3 Miles

The baby has not been sleeping well, so neither have I. I missed Monday's run - after a 5am nursing session, I headed back to bed for some much needed sleep. Today, I felt grumpy and out of sorts, but hopeful that a run would clear my head. It was humid, and I just couldn't get a rhythm. Turned around early, and headed home discouraged.

Eight Miles

Another speedy run! I think I was about 11:50ish, maybe a little faster. I left my watch at home, darn it. I ran the first 3 miles with Claudia from work - we did the first two in 22:00 exactly. Holy moly! Overall, it was kind of a bummer run, felt like a lot of hard work. Some big hills, Claudia was only doing 6, so turned around at 3, and left me partnerless for the remainder. It wasn't all bad - back at the track, I ran into my high school French teacher who is doing the 4-miler training. We had a nice time catching up.

Two miles

Back on the wagon, sort of. I actually felt pretty good. It's the first day of school around here, and the air, while not exactly autmnal, has definitely been released from the grip of the dog days of summer. I needed fresh air in my lungs.

But I felt a little lightheaded, and my tummy hurt when I got home. And I realized I was supposed to have run 16 miles this past Saturday. I haven't even done 12 yet. Less than three months to go. My goal is to finish, but I'd like to finish with a spring in my step, not with an extended visit to the medical tent. Phase 2 of the program is coming up in September - time to readjust.

Off the wagon...

Max and I are both recovering from the latest day care special - it was a doozy. I'll leave out the gory details, but it was enough work trying to stay hydrated this past week without adding running in the heat and humidity. Perhaps some weights at the gym tomorrow, and then on the road again on Monday. God willing, my long run will actually get longer one of these days.

I'm feeling a little down, but I've still got more than 2.5 months left, and I did make a hotel reservation, so I've *really* got to run the thing. I met someone who is dutifully training (all summer!) to run the four miler. It came up that I'm training for the marathon. "Oh, but I'm not a runner," she said. "Me neither. I just put my head down and put one foot in front of the other," I replied. When you get right down to it, it really is just that easy. (Says the woman who hasn't run in a week and who has missed 3 of 4 Saturday runs.)

8 Miles

The stars aligned today. Was it the Shot Bloks? The Endurolytes? The good company? The perfect (and I do mean perfect) weather? The interesting course*? Whatever the reason, today I had an 11:52 pace overall - my first time breaking 12 min/mile for the whole run. And I didn't even stop my watch at crosswalks and water stops. I feel much better about having missed two long runs.

*Astute reader(s) (hi Mo) might notice that the link is to the Ten Miler, and I ran eight miles today. There's a two mile loop about midway through the course that you can skip. Hence, eight miles, as per my program.

5 Miles

Another variation on the ark site and back. Ho hum. I tried raspberry flavored Clif Shot this time. It was really gross. The first ingredient listed is "brown rice syrup." The gel tasted exactly what you would imagine brown rice syrup would taste like. And oh yeah, it had some fake raspberry flavor added. I couldn't finish the whole thing.

Four Miles (back on the wagon)

Yeeeeeeha, I ran my program today. Four miles - ran past the ark site, around the nature trail (which is bitchin' hilly, and not all that fun to run, despite the shade), and back home. I tried a Gu halfway through. It was banana flavored. It tasted okay, but I wasn't crazy about the texture (it's not called Gu for nothing). And then it sat in my tummy like a rock as I jounced around in the heat. Bleargh. But I didn't feel as ass-draggy on the long uphill bit, so it wasn't a total loss.

I also wore my spiffy Ironman visor, my Camelbak, and my watch with the new battery. I feel like a dorky poseur weekend warrior with all those entrapments. I think I need to accept the fact that even if I'm the slowest runner out there, I'm actually a runner. Me, an athlete! I was the kid who cried every day after gym class in the seventh grade. I had math right after gym, and my wonderful teacher would let me sit in class with teary eyes, and just quietly do that night's homework. She never once chided me for not paying attention. I loved the numbers and patterns, the regularity, the rules, and mostly, the fact that I was as good at math as I was bad at volleyball.

And now, I'm a runner, I'm a swimmer. I love the rhythm of running, running my pace by the numbers. I love the solitude and time for reflection. I love counting laps in swimming. I love devising workouts in my head, counting by 25's or 75's, and finding novel ways to add up to big numbers. I love keeping count of breaths, strokes, laps, kicks. I love the strangeness of 26.2. On November 11, it will be the first time I have purposely not run a distance that was an even mile, half mile, or kilometer.

100 degrees (and far fewer miles)

The past two weeks have been a blur of travel and sickness. Not to mention the heat. It's regularly topped 80 by 8 am, and was over 90 by 10 am the other day. I'm just not that hard core. Even coach Mark said to back off some in this heat. I think I've run a grand total of 6 miles in the past 10 days. I'm waffling about whether to do the long run tomorrow - I'm afraid to look at my program and see what kind of mileage I'm supposed to be doing. I think one more day of rest. Perhaps a good swim, and some weights instead. IronMo gave me her too-small brand-new speedo, I think it needs to go for a swim. It's all orange and red and flamey. I'll look fast, even if I'm still desperately trying to recover the body roll I lost somewhere around week 30 of the pregnancy.

I feel lazy and irritable. But at least I'm not starving all the time.

Oh, and I made some progress - I got a new watch battery! So now I can know exactly how slow I am. And I bought an assortment of gels and Clif Shot Bloks, and Mo gave me half a bottle of Endurolytes. And, I got a fancy new IronMan visor. So one of these days, when I get back off my tuchus, I'll have all the gear.

0 Miles

For the first time, I missed the Saturday group run. And I'm bummed - it was a "surprise" run at the track. Boo. I've come down with a sore throat and general ick, and just really, really needed to sleep in. Thankfully, Max complied and we all got to sleep until 7:30! Aaaah.

So I totally slacked for a week. I've still got what, like 15 weeks? I can do it!

140.6 Miles

Not me, IronMo!!! Way to go Mo, with a time of 13 hours and 18 minutes. YOU ROCK!!!

I was incredibly inspired by the whole experience. So inspired that I skipped my Monday run. I figured the loooong day of spectating, walking back and forth to the hotel, and schlepping around one overstimulated 19 pound baby made up for it. I had every good intention of running around Mirror Lake on Tuesday, but had a small mishap that left me missing a small chunk out of the back of my left heel, right where my shoe hits. Mo does 140.6 with nary a scratch, and I lose flesh taking the baby to the indoor pool at the Comfort Inn. In my defense, there is an industrial strength spring attached to the very heavy metal gate to the pool, and I'm sure there were no self-closing gates along the IronMan course.

Congrats to Mo and to the entire IronTeam!! You guys are completely insane.

10 Miles

Ran a very peppy 10 miles along Dick Woods Road. Friendly runner Kelly let me try some of her carb replacement blocks. No tummy troubles, and I don't know if it was coincidence, but I felt fabulous the whole run.

The views were lovely - the absolute definition of bucolic.

Was supposed to run 12, but had to catch a plane to Lake Placid!

4.5 Miles

I was fully broiled by the end of the run. Nothing like baking on asphalt for nearly an hour with the sun in your eyes to ensure that there's no pink in the middle.

I ran down to the walking trail, and ran the full length of it. It's not very long. It's not even as shady as I thought. Only about half of it is in any real shade. But it is lovely, and there are wild blackberry bushes, and it does skirt the golf course. There are even a couple of wooden bridges over a stream. But there are some unpleasant aspects. I came around a bend by the pond where the geese live, to a portion of the path with a substantial amount of goose poop on it. The bright sunlight glinted off flies making a meal of the goose poop. Except as I got closer, I realized they weren't flies, they were hornets.

My greatest phobia is stinging insects. I've made peace with my phobia. It's a perfectly sensible phobia, as phobias go. There are a host of good reasons to be afraid of things like hornets and to go to great lengths to avoid them. Add another reason to the list - SPEED!!!!!!!! Poky mama damn near broke the sound barrier to get away from the hornets' picnic. It was exhilirating to move that fast! But then the adrenaline wore off and I came to the end of the path, and I was back roasting on pavement.

4 Miles

Ah, finally, not dragging ass on a weekday run. It ended up being near 100 degrees today, but I was done with my run by 8:45 am, and it was still not scorching. Best of all, it wasn't humid.

On second thought, I did drag ass a little bit. The ark (or ark-site, as the ark is now gone) and back route is nearly devoid of shade, and I was really feeling it by the last half mile. Again. Which happens to be uphill. Still. I did run down the road toward the golf course, and discover what might be the other end of the walking trail I used last week. It might be worth driving over and parking close to the trail, just to be able to run in shade. What a pansy, right? Driving .7 miles to go on a 4 mile run! But hey, whatever it takes. Plus, with no giraffes, cameras, or movie stars, that route is boooooooooring. A long, barren stretch of asphalt that's uphill both ways. The most excitement on my run now is listening out for the Spanish-language easy listening blasted by the construction crews. Bad taste crosses all cultural boundaries.

8 Miles

Today's run was at Ridge Road. It was approximately 127% humidity. There was patchy, steamy fog when we first started out. It was an out and back - four miles to the turnaround at Free Union Road. The terrain gently undulated the entire way - all my hill-climbing muscles are sore now. I ran the first half with a woman named Mary, but pulled ahead of her on the loooooong uphill after the turnaround, and didn't see her again until I was eating my Clif Bar at the finish. I bumped into Jim again, and we ran together for about a mile, but he pulled ahead of me on a long uphill.

I really need to get on the gel and electrolyte replacement wagon. Gatorade gives me a tummyache, plus it's usually gone by the time poky me gets to the water stop. IronMo recommends Endurolytes, which are just salt pills. I figure the can't be any worse for me than the 1/2 can of Pringles I ate on the drive home. I also need to start doing gels during the run - a handful of Jolly Ranchers just doesn't cut it.

And for Pete's sake, would I get the battery in my watch replaced already? I'm fairly certain I kept about a 12:05 or 12:10 pace, but I can't be sure.

4 Miles

I wasn't feeling well last night - another day care special. Went to bed early, all achy. Felt pretty good in the a.m., but was really dragging on my run. The poor ark is nearly all gone now. The fake McMansions are just plywood shells, and slowly shrinking. I used to run through while they were shooting - lots of extras lining the street, movie stars and production assistants everywhere. Running just isn't as fun when I can't wave hello to Steve Carell. I need to find a new route, and shake things up a bit. Plus, it's an out and back that starts with a gentle downhill, bottoms out at about 1 mile, goes uphill for a while, then a little bit downhill. So when you come back, it's a gentle but relentless uphill for almost the last mile. So just when I'm hot and wanting to be done, I've got this crummy uphill. And I know it's coming, so all during the downhill, I'm thinking about it, instead of enjoying the downhill. Bah.

Eight miles coming up this weekend - I hope I do okay! I hate being the slowest one. We got info about speed sessions at the track. Mark had instructions for different pace groups. Of course, the slowest marathon goal listed was 4:30. Crap. If IronMo's first marathon time was 5:22, then by gum, I'll just keep plugging away. I don't expect that I'll be an IronMom or a Boston qualifier, but I sure as shootin' can put one foot in front of the other for 26.2.

Five-ish miles?

In Norfolk for the weekend. Was supposed to run 10, but in an unfamiliar urban area I wasn't about to go exploring. I ran to the ballpark that houses the Tides, ran around the parking lot, ran along the water, over a bridge and back, and along the water again to a sketchy looking park. Most of the run was on concrete and man, my feet hurt afterward. Looking forward to getting back on track this coming week, after an over-eventful week of sickness and schedule disruptions.

4 Miles

It was cool, gray, and drizzly when I left. The sun was coming out and it was oppressively humid by the time I returned. I felt much better than I did last Wednesday, though. I ran past the ark (now, little more than an ark skeleton), and hung a right onto the nature trail. It was actually quite a pleasant path, crushed gravel lined with birdhouses and wild blackberry bushes. The long, slow uphill toward the townhouses got me again on the way back, and I walked most of the last half-mile.

I got some new running togs at Target, and I felt really cute and sporty this morning.

Zero Miles

Supposed to be 3 or 4, but Max was up from 1:30-4:30 a.m. and I'm beat. I had a fever again Saturday night, and am feeling generally tired. I think Max may have caught whatever I had - he also had a little fever and a stuffy, runny nose in the wee hours. He was happy as a little clam this morning, though he missed his morning nap and was fussy when I dropped him off at day care. I'll run a little tomorrow if I'm feeling chipper and the boy sleeps through the night. Otherwise, I'm following coach Mark's advice and not running while fatigued.

8 Miles

At last, it's not 118% humidity! I didn't feel like eating the whole can of pringles when I was done!

The past few days (since Wednesday, really) I've been soooooo tired. It didn't help that Thursday night I went to see South Pacific with my dad (oh, the irony of *dancing* sailors singing about wanting a girl). And it didn't get out till past 11 pm. My back was achy, and I thought it was just the uncomfortable theater seats. Turns out, I was coming down with something. I always get muscle spasms and pain in my back when I am brewing a fever. Yesterday, I was beyond exhausted and my very bones ached. I thought it was just new-mom tired. But then I took my temperature - 99.8! So I ate and drank as much as I possibly could and went to bed early.

I woke to Max crying at 5 am. At some point in the night, the battery in the baby monitor died, because *someone* unplugged it. I'm not going to say who, but it wasn't me, and the cats have no thumbs. Anyway, I heard him wailing, and was first freaked out that I hadn't heard him earlier, and then absolutely delighted that I wouldn't have to pump! I fed him, settled him down, and he was back asleep by 5:30. I knew I shouldn't have given him avacado right before bed.

Anyway, I was feeling much improved this morning, and my temp was a cool 97.4. So I headed out to run with the group, starting at White Hall vineyards and going up toward Sugar Hollow and back. It is a great route. Dappled shade, the rushing of the Moorman's river as constant company. I am one of the slowest Saturday people, and I started the run with a beefy two-time marathoner named Harold. We had a good chat, but he was only doing 6 miles, so I was on my own after he turned back at 3 miles. Just before the turnaround at mile 4 is the most killer hill I've ever seen. I just couldn't make my legs go fast enough, so about halfway up it, I slowed to a walk until the water stop at mile 4. It was fun going down, though.

At the water stop at mile 6, I met up with Jim, and we plodded the rest of the way back. He's 63, and not an easy guy for me to keep up with. We ended up doing about a 12:15 pace overall.

My husband accused me yesterday of not being athletically competitive. I do this because I am competing with myself. He's a laid back Cancer - I'm a thick-headed goat of a Capricorn. I wouldn't be doing this if I had any athletic talent at all, unless I could win. I do it because it's hard. I've always picked the things that are hard for me to do. Math was easy, so I majored in Sociology. Writing was even easier, so I became an airline pilot. Flying got easy and boring, so I went to grad school. I'm not a natural pilot; I'm not a natural runner. But I do it just to prove a point. Just to prove to myself that I can do something that I probably have no business doing. Just to say I can do it. Because it ain't braggin' if ya done it.

What's that line from A League of Their Own? "The hard is what makes it great."

Yeah, this is hard. And it is GREAT.

Epilogue, or, Why We Don't Run in Basketball Shorts:
My first bout of chafing! Discovered when the hot water of the shower burned like fire. Holy #%^&^%$! My right inner thigh is ouchy, but it's the small of my back that took the real beating - apparently, I cinched up my Camelbak a little too tight. And #&#$%^^@ I've got this raw area about the size of a quarter in the small of my back. Anyway, I'll be getting some proper running shorts on Monday.

This just in...

...IronMo is going to run Richmond with me! I told her she could only do this if she could keep up with my blistering 11:45min/mile pace. I slow down for no one, Iron or not. Actually, it will probably be a challenging test of endurance for a Boston qualifier to slog it out for 5 hours. IronMo, I hereby give you permission to, at mile 15, run ahead to the junk food stop at mile 16. Just save me some Pringles, 'kay?