8-24-07 Early and short again

I've been wrestling with how far/hard to run in these last few days before the Country's race, but erring on the side of shorter and resting up. Steph and I got up at 5am this morning and only ran 2 miles (remember we had just done a late 4 miler about 8 hrs prior) - and remember, I don't like morning runs before work. We did the 2 miles kind of quickly - which is good because it got me going good without going far. It was still dark by the time we got home and hit the showers. We'll get up Sat morning and run another 2 miles so that her running doesn't lag due to my race prep. I'll still probably run about 1/2 mile just before the race to warm up a bit.

I did the calculations and to run this race in 25 minutes or less, I have to pace an average of 8:03 per mile - I'm hoping I can do that with a combination of music, adrenaline and end of the race kick - if not, well, there's always next year.

8-23-07 Later than I wanted

Schedules are made to be broken, apparently. I've tried to keep my schedule pretty loose this weekend - approaching a midnight race is oddly confusing to my training. . I had planned on doing 6-8 on Thursday. I figured that it would allow me a little longer run, but not humongous mileage (like a 10+ miler). After the day I had at work Thursday, I NEEDED to do an 8 miler. However, when I got home, I remembered that I had agreed to work on a family member's new laptop - they had called and offered to buy dinner for us since I'd be working at their house. So, the 8 miler was immediately scratched from the list. We went for a leisurely dinner, and it was at a 'less than health conscious' establishment - lots of fried foods. I elected for fried chicken strips and fries (about the only thing on the menu that I wanted to stomach at that moment). After dinner, we stayed at their house until nearly 8pm - my run was getting shorter the later it got. Steph and I got to the park it was already dark. I chose to run 4 and stay with her since it was so dark. It was a good run, and it was much cooler than it would have been if my schedule would have been clearer - I'd have started when it was still hot and daylight and run farther, possibly even hit some trails.


Steph and I planned on a morning run for Friday.

8-20-07 Too Early

I really don't like early runs that much. Steph and I got up @ 5am this morning and ran 3 miles. We have plans for this evening and thought it would be best to run early. Early morning runs are hard for me. At least it was cooler, and we got done in plenty of time to get to work without rushing too much. Tomorrow is a rest day, and I still need to work out details for Th, Fr, and Sat since Sat night is a race.

8-18-07 Don't know, but it was fun.

I have NO IDEA how far I ran last night - but I'm going to claim 7 miles. We went out a little earlier than we have been (about 6 or 6:30), so we weren't out so late. After my horrid run on Friday, I was determined to do at least 6 miles. Steph and I ran the 1st 2 miles together and it was very hot (weather.com was reporting 94 degrees). I put a jug of icy water at the 2 mile mark so we could stop for a moment and cool off before we parted routes - that was the best idea I've had in a while. At least it was overcast, so it was hot, but not burning and the water stayed cool for us. I did make a point to put BodyGlide everywhere I could think of - even on my nipples (more on that later). After we cooled of ( we stopped for about 2 minutes - but I wasn't worrying about the breaks since it was so oppressively hot) Steph turned back and I continued on to the 3.4 mile turnaround point. One the way back, I encountered someone in a truck on the side of the road that was having a fit over the deer he'd just seen slip into the wood line. I told him to hang around the tennis courts right at sundown, and the whole family came out of the woods to graze. When I got past the tennis courts my mileage tracking went to the gutter. I turned to go down by the boat ramp, and once I made the turn, I saw the sign for the hiking trails through the park. I've always wanted to run the trails, but I don't know how far they are, and I've been trying to be pretty specific on my mileage. I decided to toss the mileage and take the trails for a while. I took the trail that led back to my turnaround and put me out of the woods in the midpoint of the softball field. I turned back and ran all the trails I could find. Trail-running was a blast. I had to be much more attentive to my footing - watching for snakes and not twisting my ankles. It looked like someone had taken a bike down the trails - tire marks. I didn't encounter anyone else, or any unwanted wildlife. I figure the trail was about 1.5 miles - but I'm just guessing. I can't map it on gmaps because I can't see the trails from the satellite.

I did see some great wildlife out there. I got to see a family of redheaded woodpeckers and a family of deer.

However, it was so humid that my wicking shirt did not help very much. It stayed pretty wet, and started to rub on my nipples again - I guess I'll have to start wearing band aids on them. I taped up my toes, so I didn't have bloody feet when I got back.