Slow & Steady Wins the Race :-)

9 holes of golf with Justin and his dad for father's day.  It rained.  And was kind of miserable.  Jeff and his parents just happened to be in the 4-some behind us!

I'm depressed about running.  My knee hurts, and I think its getting worse, and PT isn't helping.  I probably have ITBS.  Ugh.  I'm going to pretty much take this week off (thank you tapering anyway), maybe just a 2-3 miler on Wednesday, then maybe take the week after the race off (thank you recovery week anyway).  And then see how it is.  Usually it doesn't hurt when I run, just when I do everything else that involves bending (aka climbing stairs, descending stairs, sleeping, sitting at my desk, etc.).  Sick of it.  I also decided to run around Tacoma today and it was a terrible route, trafficky, dangerous feeling, smelly, muddy, and I only got to run around my ideal destination, the pretty Tacoma fancy waterfront, for about half a mile because it turns out its 3 miles from here.  Who knew?  I had to climb under a train to avoid backtracking a mile, that was awesome.  But then I got back from the horrible run and found out my internship IS a go!  I'll be in Portland 6 weeks this summer, hopefully learning amazing things and contributing in some way! :-) 

TT:  1:01:37   AP: 9:29

Splits: 10:58 (1.15), 9:55, 8:58, 9:49, 9:39, 9:19, 8:43

I did some strides during that one fast mile, and climbed a massive hill in mile 6.

Its SUMMER!  80 degrees and beautiful today, FINALLY.  Came home and laid in my chaisse lounge chair for a little bit, lovely.  Then Justin got home and we went golfing after work for the first time this summer.  9 holes at Sumner.  I am so terrible, it is so frustrating.  I don't understand how I was getting better for awhile and all of a sudden the last 3 times I have been terrrriibbblleee.  Saw Toy Story 3 in 3D last night with our free movie tickets that expired last night (or else I would have saved them for ECLIPSE! :-) ).  It was saaadd.  I love that little horse, it reminds me of Cooper!

2 loops around the neighborhood with Cooper this morning.  My knee still hurts, ugh.  I thought it was maybe feeling better last night (first time I've taken 2 days off in a row in a long time!) but my knee hurt again as soon as I was running.  Saturday is not going to be pretty.  It was warm already at 7am too!  Hopefully that doesn't hurt Chris too much (he's doing the full). 

TT: 28:xx  

Splits: 10:04, 9:36, 8:46 (I'm just guessing from memory)

What? WHAT? If you had told me yesterday that I was going to PR today (a REAL PR, not a post-injury PR, which I was hoping for), I absolutely would not have EVER believed you. The human body is so strange and amazing. It is truly amazing that I run mid 9’s in most training runs yet I ran a 7:58 average today. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, that is a SEVEN in my average. That is like my 5k/10k pace, not my half marathon pace! Got up at 5:10am, left the house around 5:50am, got there with perfect timing to wait in the longest PoP line ever, drop off the gear bag, and head to the corrals. Justin drove Chris and I, and we almost got arrested by an angry police officer since we had no idea where we were supposed to go and got out of the car off a highway. Whoops. We had no choice! I pressed the lap button but the Garmin had some different average so those are in parentheses.

Mile 1 – 8:26 (8:19) Ran with Chris for about half a mile. He was nice and started in my corral instead of his, and it was rough going around all those people at first. It is amazing to look behind you and see a sea of 28,000 people!

Mile 2 – 8:05 (8:03) I suddenly decided that I was going to take on a new philosophy for this race: run as hard as I can for as long as I can, and not worry about bonking and pacing myself like I normally do.

Mile 3 – 7:58 (8:00) A SEVEN? What is going on? Starting to beg that I start to get in the zone.

Mile 4 – 7:53 (7:50) Got down to the waterfront which was really nice to run down there. Very pretty. Finally facing the reality that at this pace, my zone is never going to get there. Reminded myself that its supposed to hurt, that means I’m working hard!

Mile 5 – 8:35 (8:13) The first of the 2 monster hills. I thought this one was harder even though it shows less big on the elevation map. Struggled up.

Mile 6 – 7:34 (7:33) FLEW down the other side. My quads and calves are sooo feeling this downhill sprint now. There was one little short part that so downhill I was terrified I would trip and pummel down. At this point I started to think that MAYBE just maybe, a PR was possible, but was still doubting my ability to keep this pace up. I’ve pretty much never seen a 7:34 mile on my watch before.

Mile 7 – 7:36 (7:44)

Mile 8 – 8:07 (7:50)

Mile 9 – 8:02 (7:57) The second of the monster hills. The first part was really steep but short, but then it went uphill pretty much the whole mile and then some. I actually can’t believe this is the time for this mile.

Mile 10 – 7:59 The uphill continues through the I90 tunnel, which was really echoey, loud, and hot. Did I mention already that it felt muggy and humid, even though later after the race I was freezing? I started dumping water on my back and head around mile 5. Maybe just because I was working so hard, but I was HOT and it felt stuffy in the tunnel. The Garmin lost reception for the whole time in the tunnel (probably .6?) and I forgot to undo the auto pause setting so here its messed up (calculated the split from total time).

Mile 11 – 7:33 (8:02) After this mile was over I was pretty positive I was going to PR, and so happy! About that AND about the fact that it was only 2 miles left!

Mile 12 – 7:24 (7:32) On the viaduct, my quads and legs are starting to feel like lead and I really really want to be done now.

Mile 13 – 8:18 (7:39) I knew this mile felt neverending. Showing up as 1.09. Starting to get the tiniest twinge of a right calf cramp which terrified me. Luckily it never came to fruition.

Mile 13.1 – 0:44 (6:19) I DID IT!

Felt nauseous afterwards (as always, means I went as hard as I could!). Watched Chris come in at a rocking 3:20 (he did the full), then we went to Pyramid for some food, delicious apricot ale (though I could barely choke anything down), and to watch the horrible-ending USA-Guana world cup match. My knee didn’t even really hurt today, maybe its better! But my quads and calves are screaming, I’m sure from flying down the downhill. Total Ascent: 1,823 (this is missing some of the climb from mile 10)

From the mat pads - 5k: 25:24, 10k: 50:13, 9 mile: 1:12:19