I Probably Should Make My Blog Public again

Missed my tempo run yesterday because I was grading :(

 I hate running on Mondays.

I'm having a problem lately (that I know I've talked about before) where the time that is convenient for me to run is not compatible with my stomach.  When I get home from school (at about 4:30) I am STARVING.  My body just wants dinner since I eat lunch at 11:15.  I try a little snack, and if I can get out the door before 5, I'm usually okay.  But if I have to wait longer for my husband to get home (and I usually do), I get too cranky.

That's what happened today.

When I got out (at 7), I was still cranky.  I ran to the track at a slower pace, trying to convince myself to do the workout I had planned.  I was still trying to convince myself when I got to the track, but when I started my first fast mile, then I felt better.

I ran 3 x 1600 with a 200 in between each mile.  I got faster with each mile (7:53, 7:43, 7:30), so that was good.  Then I ran home faster than I have the last few weeks after some speed. 

Yay for me.

5 easy miles.  Then it was on to Euchre night, where I lost.  There's always next time.

When I was getting ready to head out, I found that my garmin was running out of battery.  I frantically searched for my charger, but couldn't find it (I think it's at school).  I ALMOST decided to scrap the tempo part of my run, but I knew that if I didn't do 6 miles tempo, I would be mad at myself.  

So I charged on!  Because I run all my routes a lot, I have all the mile splits memorized (for the most part), so I decided to run  4 miles into my usual tempo/long run route and then turn around.  Splits are approximate and I couldn't quite hang on to 8 minute pace, but I think mile 3 and 4 were 10-15 seconds long (the mile split is along  a string of light posts that are about 10-15 seconds apart, and I couldn't remember which one was the point, so I went one past the one I thought it was in case I was wrong).  Splits were 7:45, 7:59, 8:24, 7:54, 8:15, 8:07.  Then I ran one mile home.

I do not have the endurance that I had last year, so I'm not looking for a PR in the 1/2 I'm doing (4 weeks left, I think), but I am looking for a respectable time.  I feel confident that if I had one more month to work on it, I could probably PR, but alas, I did not get my butt in gear as far as building a good solid running base early enough.  And there's no way I'm doing a 1/2 in late May.   

5 easy miles in the a.m. because I am chaperoning a dance tonight.  It was cold and dark.  I was pretty creaky starting out, but felt better after a mile.  I went slow, though I don't know how slow, since my garmin is still dead.  It's probably better that way.  

Since my garmin was still dead and I made no effort to find my charger on Friday, I had to go sans watch again. I had to estimate just a bit and did another out and back.  I hit the lap button at my guesses at a mile so that I could compare how I was running on the way out and the way back, and I was pretty even, except the wind was a factor.  I was 20 seconds slower on the way back in. 

I mapped my run and it was slightly over 5 miles.  gmap says it was 5.17, but I'll underestimate in case it was wrong.  So I averaged anywhere from 8:36 pace to 8:45 pace, which I'm okay with.  It didn't feel too bad, though I was wondering in the end if I really had the stamina to run faster than that for more miles.  

I did find my charger at school, so I'll be depending on that this coming week :)

I saw the dog that chased me last week on a chain by the house I thought was his.  He barked at me again, but I told him to suck it when he gave chase and didn't get anywhere. 

I also was told to "Work it, girl" by a 6 year old. 

Then I was ogled by a couple old men.  One was saying something to me as I was running past.  I'm pretty sure it was lewd, but I couldn't really hear.  So I just smiled to give the old men pleasure.  I know I'm sexy while I'm running.