Are We There Yet?

OK, I am so ready for marathon Sunday to be here.

Not because I have a burning desire to torture myself with 26.2 miles, but because I want to get the f'in' thing over and done with. Yes, my friends, I'm into my "I hate running" mood, the one that ALWAYS precedes my marathon. It's just nerves, but I feel like I have this big thing hanging over my head (which I do LOL), and I just want to hibernate in my house and not think about running because it makes me want to puke if I do. How's that for a visual?

Having said all that, I'm heading out tonight for the 12-miler I blew off yesterday and the day before. That'll be my last distance run before my race, and from here on out, it's just short stuff.

13 days and counting...

6 easy tonight

OK, my running hasn't been exactly where it should have been this week. That's all I'll say on the topic, just know I'm really taking this taper business seriously. ;-)

I have 6 easy miles scheduled for tonight. Legs are looking forward to it!

4 easy tonight, let's try this again! :-)

I tried running last night, and my legs said to me "Are you crazy?" Right calf was feeling pretty tight, which is new. So I dropped it to a walk, finished 2 miles, and vowed to try again another day.

Which means today. :-)

Legs feel pretty good, so think I should have no problem getting back to it.

4 easy scheduled for tonight

I have 4 easy scheduled for tonight. My legs certainly don't feel like they're going to want to run at all. They're still heavy and sore from my 20-miler. Nice night out, though, so will give it a shot.

ATM (After The Marathon), when mileage calms down a little and I don't spend my every waking hour thinking about the race, the job search will by my sole focus.

20 miles, done and dusted

I went out to do errands this morning and started immediately w/ the allergies (ragweed is still hanging around), so made the decision to do my long run on the treadmill. So, 20 miles on the treadmill, done and dusted.

I was bored senseless about 3 miles into it, racked my brain for a good excuse to stop there, but kept going. Around mile 7, looked for a good excuse to stop, but knew I'd regret not getting in the miles, so I kept going.

After that, I felt pretty good and cruised until mile 13-14, when I started feeling pretty creaky in my knees, including some twinges in left ITB. Stretched, walked a minute or so to give the legs a different motion, then started up again. I dug deep and was able to do the last 5 miles faster than the first 15, so I was pretty pleased with that.

Final time was 4:05, and probably add in a few minutes for stretching, etc. I don't see any chance of breaking 5 hours this year, but 5:15 looks like a reasonable goal, and believe me when I tell you that'll be a huge PR for me.

Phew, glad that's over, bring on the taper!!!

What was I saying about an EASY run tonight?

Home from the gym and treadmill.

Did 2 mile warmup at 11:30 then 11:15 miles, then did 5 x .5 mile intervals at 9:53/mile pace and then 1 x .5 mile at 9:15 pace.

I wasn't really planning on intervals tonight, but Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana came on the iPod, and there's just no way to run slow to that. Maybe I should put that on repeat for 26.2 miles? Think that'll work? No iPods allowed in Chicago, so guess we'll never find out. :-)

SRD for me tomorrow, long run of 20 miles on Sunday.

Last night's 6 easy turned into 5 speedwork. Somehow I can't restrain myself from picking up the pace on my runs. So will try again tonight for 6 easy.

Although it's only mid-September, we're already at the point where I'm having to move some mid-week runs onto the treadmill because it's starting to get dark earlier and earlier. Short stuff (3s and 4s), outside is fine, but 5s and 6s I'm having to do on the treadmill now (I don't want to finish my run in the dark). I don't mind the treadmill at all, but gosh, fall seems early this year.

I'm back

I took the last 2 days off.

Tuesday was an SRD, yesterday was USRD. I had a contractor coming over to give me an estimate on a small bathroom remodeling job, and somehow never got out the door for my run once he was gone.

It was gorgeous out, the manly rugged rugby men were playing on the green out front (my 1-mile loop that I do my weeknight runs on) - what more could I have possibly wanted? :-) But it just didn't happen - got sidetracked w/ magazines, bills, junk mail, retirement statements, etc. I'm fighting a losing battle w/ the paperwork and I just can't keep up with it.

Anyways, I digress. It's gorgeous out again tonight, so it's 6 easy miles for me. FOR SURE.

Remember - always remember.

As a NYer, I couldn't bring myself to put it down in words this morning what that day was like.

We saw the absolute worst of humanity that day - and the absolute BEST of humanity.

Fear for my friends and colleagues (I knew 4 who died that day, and 2 close friends lost brothers); and fear for myself. An overriding sense of despair for my city - New York is my HOME and my HEART; despair for our country; and despair for the human race if we could do this to one another.

All this followed by the biggest outpouring of human kindness I've ever seen. NYers making eye contact as they passed each other on the street, taking the time for a gentle word, comforting a stranger crying on the bus or subway (that was ME crying every day on the subway), etc. And not just NY, but a feeling that the whole country was in this together, and indeed, the whole CIVILIZED world.

This is the first year I've not been in NYC for 9/11 since it happened (I lived in the city until 2005, and the last 2 years, I've travelled to the city to be there for it). Seems a little strange. I'm glad it's overcast, not the gorgeous blue sky we had that day.

I took this morning off and am home from work to watch the memorial and reading of the names. I'll listen for the names of those I knew, say a prayer for them and their families who are still suffering, and also a prayer for our service men and women in harm's way.

Please never forget that day, and never forget that time when we were united together.

Back from a weekend in the City (NY, of course ).

The tennis on Saturday was fantastic - the men's semis always are, and these guys will be interesting to watch over the next few years. I got myself good and sunburned that afternoon, even w/ sunscreen. I guess 5-6 hours in the sun will do it.

Didn't end up doing my run in Central Park yesterday. Between my sunburn and my slight hangover from too much wine on Saturday night, I gave it a miss, and spent the day walking around town and seeing friends.

Will do it today after work, just 14 miles. It's nice and cool up here, so it'll be a treat.

I was back to the gym for my run tonight. 94* and about 70% humidity when I left work.

Did 6 miles, each progressively faster than previous. Not exactly the tempo run I was scheduled for, but fine by me.

Watched some of the Venus Williams v. Justine Henin match while on the t-mill. Was sorry to see Venus lose.

Off to NYC tomorrow a.m. to see the men's semifinal matches. woohoo!!

my kooky upcoming weekend

So here's my kooky weekend...

I just got offered a seat to the men's semifinals at the US Open on Saturday in NYC - no way I'm passing that up! So I'm leaving VT at 3 a.m., driving the 300+ miles down to NYC, parking the car and checking into hotel (using points so it's free), going to tennis out in Queens, staying overnight, doing my long run in Central Park on Sunday a.m., cleaning myself up, and then getting into the car to drive the 300+ miles back to VT on Sunday afternoon...

It better be damn good tennis is all I have to say.

Nice side benefit is I get to run long in Central Park - my favorite place...

just 3 miles this a.m.

A colleague is looking to start exercising regularly, and has asked me to meet her at the gym at work 3 mornings a week. Let me just say, the idea of someone looking to me for motivation is hysterical. I can hardly get myself out the door half the time. :-)

But this will be ok - I've been thinking about moving my midweek runs to the morning, so this will do the trick.

Today, I only had time for 3.1 miles, stretch, cooldown, pushups. The one good thing is that the blood blister I've had since my 18-miler (too deep under a callous to be able to pop it) grew just enough with today's run that I could pop it. ICK, but necessary.

Tomorrow, I'll have to get there right when they open at 6:30 so I can get in my scheduled 6 or 7 miles.

SRD today

SRD (scheduled rest day) today, which is a good thing.

My legs feel surprisingly okay today considering I did 18 miles yesterday. I suspect it's because I essentially did a 3.5 mile power walk cooldown after 14.5 running. What a crappy long run, but I'll move on from here... :-)

But I'm pretty fatigued in general. As usual, I didn't sleep that well last night - never seem to after a long run. strange.

Starting tomorrow, I've committed to meeting a colleague at the gym here at work in the morning. sh*t. I hate running in the a.m. But it should help re getting all my midweek runs done, and not getting distracted by after-work activities.

18 in the bank

Well, my 18 is done but it was awful. I didn't get started until about 10:15 - sun high in the sky, no clouds at all, and no shade to be found. Add to that my allergies to the freakin' ragweed, and it was tough. Don't know the starting temp, but it was 82 when I got home.

Ran the first 5 miles out to my sister's house - slight incline w/ 3 large hills. Stopped at Sissie's house, filled my water bottle, had half a banana and then she joined me for the next 6 miles - slight rolling hills for that stretch, no shade at all. Dropped my sister off, refilled water, 2nd half of banana, then started back towards my house. By about mile 14.5, I was toast - was roasting and was having a hard time breathing due to allergies - and dropped it to a power walk for the last 3.5 miles. Certainly had plenty of time on my feet moving forward, but this doesn't give me a lot of confidence for race day.

Learned a huge lesson today - get out for the long run EARLIER in the day when there's still some shade. and of course, remember to take the allergy medicine. duh, Liz.

Oh, and got my first blister since January. A blood blister under a callous. ick.

good grief!

Considering I'm just 5 weeks away from my marathon, one would think I might actually be running a decent amount these days. But I ran just once so far this training week, a 6-mile tempo run.

Between the ragweed allergies, and a boat-load of visiting family, I just didn't get it done. No excuses, I just didn't put it at the top of my priority list.

I'm doing my long run tomorrow, an 18-miler, and if nothing else, I'll have very fresh legs for it.

Two options:
1.) Treadmill - depending on the allergy situation tomorrow when I wake up.
or
2.) My sister will drop me off 18 miles south of my house (she'll be driving back to PA), and I'll run home.

The plan for 2008 - I'm back to my hometown NYC Marathon - with it in November rather than Chicago's October, less of my training is during ragweed season.