Denouement

AM: 5.1 miles at 8:14 ave pace, around Kowloon.

PM: 3.75 warm up at HKSI, then 5x1000.  I wanted 3:26-3:30.  It was my first workout on the HKSI track with Coach Paul witnessing, so I am afraid I let my pride do the running.  First one was 3:25, and I thought, "Dang it, now I have to run all at 3:25 so I don't look like I was making a mistake".  Second was 3:23, third I missed my times because my watch was acting crazy, but Paul gave out splits and I was about 3:24. Then I hit the toilets instead of the 400m rest, then #4 was 3:24 I believe, then the last was 3:23-25.  Obviously didn't get all splits on my watch but all were 3:23-3:25.  On the last one I hit the 800m at 2:46 and I knew i had to kick it in to get the 3:25 and I did so nicely.  The effort was supposed to be 5k effort, but I ran them harder than 5k effort, basically as fast as I could will keeping level splits.  If I was in 2:45 shape, these are the splits I should do for this workout (but probably be able to do 10 reps, which I could not).  Kick butt workout.

It was really helpful to have the positive pressure there of the other athletes and Coach Paul, but I need to be careful to not overdo workouts.  6k cool down in 5:29 ave pace. 

13k in 4:44 ave pace (7:35).  Core workout and weights. 

AM: 4.43 miles in the rain, really slow pace (8:35 pace).  Sports massage.  Bone below outer knee tender, he said it's not the actual knee but attachments on the bone down there that are niggly.

PM: met Alison and her crew for an evening run.  Ali was doing 40K and it was her birthday, so she had family and friends there to support her and then we were going to have dinner after.  I only needed 29k.  I sat out her 5k warm up, then joined her.  She had to go faster than me (4-4:20 for the bulk of the ks) while I just needed 5k fast finish on 29k.  We did 8k together where we were trying to maintain 4:20, and we averaged 4:18.  Then she had to speed up, and I chillaxed, averaging 4:24 for the next 16k.  Had two bathroom stops, my body was not very happy.  Ali had about 4 bikers on the trail supporting her, including Coach Paul.  The friends cheered for her, the coach called out splits and encouragement.  It was so wonderful.  All things must come to an end, and I turned when I should have gone straight at about 16k, so missed any support after that.  I had to stop at bathrooms to get water instead of being handed water--I think I am already getting spoiled by the experience.  My pace slowed to 4:30 or so, thus the 4:24 ave pace.  Then last 5k needed 3:55 ave pace, started after 24k.  My first k was 4:00, tried to ease into it, sure wishing I had another gu (took one at about 12k). Did 3.55, 3.54, 3.53, 3.55 and done.  Walked back to the track where Ali's support team was quite worried about me.  There was quite the collection of food to celebrate Ali and her mother's birthdays.  I had one slice of pizza, some pasta, a sushi piece, I declined the four varieties of cake (told Ali that it's not my bday, plus I didn't run 40k).  I did pick up some chocolate milk on the way home--that was my treat.

Not a stellar workout, but solid and did what I needed to.  It was very humid, more than usual, so sweated a ton. 

Great weigh in for a Monday I must say, especially on a Monday after i gorged on choc cake I made.  Ok, confessional over.

Ran after kids went to school.  Metro after run especially embarrassing since I was sweating badly, the metro was near full (not packed like body contact thank goodness).  Some guy discretely moved his suitcase away from me as my sweat accumulated below me.  I stopped counting drops off my body after 16.  Bleh.  Changed clothes then went to gym for light weights and a bit of core.  Did 5 pull ups!  First time I have gotten to 5 in this marathon cycle.  I have never done more than 5, and I have only gotten to five a couple of times.  For me pull ups are a sign of fitness because they reflect my strength and body composition.  Can't pull up too much dead weight.  So I would really like to go above five in this cycle as a token of my fitness.  It would be a great confidence boost.

PM: core workout.  Ben also massaged parts of my legs and did assistive stretching.  I have been teaching him massage and assisted stretching, been paying attention to why my sports massage guy has been doing.  Ben has moved up from unskilled labor (that's $4/hr) to semi skilled ($5/hr).  He's actually helping and becoming part of my team.   

AM: got lost on my morning run, so a leisurely 9k run, stopping several times to ask for directions.  2 out of 8 people were able/willing to point me in the right direction.  Run was just 5 minutes longer than intended. 5.62 miles in 45ish minutes.  Got kids off to school then did 40-45 minutes of leisurely pool running with Ali at HKSI.  Haven't done this in a while, didn't feel like I needed cross training, but it was a good opportunity to check out the facilities.

PM: 6k warm up, 5 x 1 mile tempo intervals @ 10k pace, 400 m in between. Goal was to negative split and get fatigued by the duration of the workout.  I felt going into this like my true 10k speed is still close to 6:00, so wanted to start at 5:55, then cut down from there if I could, even a modest cut down would be good.  McMillan's calculator at 2:46 marathon puts these at 5:41-5:53.  I did 5:56, 5:53, then my watch went crazy on me again.  I was so frustrated but Coach Paul picked up the slack for me again and called out 400 splits for me.  I'd much rather have splits every 200m for a workout like this, but I guess if I want 200m splits I should bring a functional watch to the workout.  Anyway.  On #3 jumped out too fast on the first lap, but then settled in.  Got a 5:47 or 5:48, don't remember which.  So far so good.  Fourth was 5:43, then finished with a 5:38.  Splits on the last mile were 86, 85, 84, 82.   Felt hard but not killer. 5-6k cool down.  

Treated myself to four 2kg bags of ice (abt $8US worth) for my first HK ice bath.  Unfortunately, the water doesn't come out very cold out of the tap so I was only able to get the water temperature down to 62F, so that was a failed attempt at an ice bath.  Sounds like a decent ice bath will be about $14 and an arm workout. 

Woke up early to met Roberto, but he was unable to run so ran on my own.  No music, tired from the workout from the night before.  Started over 5:00 pace, ended up with 4:49/k pace overall.  Took a quick shower at home, then hit the gym for some weights, did 5 pull ups again (yeah!) and some core.  

We live on campus of the paul's University. So the other spouses in this apartment complex have a ladie's group, so I went to my first ladie's breakfast.  It was potluck and three of the ladies were Indian so I was able to eat four indian breakfast dishes, all quite good, and I had a hong kong tart that was to die for.  

Sports massage in the afternoon.  Felt nice and loose after that.  Core workout in the evening. 

AM:  Woke up at 5am, ran 5.1 miles.  Looked at a map before I went out, still didn't get home on time but did know where I was 90% of the time, got a bit lost finding the metro at the end of my run.  got an email reminding me of a meeting tonight for Mickie that i can't miss, so I had to cancel on two women I was going to meet for my hard workout tonight.  Which meant treadmill workout in the afternoon.  I took a nice nap.  Something magical about naps that are over 60 min.  Mine was 70 and heavenly.

PM: 3.75 mile warm up then 3 miles HM pace, 1 mile 7:30 pace 2 miles 10k pace.  Didn't wan to overshoot paces since my Saturday workout is going to be really hard.  HM paces were 6:11, 6:07, 6:07 on TM with 1% grade.  I was afraid 7:30 pace would be hard, but it felt heavenly after the HM paced miles.  7:30 for .75 then was kicked off the treadmill, had to relocate to the annex. Probably took 3 minutes to get resituated.  The annex is small, just three treadmills, two big and one baby looking one. The two big ones were taken and I was upset because the baby one looked like it might not be able to do sub six miles.  But it performed well, my little treadmill that could. I ramped right up to 10.1, and increased each half mile, so first mile was about 5:55, second mile was about 5:48.  Then 30 min cool down.  Very embarrassing to get so sweaty in front of other people who were not working out that hard.  Oh well.  Got it done.

12.95k (7.92? miles) around my house.  Hilly and still got lost a bit.  I will not let these streets nor these hills beat me! 7:34 ave pace

AM:  Met three ladies on the Island on Bowen Road on the Island for a thirds progression.  I hadn't run with any of the ladies, but they were great.  Bowen Road is 4k long and mostly flat, so lots of islanders go there, so there was some dodging.  There are 500m and 1k markers along it (supposedly) but I could only consistently see the start, the 2k and the end.  Sometimes I saw the others, though I don't think I ever saw the 3k mark.  Plan was 4:40-5:00 pace for the first third, 4:20 for the second third, and 3:55-4:00 for the last third (40 min each).  Ran abt 8.5k in 40:47, abt 4:48 pace gradually getting faster as we went.  Then ran abt 4:17 pace for the next 40.5 min (9.5k), then was on my own for the last third, I didn't get full splits because the watch was not reliable.  I did confirm the first 4k was just under 4 min/k pace, and I think I kept it around there.  Ran around 10k in the last 40min.  Then had to pick up water bottle and get off Bowen Road so jogged that portion slowly (2.5k).  Looks like accidentally ran about 30.5 k, but the last 2.5 were really junk miles :/  

PM: weights, core, 40 min water jogging in lieu of afternoon run.  Legs felt dead right after long run so thought I would back off instead of trying to rack up the miles.  They chased me out of the deep pool so I went back and forth in the deepest part of a not so deep pool (1.5 m) so I could reach a bit, but it was still gentler on my legs than another run, so I guess it was ok. 

Ran my next 10k course, the new balance 10k in two weeks, at a nice leisurely pace (7:52).  Nice to be able to do this, only could because there was no school today so no rush to be home to get the kids off to school.  The course is rolly, not flat, which will make a sub 6:00 pace 10k all the sweeter :D Stretching.  Then off to Ocean Park with the family.  Half amusement park, half sea world.  Mickie, my 9 yo, committed to doing every scary ride, so we did the straight drop, and he loved it, and we did it again about 6 more times that day.  The lines were short, but it was hot and hard to be outside most of the day.

A public holiday so Italia Running Club, the club I joined (for the food admittedly :D ), held a speed session at Aberdeen track.  Afterward there would be swimming and a runners breakfast.  So I convinced the family (even Paul) to come along.  The kids played with a couple of other kids around the track, annoying the track workers (there are always paid employees at these facilities).  The men are fast and were doing 10x800, with 200m walking rest.  I did 8x800 with 400m jogging rest and convinced the ladies to join. Goal was 5k pace--per McMillan's optimistic calculator that was 2:45-2:48 for me.  Roberto, in his injured state, also joined, as did another man (Peter), after having a try at the men's repeats.  I was the fastest lady, but Peter would work me on one side of the workout (he would always jump out fast, did a 36s 200m on the last repeat, I think), then I would pass him, then Roberto would turn it on in the last lap and show his stuff.  It was a festive atmosphere.

5k warm up, then 1 - 2:45 (2:20 rest), 2 - 2:43 (2:34), 3 - 2:44 (2:44), 4 - 2:43 (3:06-rests started getting problematic because the other ladies were finishing slower than me and had a hard time getting to the starting line when I wanted to start, perhaps I should leave them next time?) 5 - 2:43 (2:43), 6 - 2:42 (2:53), 7 - 2:43 (2:58), 8 - 2:40.  So ave pace was 2:43.  Felt hard but good.  Only 3k cool down, but people were leaving so I did too.

PM: Nap! 8.71k (5.44m) in 4:42 ave pace (7:30).  Felt good.  AB workout

AM: 16.7k (10.43m) at 4:30 ave pace (7:12). It was hottish (started at 7:52am).  Weights when got home.  Only did 5 pull ups.  I will see six again and beyond!

AM:  5.15miles in 8:02 ave pace, raining, hilly, nice, core workout

PM: 5.75k warm up in 5:08 ave pace/k.  Then 4x1 mile at 10k pace, with 1 mile rest between at 7:00-7:30, so downshifting but not to recovery pace.  So that was 7 miles of workout with warm up and cool down.  14.66 miles total.  Fast miles were 5:50 (7:13), 5:47 (7:13 for 1550m, includes potty stop if you can believe it--did not stop my watch), 5:44 (7:23, forgot needed to keep at a good clip, so this included maybe 25 seconds of slow jog until I remembered what I was doing, so had to run faster to get overall pace right), 5:41.  Then did a cool down, starting around the track but then went to the walking path.  I was tracking according to overall lap pace and didn't have autolap on, so my whole cooldown was one lap.  Of course the cool down started at 10 min pace or so, when I hit the walking trail it was 9:10 ave, and I started playing a game with the light poles where I saw if I could drop the overall pace by one second per light pole each time.  I had a solid streak from 8:39 down to 8:07, then turned around so lost it there, but then continued the consistent drop until 7:58.  It was a fun little game.  Had an overpass at the end of the cool down so ended up with 7:52 ave pace over the cool down.

Hard thing about night workouts is the run the next morning is supposed to be a "build endurance" not a recovery run.  But I need a recovery run.  So I usually do recovery pace the first half, then easy pace the second half.  That was definitely the case today.  First half was 4:50-5:05 pace, second half was in the 4:40's, 4:52 ave pace (7:47).  Will do weights today.  Waiting for Ikea to come and deliver the last bit of our desk.  Am so excited to have a functional office.

Ran 35.2k at 4:32 ave pace, a bit faster in the second half than the first half because gave myself time to warm up.  Didn't do any fast pushes, just tried to keep the pace decent.  4:32 converts to 7:15 ave pace.  have another run this afternoon, gunning for a 90 mile week, have only been this high I think once or twice before in 2008?

On the more morbid side, have a lump at the top of my left ham right below my glute.  I have been noticing it for about four days, showed it to Paul (I can't see it) to see if it was a varicose vein, but no, its not, he remembers me having him check out that same lump several months ago but it was smaller then.  So great.  Lump that is growing = biopsy?  Can it wait two months?  I would really hate to die from cancer that metasticizes because i didn't want to interrupt my most important training cycle ever!  So I guess I am going to have a forced downweek for the biopsy.

Anyone have experience with a biopsy on a critical running area?  How long from the suture to the first easy run?  How long before can do a hard run?  Products to use to hold the area together so I can run harder faster sooner? 

Ah, the glorious cut back week.  You know you need one when you don't resent it or cheat on it :D  Not that I have ever done that. . .

10.74k in 50 min, 4:40 ave pace.  Core and weights in the PM. 

AM: 6k (3.75miles) in 8:36 pace ave in 30 min.  Very hilly route around my house.  I am trying to keep good form even when taking a hill easy.  Kids have been exchanging a cold and I felt really tired in the morning so took a hairy long morning nap and felt better when I woke up.

PM: 3 miles at 10k pace: 5k at 10k pace since I am a k convert.  Usually warm up/cool down 30 min but did 5k instead.  Total run was 15.36 k.  Wanted 4:37-4:39 for my k's but that sounded daunting.  It seemed like there was a strong headwind on the way out (did a turn around at 2.5k), but in HK it seems like there is always a headwind.  You think you have one then you turn around and you still have one.  Maybe that is a casualty of running fast :D you make your own wind. . . HA anyway. Today was windy for real.  Going out into the wind: 3:39.7 (have an underpass in this k), 3:37.7 (have another underpass on this one, started this one way too fast, so ave pace for this lap was getting slower all the time, trying to get in a relaxed/unrelaxed place.  10k pace is weird because it has to be sustainable discomfort), 3:39.3 (180 turn around slowed me down, had to claw back to sub 4:40), 4:41.9 (underpass ended the k which means I ended at the top of a hill, disappointed to be above 4:40 and want to give up), 3:36.4 (have to go bathroom, disappointed in the 4th k, underpass in this k, thought this k was going to be horrible but somehow I bounce back).  18:15 total, 3:39 ave pace.  Not bad, I was disappointed in the 4th k, but then I also thought it was a 4:43 or 4:44.  Also, I mapped this run, and there is a slight decline in the 2nd k and incline on the 4th k, so that perfectly explains the variation in splits.  So there!  You can see my map if you are curious: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/51393104

13k in 4:34 ave pace/k (7:18).  Will do core and weights today as well.

AM: 3.78 miles at 8:22 ave pace.  Was going to meet two ladies at a country club for swimming and lunch, but the weather wasn't good enough so we postponed.  That is good because I haven't been feeling 100% (kids have cycled through sore throats this week), so I took a nice long nap.

PM: Right before evening workout, I had a special bathroom experience, showing some possible low grade food poisoning?  I ate half of a pomelo throughout the day and it was going through me, not sure if it was the culprit or one of the victims in this evening's events.  Anyway, went out anyway.  Workout was 2 miles @ hm pace, one mile easy 2 miles at 10k pace.  After warming up .7 I had to walk to prevent an incident.  Tried to run again for .03, no go.  So walked to a bathroom nearby, exhibit B.  Then tried to decide what to do, attempt the workout?  The trail is crowded with people, not like the farmlands where a case of the runs can be dealt with in a somewhat discrete manner.  I start walking back to the metro, but I am a slow learner.  So I turn around and decide to try to jog to a nearby track (Sha Tin).  I'd be no more than 250 m from a toilet.  So I make it to the track, run a lap.  There are 100-150 at the track, a couple of different clubs there for workouts.  This is going to be special.  I didn't want to go to HKSI without Paul or Alison there.  So did some stretching, toilet stop (C) and decided I would just attempt the workout.  A scant 15 min of jogging warm up.  Made it through first two miles 6:08, 6:02, hit the bathroom, so rest was 1.38k in 6:54 (time includes bathroom), attempting second two miles: 5:49, 5:45.  Very proud of myself.  Remember the 150 people?  Well, many are hanging around and stretching or doing exercises, but many were also running, walking or wogging around the track.  Way too many in lane one.  I yelled track many times, but it was harder to do in the last mile, a bit tired.  In the 6th lap of the second bit I counted how many people I went around in that lap--it was six.  That was pretty normal, and I think the people cost me about a second a lap on average.  I lasted about .6 into the cool down when I had to jump into some bushes.  My first hong kong jump into the bush experience, I am proud to make it 6 weeks (Roberto--conscientiously choosing a bush at the chung hing race doesn't count) in HK before having that experience.  Then hit another bathroom on the way home.  Also bought a drink on the way home.  it is a cocacola drink called Aquarius which is supposed to be like an electrolyte drink.  In a can but not carbonated.  It was nice to get liquids in me.  Only 7.7 miles for the evening.  I guess getting sick is one way to encourage low miles in a cut back week.

Abt 8.75 in 65 min.  Core workout and stretching.  Stomach all better :D

10.25k in 4:46 ave pace (7:37ish).  Cooler over the last several days with wind.  10k tomorrow.

Everything with a grain of salt:  The top 24 women in the Berlin Marathon ran their first 10k faster than my race today :/  I am monitoring since Chi Ngan Chow (chinese name for Alison) is running it.

Warmed up 4.63, part with Alexis, as lass from Connecticut/NYC.  She is an attorney turned attorney recruiter.  Very nice lass (I call her a lass because she's not a girl and calling her a woman means she might be older than me, but she's a few years younger).  I have been feeling off all week, somewhat throaty, weak in the stomach, but felt fine this morning.  Nervous for what the race will bring.  This is the downside of racing only once a month--each race becomes a bit more important.  What is great about only occasional racing is that you don't have a race disrupting your training (afraid to train to hard, etc).  

This race is rolly.  The weather was pretty good, prob 79-81ish, abt 70% humidity (too humid).  I thought I might wear my singlet but after warming up and getting it all sweaty I changed to my sports bra.  Plan for the race was to go out 3:45 pace/k then try to push faster on the way back.  Rolly both ways, but more uphill out and more downhill back.  I would say the first 5k is about 15-20 seconds slower than the second half.  I just averaged the first 21 racers (I was number 21) and the average negative split was 13 seconds, so the difference likely is 20-25 (most run second half slower than first half, even among the faster runners?).  Lets see if I beat that (I don't know yet, this is so exciting!).  Play by play. 1k - 3:41.71 (flat, on bricklike cobblestones), 2k 3:43.79 (first half flat, second half uphill), 3k - 3:43.89 (flatish?), 4k - 3:53.76 (net uphill), 5k - 3:45.76 (first half downhill, then second half uphill, not liking the uphill, feel myself slip a bit mentally here.  On one stretch I told myself, I will care next kilometer--a bad attitude, I know).  180 turnaround! 6k 3:46.63 (first half downhill, second downhill, inverse of the 5k, abt same pace as the 5k), 7k - 3:34.11 (inverse of 4k, abt 10 sec faster), 8k - 3:43.14 (abt the same as 3k), 9k - 3:35.8 (first half downhill, second flat, abt 8 sec faster), 10k 3:30.68 (abt 11 sec faster, I thought I had 500m left at 1k left, so I sped up, then realized I had about 700m to go, so pushed with not much left in the tank, probably an ok way to finish a race anyway, pretend there's 500m left when there's 1000m left).  I also had 3 more seconds tacked on the end.  Measured 10.06 total.  So splits add up to 18:48.91 for first half, 18:10.36 for the second half (add the 3 seconds where you will).  So that is 38 seconds difference.  

 So I think all my progression runs and progressive intervals are paying off!  Finally a 10k where I did not die at the end, instead negative splitted.  So I beat my first HK 10k by 2 minutes.  Comparing the two races, today was cooler, but probably the same humidity, and today's was hillier.  I am happy with my race, though I would have liked 36:59 a tad better.  Given how I have felt this week, I am really happy with the race.  I figure the weather was worth 1 min and the hills were worth 30 seconds, so I feel like this was the best road race 10k have done.  Legs felt really good, even in the cool down and now hours later.  Next couple of weeks I'll be going back to higher mileage.  Wish me luck.  I could use a bit more fitness, but the most critical thing is to not get injured.

I am grateful that moving to HK has not derailed my running, for God's gift of this time in my life to run competitively. 

Feel tired from yesterday, but thankfully not really sore.  Just a bit of soreness around left knee, which has been bugging me off and on.  I have been doing exercises and stretching to strengthen the muscles around the knee to help ward off anything serious.  7:30 ave pace.  Weights and core.  Met Italia Running Club at the HKAAA meeting in the evening--got dolled up since we are applying for official club status, and everyone else was coming from work so didn't want to be the only frumpy in yoga pants.  Wore make up for the first time in two months.  Will pay for this on Tuesday. . .

AM: Big track workout on stale legs and hot humid conditions.  Yeah my favorite!  5k warm up, including stretching.  Then 3x (1600, 1000, 800, 400, 200) with 200m jogging rest between each interval and set.  So this is a 9 mile workout, 7.5 miles of hard stuff.  1600 is 10k, and I gradually work down to mile pace.  I was really concerned about the workout given not being recovered from the race, but there's only one way to find out if you can do a workout and that's to do it.  

First set: 5:51, 3:34, 2:49, 80, 37, nothing brilliant but acceptable.  Feeling like negative splitting wasn't in the cards given how I felt, and it was heating up.  Second set:  5:49, 3:35, 2:49, 79, 38, Third set (can I make it through the third set, feeling trashed, just decide to take it one at a time): 5:48 (ok), 3:39 (I obviously dog this one a bit, this is still 10k pace, struggling), get water in the next rest so that rest was about 40 seconds longer than the normal rest (1:20-1:30) at 2:08, tell myself I can fake an 800, 2:46, 79, 36.  

During the workout was irritated by sweat in my eyes.  During cool down my eyes hurt!  Bad, especially when blinking or if I try to close them.  I realized either I still had some make up on my face from the night before, or there was left over stridex on my face from the night before, coming down in sweat into my eyes.  My vision was impaired and my eyes were bloodshot for about 4 hours after my workout, then they cleared up.  I paid a price for my make up.  See this is exhibit B for why women shouldn't wear make up.  Exhibit A is all the pock faced, red faced, ugly, aging or indifferent male faces that surround us.  If rugged is sexy in a man, then my pinkish, wrinkly, imperfect face is good enough for me. Thank you very much.  5kish cool down brought the workout to 24.86k's.

PM: 5.2 miles on the tm at the gym. Natural stride produced 87 one sided strikes a minute. 90 only with concerted effort.  

13.38k at 4:29 ave pace.  Left knee a bit niggly.  My massage therapist is worried about both of my knees.  He said they are wearing out.  He's given me exercises to strengthen things around my knees.  He suggests wearing those bands below the knees, you know the fashionable ones?  JK, they are perhaps an inch thick and you strap it just below the knee.  Anyone have experience wearing these, phasing these in, etc?

Core workout, weights, sports massage, blogging.  It's a wonder I get anything else done.  6 pullups, the sixth still wasn't pretty but counted nonetheless. 

Woke the kids up at 6:15 to get ready for school.  I was going to do my short run at 7:30, after they left, and my tempo intervals in the evening.  Ben is the first to get off to school.  Mickie was next, but came back to the house three minutes later complaining that the guards wouldn't let him out of the complex.  I talk with Mickie and realize there must be a Typhoon Signal.  Turns out Hong Kong gives advance warning of likely signals so probably every mom in hk except for me knew last night that today would be Typhoon signal 8, the level at which they batten down and cancel school.  It's really akin to Hurricane level 1 in US, so not really extreme, but some gusts that can topple trees, fast debris at times.  So Ben was somewhere between here and school, not realizing that school was cancelled.  Poor thing.  He finally got home around 8:45, upset to have gotten up at 6:15 for nothing.  Meanwhile, I sneak out of the complex in my running stuff (claiming I was going to look for Ben) to try to do my short run, but I have to hide behind cement barriers during a couple of gusts, and there is a guard discouraging people from going on the metro, though it is running, so I chicken out.  So I have a big workout today and a short run, and three kids at home, and not sure if I can run at all.  My gym is the University gym so it is shut down along with everything else, so the TM is out.  At around noon, I realize the rain and wind has lightened up, so I decide to go out for my short run, then I decide I better try to do my long run if conditions are decent enough, since they might just worsen.  I tell Ben to not be surprised if I am gone for hours.  

After running a mile, I realize there is quite a bit of wind.  I don't want to tempo into heavy wind, that can be quite demoralizing.  I am supposed to do 4 miles at HM pace, then one mile easy then 2 miles at 10k pace.  I decide to push off this workout and do my long run.  I have no fuel with me, but there are vending machines.  At 5 miles, I hit a vending machine and I don't know exactly what I am buying, and I buy a drink that has no calories and very little salt.  Dang.  I buy a second item.  It still has no calories, but has more salt, so I drink 1/3 of the bottle, and stash the rest in a bush for the way back.  I hit another vending machine at 8.5 miles, and am sorely tempted by the coke, but try to buy aquarius (like gatorade) but it is out, so I buy C+, it's like squirt but has 100% of vit C for the day.  I am wary of the carbonation but need the calories.  Drink half the can then stash it.  Get lost in Tai Po, return to this can at 14 miles, then to the other stashed drink at about 17 miles.  Through the run phased between sprinkle, rain, and clear, heavy head wind, cross wind, tail wind and relative calm.  I was soaking, it was much like St. G 2008 without the adrenaline, downhill, and course aid.  I got attacked by a branch I ran through, it whacked my back calf and bled a bit, but not bad enough to make a scene.  Survived it all ok, ave 7:35 pace.  Knees are a bit niggly.  Need to eat something. 

PM: bought a foldable bike used for Ben so he can support me through long/hard runs. Then we went to the waterfront where I ran for 4.11 at 8:05 pace.  Chaffed from my midday run, so this second run did not help things out on that front.  Still windy but down to Typhoon Signal 3, which I think means: windy but safe. 

Man, slept in, felt great. But felt wasted during my run. Kept around 8:10 for a good portion of it, but could hear someone trying to pass me at about mile 5, so did a 7:25 then a 7:15. Then watch died so I went back to sloggin it in for the last k. Ave pace 7:52 before watch died.