Slow & Steady Wins the Race :-)

7:30am, 35 degrees.  Had to get up early this morning to get in the run before golf, and man it felt early with the spring forward.  Woke up at 6:45 and it was still pitch black outside, so fell back asleep and cut it close.  Ran down the the dog park, 6 laps down there, then back.  Was the only person there when I got there, which was a little scary, but had my pepper spray. :-)  It was cold, though I dressed right, I needed some gloves.  Icy on the bridges.  Started getting just exhausted at 9, it was rough going after that, especially the Hillside hill at 11.5, I wanted to die.  Hope I don't die next weekend!

Garmin took 12 minutes to get the satellites which was obnoxious, so splits are weird, and its possible it was a little less than 12, but over 12 with the warm-up.  Took a Gu after 9, it seemed to help a little, and had water after each of the 6 laps. 

Splits: 9:25, 9:21, 9:13, 9:14, 9:23, 9:13, 9:22, 9:04, 8:49, 9:16, 9:35 (Hillside hill!)

TT: 1:51:05  AP: 9:15

9 holes of golfing afterwards on tired legs, but seemed to be a good cool-down. 

Weekly Summary: Mon-6, Tues-off, Wed-7.18, Thurs-bike, Fri-3.53, Sat-off, Sun-12

Total Weekly Miles: 28.71  Whoops, this got a little high

Played tennis with J for an hour or so (it was so nice today!).  Loving the daylight savings.  Then came home and J set up my bike trainer (yay!) so I rode it for 40 minutes.  It was a definite workout, or maybe its just because its so much hotter in the house than when you're riding.  

Today's run was one of those runs that makes you think: "Wait, I CHOOSE to do this?  I say I love runnning? I hate running!".  It was horrible, miserable, blah.  First of all, I didn't even want to get off the couch, and then I wanted to be done at 3 so bad, but forced myself to do one more lap, then forced myself to do .4 more to get to 5.  The last 2 miles were so incredibly slow and sluggish, I felt liked I'd been running 20, not 5.  It was windy (my hat blew off, and it felt like I was on a treadmill at times, not even moving), raining, and I felt naked without running with my beloved Cooper.  Last week I had 2 dogs and this week I had no dogs!  There was a rainbow, the one nice thing about this run.  Finally (before this entry becomes a novel), I started having major anxiety and hypochondria about this weekend.  Every little ache became a stress fracture, and thoughts of getting injured again flood through my head.  I can't help think that it is so similar to last year, last year ran 13.1 the week before the half and felt fine, this week I ran 12 and felt fine, and I kept feeling possibly imaginary twinges in my shin and leg.  UGH.  This annoys me to even write it, I don't want to be this hypochondriac person.  It is just like riding a horse, its time to get back on the horse.  I know what the stress fracture felt like, it HURT, shooting pain every time my foot landed on the ground.  That's what to look for, not these weird imaginary things.  Whine whine whine whine WHINE, this is disgusting, I'm done.  

Splits: 9:50, 9:27, 9:11, 9:43, 9:49 - yep, you can see those horrible miles 4 & 5

TT: 48:01   AP: 9:36

An hour and 15 minutes of tennis with J.  Feeling better today, thanks for the support!  Was thinking today that yesterday's feelings could easily be soft tissue from playing tennis, plus I was thinking that my tennis shoes are from my senior year at the latest, so 2004, maybe even 2003.  So its probably definitely time for a new pair.  Putting the inserts in them would help too.  We'll see how the run goes tomorrow.

In other news, though its supposed to be 68 and gorgeous Friday and Saturday, Sunday is predicted to be a high of 50, sun-up isn't until 7:40 (the race starts at 7 and the low is 33!) and here's the worst... 70% chance of rain and THUNDERSTORMS.  They're already sending us info about this "flag system" where some of the flags mean to STOP RUNNING IMMEDIATELY!

Ran 5.53 miles at Roegner Park with Anya.  Sorry I couldn't do the full 8 with you Anya!  Was feeling better today and less like the terrible monster that emerged on Tuesday.  Let's keep my alter ego, Ricole, away for the rest of the weekend!  

Splits: 9:44, 9:22, 9:19, 9:13, 9:31 (headwind), 8:58 (.53)

TT: 51:54     AP: 9:23

Off to Atlanta on the red-eye tonight!  Be thinking good thoughts of me on Sunday - I just want to finish it injury-free!