Slow & Steady Wins the Race :-)

1:30pm.  22 miles of biking at Cedar River Trail - very lovely day for biking along the river, but I was not in shape for this and I will certainly feel it tomorrow.  My quads/hammies were VERY ready to be done around 17 and the last 5 were a nice death march.  Still felt good, did the entire paved stretch from the Renton parking lot to the gravel in Maple Valley!  

TT: 1:34:28   AP: 14.1 mph

Splits: 11.6, 14.0, 13.9, 13.8, 13.8, 14.5, 13.3, 12.5, 13.4, 12.8, 13.4, 15.6, 18.6, 18.7, 15.8, 15.4, 17.0, 15.5, 15.2, 13.9, 13.6, 13.7

Coming back is WAY easier than going out (because its very gradually almost visually unnoticeably gradual uphill). 

Sad to end a GREAT weekend: the drive-in, running with Lisa, Wild Waves, bbqing, blackberry picking, blackberry cobbler & blackberry freezer jam making, biking, poker tournaments, fun shenanigans with Portland friends, etc.  Still to come: Mariners game and bonfires.   

4 miles, 4:30pm.  So yesterday I got some new shoes: the Mizuno Wave Inspire 7.  They felt great in the store, very cushy and good.  I have been wanting to get some more substantial shoes for awhile both because I think it would be good for me to not run in the VFFs/Merrells on every single run but mostly because I have to do a gravel leg on H2C and those do NOT do well on rocks (ouch ouch ouch).  

So I took the new shoes out for a spin, ugh, it was horrible.  Calf pain and my legs just felt sooo heavy.  Plus the sun was beating down on me (shocking, right?) and it was so hot (had to run in the afternoon because of date night) so this was just a poor run overall.  Was going to stop after 2 but then I decided to put the VFFs on and I toughed out 2.17 more.

TT: 39:59   AP: 9:36

Mariners Game!  They actually won and it was actually exciting (at least in the second half!).

8:00pm, headed out for a run with Justin (sorry Cooper, was not up to you yanking my shoulder out of the socket today).  I went back to the running store and exchanged the Mizunos for a pair of Saucony Mirage, which are kind of like the Kinvara and supposed to be kind of minimalist.  They're better, but I still don't think they're the one for me, but the people will murder me if I take another worn pair back!  Ran 3 miles in them, my legs felt so freaking heavy.  Perhaps I am officially a minimalist runner these days, because I just can't handle shoes.  Was going to stop for good but decided to put on my Merrells and do another lap, which turned into like 3 more laps, and I got up to 8 miles, which makes me happy since that's the length of two of my legs at H2C (i'm freaking out about not being ready to do that kind of mileage).  

TT: 1:17:51   AP: 9:40 or something

Splits: 10:00, 9:26, 10:02, 9:31, 9:42, 9:29, 8:54

11 miles at interurban trail with Lisa, Denali, and Jordanne (in combinations).  Okay, so next weekend I have to run 20 miles in about 29 hours, and between yesterday and today I ran 19 miles in about 24 hours.  Not the same, and its in place of a double run, but close, and a good preparation workout I think.  

5:20pm.  Got there 10 minutes early so did 1 mile alone before meeting Jordanne and Lisa (Jordanne is amazing and ran 13 today!).  Then did 3 more miles with them for a total of 4.  

6:30pm.  Did the Interurban Running Club's Summer Sizzler 5k (it costs $5 and there were about 25 people there, including only 7 women!).   My plan was to push Denali and pace Lisa to a hard PR we can use for planning speed workouts to get her to a sub 2 half marathon.  EPIC FAIL.  I suck at pacing and paced too hard and she stopped halfway and took Denali.  I'M SO SORRY LISA!  I felt sooo bad, I wasn't trying to kill her, I swear, I was trying to just stay a little bit in front of her to push her.  I'm the worst.  Anyway, then there was a woman like a quarter of a mile ahead of me so of course I decided I should catch her.  I did, but then I started feeling so hot and tired and just wanted to be done and you could see the finish line from so far away, it was taunting you!  They said I got 1st overall female but I swear this 16 year old beat me.  My first first place?  Who cares there were only 7 of us! :-)

TT: 23:43   AP: 7:38

Splits: 8:20, 6:46, 7:47, 7:26 (.11)

My watch said 2.94 but they said it was certified and Jordanne's watch showed 3.1 so somehow those splits work out, obviously the 2nd mile is wrong.

Then we did 1 more mile, then Jordanne left, then I did one more mile with Lisa, then she left, and then I did 2 more miles on my own (kind of sketchy at sunset on the trail alone though) to round it out at 11.  After the race my calf/ankle was SO tight and I felt pretty bad the last 4 miles!  But we did it! 

**UPDATE.  After checking my past races I guess 23:43 was a PR by 10 seconds.  I guess that means I should register for and train for a real 5K, because a real PR might be in my future.  This assumes this was a real 5k and not really 2.94 miles, which I think is a big IF!

Hood to Coast tshirt making. :-)  I'm an idiot.

6:30am, 3 laps around the neighborhood sans Cooper (he's not feeling too well, Justin is taking him to the vet in a little bit), 5 miles.  Felt really sluggish the first 2 miles but then felt okay.  Some little dog tried to bite me again, LEASH YOUR DOG LADY!  It's weird I love dogs so much because I hate 99% of them when I'm running. 

Whoops, I ran too much this week.  7:30am.  4 miles in Post Falls, Idaho.  Found a loop from the hotel past all the abandoned sad looking outlet mall stores back by the University of Idaho satellite campus, it was about 2 miles so I did it twice.  Beautiful blue-skyed morning.  Felt in need of some rest.