August Recap

It's September 1. This morning I ran with my beloved purple plaid arm sleeves and a tank top, and this evening I will change out my summer wreath for a fall one on my front door. Summer is over. Yes, I love summer. I'm an academic--of course I love summer. But fall running is the best. The leaves. The cool mornings. The races. Love.it.all. So here's to putting a bow on a pretty spectacular August.

Early August
The first week of August led up to the Hofbrauhaus 10k, which holds a special place in my heart. Last year I ran it just to see if I was fit and uninjured enough to hold a sub-9 minute pace for 6 miles. I loved the super flat, out and back course, and the post-race party. I looked forward to race registration all winter, and was delighted when my MIL paid for my entry as a birthday gift.

Pre-race with Cathy, part of my Sunday morning crew

When August rolled around this year, I'd set my sights on really racing it, with a goal of running about a 7:30 pace. Mother Nature had other intentions, and saddled me with a terrible cold. I was not able to run my desired pace, but I was thankful for the opportunity to race.

After the race I heard an announcement about checking your finishing place at a tent. I was curious how I'd done. I made my way over and had to laugh when the guys' side had a really long line and the women's had about 5 people--it felt like justice for women's restrooms (and, ok, maybe a testament to the male ego). I checked my place and was surprised to learn I'd placed second in my age group!

I'll take it!

Mid-August

By mid-August, to focus on the positive outcome of a fairly terrible story, I had the occasion to reconnect with some wonderful ladies I used to run more with than I had recently. We planned a Dash & Dine, which is exactly what it sounds like. I had so much fun. I really missed this group.

Robin somehow escaped the photo op

Also, mid-month, I did my first speed work in several months. It was 800s, which I love doing. I was at the end of my cold and wasn't sure if my lungs were ready to be pushed that hard. I hit my target paces. I also wondered if my neighbors thought I was crazy as I kept running around the block.

Late August
By late August my Sunday morning group found ourselves in the dark at 6am. The first time this happened we just ran together until the horizon lightened enough to let us see our surroundings better. After that we decided to meet a little later.

We clean up ok! Missing Katie's mom and Cathy though

I've enjoyed my Sunday morning group so, so much. I admire and have fun with the women I run with, and the place we run at is absolutely beautiful. The last few weeks we've watched the fog lift off the river as the sun rises and watched egrets (I think) hunt over the water. I've taken in fields full of yellow wildflowers, and along the riverbank, beautiful wild lilies. This is an easy place to love.

On weekday runs, by late August I'd mixed things up by running in other neighborhoods a few times. On one of those runs Candice introduced me to one of her running friends who I'd never met. Good times!

Meeting new runner friends

Looking forward to September, I have a month full of training leading up to the Towpath Half in early October. I'd love a PR but will settle for a course PR. We'll see how this month goes.

In summary:
Miles: 124.5

Cross Training
Days lifting weights: One! Yikes! I thought I was doing better than this.
Yoga: Twice.
Ok, so clearly the bump in miles this month meant less cross-training. I will try to do better on this in September. 

Marathon Training Week 14: You may saaaaay it's a taper

But when I'm still running 45 miles a week it's kind of hard to see how. Welcome to the recap!

Monday
Today was novel in two regards. First, I'm not sure my calves have ever been this tight. So tight I stopped to stretch them about 3 times in the first 1-2 miles, and even to massage them once. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish my 8 miles. Finally around the end of mile 2, when I stopped at a light for a bit and stretched again, finally they released. Just, wow, though. I think I was trying so hard not to slip on Saturday that I must have changed my gait or something. Who knows!

The second thing: there was a discarded red apple on the sidewalk in front of the middle school. What better place! It made me laugh out loud.

Tuesday
Tuesday morning it was raining, so I stayed in bed and put the run off until Wednesday.

Wednesday
I got to go fast. I love to go fast. As I was running fast--and smiling--I thought, today will be the day my co-workers drive past me and wonder why I'm grinning like an idiot while running. I just...I love to go fast.
 
Thursday
Seven easy miles. I did a loop down through the next town over and home. On my way back I saw a small purse left behind on a park bench, near a school. I hesitated. What should I do? Should I take it into the school, in case it's a student's? In case they could check it for ID and try to find the person? I went back and picked it up and opened it. If it had a wallet or phone, I decided, I would take it to the school. It didn't. Just some lip gloss and a few similar items. I hoped it hadn't been picked over already. I hoped no one loved the particular bag a lot.

Friday
I got lost going to Shannon's house, a full 36 hours after telling her we could run near her because I was sure I could finally find her house. Someday, someday I hope to say reliable things to that woman while planning our runs. 2017 is not, apparently, that year. Thankfully my phone had come back the day before so while it had deleted her contact information at least I did have GPS.

We ran through horse farms. Beautiful, rolling hill, green pasture, mansion-laden, horse farms. The sun was streaming through some clouds. The horses were pasturing while wearing blankets, which I hadn't seen in so long (maybe ever?) I'd forgotten it was a thing they sometimes do. Beautiful morning with a wonderful friend.

Saturday
I realized I've nearly completed this race season and haven't brunched after a Saturday long run even one time. Unacceptable! So I texted Laurie and Shannon Friday night to see who was game. To my great joy, Laurie said she could run a few miles with me. SO HAPPY TO HAVE HER BACK!! So Saturday morning I went to our agreed-upon trail head to run the first 9 solo. In perfect timing, just as I was walking off the trail back into the parking lot, Laurie pulled in. It was so good to see her again. We ran my last 6 together, then headed to brunch.

Laurie & me

Both Shannon and my friend Rosie met us for brunch. I loved the place we ate at. Everything looked so good, it was hard to choose. They served the best breakfast sausage I've maybe ever had. What a win.

The dream team of strong-willed women

Total Miles: 45
Favorite Run: I loved going fast. I loved the horse farms with Shannon. Laurie was back. This week, I can't call a favorite. There was just too much good.

Next week I taper in earnest, cutting back more dramatically on miles and effort. I'm ready.

Marathon Training Week 10: The Week I Learned What Lake Effect Actually Means

Monday
It's spring break at my university, which gave me the luxury of running this 4 miles mid-day. Nice.

Tuesday
As the east coast braced for soul-crushing snow, and as my older son's school was canceled, I kept watching the forecast and saying, guys, it says only 1-3" overnight. And guess what? We got about 4" of snow overnight. NBD. But it kept snowing through Tuesday, and the roads weren't great until mid-afternoon, at which point my window for getting 'er done had closed, as I was entertaining the kids. The worst part of the day was that my university also closed, so I didn't have access to the gym to do this run indoors.

Wednesday
With institutions re-opened, I headed to the gym to get my speed work done for the week. Could I have done it outside? Probably. But, SO COLD. Today was the second time this winter the cold has bothered me, and mostly at this point its because I went ahead and put the Easter wreath on my front door.

My training schedule sends me to the track only twice in this 16 weeks, and today was the first, for 800m repeats. I dutifully set my treadmill to 0.5%-1% grade (I varied it through the run) to simulate running outdoors. It might still be because I was on a treadmill, but these 800s felt pretty easy. This one was a win.

Thursday
I don't watch a ton of tv, but lately when I have, I've been all over the commercials for fried chicken sandwiches. Hell, for almost any food. Today while I was getting my 10 miles of pace running done, my husband picked up lunch. So bad. So good. If there had been two, I would have eaten two.

My once per year fast food

Friday
The only rest Friday on my entire schedule. And thank goodness, because this body is tired.

Saturday
The following are copied and pasted from an actual text conversation:

Friday 11am: "I'm showing rain and snow all day tomorrow but clear/foggy Sunday. Unless things change, I will likely do my run Sunday instead."

Friday 10:55pm: "Now it's saying maybe clear. I'm going to bed now and getting up early to check weather and will decide then."
 
Shannon, Saturday, 6:29am: "Mine is saying rain snow mix for 60-70%."

Saturday, 8:36am: "My phone can't decide. I checked twice in the last 5 minutes and it said two different things. It says it's going to rain but the radar looks clear until about 1."

Saturday, 9:21am: "I think the weather is going to hold" 

So we went. I ran almost 3 miles to a train station where I met Shannon and her bike. She biked and I ran about 3 miles east, where I wish we had aerial video of us going opposite directions around a cul-de-sac, and back. About the time we got back it started to rain/snow/ice pellet. We stopped to take a video and decide what to do.

Not counting this as a workout! We quit. We are drinking.

A post shared by Shannon (@clerunningmom) on Mar 18, 2017 at 10:00am PDT

So things weren't good at that point. We hoped the storm was just blowing through, that we were just getting the edge of something nearby, because, THE PREDICTIVE RADAR HAD BEEN CLEAR. I'd checked 487 times. The hourly forecast had been inconsistent but looked like it would be clear. I'D CHECKED.

So we kept running. The plan was to stop by my house 3 miles later anyway, so worst case, we could bail then if necessary.

Things did not get better. Things got worse. Much worse. People driving by started staring openly at us, shaking their heads. And, to make matters infinitely worse, neither of us was wearing a jacket. I hadn't had a hat until we went past her car. I was wearing regular, non-thermal, non-water resistant tights. I was wearing my lightest, thinnest gloves. Her feet were wet. I had no money on me.

We finally arrived at my house and went inside. We plainly couldn't do the other 8 miles. We went upstairs to get dry clothes. After I changed, I found her in my kids' bathroom with her feet in the tub, running the hottest water it would give her. Her toes looked like death. Fully changed, I could not stop shivering. This lasted an hour. Neither of us could have been coerced to change into real clothes or leave again for a while after that. So at some point we gave up on the day and started baking and drinking beer. I missed an event in my neighborhood in the midst of all this and I feel terrible about it. I also missed my husband's first tae kwon do belt test, and I'm sorry for that too. And I'm bitterly disappointed to have not completed a long run. But the day ended many hours later, smiles all around, after our families had a left-overs dinner at our house. The day ended like this. Yes, most of what she's wearing is mine. Especially those slippers.

What I learned: "Lake effect" does not just mean "lots of snow." My whole life, I thought that's what it meant. Lake effect means a storm is moving off the lake and it could end up anywhere, violently, quickly, and the meteorologists really cannot tell you where it will land. That my weather app kept changing its mind reflected this. That we got caught in ice pellets blasting at our faces was the result.

Total Miles Scheduled: 43
Total Miles Ran: 35
Favorite Run: No, the long run was not my favorite, but certainly one I won't forget. Ever. And it was an amazing day at the end of the day.

Marathon Training Week 9: Breaking 40

Monday
I don't want to I don't want to I don't want to I don't want to I don't want to I don't want to

Oh, I'm finished.

Pretty much how 3 easy miles in the dark feel at this point.

Tuesday
My first speed work of the training cycle! I ran 8 miles with the middle 3 miles at an 8 minute pace.

Even though she wasn't there, Shannon helped me out on this one. A few weeks back she mentioned that one of the nearby paved trails happens to be almost exactly a mile loop. I couldn't have asked for a better way to do this run.

I ran this one mid-morning when I spotted what looked like one clear hour on the radar. At that point, by the time I got dressed and out, I figured I could get 6 of my 8 miles in before the next storm came. Like clockwork, at 5.98, the sky started to open up. I ran the last two in a steady rain, which was fine. I wore a hat to keep it out of my eyes. 

The fast miles felt pretty good, and 8 minutes was actually faster than my training plan called for. This one was a win.
Also: new shoes.

Wednesday
Rest. Which, thank goodness, because we had a wind advisory that was not messing around.  

Thursday
Alarm goes off at 4:45. I get up and out a few minutes faster than usual and drive to the meet-up spot, arriving early. Shannon pulls in. We quickly discussed the game plan and set out: one warm-up mile, 7 miles at race pace, then a mile cool-down for me. She'd leave me after mile 6 or 7, depending on time. Promptly, we set out not at all like we were running a warm-up mile. Then, we ran the whole thing faster than race pace. Because we're us.

It took some doing to get this picture to look this reasonable

We talked about all kinds of things. How my son eating salad with his hands had been the last straw for me on the previous day. How our parents and in-laws not only prefer, but rather insist, their coffee be made. Things mean girls say. Daycare costs. The sunrise. The sunrise is beautiful! No it's not--we're on a hill! Yes it is. All kinds of things--and that's why we run. 

Friday
Another easy 3. Short and sweet.

Saturday
When I was getting dressed my phone said it was 18 and felt like 3 degrees. I think the "feel like" temp for the day maxed out at 10. So I dressed for the arctic for my long run. 

Thermal tights and ski socks

Ear warmer and a hat. Also, that jacket is the warmest running jacket I own. Brooks=Run Happy.

For the first mile I thought I was overdressed and took stock of how much I could strip off and carry. Those thoughts ended quickly as the cold set in, then stayed. For the record: I really don't mind the cold, and I didn't mind it today. With the right gear, feels like 3 is no big deal. However, your body does have to work a little harder because of it, and today I really, really felt that. 

At 6 miles I took stock. Feeling ok. Feeling the miles a little. At the half way point I felt about the same. At 14 miles I was ready for it to be over, and it wasn't. And like the runner I am, I took the opportunity to train my brain to deal with difficulty, because in a marathon it isn't IF tough moments come, it's WHEN. So what if I hurt? So what if I didn't want to finish? There's only one way home, and that's to run. Here's hoping the hard miles don't come so early on race day. 

Now, about 7 hours later, this run is hurting more than most. Yes, I probably ran it too fast. Yes, I have a hard time slowing down. Yes, I was probably under-fueled. I'm not convinced any of that should make me this tight and sore, so maybe we just call this one character-building.

Weekly miles: 41

Favorite run: Easily the pace run 

Marathon Training Week 8: Multicultural Cleveland, Heartbreak

Monday
Up and at 'em! The first mile was sloooow and stiff, but I got going. After the turn-around I saw a woman I know from work. I was surprised to see her because she didn't appear to be exercising or dog walking. I stopped and said good morning and she shared what she was doing.

I learned that the Jewish month starts with the new moon. She coordinates a group to get together each new moon to mark the occasion, I think always outdoors. I'm not clear what's involved in the get-together or why it's outdoors, but I enjoyed learning about that activity in her life.

Tuesday
This one will enter the history books, my friends.

I slept badly, worried I would miss my 5:45 alarm. I wanted to get up and out so my 8 miles wouldn't make me late to work. I got up, dressed, happily a few minutes faster than usual. But then, then: no keys. Not anywhere. Not on the kitchen counter. Or the key dish. Or my purse. No keys. I found the spare key to my husband's car and piled into that. Started the engine. Gas light was on, and I'm not driving even near a gas station. So, shit. Back inside for keys. And then I remembered: Brendan drove us home last night.

[Sidebar: My husband and I had a very rare date night last night. We went out to fancy dinner and a movie. There were two women and a man sitting directly behind us. One of the women in particular talked all the way through the previews, rebuffing an angry old man who yelled at her to "shut up!" I had hoped she would stop when the movie began, but she didn't. I calmly asked if she intended to talk through the whole movie. She angrily got up and moved herself and her two friends across the theater, which was fine with me. After the movie as we were leaving she starts again, "Now I can talk! People acting like you can't talk in a movie theater!" They had four PSAs before the movie about it. We had a good laugh about it, once I was sure she wasn't going to try to beat me up.]

If Brendan drove us home my keys were likely in whatever pants or jacket he wore. I checked the jacket--no dice. The pants? I headed upstairs, back to our bedroom, and there they were. I was finally on my way. 

I improved on last week's hill workout, making it to the bottom twice, with a small loop added to the first out and back that added a bit more elevation gain and loss. I got 434 feet in gain and again in loss. It felt good. What I did not improve on was mastering the parking situation. I parked in a small lot then saw the signs prohibiting parking before 8am, so I had to move. Between that and the key situation, I wrapped up this run about 20 minutes later than I really should have. 

As I got back in my car and was reaching for my seat belt, a black SUV pulled to the shoulder where I was parked, facing me, which I thought was odd. Then I realized it was my friend Shannon. Figuring she was there to run and just happened to see me, I got out to say hi. AND SHE HAD PASTRIES. FOR ME. Paczki, specifically, which is a Polish donut-esque pastry enjoyed on Mardi Gras. 

How magically unicorn-jumping awesome is this?!? You finish an 8 mile hill workout and your BRF appears out of nowhere with pastry?? It was magic. And they were delicious. I took them home and my family gobbled them up. Gluttonous. Happy. 

Wednesday
Rest. 

Thursday
At a 10am meeting:
Me: I had a mile time trail on my training schedule today.
Colleague: You can do that while sick?
Me: Apparently not. 

My mile time trial was a full 40 seconds slower than I expected. I can only blame about 5 of those seconds on patches of ice. I'm hoping I can blame the rest on sinus pressure, noisy coughing, and a runny nose. 

Upside: office yoga. So good.

Friday
Today I learned what the term "snow squall" means. 

Just no.  

So, this: 

Friday night Laurie and I were texting, making plans for our Saturday long run. She was doing 18 or 20 to my 14 for my drop-back week. We were planning when and how she'd get her extra miles and when I would meet her. Somewhere in the middle of that planning, she figured out what her recent pain was: a femoral stress fracture. And with that, her marathon training ended. Our long runs together ended--at least for several months.

My instinct was to hope she was wrong. But if there's one thing I know about Laurie, when she says she's injured, she's injured. She is strong--strong-willed, strong-minded, strong-bodied. And so I knew there was no hoping she was wrong. And, I'm heartbroken. For her, and for our runs together. 


Saturday
Left to my own devices, as I've long said I would, I did not get up early to run. I slept. Then I played with my kids. And mid-afternoon, only then did I lace up and head out. Just 14 miles ("just 14 miles"?? Who says that?!). I didn't really mean to take it fast, but I was enjoying the cold day and felt good. So I ran an average moving pace of 8:48. The best part--heading down a paved trail and hearing birds singing all around me. Spring is on the way.

Weekly miles: 32
Favorite run: Clearly my hill workout. I won't forget that morning any time soon.

With this week finished, I'm half way through training for this marathon, and prepared to switch from building endurance to building speed. No more hill workouts. Lots of pace runs, tempo runs, and a little actual speed work in the coming weeks. The next 6 weeks are the hardest of this 16 week training cycle. I think I'm ready.

Weekly & May Wrap-Up

Hello friends! Another week of training has passed, and with it, May draws to a close. Like I did last month, I'm going to wrap the two into a combined recap. And oh my, what a week and month it has been.

This Week

If you've been watching this training cycle, you already know that it's been full of ups and downs--injury and exhaustion and rebounding with great runs. This past week was no exception.

Monday: I kicked the week off with a 5 mile easy run, to shake out the 16 mile long run I'd done the day before. Nothing super memorable about this run. Average pace, 9:20.

Tuesday: Yoga! Hooray!! We had a substitute for our regular teacher, and she was great! I really enjoyed the class and left feeling awesome about the world.

Wednesday: The day I'd been dreading/yearning for--my shot at redemption at speed work. As I went out the door to run I told my husband that my training schedule had noted that "today's workout should feel well within reach" and I wanted to flip it off. I was not feeling confident.

The workout: 10x400 (1:45 each) with 200m recoveries (plus warm-up and cool-down). How'd it go? It went freaking awesomely. Splits (400s only):
1:44, 1:40, 1:44, 1:52*, 1:42, 1:43, 1:41, 1:47, 1:44, 1:40
* into the higher corner of the park, but that only explains 2-3 seconds of this. It just got away from me.

Needless to say, I was PUMPED about this. Also, I did most of this in the rain. Like, honest-to-goodness rain, which made me feel even more like a bad ass, naturally. Plus, no pain when I rolled my left IT when I got home. WINNING.

Thursday: Should have taken a rest day. Did not. Ran 6 easy miles instead. Stopped to stretch my calves in the middle, as my left calf was cramping up.

Friday: Super slow 5 miles. Average pace 9:31.

Saturday: Ready for this? For the high point of the week that was speed work, this long run had to rank among the 10 worst runs ever. It was supposed to be a tempo long run, with a warm up, 6 miles at tempo (7:49) and cool down. My "tempo" miles came out at 8:16, 8:28, 8:38, and 8:42. Yep--all 4 of them. And that was all I had. My next 3 miles were a 10:01, 10:24, and 14 minutes. Fourteen minutes. I actually stopped and sat on a park bench for a minute--something I've only ever done one other time mid-run, and I was 37 weeks pregnant at the time. So what went wrong? I'm not sure, but I think my body was still recovering from the speed work. And, since I'd done last week's long run on Sunday, I'd had zero rest days between long runs. And, my left calf is now clearly bringing up the rear of this whole "every part of my left leg is going to undergo injury" shit show, with what feels like a small tear/strain. Otherwise, I got nothin'.

This is how I felt about this long run. 

 The silver lining of this run, if there was one, was that I tried a new Gu flavor and really enjoyed it. I would buy this again. Root beer. Hadn't seen it in a store before. Have you tried it yet? Will you?

May Wrap-Up

I am quite pleased to report that May, injury and all, has been my highest mileage month this year (actually, my highest since last August), ringing in at 138.8, and bringing my 2015 miles to 438. Stats from the month:

# Miles: 138.8

# Runs: 20

# Other workouts: 2. I did yoga in my hotel room in Detroit (if you didn't see my post about that, you should do it! I'm going to start doing yoga every time I travel. Amazing. Great antidote to the muscle strain that comes from traveling). And I did yoga this past Tuesday. I also did a metric sh*tload of foam rolling.

Most memorable run: It's hard to pick this month. The short run I did on the Detroit River Walk was memorable, for seeing all the fishermen there in the morning, and enjoying the change of scenery from my everyday routes. My 16-miler (last weekend) was memorable for being such a wildly successful long run. It's hard to run that far and feel that great at the end. And then this week's speed work, because it was such a triumph over a series of failed efforts.

Current want/needs: I do not need anything. In fact, my current need is to set aside some time to go through all my running gear and weed out the ill-fitting or worn-out items, because my dresser drawers are getting hard to close....

Training update: I'm two weeks out from race day!! I'm not sure what to expect of myself time-wise, but I'm excited for the day (and a good friend) to come.

Home renovation update: Some changes big and small have transpired. Big: we had a huge part of our side yard dug up and mulched over. Even though it's still kinda patchy and weird looking, it looks about a million times better than it had. We're working now with a landscaper to get it integrated with the rest of the yard, and looking like a place you'd actually want  to spend time. I can't wait! Small: at long last, we found just the right tray (for drinks and things) for the ottoman in the man cave (I realize how inconsequential this may seem, but we'd been keeping an eye out for months). And I think we finally found just the right chair for that room, too, although we haven't purchased it (yet). And finally, my parents are here, which means I can finally get to work making the drapes for the living room--the last major undertaking for that space. Hooray!!

Other lovely things in life: My older son turned 7 this month, and hosted some friends for a game party here at the house. It was so much fun, even just to watch! To hear their excited voices, and everyone having a nice time. It was really sweet.

On the research front, I am loving that it's summertime and I get to focus on research, research, research, and very little on other aspects of my job that are more prevalent during the academic year. I'm making great progress on a handful of projects. A colleague and I have very nearly completed the revisions on one manuscript, and we received a Revise & Resubmit letter for another article we had under review, which is great news. I am nearing the completion of the first full draft of a new paper (which I'm co-authoring with a student), and research is going well on another project that isn't as far along yet. An unexpected luxury has come in the form of a sprinkler installation in my office building, which means that I'm working from home a lot, and really appreciating that change. I feel like I'm having the opportunity to just breath in my home really for the first time.

Happy June, runners!

Nerd Parades and Tennis Balls

It's been two weeks since I checked in. It's been a bumpy couple of weeks, and for a while I just wasn't sure what to say. The ups and downs (alert: this post might be kind of a downer!), mostly downs, have been confusing and frustrating, and I'm still figuring out where they end, and what they mean.

Let's start with week before last.

Classes had finally ended, and I'd (metaphorically) locked myself in Grading Jail but was making very slow progress getting out due to the fact that I spent my entire week in meetings, interminably it seemed. I was also at the bitter end of what had been a long and extremely stressful series of events at work. I was finally over whatever stomach thing had lingered with me for a large part of the previous week. I was exhausted. When I was in bed enough hours, I couldn't sleep, and a lot of nights I was just too busy to be in bed for long enough.

So I did my workouts, but I dragged. And it really showed in speed work. The goal was 2x400, 1x800, 1x1200, 1x800, and 2x400, at a 7:02 pace, with recoveries. I hit that goal pace exactly one time, on the first 400, and not again. Toward the end, try as I might, I could not move the needle below a 7:30 pace. Of course I was happy to finish the workout, since I'd been sick the week before and had bailed on it, but man, was this frustrating. I love to go fast! I can sometimes go fast! But not lately, and not ever again, it felt.

My weekend long run ended up happening on Sunday rather than Saturday because it poured all day Saturday. I didn't mind. I spent almost all day Saturday either with my family or under a blanket on the couch, grading. Still not finishing grading.

I couldn't help taking a picture of this, the academic equivalent of the morning after Mardis Gras. This is the left over debris from our annual nerd parade known as graduation.

The long run itself was 14 miles with an average pace of 9:30. There wasn't anything particularly memorable about it, except that I kicked it off with a pretty stellar elevation gain, and enjoyed that that felt easier than it used to.

For quite a while--6 weeks maybe?--I've had a pain and small amount of swelling on the inside of my left knee. For several weeks I thought it was something about the knee, then learned that in fact I had injured a tendon in the bottom of my left foot, and that tendon runs the length of the calf and connects to the knee. I can't say for sure, but this probably happened while I was busy not noticing that my running shoes needed to be replaced, then continuing to run in the old ones when my first effort at replacements didn't work. And the 14 mile run, well, that was the last straw for my foot/knee issue. The pain increased to a level that I couldn't continue to ignore.

I did not run on Monday. I foam rolled, and I rolled my foot on a tennis ball, which for those of you who have never done this to an angry muscle/tendon, hurts like a son of a bitch.

On Tuesday, after about 48 hours of rest (which to the brain of an injured runner feels like a year), I decided to give it a try. I made it 0.3 miles.

I rested another 2 days. And kept rolling on the tennis ball (insert every expletive you know, then make some up). I tried again, hesitantly (it's Thursday at this point). Five miles. And it went...ok! And average pace of 9:05, which mostly tells me I was anxious to get going. I kept a careful eye on my foot and on my knee for swelling, and hopped back on the tennis ball repeatedly (sensing a theme yet?). Friday I added on one more mile, turning in a solid 6-miler. Whew!

And again, Saturday (yesterday) it rained all day. We (me and my boys) tackled a laundry list of household chores that had piled up. I don't know about you, but getting through even some of the backlog lifts a weight off of me.

So the real test came today, Sunday, on my 10-miler. The run went really well! My average pace was 8:55, and I did successfully put 3 faster miles in the middle (8:00, 7:58, and 7:25). In the hours after, my knee is a little touchy. I've foam rolled my left IT band and quad (the IT was, unsurprisingly, a little angry), and my foot, and will hit the foot again before bed. So far, it's a big improvement over last week, though it's a bit too early to definitely call it a success.

So this is where I'm at. I spent part of 1 week sick. Then the following week exhausted. And part of this week injured. This coming week I'm traveling, and while I can hit the treadmill for easy runs, am not yet sure how I'll do speed work. This has not been the training cycle I'd hoped it would be. Will it prevent me from reaching my goal on race day? That remains to be seen. I know all of this is perfectly normal. Runners go through training periods of nirvana, and periods that are less fulfilling. I know this. We all know this. But it still sucks when it's you on the low point of that sine wave.

Any tricks or words of encouragement?

Training Week 2: School for the Gifted

Goal: Return to Yoga
Status: Accomplished!

Do you remember the old Far Side cartoon of the kid at the door of the School for the Gifted, pushing on the door with all his might, and the sign on the door says Pull? (if not, you can see it here) That summarizes me and yoga pretty well. For all of my not picking a studio, not making time, not whatevering, it turns out you just do it. You just sign up, go, open the door and do it! Feeling like there was some barrier between me and cross-training was really silly. I was pushing on a door that's really easy to pull open.

Last weekend, as soon as I wrote my Week 1 post, I started reading reviews of different studios near my house, and the search quickly narrowed to one. I bought a 10-class pass, made a reservation for Tuesday morning's Power Hour, and when Tuesday came, hopped on my bike and went to class. I have no idea now why this seemed complicated.

The class, as yoga classes go, was fairly easy, which is perfect for a runner looking to get stretched and strong between runs. And the setting is great. The classroom is on the second floor of a building, facing north. Toward the end of class, you can look out the front window and see the horizon starting to lighten toward dawn. Pretty great way to start the day.

Pre-dawn, as I headed home from class

Speed work Wednesday was a second victory this week. In Week 1, the speed session nearly killed me (ok, maybe that's a slight exaggeration). But this past week, I came much closer to hitting the target paces, and I didn't have a searing headache for the rest of the day. Woohoo! Here are the target and actual paces for my intervals (rests not shown), goal in purple, actual in green:
400: 1:46/1:44
400 1:46/1:41
800: 3:32/3:35
1200: 5:18/5:29
800: 3:32/3:41
400: 1:46/1:48
400: 1:46/1:48

I also figured out why that second 800 is my tough spot. The park I run in is nearly perfectly flat, but not flat, and that second 800 captures the corner of the park with a slight elevation gain. It probably accounts for a few seconds of my over-run there.

On Saturday I headed out for my long run on the Jordan River Parkway with two of the girls from last year's group. They had to be somewhere by 10, so they did the first 2.5 miles out with me before turning around. I ran another 2.75 before turning around, for a total of 10.5 miles for the day. My schedule asked me to do 14, but I thought that was too big a jump up on long run miles at one time, and I think that was the right call. It was a bit brisk when we started out, but once I got warmed up, the day felt great. Lots of sunshine.

The sweaty afterglow of a successful long run

When I got back to the trailhead at the end of my run, I saw this. I love all the Olympics references here. That legacy is such a cool part of this place, and always inspires me when I'm training and come across a memento like this unexpectedly.

I'm feeling good heading into Week 3. Goals for this week: 

• Eat some real food before my long run. My history of not doing this was problematic at last year's Top of Utah marathon, and does not serve me well ever, really. So I'm going to fix it. 
• Get back to journaling my nutrition. I've held steady at 7lb. weight loss, and want to start seeing some progress again. 

Thanks to the few of you who stopped by last week and left me a comment wishing me luck as I get back to training mode! I love hearing from you!! 

Training Update: Stories from the Road

Here we are, just under 10 weeks from race day. The long runs are getting long, and the days are hot. That's the short version. But like any good training cycle, the day-to-day has brought so much to life. Today's post is devoted to sharing with you some stories gathered from life in training. I hope you enjoy these as much as I have.

The Day I Out Ran the Cops
One day a few weeks ago I was doing speed work in the park. It's ideal for it when a track isn't convenient. It's 1.5 miles around, and almost perfectly flat. One one trip down the eastern long side of the park, I saw a few cop cars parked next to each other. Then I saw two more drive in and park by them. Then about 6 more. What was going on?? Was there some sort of danger? Was I going to get to watch some super exciting bust go down? What?

As I was making my way around on my next lap, going somewhere between a 7:00 and 7:30 pace (speed work), I can hear this guy huffing and puffing behind me, heavy foot falls, the whole deal. He passes me, then hangs on right in front of me through the end of my interval, then kept going when I slowed down. I did my recovery, then the next interval, and it happened again, with another dude. WHAT WAS GOING ON? So I come to the corner of the park again and see one of the cops standing there with a clip board. I ask the guy what they're doing. Fitness assessments. Some sort of incentive program they're part of. I said, "Oh, then that's why your guys were so adamant about chasing me down." He laughed.

But then it occurred to me, only two of them passed me, and they just hung on. I out ran the rest of the cops. They better be glad runners aren't generally the criminal type, 'cause I'm pretty sure I just saw exactly how that chase would go down. Unless they shot me.

It Wasn't Exactly On My Bucket List...

I was out for my long run one Saturday morning. It was about 7:50 and I was 6 miles in. This was the end of the first loop of my planned 13 miles, and by far the toughest, so I was feeling pretty good about my pace and whatnot. I wasn't thinking about anything in particular; I rarely do when I run long distances. Until, oh shit, seriously? 

I looked down, and just a few feet before me on a side street laid four small, plastic, zip-top style baggies filled with a white powder. I stopped cold and stared for a second, then moved in, bent down a bit to get a closer look. They've got pot leaves printed across the top! I backed up a step, looked around to see who was there. No one. Just me and some random cocaine. Here in sweet little Salt Lake. I'm looking at bags of drugs on the street. 

What else could it be? I think to myself. Kids have toy replicas of all sorts of shit they shouldn't have real versions of--guns, knives, but not crack! Why would someone have anything like this that wasn't drugs? It's not like someone says to a friend, hey, do you have any miniature bags around that I could use for my tiny sandwiches? No one carries sugar to a cookie swap in tiny baggies. No. Holy shit! There are drugs on the sidewalk!

So I turn around and run back to my house--less than a mile--to get a phone and call the cops. The lady asks me where I saw this, and asked me to describe it, and to slow down because apparently I was speaking too quickly. Then she says, So, you saw the bags, and left them there?Yeah lady, I left them there! Sure did! 

What, was I supposed to carry them home? To, you know, that place where I live with small children?? Pick them up and wait to get beaten by whatever poor decision-maker had dropped them in the first place? Pick them up and wait for a cop to drive by and think they were mine? Nope nope nope nope nope. Sure did lady, I left them the *%#$ there. 

So later I called my best friend and told her all of this. Her response was really spot on, Well, now you can just cross that off the old bucket list. Finding drugs and calling the cops on a run. Checked 'er off. 

The mantra of NO

Do you ever find yourself trying to avoid explaining to non-runner co-workers that you have 7:30am track practice? By yourself. With rain forecasted. #awkwardmomentsinrunning.

Today was my last hard workout before Cleveland. I can't believe we're here. It seems like just days ago I was staring down a long training plan and wondering how I was going to fare over the many, many weeks ahead. Not much more to go!

Today's workout was:
1 m. warm-up
6 x 800m. w/ 200m recoveries
1 m. cool-down

I wasn't sure what pace to target, so I checked the McMillan calculator and the RW training calculators and picked a 3:55-4:00 time for the intervals. I thought this seemed slower than my old time (and now, looking back, I see that it is), so I decided that if it felt easy, I'd pick up the pace after the first interval.

At almost exactly the half-way mark I realized I was doing (and had done all the math in my head for) 400m recoveries. Damn! This meant I was basically resting for too long between intervals. But at this point I decided it was too much to try to re-figure all the distances and everything in my head, so I just kept going.

The pace never felt easy exactly. I had to stay focused and keep on it. A few strides into the last repeat I checked Clepsydra and saw an 8:06 pace. I heard myself say "NO" out loud, and I dug in, determined not to let my pace go in the last interval. I think my times are slower than a year ago because I run in a rolling to hilly park rather than on a flat track (according to Garmin, my total ascent today was over 1000 ft! Not sure I believe that, but that's what it says). That's what I'm going to choose to believe anyway!

Intervals: 3:57, 3:58, 3:49, 3:56, 3:56, 3:57 (at least I'm consistent!)

In other news, the butt pain is back (yeah, I know). Def need to get another trip into the sports massage therapist this week.

I have a lot to cram into this post. It may sound silly, but I didn't want to post earlier in the week because I just didn't want to interrupt all the Boston recaps.

The recaps got me all choked up pretty much every day last week. It's hard to communicate to non-runners the excitement of the day. It's like our Super Bowl, except most of us know at least one athlete participating, and we actually participate in the sport ourselves. running love

So all that stuff to cram into this post? Well, some of it is going to have to wait. Clearly. Here's a sort-of recap of my week in the meantime.

Monday
5 miles easy. I decided to finally take a camera with me to get some spring pictures of the park. Here's a pic of my favorite spot in the park. Sometimes I forget to look up when I run (just ask Meg). But I never miss this spot. I am so incredibly blessed to have all of this at my feet in the middle of a big city. It is such an incredible freedom to be able to run in this gorgeousness. I have a whole set of "come take a run with me" pictures from this run, appearing soon.

Tuesday
I just absolutely had to get some sleep. It was becoming non-negotiable.

Wednesday
My fave, fave, FAVE speed workout. It sounds so freaking innocent. It's not. I love it.
1mi warm-up
4 x 1mi @ 5KRP with 800m recoveries
1mi cool-down

Thursday
3 miles easy

Friday
5 mile pace run. I bumped it up to 6.3 just for funsies. I'm having a hard time running pace at marathon pace and not half pace. Problem? I think not.

By far the more interesting part of Friday was the evening weather. This happened. Oh yeah. My MIL was scheduled to fly in at just about exactly the same minute that a tornado was ripping through Concourse C of Lambert Airport. The Southwest website said she landed. What it didn't say was that she landed AT MIDWAY. You know, in freaking Chicago?!? She buddied up with another passenger and rented a car, getting here about 3:30am. Today while I was running I just kept thinking about all the blessings in my life, including our safety here during the storm and hers while traveling into it.

Today
I reeeeeally wasn't sure how I was going to get everything crammed into my day. We were forecasted for an Easter Egg Hunt all morning and rain all afternoon.
{mid-post rant: our hourly weather forecasts are damn near useless. For my zip code, the forecast is actually for a place 25 minutes from here. It's not exactly helpful. Sometimes the current weather conditions are even wrong.}
I got hopeful and optimistically ate a bagel at the Egg Hunt. Carbs, you know, in case the weather forecast was wrong. Shockingly, it was. Wrong. I had just enough time between easter eggs and rain to run 20 miles. #WINNING. (sorry, couldn't resist)

There were some tough spots in it, but overall it was a GREAT long run. I averaged a 9:35 pace and felt good through most of it. And it made me SOOO happy that when I stopped at the Panera for my recovery smoothie, the barista recognized me and asked if I'd been out running (clearly). I told him I'd just finished 20 miles. When I turned to leave I heard the other barista repeat the number 20 incredulously. :) I just smiled.

Next question: picking a race pace. Stay tuned. I'll need some input.

March recap

this will be my last transmission from Earth's Central Time Zone, er, this will be my last blog post before the Martian Half. The kiddo and I head out tomorrow and we're ready for an awesome weekend. Mr. Joanna is ready for a long weekend of mostly yard work at home, sadly. But before heading out, the March Recap!


Miles planned/ran: 141/128.9
Rest days planned/taken: 5/6
Highest mileage week: 36.8
Long runs planned/ran: 4/3.5 (because this happened)
Pace workouts planned/ran: 3/3 
XT days planned/done: 5/5
Tempo or interval runs planned/ran: 5/5
Favorite run: I'm going to have to say my 16-miler. I had some fun and confidence-boosting tempo and pace workouts, but the 16-miler had gorgeous weather and I got my pacing right FTW. 
Current goal: sub-2 half on Saturday!!
Current obsession: see Current goal.
Current need: new dress pants, because nothing I own fits. See "current excitement," and no, I am not pregnant. 
Current excitement: too many to choose from~the trip this weekend, my continuing weight loss (thank you, sparkpeople!), and a visit from The Beastie next week!!
Current bane of my existence: the big toe on my right foot. Yep, still hurts. 
Current wish list: Crabtree & Evelyn lavender shower gel. I'm almost out and I always feel like it's a luxury to buy it. 
Current indulgence: As an early birthday present, my Mom bought me a necklace that I fell in love with while we were strolling around a boutique a few neighborhoods over. It's gorgeous and I love it! 


Special March Addition to the recap:
I've finally picked a name for the new Garmin: Clepsydra. This was a nomination from RunningFirst and I really like it. It's Greek for water clock/water thief. What better name for a running accessory could there be?!? Thank you for all the name suggestions! 

Come on, up high, a little love

I had absolutely no idea that it had been a week and a half since I blogged. Really. I'm not going to give you an excuse. I'm going to tell you the truth: I love my job. I absolutely love it. I love that it exhausts me mentally. And when that happens, I come home and I play with my kiddo, and then he goes to bed, and I get totally sucked into either running or scrapbooking. And then it's a week and a half later and I'm all, "what the crap happened? My blog claims it's been 10 days since I last posted." Here we are.

So lots has happened. Let's go numbered list.

1. I decided to use the RW 2-hour-half taper schedule. It's a 5-day-a-week plan, and unlike any taper plan I've ever used, it has me running 11 miles the weekend before the race. Does anyone do that? It also still has me doing speed work, which I'm pleased with. Luckily there's a 3 lap/mile outdoor track about 150 yards from my office. So yesterday I headed there over the lunch hour to do mile repeats. The track is owned by a university. In the middle of the second interval I saw the university's mascot walking toward me in full costume. As I approached it I said, "Come up, up high, show me some love." I totally high-fived a mascot in the middle of my interval workout. That's one way to make a track workout memorable!

2. I don't know her, but I read B.o.B.'s blog and enjoy it. She posted this video today. I definitely teared up when I watched it and decided it was worth re-posting. This is how I feel about marathons. The camaraderie shown, the excitement of it, the personal goals of runners.

3. Remember back in January when I joined the 1000 mile challenge group with some of the Team? Well, I said up front that 1000 miles was probably too much for me, so I was going to call it my 720 mile challenge. Well, I'm really happy to say that it looks like I'm on track to reach that goal!

592 + 4.7 + 9.2 + 3.2 + 3.2 + 4.5 = 616.8

Wait. Is it Thursday? Did I just post 3 things? Even if it was inadvertent, I guess it's still a Three Things Thursday. Go me!

Indignant/Love

First, a rant:

I just watched the movie "Marie Antoinette" after taking over a year to read the book it's based on. The movie is so bad I am almost indignant about it. And I am not a movie snob! Really! C'mon, I love Talladega Nights, Dodgeball, all the stupid humor. And some serious things. Not a snob! They should have called the movie "All the Pretty things Marie Antoinette Lived Among During Her Time at Versailles." That would have been a more accurate title.

Second, running:

I went to track practice last night. It was the fall Team's first track workout, so it was meant to be pretty easy. We did:

1 mile warm-up

6 x 400

1 mile cool-down (of which RunningFirst and I did half a mile)

It was generally believed that I should take it a little easy, it being my first really serious workout post-appy. The more senior Team members (i.e., people who have watched me run now for 3+ years and know my running habits sometimes better than I do) were sure I wouldn't be able to keep myself in check. But I showed them! Reality: I took May as an "easy," "between races" month, then had an appendectomy. I'm a little out of shape. And yes, eventually my stomach started to hurt a little. Spin: I totally kept myself under control and really intentionally slowed down a few seconds per interval. I ran them each in about 1:46.

Which brings me to my first totally intolerable Garmin gush-fest. I FREAKING LOVE THIS THING. I just synced it to my laptop when I got home and boom all my intervals, total time and distance, everything was just there. And easily transported into my runningahead log. No need for anyone to write down times at the track. Or email them to me. Or for me to then manually copy them from email into runningahead. It's just done.

272.0 + 3.2 = 275.2 miles

I have an easy run planned for tomorrow and a 6-miler (assuming compliance by my abs) for Saturday. Tomorrow's could get ditched though depending on how the babe is feeling in the morning. He had immunizations today and had a rough evening. Poor little guy. Keep your fingers (a word I invariably type first as "gingers" and have to delete) crossed for him!

Three Things Thursday

Three Things Thursday (I know, it's been a while since I did one)

1. Last hard run
Last night was the last hard track practice before race day. Coach Paula was there early and had started her 10 x 800m workout, her fave pre-race workout. We took a cue from her and did a scaled-back version, 6 x 800.

1 mile warm-up
800s (half-mile intervals) at: 3.48, 3.43, 3.38, 3.40, 3.39, 3.36
1 mile cool-down

According to this post from last July, these are good times for me. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about the race! I want that new PR!

Mileage (somehow the addition has gotten screwed up somewhere. I'm going to trust that runningahead.com has it right somehow):
214.7 + 3.9 + 5.0 = 223.5 miles

2. The news!
Mr. Joanna and I bought a house! I will post a few pictures of it later. It's a great place and I feel lucky to have found it. We close in mid-June. I still get tied up in knots regularly about the whole move, but at the same time I'm excited. And anxious about selling our current place.

3. Other odds & ends
I thought I'd throw in some of my recent crafty projects while I'm at it. I've had SO much fun making these. It's a good creative outlet for me and it's productive--two things that make me happy. Check out my recent projects here and here. These are pages from our 2005 trip to Alaska. I'm finally almost finished!

So that's how it's gonna go down?

I apologize for the blog slacking! Here's the recap of everything you've missed.

Monday: On Monday while working from home I checked the hourly forecast for the rest of that day and Tuesday. It looked like this:

PERFECT, rain, rain, dinner/family time, dark, windy, windy, windy, windy, dark.

So I got up and went running. A good 4.8 miles around the neighborhood then right back to work. I love that my work can be flexible like that right now. It won't be like this for long.

Tuesday: Admission of truth--I am not a reliable cross-trainer. Actually, I just don't do it most of the time. Which is why I'm going to go ahead and count mowing the lawn as exercise. If Mr. Joanna can count ping pong as exercise (which he does...true story), I can count mowing. When I finished I looked back at the yard, all proud of myself. Then I saw this. One missed strip of grass between rows and no time to weed whack it. FAIL. I still cross-trained. Right?

Wednesday: RunningFirst and I decided to believe weather.com's claim that the rain was over, so we headed to the track dutifully at 6pm. The workout: warm-up, 3 mile tempo run, cool down. My mile splits were 8:04, 7:54, and 7:48. Decreasing splits! Unlike a true tempo run, I took short breaks between miles--shorter than if it were an interval workout. I'm happy to report that I was absolutely unafraid of this workout. It was one of the easier ones we've done, intentionally, since we're now close-ish to race day.

In the middle of the cool-down, RunningFirst (who ran parts of the workout with me) lamented the state of his preparation for our race and the difficulty he'd had in joining me for portions of the tempo run. So there on the spot he decided that our track workout was going to be written in the history books like this. I freaking love it. It IS true that I appreciated being paced so well. And it's also true that he's about half full of it. On purpose.

Thursday: A pigeon flew into my office through the one small window that opens. The pigeon and I were both too freaked out for a photo op. I called some people with nets who came and released it back into the great outdoors.

And now, because I'm in a really random mood, I'm going to give you a totally unrelated and unsolicited product review: Lemon Curd.

It has come to my attention that a lot of you have never heard of lemon curd. Let me introduce you. It is sort of like really thick lemon pie filling that you put on toast. You convince yourself that it's as reasonable as eating jam. It's expensive and ridiculous and pretty much the best thing on Earth. You can find it in most grocery stores next to the jam/jelly section. Give it a try!

I'm planning a FAQ post about this blog, so if there's anything you'd like to know please just post a comment and ask!

167.4 + 4.8 + 5.0 = 177.2 miles

The truth about track workouts

I feel like I kind of skirt the truth about track workouts when I talk about them on here. That fact was brought into bold relief for me yesterday when two things happened.

1. I had to explain to non-runner adults what I was doing. First was to a woman (who we adore) who works at my son's daycare. The second was to one of my committee members (who I quite like), who I happened to run into on my way to practice last night. The third was to a woman who looked at me like I was crazy when I stopped at Walgreen's on my way home. She stared, cocked her head to one side, and read my shirt out loud, "Inaugural Rock & Roll Half-Marathon." I decided it wasn't worth explaining it that time.

The truth: Most grown adults put "track practice" in the category of "things high school students do," and explaining that your evening is devoted to it sounds patently bizarre. Like losing toenails and chafing, I just decided a long time ago to file "track practice" with the other runner topics you can't discuss in polite society.

2. I'm secretly intimidated by track practice every single week. How? I have no idea. I ran them for three years in high school and am on my third (I'm not counting '08) year of running them with the Team. I don't remember being intimidated by them in high school, but then I also don't remember obsessing over pace like I do now. I had a moment of panic yesterday when RunningFirst revealed the workout: 8 x 400. I got through them just fine (1:37 to 1:42 intervals, I'll take that!) and it's a workout I've done gobs of times before. Why the worry?

The truth: Even runners get intimidated about running sometimes. It's an ugly truth; I'd rather be fearless. But in just a few fleeting moments every week, I'm not. You don't have to be fearless, you just have to do it.

Mileage (end of March cumulative total): 147.4 + 4.0 + 4.0 = 155.4 miles

best.workout.ever.

Meg and I played hooky for a few hours today! This is unheard of! It was fabulous! We went to our local running store (shoes for her, runner food for me), had an excellent & cheap lunch, and went cake shopping for my graduation weekend. F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S. (channel your inner Fergie, if you must)

A few hours of super-productive work, then...

The best interval/tempo workout ever.

1 x 1600 warm-up (1600 = 1 mile)

3 x 1600, ~3 min rest in between each

1 x 1600 cool-down

The intervals broke down into these 400m times:

1:49, 3:45, 5:42, 7:39

1:51, 3:52, 5:47, 7:41

1:49, 3:46, 5:46, 7:40

Apparently I haven't run this particular workout since 6/27/2007. According to that post, we ran them faster tonight by 7 seconds, 1 second, and 10 seconds, respectively. Plus, the weather was awesome. Plus, Meg killed it. Plus, RunningFirst kept us on pace. Good, good times.

125.0 + 3.3 + 5.0 = 133.3 miles

Joanna vs. Joanna

We had a great group show up last night for our first outdoor (wootwoot!) track practice of the season. It was RunningFirst, the guy who wrote the Life Saver post and his wife (long time alums of The Team), Dr. Speedy, Meg, and me. Except guess what? I was the only person who ran the workout! It was Joanna vs. Joanna in a battle of 5 x (2 min fast + 2 min slow). Meg ran most of it, to give her credit. RunningFirst was allegedly timing us & counting the intervals, and Mrs. LifeSaver is nursing a bad injury. With our warm-up and cool down I put in 4.5 miles. It was a gorgeous evening and I was grateful for the structured workout.

Until Mr. Run-the-Wrong-Direction-on-the-Track showed up. The first few times we passed each other running in opposite directions on the track, both in the first lane, he clapped at me as if to say, "hey, good running!" I may have smiled or nodded at him the first time, but after that I started glancing at him in annoyed wonder or avoiding eye contact. By about the 4th time we passed, still with both of us in the 1st lane, I wanted to clothesline him. On lap 9 RunningFirst told him to turn around. On lap 10 I told him. It would have been much less annoying if he'd moved to an outer lane while running in the wrong direction. During the cool-down we saw him talking to RunningFirst (our coach). We assumed he was asking about track rules or about the Team.

Turns out I don't know what they were talking about. When Meg and I started to leave the track, he walked up to us and started asking questions about joining our group, what we do, where we meet, how to contact the group, etc. I was totally creeped out. I wasn't about to give him information about where we meet on Saturdays, my personal contact info or that of Meg or RunningFirst. But he kept asking questions as he followed Meg and me toward our cars. Finally I ripped the cover sheet off an old Team training schedule so he would have the Team in Training website, which seemed harmless. The whole time I was getting it out of my car I was thinking, "Meg, don't leave me, Meg, don't leave me!"

In other news, my MIL sent the babe a box of St. Patrick's Day goodies, including a themed shirt which we dressed him in yesterday. I couldn't resist taking some pictures while we played outside after work.

108.5 + 4.5 = 113.0 miles