Chug-along-chica!

Last night I was up way too late with Holly.  We painted our toenails and watched Pirates of the Carribean 2.  Fun fun.  Plus I ate a whole bag of popcorn with minimal help from Holly.  So I wasn't feeling all that peppy this morning, but I cranked out a 5K in 33:03.  Part of it was with my son on his bike, and he had an asthma attack, so that slowed us way down for a while.

My little 2 year-old got his cast off yesterday!!!  Very weird.  His skin under the cast was all flaky and digusting, like he had leprosy or something.  Not to mention that his little arm looked quite crooked to me.  I thought something was seriously wrong, but the doctor was totally non-chalant about it all, in fact, he seemed quite amused by my mild freaking out.  Doctors!

Happy Labor Day!  Hope you all get a chance to hang around and waste time in whatever way pleases you most.  Aaaaaah. 

It is official.  I am the luckiest person on the planet!  This is no mere speculation, it is a simple observable fact.  Let me lay the evidence before you...

Item #1 You know how I wrote a couple weeks ago that I really wish I had a dog?  Sunday night I dreamed someone gave us a dog and it was a very nice dream.  So I was thinking about dogs yesterday.  I passed this guy in the hall at church whose dog we had cared for while he was on vacation (and I just LOVED that dog--so cute, never barks, used to being outside all the time, plus soooo good with my little boys). 

"I love your dog!" I said in an off-hand way.  He surprised me with his response: "You can have him."   I was flabbergasted and told him that I'd give him time to think about it and talk to his family.  It turns out that they had just decided on Sat.  that they needed to get rid of him because they are too busy to play with him and give him the attention he needs.  So later this morning we are going to go pick up the cutest little dachsund in the WORLD.  I am so excited!

Item #2  Another case in point in my extreme good fortune is that yesterday at church Christine said she would like to run with me in the mornings!!!!   Yea!  I must explain.  Christine is that one lady in the ward who seems to never age, or maybe even get younger as the years pass.  She really could pass for 19, although she has 4 kids and the oldest is a senior in high school.  She ran the St. George Marathon 4 years ago and got a time around 4:15 or something like that.  Her fastest 5K (as a lady with 4 kids) is low 24 min. I think.    She hasn't been running much this last year; she just started up again 3 weeks ago.  So she ran 2.3 with me this morning, which was the farthest that she has run this month.  So this is all perfect because I think she is going to push me gradually as she gets more and more used to running.  We were running about 10:15 pace today.   She said she thought that when she was used to running she usually runs 9:30 pace or something for her slow runs.   Short story: she is really going to help me get faster.  I've always looked up to Christine as a lady who takes great care of her health, and balances church and family life really well, so I am SO EXCITED to get to know her better.   Oh, and that's the other thing.  She is constant entertainment during the run.   Our conversations go like this:

Christine: "Have you ever noticed that blabbity blabbity blabbity blah, blabbity blabbity blabbity blah. etc."

Me:  Huff huff huff "yes" huff huff huff....

So it makes it really nice, since I will have to work hard to keep up with her as the time passes, that she can talk effortlessly about interesting things.  I'm happy to mostly concentrate on not dying, I mean, my form and relaxing. 

Item #3  As if these two things were not evidence enough, one time when I was buying a pizza, the guy at the cash register gasped when he saw my driver's license.  He noted that I have 3 "7"s in my birthday and said that means I am one of the luckiest people on earth.  Not impressed?  Well, what if I told you that he was completely covered in tatoos?  There's something mystical about food industry professionals that are really weird-looking...

So anyways, if you made it this far, I should probably report that I completed the 5K after Christine was done, and that the total time was 31:05.  Yea!  Bring it on!

31:45 for the 5K with Christine.   She made it the whole way this time.  We had a nice little negative split with times of 10:41, 10:20, and 9:48 for the miles. (.1 in :56).    I really enjoyed this run.  It was nice and cool, and we had nice conversation.  We saw a monster goldfish in the pond--HUGE--like 1 1/2 feet long and very fat, and it was gold instead of that muddy color our lake fish usually are.   Gotta get going...busy day today.

1 very pathetic mile.  Not worth mentioning, except that I am very proud that this was not a goose-egg day.

5K with Christine in 30:49.  Average pace 9:57.  This is the fastest 5K training run I've done in the last couple of months.  I loved it!  The amazing thing is that I was really really dragging when I first got up--the kind of day that could convince one not to run.  But once we got started, I really had a great run.  I can honestly say I felt better after the run than before it, and to me that is just a miracle! 

Ooh, I just checked, this is the record for the fastest non-race 5K since I started running again.  And it felt really comfortable.    I kind of wished I had taken off just 6 more seconds, though, so I could beat Paul Peterson's best time for the 10K.  Maybe tomorrow.

And one more thing.  When I got up this morning feeling like a corpse, I decided that I was going to dedicate this morning's run to all those zillions of bloggers who are sick or injured right now.  So that helped get the lead out.   Hang in there, everybody!

Later that night... 2 more miles in the pm with Holly.  She set a new record for the mile, so that was fun.  PLUS she seriously made me run fast for the last little bit.  I still say that she has a lot of natural speed, and she's not afraid to use it!

5K in the morning with Christine.  I felt a little low on energy today, but still really enjoyed it.  Total time: 31:56 (10:18 pace).  I really need to adjust my sleeping schedule now that I'm running at the crack of dawn.  Naps have been amazingly hard to come by this week & I'm exhausted!

How do you like my dog?  I like him a lot.  The only real problem with him is that he is just a little too excited to see me in the morning, which has led to some unfortunate accidents.  Ew!

For the record, he is sporting headwear of obvious origins.  All part of my scheme to...try to... think like a...champion?  Yah, that's it.

I didn't take the Garmin with me this morning, so I just ran for 33 min.  That should be at least a 5K.  Felt pretty good.

Well, overall I'm satisfied with this last week.  I ran all 6 training days and exceeded my weekly mileage goal of 18 by a very impressive half a mile.   I still need to choose a race sometime in the next month or so...

So let me explain about my dog...  I really wanted to put up a picture of my new dog, Sparky.   So, in one of those notorious attempts at being funny, I tried to make him look like the picture of Paul Peterson's dog, Gil (who could probably eat Sparky for breakfast).   Paul changed his picture recently, and now I think it's a penguin making spaghetti or something like that...I don't know.   However, I'll just take the 5th as to how the underwear ended up on the poor dog's head.  I WILL say, dear reader, that this picture is definitely on the outer limits of exactly how far I am willing to go to amuse you, so please do not expect anything else in this particular vein of craziness.  I kind of hoped Paul would get a kick out of it, too, but you must remember that the poor man runs about 100 miles a day (or something like that) and cannot be expected to read the blog of every pee-on who emulates his dog's headwear.

And speaking of peeing-on, I took Sparky on a run for the first time today.   He is not used to the leash yet, and suffers from acute I-Must-Stop-and-Sniff-Every-Bush Syndrome.  So half of the run he was dragging me to the nearest bush, and the other half I was trying to drag him away from the last bush we passed.  Well, I guess it must have been less than half, because a large portion of this run Sparky was zig-zagging wildly in front of me in an apparent attempt to get me to trip on him.   Once or twice he stopped right in front of me without warning--I had to hop over him.  I suppose if he were taller he would be a perfect training tool for a hurdler.  But being a dachshund (wiener-dog), he is really more of a speed bump than hurdle.   If ever my neighbors thought I was comical to watch before, they probably were on the floor today.   I laughed out loud myself more than once.  I had the leash wrapped around my right wrist, so of course Sparky figured out that if he went behind me and then sprinted past me on the left side, he could almost knock me down, despite his puniness.  What a great run.  I have high hopes that Sparky will become a great little training partner with more practice. I ran 1.4 with  Sparky, then another 1.3 or so alone.  With Sparky my ave. pace was 11:47, without him it was a more typical 10:07. 

Hooray!  Another new (albeit tiny) record for a non-race 5K with Christine today.  30:46, which is 9:56 pace.  Actual miles were: 10:06, 9:58, and 9:45, (9:32 pace for the last .1).   Felt good...I'm happy, and as always it was a huge treat to run with Christine.  I see now the HUGE positive effect training partners can have on running performance. 

I'm starting to really notice the benefits of running in general.  I feel like I can really trust my body to make it through the day and still have energy left.   Before I started running I often would run out of energy before the day was over--and this is without even doing any kind of exercise to tire me out!  Now I am exercising, and I still have more energy.  Very nice. 

PM --One thing that is concerning me a little is that my left hip is always just a little sore.  I don't feel it during the run, but when I first wake up in the morning, and when I get up after sitting down, it hurts a little kind of like a sore muscle--right below the crest of my hip.  I need to get back to the chiro.

Another 1.65 miles with Holly and Paige in the evening.  Fun fun.  I am the one blabbing it up in this little group.  It took me fully a mile to attempt to explain the whole sniffing shorts reference on the blog.  

I took Sparky out again this morning.  He may have improved...a little...tiny..bit.  At any rate, our time was a little bit faster, so that's good.  First mile in 11:15, so that's a PR for Sparky.  After the next .7 Sparks fizzled out and wanted to just stop and rest.  I thought I was going to have to carry him home, but he perked up after walking a little while.   He runs twice as far as I do, with all the zig zagging.  I took him home and finished the last little bit alone.  So 2nd mile in 11:07 total.

I have heart-heavy work ahead of me today, so wish me luck!

Well!  Sparky did such a great job on our run today!  He seemed to finally understand that we are trying to go on a somewhat linear course.  I took him out for just one mile and we did it in 9:41.  That's a PR for him by over a minute.   He would have gone faster (especially at the beginning) if I had let him.  

Then I ran a mile alone in 9:04, which felt surprisingly good to me.  I didn't look at my Garmin and just ran what I thought was sub 10 pace--I looked down at a quarter mile and it said I was going around 8:00.  Yea!  I pushed it a little the rest of the run, but still felt quite comfortable.  .3 cool down just to get back home at 10:13 pace.

2 more miles with Holly tonight.   My hip hurt.  Darn that hip!  I think it gets tender after every time I push the pace at all.  Just have to be patient, I guess.  Run a little slower for a little longer--and get back to the chiro.

Did you notice that I changed my goals?  I want to run a Boston Qualifier someday.  That is a huge step for me to even admit that.

Good Luck at TOU!!!!

And please don't keep us all waiting too long with those race reports.  Well, I know you'll be tired, so take your time, but just know that some of us are going to be checking the computer every hour or so. 

3.1 miles with Christine untimed.  I was taking it slower to try to let my hip relax a little.  It seemed to help, and it is feeling fine now. 

Remind me to tell you my funny helicopter story when I have a little more time.  Maybe I'll post it later today.

Really easy miles outside with my dog  and three sons, one at a time.  Hip felt pretty good.  My weekly mileage was over 20, for the first time in several months.

So do you want to hear my helicopter story?  A couple of months ago, on one of my blistering hot night-time runs around the lake, a helicopter started circling overhead.   In an apparent effort to help me reach my max heart rate, they shined the spot-light on me and followed me around the lake for a several minutes.  Don't worry, it doesn't mean that there was some terrible criminal on the loose.  There's a helicopter pilot training school somewhere closeby.  Hey, anything I can do to help the coming generation of helicopter pilots!  Plus, I think it helped me push the pace a little.  Oddly invogorating, actually.  Probably gave a thrill to a little person who will never be hunted down by the police.  The closest thing to an illegal act I've ever done is...oh, I suppose it was the time I got caught vadalizing a car.   Well, that sounds terrible.  Let me explain...

My sweet friend had recently gone through a heart-brake of the evil dude-inflicted kind.  And naturally, on Valentine's Day I wanted to make sure she did not feel the day drag on slowly and uneventfully (as it does for about 90% of the female population). So *ahem*  I snuck over to her house in the middle of the night and wrote all over her car with white shoe polish.  Encouraging messages, you know, like "WHAT A WOMAN!" and "HAPPY VALENTINE:S DAY!"  That kind of thing.  Well, just when I was really getting into it--really enjoying myself--a cop pulled up and glared at me.  I just froze there, shoe polish in hand, scouring my brain for a logical alibi, I mean, explanation.  Well, I must've looked somewhat innocent, because he finally just burst out laughing and drove away.  By the way, if any of you ever attempt this particular little stunt, make sure to only get the shoe polish on the windows.  I guess shoe polish can sometimes eat through car paint.  (oops!)

I took Sparky for a quick .8 miles, then ran the rest alone.  It was soooooooo nice and cool today!  I think this is a record for distance on a Monday morning.  Monday is traditionally a difficult day to get out of bed for me, with all the craziness of the weekend, and such a long day of hurricane clean-up effort on the house ahead of me.   When my alarm goes off, will I  ever just get up and turn it off?  I have a tremendous internal struggle every morning that I'm not scheduled to run with Christine.  "Just 10 more minutes" I think. "NO! Get up..."  "PLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEAAASE"  "Don't be such a wuss, remember the blog." "Groan...ok."  Every time.   Oh well, at least I've been  successful at getting up every time in the last month or so. 

Sometimes I think I must be a whole difference species than Sasha.  For him, it seems that once he has made up his mind, he will ALWAYS follow through.  No missing days, no cheating...ever.   I guess I am specifically thinking about diet.  I really want to improve my diet, maybe even try vegetarianism, but that all goes out the window when I am out on the town with my girlfriends.  Oh well, several months ago I didn't have it in me to even exercise consistently, so there's improvement at any rate.

10:11 pace on average for 5K with Christine.  Very fun.  Now I'm all excited about trying to eat healthier.  Are eggs good for runners?  I usually have oatmeal or eggs for breakfast.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that last night I set a new world record (for me) in the getting to bed early division--8:55 PM!  This morning I woke up BEFORE my alarm went off (at 5:30).  Definitely a first.

I set a new record today...for the most PITIFUL run ever.   I'm talking 2 min./mile slower than my average, and I had to stop and walk after only 1.5 miles.   I have no clue what was wrong with me.  Probably due to oatmeal somehow--nothing else has changed. JK I was really down today too.  Neural fatigue?

Christine and I set another record for a non-race 5K today: 30:38 (9:53 pace).  We were surprised because we were both feeling really tired at the start of the run. 

I think yesterday's very blah run might have been caused by feeling sad about piano.  The night before I had told my piano teacher (who is AMAZING) that I needed to stop taking lessons for now.  I really just need more time with my family in the evenings.  I know it had to be done, but it was hard.  

PM I'm just leaving to run 2 more miles with Holly and hopefully Paige. 

Warmed up with the dog and then each of my boys, consecutively, for a total or 1.44.

Then I ran 3 miles alone, with splits of 10:01, 10:43, 10:15.  I don't know why my second mile is always so much slower than the rest of my run, I guess it was just a little teeny tiny bit uphill in parts, so I'll blame that. :) 

Thanks everyone who wished James happy birthday yesterday!  He's such a good guy.

Hey!  Fall is finally here!!! I would like to take a quick minute and say how GRATEFUL I am that I made it through my first Arizona summer as a runner and didn't quit!!!!  Hallelujah!  Now it seems cooler and nicer every time I go, and in addition to that, running feels so much more comfortable and energizing now than it did those first few months.  It's all downhill for the next 8 months or so!

Woo-hooo!  I shattered my record for a non-race 5K today with a time of 29:10.  That's about  a minute and a half faster than my old record.  I can't believe it!  I wasn't even pushing that hard (except at the end) and I had not been looking at the Garmin, but when I saw my 2 mile split I knew I had a chance to break 30 if I pushed it a little, so I did--but I was still SO surprised with my finishing time.  Yea!  Splits were: 9:49, 9:37, 8:55, and :48 for the .1. 

Best Monday run EVER!  I think the temperature really helped.  Today was the first day that it actually felt a little bit cold to me when I first started. 

I've been thinking about doing an experiment this week.   I'm going to try to have a no sugar, no white flour week and just see what it's like.  Is it impossible?  Is it feasible, could I do it long term?  Just an experiment...Anybody else wanna try it with me?  If it works well, I'll try to do it until St. George.

I'm going to try to reach 21-22 miles this week, which will be a new record for me.  Wish me...hmmm..I was going to say "luck", but I think "consistency" is more appropriate.  Wish me consistency, everybody.

PM 1 mile with my boys.

5K with Christine in 29:40 (9:34 pace).  Felt pretty good.  This is a :58 PR for Christine since she started running again.   I probably would've gone a little slower if she hadn't been there, but I was DETERMINED not to be the one slowing us down.  This is why she is so good for me. 

So I got the impression that some of you might need an explanation about giving up sugar and white flour this week.  Let me explain...no there is too much, let me sum up:  Someone at church asked me "how far along" I am...as if I were pregnant!  Never never do this!  People should all adopt Dave Barry's rule of thumb about confronting pregnant women--unless you actually SEE the baby exiting the woman's body, you should not assume she is pregnant.  Otherwise you might drive her to weird dietary changes, yada yada yada.  'Nuff said.

Happy hump-day.  Now it's downhill to the weekend!  32:33 for the 5K and it felt a little hard, for some reason.  Undoubtedly my body wanted to take advantage of not having a speedy training partner today.   A little discomfort in my left arch.  I probably need to get new shoes.

I took a different route today through a huge apartment complex.  The most notable thing that happened was that I passed a guy with a huge black wolf!  He had to step off the sidewalk and exert considerable energy to keep that thing from eating me.  I don't think I'll run that route again!  I prefer the lakes around my house, where I see the nice old guy and the huge orange fish every morning.  BTW did you see the moon this morning?  So big and golden!  Beautiful.

PM run with little ones.  1.37 miles.

Nice and easy 5K with Christine in 31:50 (10:15 pace).   Very steady splits 10:15, 10:14, 10:19, and 1 minute for the .1.  We got to see the International Space Station glide across the sky at 5:40.  It looked like a star except it was a little bit oblong and it was moving pretty fast.  Kerry tipped us off, so James and I were both watching for it this morning. If any of you like astronomy, you should check out Kerry's blog.  He often has cool stuff on there about stars and other celestial sights.

Run. Blog. Improve. Repeat.  Cute, huh?  How appropriate.  I like it.

Later I ran my son to school, .63 of a mile

PM 2 miles with Holly nice & easy.  We talked about Jane Austin the whole time.

3 miles with Christine.  1st 10:48.  2nd 10:11.  3rd 10:11.  See?  Nice and slow, just like Sasha wants (although I overdid it a little on that first one.   He he.)

I'm still torn about whether or not to run in the 5K tomorrow.  The issue is that James won't be able to come (which means I'll inevitably get lost in Phoenix on the way there; might be too tired to drive home; no cheering section yada yada yada). 

Hmmm.  If I get more than 5 people who leave comments telling me to go for it, I will.  There, it's out of my hands now.

Ahhhhh.  So this is how it feels to run a race without heat exhaustion.  MUCH better. 

1st mile on residential roads with lots of 90 degree turns.  8:12

2nd mile on residential roads--most of it one long stretch.  8:22

3rd mile with a little uphill and a psych-out ending (you head towards the finish line and get all excited, but you have to pass it and do another loop and come back).  Partial road, partial grass. 8:53

last .15 in 1:05 (7:27 pace)

This is the first  race I've run this year that I haven't had to lay down within 3 minutes of finishing.  In fact, I kept my feet under me the whole time.   I waited around for about an hour to get the results, and met a lot of fun people.  A lot of really good runners on this course!  Probably because it was a certified course--and very well organized, imo--chip timing and everything.  Several people were trying for the OTQ time in both men's and women's divisions.  A couple of Kenyans showed up to win the race by quite a bit.  I went and congratulated them--they were both very nice.

I felt really good this whole race.  Obviously I was glad when it was over, but I had a much better mental attitude this race.  No fear, just excitement.   I had really wanted to push the second mile, because it is usually my downfall, and I think I succeeded.   I give myself a silver medal for effort with the 26:31.  Gold would've been 25:59.  Bronze 26:59.  Post high school PR by 31 seconds.  : )

I set a new Lybi record by NOT getting lost in Phoenix, despite the city's best attempts to derail me with 2 closed freeways along my route.  Dah!  How'd they know I was coming? 

Weekly mileage record at 24 and change.  Yea!