catching up

Saturday, August 1, 2009

We set out on Saturday for our group run. We drove about 30 minutes to Salem Lake and got running pretty much as soon as we got there. We started out FAST.

So, I got all annoyed and pissed off because I could feel that we were running to fast and I was mad at myself for allowing it. Basically, I was just discouraged the entire time and had a crappy attitude about it. I shouldn't have let my mind be negative about the run!

My problem is that when I'm in a new place, running a shorter distance, or when I'm on a trail, I think that the run should be quick? Like, that it's no big deal to run 7 miles when I've been running 8 and 9 for several weeks? But 7 miles is a big deal and I needed to treat it as a big deal.

I didn't dislike the trail or certainly the company.. it was just that I was having a bad day. My knee was hurting, my back was aching a little.. blech.

At the end, there's a monster hill that like Susan has said, "You really need a ladder to get up that hill". I walked most of it because really, it was STRAIGHT UP. On the down part of it, we had to walk because if we ran too fast, we would have rolled right down it!

So whatever it was done. I was glad it was done and was ready for it to be done at mile 2. That's never a good thing.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

This run, I feel better about writing about. I definitely feel like a runner again and have restored my confidence after the crappy run on Saturday. Yesterday, we got an email from our coach that said something about blah, blah, blah, need to work on pace..blah, blah, blah, on a 5-mile run this week, do 1 mile warm up, 1/2 mile at race pace, 1 mile normal (easy) pace, 1/2 mile race pace and finish the run, blah, blah, blah.

So, I made sure my running partners knew what to do because I was a little worried about running hard knowing how 5 miles has been treating me lately. Well, we did the 1 mile run through GA and when we got to the "little park" (I'm sure there's an offiicial name for it, but that's what I call it) we kicked it up and RAN. Susan's Garmin said that our best pace was what? 8:45 and I am pretty sure it was while we were in the little park. We were kicking arse.

Then, we slowed it down and kicked it up again after almost a mile. (I didn't want to hit a hill at a hard pace, so I convinced the girls to start earlier than after a mile.) That was not as hard of a run as we did in the little park but we still had a good pace.

After that was done we were ON the big hill in MP so we slowed a bit.. Then, I don't know what happened to me. I just got the feeling of LET'S GO! SO I did. I really didn't want to kick ass on those hard runs and STILL come in at the normal time at the end. I wanted to improve SOMETHING with all that tiredness I was feeling and we still had 2 miles left to do.

So I just went with it. The second hill in MP was hard but I slowed a bit at the top to get my breathing right again. It never quite got all the way back down but once we hit GA, I was ready to step it up again.

After the big hill for GA, I looked at my watch and saw that we were at 52 minutes. I totally wanted to set a goal at that point to beat 55 minutes. So I looked at Debbie (who I never run with because she's speedy all the time) and said, "think we can finish before 55 minutes? This is the best time I've ever had this summer and I'm ready to kick ass." So we did. We ran hard and finished in 54:48. And, we did 5.19 miles according to Garmin. That means my pace was 10:34!!

WHOO HOO! I've been SO ready for a 10 minute mile all summer and while it wasn't 10 minutes, it was close, right?!

Maybe I can do this 1/2 marathon??

YAY! We have our MOJO BACK ladies!!!!!

Now that I'm 4 hours post-run my knee is hurting and my muscles are sore.. I need to be better about stretching afterwards. I think I might start bringing a towel to lay on the ground so I can stretch. There's something about those public parking lots that totally gross me out.. hehe.

I'm going to ice that knee tonight and keep taking the Glucosamine to see if I feel better. Knee pain sucks.

6miles with a couple celebrities

Yeah, you read that right. We ran with two local celebrities on Saturday. Not like celebrities that you see on TV on Thursday night but running celebrities. The first was this guy. And the other was a dude who is running this race this weekend coming up. In case you are too busy to click, the first guy ran all the way across the Sahara Desert and the other guy is about to compete in a 100-mile ultramarathon. Awesome.

They were both totally nice and you never would have known you were with superstars. They were just like anyone else out there on a little morning run. I mean, besides EVERYONE knowing them, but whatever.

It was awesome and I'm thankful to our coach for arranging it.

But no matter how great they are, this is my blog, not theirs. And my 6 miles is not their 6 miles, so I'm done with that.

So, we didn't do the normal chit-chat at the beginning of this group run. Instead we warmed up and hit the pavement.

I'd gone to bed at 8:00 on Friday night because I wasn't feeling too good and was worried I wouldn't feel good on Saturday. So I showed up, a tad icky feeling and maybe a bit dizzy still and just went for it.

Luckily, my coach is totally correct in saying that the first mile or two might be the worst (it's different for everyone) but once you get those over, you get in your groove and you are good. She was right. I hated the first mile but after that, it was like "Whatever, I'm a runner!". We stopped for a good 5 minutes or so after 3 miles because we thought some peeps were lost and I forgot to stop my watch. So, I'm taking 5 minutes off the time I told Liz at the end of class.

Anyway, the hills in the parks are just plain stupid. Especially when it's HOT and HUMID and it's only 7 a.m.. I tried to walk a HUGE hill but 5 steps into the walk, I couldn't walk anymore, I had to run. I can't WALK! I need to RUN!

At 5 miles, we stopped to "GU" and then got going again. OMG. So tired. So so so so tired I was. I was running with a girl who had 7 miles to do (not my normal Tuesday and Thursday runnin' buddy) and she asked if I would go the extra mile with her. My response?

"Sorry, I can't. It's not you, it's me."

There was no way. I was SO tired and I think it was ALL because of the humidity. Because when I was done my 6 miles, I felt fine! Not winded, not tired really.

So, because of the way the run ended, I thought "good run! No big deal." I would NOT have said that at 5.5 miles but I guess that's why we get a runner's high? To forget how crappy we feel at small moments during the run?

This weekend I'm doing a 10k race here, provided I can get a sitter. Oh the drama.

Before that though, 4 miles Tuesday and Thursday with the Crazy girls at 5:45am. WOOT!

P.S. Got an awesome new Livestrong hat last week and wore it on Saturday. LOVE IT. Why have I been running sans hat this long? Really?