i decided to go 3 instead of 4 today because...well...because i can. and i don't feel guilty, dammit. i have a good 3 weeks before my life is dictated by a training schedule again, and i'm going to enjoy it.
i'm doing the jim gibbons 5k in a few weeks, but it doesn't call for a training schedule. it'll just be me enjoying a 3.1 mile run with a few hundred or thousand other people. i'm all tapped out for a while on the pressure to run as fast as i can thing.
since i don't have a big race for a while, i'm hoping that i can just have fun running again. today was a good start.
from the guy praising jesus out loud while he was running to the scary looking old lady with t.h.o. running in a brown satin wal-mart style bra to the girl stopping every 1/2 mile to take pictures with her digital camera...i did it. i finished the longest race i've ever run to date. the soldier field 10 miler (5/27/06) was painfully fantastic, and i'm so glad i had good friends there to make it even more fun.
the goal was to come in under 1:40, and i actually achieved that. however, i know i could've done better had i trained smarter. so from now on, i promise to do the following:
#1: bally's will be my friend at least twice a week. i should've never stopped lifting because my legs totally shut down on me. i never felt out of breath, but my body felt so tired.
#2: i will incorporate hill workouts at least once every two weeks. while there weren't big hills in the race, there were enough bunny hills to make my quads feel like death by the end.
#3: i will do a tempo run a week.
#4: i will continue to work on my abs and my back because both were really damn sore the day after the race.
#5: i will not go into another race with a defeatist attitude.
oh and after saturday, sb now has a new nickname. i don't know what it is quite yet, but after running miles 7 through 10 on a broken ankle and still rocking out a 1:24:22, the words "steel," "bad ass," and "fuckin' hard core" need to be incorporated somehow. so impressed. so proud.
ok, it was pilates, push ups and squats...but dammit, it was cross training.
however, on a happier note, my best bud rw just kicked some serious ass and pr'd at the cleveland half marathon. 1:26:59 - freakin unbelieveable. i'm so proud :-)
1.5 mile warm-up at 14:04; 1 mile at 8:04; 1 mile at 8:25; 1.5 mile cool-down at 13:19
see that little guy to the left there and the words underneath him? it feels like that little guy has been sitting in my head saying that to me for the past few weeks.
eb asked why i suck. i have made running into something ugly, and for that, i suck. i have lost sight of everything i love about running - being out on the road, smiling and waving at other runners and bikers, clearing my head and working out stress. instead, i've turned it into the most stressful part of my day. and that stops now.
5/12/06 - ran 3 miles with sb. it was awesomely horrible. rainy, windy, cold...yet amusing. lake michigan almost swallowed us a few times and our shoes made neat squishy sounds after getting soaked by a few big waves. by the end, we were soggy and inexplicably tired after what turned out to be a very slow 3 miles. luckily, elephant and castle had plenty of booze to warm us up.
5/14/06 - needed to have a good long run because i hadn't felt good for a very long time. ran part of the soldier field course with sb. other than a few bunny hills, the course seems manageable. we averaged sub-10 minute pace for 8 miles, but that doesn't mean i'll be able to do that on race day. current race strategy: start running and hold on for dear life.
i was supposed to go to a 5k race today, but that didn't so much happen. got a call yesterday from my childhood best friend who happened to be in town for a graduation ceremony. spent the evening up in lake forest hanging out with a bunch of recent grads and undergrads. didn't wake up feeling so much like running.
i appreciate that you think my body is a wonderland. and, really, i would be flattered...
...that is if you didn't make me feel like shit all day and all night, especially during my runs.
i'm confident that you'll find someone else. there are so many people out there whose bodies can deal with you. mine, however, cannot take it anymore, and i'm begging you to leave. i have a race in 2.5 weeks, and you're cramping my style. i know it's a tough world out there, but i'm tired of being your home.
5/4/06 - ran 4 miles with sb. i was supposed to tempo, but i woke up with a sore throat and felt pretty shitty. currently looking into trading in my immune system.
5/6/06 - first song on the shuffle: "fuel" metallica
thank you, sb, for burning me the metallica s&m album. it was a great long run partner. ran 9 miles today at a pretty slow and comfortable pace. almost took out this wench who wouldn't move out of my way. who walks 4 across on a sidewalk? was i invisible? silly woman.
it was gorgeous outside - cool and sunny. i must be mildly retarded because i can never figure out where the hell the path goes after navy pier. my achilles was pretty sore - well, my entire right leg just felt out of whack. sigh. i really really need to see a doctor.
first song on my shuffle: "through the wire" kanye west
sweaty. really sweaty today. it occurred to me that it's only in the 60s right now, and it's just going to keep getting hotter and hotter. i hope it's cool on race day or else i'm going to look insane by the time i get to the finish on soldier field. i can only hope that the jumbotron camera guy misses me.
my knees started to hurt a little during the run and my hammy still keeps tightening up about 2 miles in. sigh. i should go to the freakin' doctor.
first songs on the shuffle for 4/26, 4/29 and 5/2: can't remember, was delirious, "karma" alicia keys
lesson #1: for some odd reason, despite its phallic resemblance (or maybe because of it), the washington monument is my favorite.
lesson #2: dc'ers love their cars - and from the looks of it, probably more than their children, homes and food.
lesson #3: adams morgan is a very odd smorgasbord of people.
lesson #4: dc and i have a very hateful running relationship, and i don't know if i'll ever be able to find the love.
lesson #5: i <3 chicago.
got into dc last wednesday and decided to flip wednesday and thursday so i did 6 miles. it took for-freakin-ever to get to a place where i didn't have to stop every 5 minutes because of traffic lights. for some reason, i felt like hell the entire time. you'd think i was doing a tempo run or speedwork the way i was huffin and puffin.
thursday was a crazy, crazy day. i didn't stop having work stuff until around 8 p.m. so i decided to skip the run. i took friday as a rest day as planned...and then came saturday.
i figured, fresh day, fresh run. unfortunately, the 8 miler wasn't any better than the 6 miler on wednesday. in fact, it was worse. much worse. from mile 3 on, i felt like i was going to pass out. i made it to mile 5 and decided to buy a gatorade. i slugged half of it and then continued on with the run. at mile 7, i ran into one of the members of leadership from my job. did my best to smile and say hi and kept going. managed to finish the 8, but it sure wasn't pretty. i saw the man i ran into during my run later that day, and he said it looked like i had a good pace going. it took everything in me not to tell him that i was pretty damn close to puking all over his shoes.
however, i'm happy to report that today's run was fantastic. 6 miles and some change. according to my watch and my route, i was going sub-9 minute pace, which i have a hard time believing. therefore, i ran an extra 5 minutes just to be sure.
i am: a sprinter by nature. an average-below average distance runner. hard on myself for being an average-below average runner.
i love: running. but more than that, i love runners. they're the best people in the world.
the truth: while i love running, i tend to get lazy in the winter. that's where this blog comes into play. it'll be the way i hold myself accountable and a way to remember the best, the average and the worst days - nonetheless, all memories i want to have.
