I had a nice run, but the day has gone downhill since then.

**Update**

I just looked out the window and we're having horizontal weather. I'm dreading walking out to my car (which is parked in the north 40) when I leave here.

Fartlek run - easy w/6 x 30 sec. at 3K-5K pace. Average pace: 9:16.

Weather: 19°F, 70% humidity, wind 7.5 S.

The horizontal weather yesterday evening only amounted to about an inch of snow that didn't really stick to the sidewalks much. The roads and sidewalks in my neighborhood were mostly clear. But when I got out onto the main roads, I discovered that the snow plows must have come by during the storm last evening and deposited a layer of chunky ice on the shoulder of the road and the sidewalks. I estimate that about 40% of my run was on dry surfaces, and the other 60% was on icy stuff.

I did a mile to warm up and then started the 30-second speed intervals. I ran easy approximately 2 minutes between intervals. I had a little longer recovery before the last 2 intervals because I was on icy sidewalks at that point and I waited until I got to a side street so I could switch to the road before starting the interval (the sidewalk is too far from the road to just step down at other times). Even with going on the road, the shoulder was pretty icy and I had to get very close to the outside line of the lane on those last 2 intervals in order to find dry pavement.

We're supposed to get into the 50s today, so the ice that I encountered this morning should melt. The next storm is supposed to come Friday night/Saturday morning and they're saying that it could be a big one. I'm thinking that maybe I'll try to do my 18 miler tomorrow morning and just come in late to work and then work on Saturday morning while it's snowing to make it up.

I'll push last night's elevation preblogging down and put today's real entry at the top.

Hard long run. Average pace: 8:48.

Weather: 41°F, 52% humidity, wind 8 SW. The wind wasn't much of a factor except the last few miles when I was running into it.

The workout I was supposed to do according to my Hudson training plan was 2 miles easy, 14 miles @ marathon pace + 10-20 sec/mile, 2 miles easy. Marathon pace + 10-20 sec/mile would be about 8:50 or 9:00. Sasha wants me to practice going as long I can at 8:15 pace so that I can do that in the marathon and get ahead of my target pace and then still get the time I want with a positive split. I decided to try Sasha's plan. Last week I ran 8 miles at just under 8:00 pace with him, so I thought that today I could do 10 miles at closer to 8:15 pace. So I did 2 miles easy, 10 miles trying to get to 8:15 pace, 2 miles easy, 2 miles trying to get to 8:15 pace, and 2 miles easy. My splits were 9:57, 9:36, 8:32, 8:18, 8:19, 8:23, 8:19, 8:20, 8:18, 8:21, 8:15 (finally hit it), 8:08 (anxious to get to the easy part), 9:37, 9:45, 8:22, 8:27, 9:55, 9:34.

I put vaseline on my blisters, a bandaid on one of them, and wore my thickest socks. The bandaid didn't stay in place, probably because of the vaseline. My feet were killing me for the last several miles. Since I've finally figured out how to post pictures, I will now gross you out with a picture of my blisters. Don't laugh at the toe nail polish. I NEVER polish my nails, but this is left over from the pedicure I got on my birthday last week.

I think my feet are just hating the Sauconys. I would have worn the Brooks, but I think I need to do a few short runs in them before I do a long run. I'll wear them for my long run next week for sure. Maybe that will help.

On the up side, I'm happy to have the weekend in front of me and my long run out of the way. This is two weeks in a row doing my long run on Friday. I might do it again next week because I need to have a choir practice Saturday morning to get ready for the Easter program. I'll have to take a day off from work in order to do it next Friday because I'll have to wait until the kids are at school to run. I could go early today because my husband is on spring break and could get the kids off to school today. I day off from work to do a long run kind of sounds like fun anyway.

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Preblogging to show you the elevation profile of my 12-mile run from Wednesday. This is a combination of two 6-mile routes that I run regularly.

Recovery run. Average pace: 10:06.

Weather: 26°F, 93% humidity, wind 25 mph N, light snow with no accumulation except a light dusting on grassy areas.

This is the snow storm that wasn't. For the past several days the local news has been talking like a foot of snow was guaranteed. The snow was supposed to start between 11:00 last night and midnight. I woke up a couple of times during the night and looked out the window to see that there was no snow. When I got up about 7:30 this morning, the snow had just started. It's just an off and on very light snow. Still it is cold and windy and was unpleasant to run in, particularly when heading north. I ran south to begin, and then did an east-west zig zaggy thing to make my way back north and mnimize the amount of due north running I needed to do in order to get home. I'm glad that I did my long run yesterday because it was one thing to do a 5 mile easy run in the cold and wind today. It would have been quite another thing to do an 18 mile hard run in that weather.

I stopped and picked up a pair of Yaktrax last night on my way home from work. I didn't need them this morning. I guess I'll just hang on to them and maybe I'll need them some day, hopefully not until next winter.

All sorts of things were cancelled proactively in anticipation of the storm. For example, our school district decided yesterday to cancel all Saturday activities today. That wouldn't be a big deal, except all of the high schools were supposed to take the ACT today and our high school was supposed to have a performance of their musical tonight. With the way this storm has turned out, there was really no reason to cancel these things. It's unpleasant outside, but not that bad.

Easy run with 10 x 30 sec. @ 3K-10K pace. Average pace: 9:20.

Weather: 17°F, 69% humidity, minimal wind from the SE.

My head is a little stuffy and throat is a little sore, but I got outside and did some deep breathing of the cold air anyway. I actually think that doing that helps to keep my lungs and sinuses clear. It certainly empties my nose out.

My legs were a little tired when I started, but then I got going fairly well. I probably took the fast sections a little faster than I should have. My paces on the 10-30 sec. fast bits were: 6:45, 6:55, 7:01, 7:26, 7:07, 7:16, 7:14, 7:07, 7:05, 7:02. I really didn't think I was going quite that fast when I was doing them. I did on average 4 minutes of easy running between fast intervals (with nearly 3 miles at the beginning and about 2.5 miles at the end, all easy).

I'm trying to decide whether I should register for the Bolder Boulder this year, and if so whether I should get in a qualifying wave. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Bolder Boulder, it is a VERY POPULAR 10K race that is held in Bolder, CO every Memorial Day. I ran it for the first time last year. I would like to do it again, but my problem is that it is 9 days after my marathon. If you think you can run the race faster than 62 minutes, you can register for a qualifying wave, which requires that you show proof from a previous race of your ability to run the time you predict. Based on my recent half marathon performance, I could qualify for about a 49 minute time. If you're slower than 62 minutes, they have open waves that don't require qualification. I don't know whether I should try to "race" a 10K 9 days after my marathon, run a 10K as an easy pace 9 days after my marathon, or give up the whole idea and skip it this year. Because this race is so huge, I can't really wait until after my marathon to decide. Registration fills up before then.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:47.

Weather: 36°F, 24% humidity, wind 10 SSW.

Tired today. Stayed up too late. Busy day yesterday. In a hurry today. Sentence fragments.

Progression Run - 3 miles easy, 6 miles moderate, 2 miles easy. Average pace: 9:11.

Weather: 41°F, 35% humidity, wind 9 SSE.

I was up too late again last night, but not quite as late as the night before, but then I got up a little earlier this morning so that I'd have time for a longer run. I was out the door to start my run at 5:30, but then I had to wait for my Garmin to get its bearings.

Yesterday when I was driving home from work I saw a runner going up a hill near my office. When I saw that I wanted to run that hill (I'm crazy, I know). That particular street is not on the route I normally take when I do my 9-mile office loop run from home. However, I needed 11 miles today, so by extending the route a little bit, I could get that street and get some extra distance, so that's what I did. It ended up not being enough extra distance, so I had to do some winding around the neighborhood at the end of my run to get the distance. Splits were: 10:27, 9:59, 9:45, 8:58, 8:40, 8:42, 8:41, 8:25, 8:38, 9:21, 9:24. After I finished the 6 moderate miles, I felt like I could have kept going at that pace, but I slowed down to an easy pace for the last two miles anyway.

I was reading the May issue of Runner's World yesterday and there's an article about Kara Goucher. In it, she says this: "While training for New York, my watch alarms went off at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. I'd get up, work out, eat, and go to sleep. Then I'd wake up at 5 and do it again. It was really hard, but I liked being that dedicated."

I can't even imagine having the freedom to do something like that. I guess when you're an elite athlete and you can earn money by running, you can do things like that.

My training plan gives me a rest day today, so I'm taking it. My nose is a little drippy and my throat is a little scratchy, but I think it might be seasonal allergies, not a cold. I never used to have hay fever, but maybe I'm developing it in my old age.

Inasmuch as I don't have anything running-related to report today, I'm going to plug a website that I enjoy. It has absolutely nothing to do with running, but it's fun. It's kind of a "mommy blog" but is broader than that. The address is http://thepioneerwoman.com.

I'm taking a vacation day tomorrow in order to go on a long run. I won't be able to get out for the run until after all the kids are at school, so I'll have a (relatively) leisurely morning. I'm doing my long run on a Friday for the third week in a row because I need to run a choir practice Saturday morning.

Loooong Run. Average pace: 9:23.

Weather: 42°F, 56% humidity, minimal wind, overcast.

Why do I do this to myself? I am beat.

I felt sluggish at the start of this run. The sluggishness eventually diminished, but I never felt great the whole time. I was tired by the time I was half-way through, but I just kept going. The trail was in good condition, so that was nice. Since it was Friday mid-morning I saw a lot of moms with strollers and older walkers on the trail. When I run on Saturday mornings I see more runners. I also saw some guys playing baseball and some people playing tennis. Usually, the baseball diamond and tennis courts are empty when I go past them. And there was water in parts of the canal and I even saw two ducks.

Oh man, my son just got home from school. How did so much of the day get gone already? I haven't even had lunch yet. This always happens when I take a day off from work. I think I'm going to get all these things done, and before I know it, the day is over.

When I had about 4.5 miles to go, I got a text message from my husband (I carry my cell phone when I run). It said, "You go girl! You can do it (si, lo puedes hacer)." This has reference to this bit from SNL. So when I got that message, I raised up my arm and said outloud, "Si, lo puedes hacer!" in the voice of a cartoon mouse. It was kind of fun and gave me a spring in my step for at list a little while. Maybe that will become my mantra during the marathon.

With a little less than a mile left, I tripped crossing a street. I got right up and finished crossing the street and then stood for a minute to collect myself, then finished my run. I was not badly hurt. But I seem to be getting clumsy in my old age. I need to learn to pick up my feet more, I guess.

After the run I forced myself to take an ice bath. I didn't have a lot of ice, but the water was cold enough that the ice I had didn't melt readily. It wasn't terrifically deep - deep enough to cover my lower legs, but not deep enough to cover my massive thighs. I managed to stay in there for 3 minutes. But I followed it with a hot bath. I hope that's an acceptable thing to do.

I won't bore you with all my splits, but I will tell you that they were mostly between about 9:20 and 9:35, but my last two miles were my fastest, at 9:01 and 9:00.

Sasha said I would get more out of shorter long runs at a faster pace than I would doing really long runs. However, I feel like I need to go over 20 a couple of times before the marathon so that I learn to run for an extended period of time, and so that I'm mentally prepared to go the distance. So I'm alternating long runs at an "easy" pace with slightly shorter long runs with big chunks at marathon pace.

Recovery run. Average pace 10:45.

Weather: 37°F, humidity 65%, no wind.

That was a recovery run if there was ever a recovery run. My legs did not want to move.

Now I've got to conduct a choir practice and a lot of people said they won't be there. I'm very worried about our performance tomorrow.

I'm just writing to report that I survived the choir performance. It actually went quite well. The choir did wonderfully on "Joy in the Morning." The women missed an entrance because apparently I didn't bring them in on "Jesus of Nazareth," but it was good otherwise. And we managed to pull out "God So Loved the World" despite that a half hour before the meeting we were working through parts. I actually got goose bumps during that piece. In any case, I'm glad it's over. We're taking a week off from choir practice next week, and then we'll prepare something easy for May.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:35.

Weather: 33°F, 80% humidity, wind 5 SW.

I had VERY HEAVY legs when I started out this morning. It took about 4 miles until they were loosened up and felt a little better, though never great. I guess that 22 last Friday really took it out of me. Or maybe it was all the junk I ate over the weekend. I've really got to get back on the wagon in terms of eating right.

I took a nap on Saturday and slept in on Sunday and as a result, I had a hard time going to sleep last night. That accounts for my short sleep time. But since I got up early this morning, I should be back on schedule now.

Fatlek run - 1 mile warmup, 16 x 3 min@10K pace/2 min easy. Average pace: 8:44.

Weather: 42°F, 50% humidity, wind 6 SSE.

I slept in a little because I was up too late last night finally getting our taxes finished. I've got to try to go to bed earlier tonight.

I took the route that goes past my office - mostly downhill for the first half and mostly uphill for the second half. I was aiming for about 8:00/mile on the fast sections. My paces on the fast sections were: 8:02, 8:12, 8:03, 8:03, 8:09, 7:45, 8:04, 8:17, 8:10, 8:03, 8:00, 7:57, 8:16, 7:29, 7:56, 7:50.

I felt pretty good on this run, though the later fast sections certainly took more effort than the early ones. I was trying to back off for the first few since they were down hill.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:48.

Weather: 46°F. The last day of warm weather for a while, apparently. It's supposed to be cold and rainy tomorrow.

I just ran my old standby 4-mile loop today, nothing special to report.

I've got to go to work early tomorrow and Friday in order to escort people who are coming in for job interviews. I would have to get up before Snoqualmie in order to get my runs done and to work on time those days. I'm kind of running behind on sleep, so I decided not to do that. I'll just get up and go in to work early, and then once the interviews are done, I'll go out and run, then shower and go back to work.

Moderate run. Average pace: 8:38.

Weather: 37°F, 93% humidity, wind 12 N, light rain.

I came in to work early to host some people who were coming in for job interviews. I made it out for my run at about 10:30, after the interviews were over.

I felt pretty good on this run. I ran a slight variation of the home-work loop that I run sometimes, but I started from work rather than from home. As a result, a little more than the first half was mostly uphill, and the second half was mostly downhill. It was raining, but not very hard.

I'll be doing a similar thing tomorrow because I have to come in early, but for just one interview, so I'll be able to get out for my run earlier. Also, I've got a shorter run. But I also have hill sprints. I've been saying that I should try the hill behind my office for hill sprints. Here's my chance. But it might be snowing tomorrow. Maybe I'll get to use my new yaktrax.

Easy run + 10 x 10 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 9:42.

Weather: YUCKY!!! 33°F, 97% humidity, wind 12 NNW, showing, slushy, wet.

I have been having a very hectic day. I won't bore you with all the painful details. Most, but not all, of the troubles have been related to the snow. At least I managed to run. And go to my "body sculpting" class.

I wore my new yaktrax for the first time. I suppose they helped me to keep from slipping, but they didn't do anything to keep me dry. This is a really wet, slushy snow. My feet were soaked through within 5 minutes after I started running. Other than being sopping wet, running wasn't too uncomfortable except when I was heading into the wind and had snow pelting me in the face.

I spent the whole run arguing with myself about whether I should try to do the hill sprints at the end of my run. For most of the run I had decided not to do them, but then when it came down to it, I gave it my best shot. They weren't terrifically fast (they varied in pace from 7:35 to 9:18, with most of them around 8:30). But what do you expect on a snow-covered trail?

Things aren't looking good for my 20-miler tomorrow. It's just supposed to snow more between now and then. Since I did 22 last week, I suppose it's not the end of the world if I don't get a long run in tomorrow. I'll try to run as much as I reasonably can tomorrow.

Objective: marathon pace long run. 2 miles easy, 15 miles @ MP + 10 sec., 3 miles easy. Average pace: 8:29.

Weather: 72°F, no wind.

It occured to me that I had another option besides running in the snow and running on a treadmill: an indoor track. I went to a rec center that has an indoor track with 12 laps on the track equaling 1 mile. I used my Garmin as a stop watch and hit the lap button every 12 laps so that I could get mile times. I counted the track laps on my fingers, so I just had to count to 12 twenty times instead of trying to count to 240.

There were always at least a couple of other walkers or runners on the track. At one point a big group showed up and they kind of split up into smaller grouns, but I still had to ask them to move one time when they were walking 4-abreast. They stayed out of my way after that. I was faster than most of the other people on the track, but there was one girl who kept blazing past me, but she didn't run for nearly as long as I did. And judging from what her t-shirt said, she's a sophomore in high school.

It was a big change for me to run on a completely flat surface.

I normally take sport beans on my long runs, but I neglected to take anything like that with me today, so I just had water from the drinking fountain that I passed 240 times and stopped at occasionally.

In case anyone is interested, my split times were 9:31, 9:18, 8:12, 8:29, 8:23, 8:19, 8:17, 8:17, 8:19, 8:11, 8:12, 8:04, 8:20, 8:23, 8:15, 8:14, 8:09, 8:24 (this one was supposed to be easy; I either neglected to slow down much or else I miscounted and only went around the track 11 times, I'm really not sure which), 9:08, 9:03.

Here are some pictures of why I decided to run inside today, first a picture taken from my front door and then a picture taken from my deck:

It has changed to rain now and the roads are clear but just wet. The sidewalks are covered with the slush and muck that the snowplows have kicked up. The shoulders of the road are like rivers. I trust that things will be cleared up by Monday, which is the next time I'm scheduled to run.

Ladder intervals. 2 miles easy, 1 min., 2 min., 3 min., 2 min., 1 min., 2 min., 3 min. @ 3K-10K pace w/equal duration active recoveries, 2 miles easy. Average pace: 9:16.

Weather: 43°F, 47% humidity, wind 9 W. There is still a good amount of snow on the ground, but the roads are clear. Most of the sidewalks are still covered with snow, and so I had to run on the shoulder of the road, which was narrower than I liked in just a few places.

This was one of the mornings where I got up and had a hard time getting out the door and wondered who I was kidding thinking that I could get out and run. But I did get out the door. Sometimes just getting started is the hardest part. My legs felt pretty sluggish the first 2 miles, and then I had to start the intervals. The first 3 intervals were uphill, and I took the first one a little too fast. By the time I finished those intervals the sluggishness was gone and I was feeling better. The next two intervals were slightly downhill, and the last two intervals were slightly uphill. The McMillan calculator puts my 3K-10K pace based on my Canyonlands Half Marathon time at 7:17 to 7:55. My pace on the intervals: 7:16, 8:17, 7:51, 7:32, 7:29, 7:48, 7:38. So my first interval was too fast, my second interval was too slow, and the rest were in the correct range.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:31.

Weather: 44°F, 58% humidity, wind 4 SW.

I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. But I did finally manage to pull myself up and get out the door. I started my run at 5:58.

It got quite warm yesterday and a lot of the snow melted. The sidewalks were almost all clear this morning. I did encounter a couple of shady spots where the water from the melting snow had frozen a little and it was a little slick, but other than that, it was fine. Another warm day today should get rid of the rest of the snow except for the big piles created by snow plows.

I recently bought the book Once a Runner by John L. Parker, Jr., which is finally back in print. I finished reading it last Sunday. If any of my regular commenters would like to borrow it, send me a PM with your mailing address and I'll send it to you.

I'm looking forward to a 4-mile easy run tomorrow.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:47.

Weather: 49°F, 43% humidity, wind 4 ESE, but I have to say that it felt a lot windier than that. Perhaps the wind was different between where I ran and the weather station that this data came from.

We're supposed to have warm days today and tomorrow, and then the colder air and the rain comes.

I slept in until 6:00 this morning because there was no seminar today. All the high school kids except the juniors don't have to be to school until 11:00 because the juniors are taking the ACT this morning. Thing 1 is a junior, so he's taking the test right now. I hope he does well. I think he will.

Progression Run. 3 miles easy, 6 miles accelerating from MP + 20 sec./mile to MP. I added a half mile cool-down at the end because I still had that far to go to get home.

Weather: 52°F, 30% humidity, wind 12 mph SW.

I got up a little earlier this morning than I have in a while. I started the run at 5:38 am and it was still dark, but got light not too much later.

I was feeling a little sluggish today and struggled on the uphills (of which there were plenty) a little more than I would have liked. Perhaps it was because of the wind. It was noticeably harder when I was going into the wind. Splits were 10:24, 10:04, 9:49, 9:00, 8:50, 8:48, 8:35, 8:31, 8:14, with the last half mile at 9:01.

I'm in talent show mode the next few days. We're all going to the talent show at the high school tonight where Thing 1 is playing the string bass. He's playing a piece that my husband wrote called "The Ill-Tempered Bass." Then tomorrow I'm going over to the elementary school twice during the day - in the morning for the lower grades' talent show where Thing 4 is playing the piano, and in the afternoon for the upper grades' talent show where Thing 3 is playing the cello. Thing 2 does not play a musical instrument. His talents lie elsewhere.

Easy run + 10 x 10 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 9:56.

Weather: 57°F, 24% humidity, wind 14 mph SSW.

My legs were a little sluggish again today. I've felt a little sluggish all week. Perhaps it's the after-effect of the hard 20 mile run I did on the track last Saturday. I've been thinking that I like the faster-paced long runs better than the easy-pace long runs because they get over sooner, but I suppose they wear me out more too. I've got an easy-pace really long run tomorrow, so we'll see how I feel after that.

It was quite windy this morning. Fortunately I was not heading into the wind for very much of the time, but it really slowed me down when I was. Splits on the 6 miles before the hill sprints were 10:13, 9:44, 9:52, 9:53, 9:41, 9:21. I messed up timing the last couple of hill sprints. I accidentally hit the stop/start button instead of the lap button and then I got all confused about whether it was going or not and couldn't get back on track with the watch within the two remaining hill sprints. I did run them, just didn't time them. In any case, my paces for the 8 hill sprints that I did manage to time were 7:14, 7:06, 7:15, 7:13, 7:04, 6:50, 7:17, 7:25.

I'm slow posting today because I after my run I had to get my daughter to school early (and had to iron a dress for her to wear) and then stayed at the school for her talent show. She did very well. I've got to go back this afternoon for my son's talent show.

Long run. Average pace: 9:28.

Weather: 40°F, 85% humidity, wind 7 E. With just overcast and colder than it should be this time of year the whole time.

Another Saturday morning spent slogging it out on the Highline Canal Trail. For the first time since I started running this trail last Fall, there was actually a significant amount of water in the canal.

The Ogden Marathon is supposed to have fruit at some of the aid stations and I've never eaten fruit on a run before, so I decided to try it today. When I run this trail I normally go south 2.5 miles, then back to the start, then north half of the remaining distance and back. Today I went south 2.5 miles and back to the start, then north 3.5 miles and then back to the start. At that point I went to my car and had a banana. Then I did south 2.5 miles and back and north 3 miles and back again. The banana didn't seem to cause me any trouble.

I ran a so-called "easy" pace, but running that distance is never easy. My splits were pretty consistent, ranging between 9:25 and 9:40 for the most part. I tried to pick it up for a fast finish on the last mile and ran that mile in 8:49.

I've got a MP 18 mile run next Saturday, and then its tapering time.

This is my new highest mileage week ever and will likely stand for quite some time. I'm not sure I want to subject myself to marathon training again for a while.

Treshold run. 2 min. easy, 15 min @ 1/2 MP, 2 min. easy, 15 min @ 1/2 MP, 2+ miles easy. Average pace: 9:18.

Weather: 32°F, 92% humidity, wind 8 SSW, SNOWING.

If ever there was a day that I should have work yaktrax, this was it. However, when I looked out the window first thing this morning and decided what to wear, it didn't look that bad. But conditions rapidly deteriorated, mostly while I was out there running. It was snowing lightly when I got up this morning, snowed quite heavily for a good chunk of my run, and then had pretty much stopped snowing by the time I finished my run. So lucky me, I was out there for the worst of it. There was one big stretch shortly after I started the 2+ mile cooldown that was just a big puddle of slush. My feet got soaked through. In fact, my whole self was soaked through by the time I got home.

I was pretty sluggish at the start and average pace on the first two miles was 10:35. I had hoped to get the 1/2 MP sections around 8:00, but I just couldn't do it in these conditions and with my tired legs from last Saturday's long run. My pace on the first one was 8:24 and the second one was 8:23. So at least I was consistent.

When will spring every come? Where is the sun? I just want to be warm. And dry. (I should come back and look at this in a couple of months when I'm complaining that it's too hot.)

Moderate run. Average pace: 8:55.

Weather: 41°F, 79% humidity, WIND 22 mph SSW. Warmer and drier than yesterday, but WINDY!

This was really two runs. I got a phone call just past 3 miles into my run was informed that my oldest son needed a ride to the high school because he had to take his electric bass and amp. This was the first I had heard about it. I guess he talked to my husband last night and my husband was going to take him, but then Thom must have forgotten because he drove the younger high school boy to seminary (the oldest doesn't go to seminary) and then left for work. I was planning on doing two different 6 mile loops anyway, so I stopped at home after the first loop and drove him to school and then ran the second loop.

The two loops overlap each other partially, but the first one goes primarily east from my house, while the second one goes primary south. The first half of the second loop was brutal because I was cold from having stopped to drive the boy to school, it was mostly uphill, and it was into a 22-23 mile wind. I was very glad when I got to the intersection where I turn and head back towards home. Splits were 9:08, 9:00, 9:11, 8:47, 8:44, 8:53, 8:56, 9:09, 9:01, 9:00, 8:32, 8:41. Without exception, the slower miles were more uphill and the faster miles were more downhill.

Easy run + 8 x 10 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 9:54.

Weather: 46°F, 48% humidity, wind 7.5 S.

It was nice weather for a run, though slightly windy. I'm having a hard time trusting the weather and I was slightly overdressed.

I started out feeling pretty tired, but felt better after a while. This is a frequent experience for me. Splits on the 5 miles easy were 10:17, 9:58, 9:35, 9:17, 9:32. I tried to push it on the hill sprints, with varying degrees of success, and walked back down the hill between hill sprints. Paces for the hill sprints were 6:59, 7:33, 7:58, 6:32, 7:08, 7:41, 6:48, 6:45.

I saw the Barbie doll out walking again. It's this woman that I frequently see walking whenever I run through the green belt that is just south of my neighborhood. The hill where I do hill sprints leads from my street down into the green belt and so I saw her today when I was doing the hill sprints. She was decked out in her poofy hair, make-up, and velour track suit as usual. I wonder if she sees me and thinks, "There's that dorky looking runner with no fashion sense again."

Marathon Pace run. 1 mile easy, 8 miles @ MP, 1 mile easy. Average pace: 8:47.

Weather: 44°F, 64% humidity, wind 11 NNE.

Fairly pleasant weather for running, though it was slightly windy. I saw more runners and walkers out this morning than I usually do, though no Barbie doll today. Maybe I was out too early for her. I was out a little later yesterday.

I don't think I was too guilty of Garmin Gazing, but I did do quite a bit of Garmin Glancing in order to stay on the right pace. My splits were 10:06, 8:49, 8:40, 8:36, 8:41, 8:31, 8:20, 8:32, 8:24, 9:11. I would call this a moderate effort. It was fairly tough at first, particularly on miles 2 and 3 which are mostly up hill, but it got easier later on. Will that pace feel easier to me in the marathon when I'm more rested than I am right now?