Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

Mid 50sF, cloudy.  Endurance run.

Not one of my better runs.  Everything felt too hard by 10 miles, and at about 14 miles the wheels started to come off: lethargy, form deteriorating, and eventually pain throughout the legs.  I forced myself to go a few more miles just to practice some mental toughness and try some mind games, but was happy to go home early.  I think I shall take tomorrow off.  I feel worn out. 

54F, mostly clear, humid.  Easy run w/ fast finish.  20 min. strength & Stick.

A pleasant, though slightly sluggish run.  The air is a bit heavy this morning.  We had a blood red sunset and moonrise last night, so I'm sure there is a lot of particulate hanging around. About this time every year I start wishing I lived in the Highlands of Scotland. Or somewhere foggy. 

My arms and back are a little sore. We did our spring scything yesterday.  Yes! The art of scything lives.  We have a bit of meadow grass property on the outskirts of our landscaped area and it's just nice to keep it below knee height and take care of the blackberry vines that always want to come up there. I can tell you my neighbors think I'm certified insane (perhaps some of you do too?) so I generally do it when I know they are at work.  One of my neighbors, who is extremely nosy and rude, once had the bad manners to call out to me, "What the h----- are you doing??"  A scythe is faster, lighter, quieter and easier than a weed whacker.  DD helped rake up and raked in some dough for herself. 

55F, partly cloudy, humid.  Lactate threshold/Tempo run: 4 E + 2 T + remainder moderate.

Yesterday afternoon, as our mercury climbed to 80F, the thunderheads that had been predicted for Eastern Washington were camped just beyond the mountains near my house.  So close!  It was beautiful, but I wanted them to scoot just a teensy bit farther west to cool us off.  This morning's run was quite pleasant, but still a bit warm with the humid air.

An observation about weight.  I was bringing in some purchases from my car, including a 20 pound jug of cat litter. Since my right arm is still sore from scything (see yesterday's post), I had the goofy but practical idea of putting the thing on my head, like an African woman.  I set it on its side and held on to the handle.  That worked nicely, but as I carried it up the 10 steps from the garage, through the house, and down the 14 steps to my basement, I thought to myself, "this is what it would be like to be 20 pounds overweight."  Difficult!! And I couldn't imagine trying to run with those extra 20 pounds.  I like my weight all right, so it's hard to get worked up about losing the 5-10 pounds I probably should lose -- but how much lighter would that feel as a runner? Something to think about.

55F, getting cloudier :D  -w/ sun breaks and humidity.  General aerobic run, moderate pace.  (ETA: Forgot to mention: 20 min. strength & stretching)

A great run.  These Nike Lunar shoes feel really good, possibly as good as The Magic Shoes (Brooks ST3s).  The only reason I've relegated them to 2nd place is that the right shoe always feels too tight across the toe box for the first 5 minutes or so. Then it is fine. Weird.

I have a question for anyone who may know about this.  How do you run sharp corners?  Do you tilt like a motorcycle? Do you slow down a lot, shorten stride, or do anything different with your feet/legs?  I am talking about going around a 90 degree angle corner on a sidewalk for example.  I'd just like to get your thoughts on this because I find turns to be very uncomfortable sometimes and I wonder if there is something I can do differently.

Tidbit for today:  One of my favorite heros, Peter Schiff, was recently on The Daily Show.  I don't watch tv but this episode was brought to my attention.  It's nice to see a voice of reason getting positive air time. 

55F, cloudy.  :)     Slow and easy today. 

Just a wee jaunt to get the legs loose and enjoy some fresh air.    

Low 50s & cloudy, changing to low 60s and sunny. North wind.  Endurance run + club run + Spirit Crusher Hill + 4.5 miles @ MP+20 down to MP before cool down. 

Every now and then a run just shines for some reason.  That was today.  Legs felt great. Energy, great. Magic Shoes, great.  

I ran about 7 miles around the neighborhood and down to the meeting place before the club run.  I only ended up running with the club for about a mile, because I was determined not to run on gravel today.  It probably would have been ok, but I had a plan and wanted to stick with it.  No one wanted to run on the streets with me, so I just went as far as the trail head with them.  

There were no runners who said they would like to run at 11:00 pace (my choice), and a big group who did want to run at 10:00.  So I tucked in with them, thinking I'd just get left behind in a bit, and that would be fine since I wasn't going where they were going.  How long do you suppose it will take me to figure out that people don't say what pace they really want, or maybe that they don't know their pace?  We were at 10:40-10:50 the whole time I ran with them. lol

I came back through town on my own and hit the bottom of Spirit Crusher Hill at mile 11.5  That was the strongest run up that hill I have ever done! I stopped once at the drinking fountain about 2/3 of the way up, and other than that I ran steady.  The worst of the hill comes at the last .5 miles and my pace was reduced to around 14:00 but I didn't stop, didn't feel overwhelmed, and didn't break down physically or mentally even a little bit.  Yay!

But it gets even better.  At about mile 16 I had been back in the 'hood for a while and decided to finish with a route going out to the Heights, where Jefferey lives.  Things were still feeling pretty good, so I decided right there and then to run that part with more effort.  Each mile got faster than the last! That hasn't happened to me since... um... I'll get back to you on that.

I let my last mile be easy, but even then I felt really good and my form was still in check.  Today was as good as last week was awful.  I sure appreciate the confidence booster. 

I'll be back on the blog later today to leave comments for all my dear friends. Right now I'm late for showering  so I can get going to my Knit-in Public event. Today is World Wide Knit In Public Day!  Totally crazy, I know.   But there is a K.I.P just up the road at my library, so DD and I are going.