Slow & Steady Wins the Race :-)

5 miles at the gym track after another loonngggg Tuesday (3 classes, meetings, tons of work crammed in between).  Only one more super long Tuesday of the quarter to go.  Did a fast 2nd mile, it was around 7:37.  After that felt sluggish though.  Did some squats/lunges/plank after 4 (thought I was done) but Justin was still running so I did one more mile.

Allergic rash is much much better, thank goodness.  Did use about a whole tube of concealer on my face this morning.  Didn't sleep much at all last night because the Benadryl made me take a nap before bed and then couldn't seem to hold off the itchiness - too itchy to sleep!  Hopefully tonight's not the same. 

This would have been day #60.  Decided to give it up.  It served its purpose (I lost my injury/holiday 5 pounds and got back into cross-training/strengh-training), time to move on!

5 lovely miles at BPA trail with Lisa, Anya, and baby Denali (I got to push the BOB!).  I think it was 55 minutes, AP 11:00.  Can't wait for the Lincoln City 10K/Half Marathon running weekend this weekend!

2 quick miles around the neighborhood while waiting for Justin to get home to leave for Lincoln City!

Perfect perfect perfect day in Lincoln City.  Woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep, no one else was up so I took Cooper to the beach and walked about 2-3 miles, so calm, not a breath of wind, blue sky, some SUN.  A miracle.  As I was just starting to head up Kasey came down with her dog Kenzie so we did 2-3 more miles walking on the beach with the dogs.  Then we got back and headed out to do the Drift Creek Falls hike, which is about 3 miles, about 800 feet of elevation drop/gain I think.  Then when we got back we went to the beach with the dogs again!  So basically Cooper had the best day of his LIFE.  

Got a great crowd together for an awesome weekend in Lincoln City culminating with the 3rd Annual Lincoln City Half Marathon (for Lisa, Jordanne, and Anya, they dominate!) and 10k (for Kasey, Jeff, Brittany, Kevin, Justin, and I).  The weekend was just gorgeous and today was no different, perfect blue skies and perfect temperatures (started around 40 but warmed up, with SUN the whole time!).  Out along a lovely river with beautiful fields, cows, horses, donkeys, forests, and just general loveliness.

This race was weird because the night before we pretty much all decided to do the Half Marathon instead of the 10k, but I couldn't decide so literally in the first 3 miles I wasn't sure what to do.  But I started too fast for a half, trying to keep up with Kasey, and at mile 3 I had to decide if I was either going to slow down and do the half or speed up and do the 10k.  Speeding up sounded like more fun. :-) 

Hit the gas in Mile 4, caught up to Kevin and passed him, then in mile 5 with about a mile to go or so I saw this older lady (45?) in blue waaay up ahead.  I really really wanted to catch her, but it felt impossible because we seemed to be going the same pace, and I was already really suffering and going about as fast as I thought possible.  But slowly I closed some of the gap, and at one point she looked behind to check out the competition and locked eyes with me and she sped up and I thought it was over.  But finally with about .1-.2 to go I caught her!  She gave me this defeated look and fell back, I felt kinda bad.  But not really. :-)

This race felt GREAT.  No it wasn't a PR (about a minute off), but coming off of a winter of ITB problems and resting, in the first race of the year, this feels AWESOME.  I'm excited to keep training.  Two-thirds of the runners did the Half, not the 10k, which boded well for me because I got THIRD.  THIRD PLACE.  That's right, third female overall, SHOCKING!  (Now I'm sooo glad I killed myself passing that lady!)  No award though, but I did get a ribbon for 2nd in my age group.  We cleaned up in the 10k since there wasn't anyone, Brittany, Kasey, and Jeff all got ribbons too!

Cooled down by doing 4.2 more (very easy) miles to round it out at 10.4 while waiting for the half marathon people to finish.  They had a delicious spread of fruit, awesome bread, Mo's clam chowder, girl scout cookies, and the most delicious thing EVER, which turned out to be Dave's Killer Bread Sin Roll or something like that.  I will definitely be purchasing some of those.  So proud of everyone, such a fun weekend.  And especially proud of Justin, who did his first ever 10k in under an hour!  I only wish I wasn't so tired and it wasn't the start of another work week (including the last crazy week of the quarter).

TT: 49:50  AP: 8:01

Splits: 8:39, 8:18, 8:25, 7:49, 7:49 (had the big hill), 7:19, 7:04 (.22)

Ouch.  A lucky daytime sunny-after-pouring-rain run shoved in between work and class at Burke-Gilman trail.  I didn't feel very sore after the 10k (just some right hamstring soreness) but about a mile into this run my shins were screaming.  After that miles 2 and 3 were pretty much a death march - I would run until it was intolerable, then walk until it felt better, repeat 100 times.  4th mile felt better, but ITB was also kind of angry at me.  Overall, lesson learned: it is incredibly stupid of me to barely do speedwork (i.e., I ran ONE 7:37 mile last week on a flat cushiony indoor track) and then go out and run as fast as I possibly can on hilly terrain (i.e., two 7:49 miles, one with a huge hill and one 7:19 mile).  When have I done even ONE 7:19 mile since August?  I haven't.  So that's stupid of me.  I think my biggest problem is that I hate suffering during everyday training (so I avoid suffering at all costs) but I somehow LOVE to suffer during races.  So races pretty much always kill me.  I am an idiot. 

Later did 10 super sluggish minutes on the elliptical and some weights, including 100 lunges (50 each leg) which I will certainly pay for tomorrow.

7.14 miles around the neighborhood - Time #1 of trying to make myself suffer.  4 x 400's with 2 minutes rest (meant to do 6 but the car place was going to close), so then I hurried and ran (literally ran!) up to get the car from the collison place (they fixed the broken bumper after that guy hit it), then after I got home I grabbed Cooper and headed out for 2.5 more or so, and added in one more 400. 

400's: 2:01, 1:57, 1:58, 1:57, 1:56

These really aren't 'suffering', my goal should probably be closer to 1:45-1:50.  Oh well, you've gotta start somewhere.  HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!  Off to try and bribe my husband into helping me transcribe hours and hours worth of interviews.  Anyone want to volunteer to help? Its a fun Friday night activity!  :-)

3 sluggish miles outside around the neighborhood with Cooper.  It rained and was altogether unenjoyable.  SICK OF THIS WEATHER!

St. Paddy's Day Dash in Seattle this morning with Jordanne, Kevin, Katie, and Carina (Jordanne's mom and brother missed the spring forward!).  It sprinkled most of the time, but was fun, tons of green and some fun costumes!  2 miles uphill, 2 miles downhill, about a 10 minute mile average (ran with Jordanne the whole time for fun, I'm an evil bandit).  Its funny how running 4 miles in a big group makes it okay to drink beer at 10 in the morning!  Then we went and had a delicious book club brunch afterwards.  When I got home I didn't feel like I'd truly earned my brunch so I took Cooper out for 3 quick miles, did some speed-ups, AP around 8:30, last mile 7:57. 

Then played 9 holes of golf, well, walked 9 holes of golf!  It was fun and enjoyable (I even shockingly parred a hole!) until about 5 or 6, then the rain came, then the winds came, then the rain came harder, then the wind came harder.  That's about when I quit playing and just tried not to complain.  Much.  Hole 9 was pretty miserable! 

45 minutes on the bike trainer - the poor thing had dust on it!

Accomplished my goal of making myself suffer, this run was tough!  1 mile warm-up, 8 x 400's with 1:30 easy running in between (except for after split #4, that was around 2:17 as an extra break), then about a .7 mile cool-down to round it out at 5 miles.  Goal for the 400's was 1:45-1:50 (7:00-7:20). 

TT: 41:59, AP: 8:21

400 Splits: 1:45, 1:46, 1:44, 1:47, 1:46, 1:48, 1:52, 1:46

I've very pleased with this!  It was really hard and I wanted to quit but didn't, so that's a success!  400 #7 was a steady incline the whole time, so I think that they are all technically within my goal.  The Garmin is funny how it yells at you to Speed Up! or Slow Down!  Had some absolutely delicious coconut chicken to reward myself.  If I was on Top Chef that's definitely what I would make. :-)

Nice sunny day, lucky lunchtime run on Burke-Gilman trail.  No Garmin, 50 minutes of running, 40 minutes tempo moderate-to-moderately-hard, so I guessed about 5.5 miles.  Who knows.  Tonight at 7:00pm I will be all done with winter quarter! 

MapMyRun says I ran about 6 miles, I highly doubt I pumped out 6 miles in 50 minutes, but whatever, I'll take it!

For some reason my quads and calves were sore and I just felt sluggish.  So I actually feel very proud that I did this, because although my goal was a 2 hour run, I was immediately being like, I'll just do 10, I'll just do 8, I'll stop when Lisa does.  Ran 3.6 miles waiting for Lisa to get there, then 4.4 with her (pushed the beautiful Denali in the BOB for about 2 miles, which ALL felt uphill), then forced myself to trudge on.  Talked to both Justin and Leandrea on the phone for awhile which helped get me to the end.  2:03, AP 10:15 or something like that.  It was just about dark when I finished.  Had a lovely start-of-vacation dinner at Applebees after, now its TIME FOR MEXICO!  Hellooooo 80 degrees.

3 miles in lovely sunny Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  I abided by J's wishes and stayed on campus which was absolutely intolerable - 18 minutes running in circles on the tiny path at the hotel and then 12 unbearable minutes in the tiniest least entertaining gym ever.  This is my one and only day abiding by his wishes!

Ahhh, much better.  6 miles along the hotel marina drive.  First 30 minutes were perfect weather-wise, though a little sketchy (but I latched onto another lady I saw jogging and tried to stay with her), second 30 minutes there were tons of tourists up and about so that was better but the sun was in full force by then.  A sweat-fest.  AP around 9:06 today, felt good and fast. 

7 lovely miles in the sun again.  Didn't feel that great when I started (shocker) but after 3 miles I felt great and just decided to keep going as long as I could tolerate the full-force sun.  Right at 7 I was all of a sudden thirsty and hungry which I knew was bad so I hightailed it to the gatorade and quit.  Most fun wedding I've ever been to later!  

Was out of sunscreen and had already ran 3 days in a row so sucked it up and went to the crappy hotel gym for 30 torturous minutes on the elliptical while reading In the Woods - a pretty enthralling yet frustrating book, recommend I guess.

Other thoughts about Mexico:  The food sucked.  All-inclusive in Mexico apparently means that hot dogs are a staple of every meal of the day.  I also don't think I ate a vegetable the whole time I was gone (not by choice) although I tried to make up for that with fruit.  I was also BORED.  There was not much to do except lay around the pool and we all know I'm only good with that for one day.  Especially when the sun is so crazy-intense.  So the second day I was like uhhhhhh....?  Aren't there some sea turtles to swim with or some waterfalls to see or some hikes to hike?  Its just not my preferred style of vacation.  It was great to be there in such a big group though and the wedding itself was a blast.  I was so ready to go home today though. 

Back to the real world and my 200+ unread emails.  Not looking forward to that.

Back in the real world with my 200 emails and fires to put it out.  Washington welcomed me back in style with ice on my windshield.  Isn't it officially spring now?  

Late evening run around the neighborhood.  In case you didn't know, Leandrea is the best.  She better prepare herself because I'm now going to call her and make her entertain me every time I run alone (I bet she loves listening to me pant and huff up those hills!).  But those 6 miles FLEW by and we all know I only would have done 3 if I hadn't been talking to her, especially since it was dark the last 30 minutes. 

TT: 56:37  AP:  9:17

Splits: 10:43 (1.1), 9:21, 9:00, 9:04, 9:10, 9:17

PS - Its finally official.  Singapore for the summer.

3.6 miles with Lisa at BPA trail.  I have some sort of cramping stomach bug or something, it stopped me in my tracks and I went home, SORRY LISA!  I suck.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.  Hopefully its not some parasite or something I ate (or the water?) in Mexico.

Had dreams of doing 10-12 tonight - it was so beautiful all day long and as I was leaving Tacoma to meet Lisa it was still sunny there but a wall of ominous black sky ahead of me!  Of course the rain didn't start until after we were all dressed and the BOB was ready to go or else I was totally ready to call a Bahama Breeze happy hour audible instead. :-)  IT POURED.  IT WAS FREEZING.  IT WAS MISERABLE!!  Both of us I think wanted to turn back after 1 but we persevered, and glad we stopped when we did - I was shivering uncontrollably in the car on the way back.  Stupid weather. 

Took Cooper on a little run this morning just for fun.  2 laps around the neighborhood.  Then went and had a horrible never-ending tennis match which I lost and wanted to die.  It really felt like a marathon that a) I didn't train for, and b) was NEVER GOING TO BE OVER.  Last one off, even against another match that started AN HOUR after ours.  Ughhhh I hate tennis right now, kind of want to quit the team, its not like I practice anyway.  My feet are so blistered and on fire.  Afterwards I wanted to challenge the lady to a half marathon so I wouldn't be such a loser. :-)

"Cross-trained" by feeding bread to elk, bison, zebras, deer, etc. at the Sequim Game Park.  Awesome. 

The weather finally cooperated.  Something like 8 laps around the neighborhood, 5 miles with Cooper, dropped him off when he seemed tired.  My calves and lower legs feel tired, and the combo of this run with Saturday's tennis match have wrecked havoc in blisters and chafed scabs on my feet and ankles.  Listened to the never-ending mediocre book Freedom and then Leandrea saved me at the end.  She was like, whoa you're running a lot faster today!  Uhh, no, I am just about to die from running for so long so I'm huffing and puffing!

TT: 1:55:47   AP: 9:33

Splits: 10:07, 9:56, 9:38, 9:33, 9:29, 9:08, 9:38, 9:31, 9:23, 9:26, 9:30, 9:26

Early morning run, not feeling the official speed workout so did a fartlek workout of 14 'speed-ups' in the last 3 miles.  My Garmin is now gone forever (along with all my other electronic devices) (backpack jacked) but my splits were something like:

TT: 60:10

Splits: 10:08, 9:52, 9:26, 8:32, 8:33, 8:16

I am desperately missing all my documents, my wallet, and my passport, especially since I'm supposed to fly Saturday and everyone is giving me the run around about whether I'll be able to or not. 

No Garmin.  :-(  Almost as far as yesterday though, just a little short, so I'll call it 6.3.  60 minutes exactly.