Well, I survived my first 16-mile jaunt! :) And, yes...I did so with smile on my face :).
It was a lot of fun...and what a great morning for a run! It was cool and breezy here in Blo-No. The biggest downfall of the day was the fact that I did a large portion of this run by myself. Ugh! AND I did it sans iPod! Typically I have free access to Jeremy's iPod to use for training (yeah, I am like the only twenty-something without her own iPod!)....there's no way he's up and at 'em before 6:30 on a weekend day, much less running that early! So, anyway, I've brought it with me to each of the long training runs I do with the marathon training group....but have yet to actually use it. I typically get to talking with whomever I am running with (most often two guys, John and Dan) and have no need for music to get me through. Today, though, that wasn't the case....and I forgot the darn iPod! Naturally, I leave the house at the last minute possible to arrive at "the triangle" where we start our weekend runs at 6:30am. Well, when I was about 5 minutes from home I realized I had forgotten the iPod. Darn it all! I didn't turn around, because I didn't want to be late...
Well...when I arrived in the lot we runners typically all park in for our weekend runs, it was empty...save for a few Bloomington Parks and Rec vehicles. I waited for a few minutes...and one woman (one I had never met before, but who was very nice!) did show up. She, however, was only running 7 miles today as she was just coming back from an injury. So, we ran 3.5 miles together until she turned around and went back to where we had started. It was great company for those first few miles....but the next 12.5 did tend to drag by toward the end! Typically I run with John who has a Garmin GPS running watch...which is fabulous (I reallllly want one for my birthday!). So, that totally takes away the guess work of "how far do we have left?" and "what is our current pace," etc. Well, I don't yet have the luxury of owning one of those....although I do have one picked out! Feast your eyes on THIS...it's a thing of beauty!! :) When I had about 2 miles left both knees REALLY started to bother me, which was somewhat frustrating. I didn't stop, nor give up! I pressed on...and finished 16 miles in 2 hours, 32 minutes.
I was excited to reach the 13 mile mark at only 10 minutes slower than my April race time of 1 hour, 52 minutes. I wasn't running hard today...I knew I needed to save up a lot of energy as I had never run 16 miles before in my entire life...so I definitely took it "easy" and made sure I would have "something left" for those final miles. So, it was great to run an "easy" 13-miles at only 10 minutes slower than my race pace! I can tell I am in a ton better shape. Also, I finished 15 miles (which is what I ran with John and Dan last Saturday for training) in 2 hours 22 minutes...which was a full 7 minutes faster than we had done last week together! I finished 16 miles in 2 hours, 32 minutes....3 minutes longer than it took to finish 15 miles last week! I was proud of myself. That averages out to a 9:30 minute-mile pace! Nothing too spectacular ;), but I don't think it's anything to turn your nose up at either...considering I ran SIXTEEN FULL MILES! Did I mention that I am a bit proud of myself ;).
Whew! All things considered, it was a successful run :).
While I would consider today a smashing success; this week was not necessarily of the same caliber, unfortunately. As I did mention before in this post, I ran 15 miles last Saturday with Dan and John...my buds in the marathon training group ;). Dan had e-mailed us the day before asking if we could meet at 6 as opposed to 6:30 since he had somewhere to be that morning. So, we started early...which was great, because ended up being a really hot day and got prettttty warm toward the final miles of the run! It was a great run...and it was nice to have company :). We always tend to have some rather entertaining conversations ;). I even had some kick at the end (more than I had today! ;) John and I "sprinted" the last .25 mile or so. It felt awesome...but my knees were definitely feelin' it!
Later that day (Saturday the 15th), I drove to Chicago to see some great friends from grad school...my roommate Brooke and I stayed at our friend Avanti's new apartment in Lincoln Park in the city! It was great to see both of them! :) We spent the night there after an evening of a yummy Mexican dinner at a cute restaurant and then drinks at a bar close by...and then lazed around together Sunday before heading home. I was hoping to get in some sort of cross training (per my training schedule!), but didn't...the drive took 3.5 hours (as opposed to 2-2.5) due to really bad traffic (the air/water show was this weekend in Chi) and horrid weather (the sky unleashed some major fury around 4pm during my drive). So, I just went out for Mexican food (uh, yeah...sorta my weakness! ;)) with Jer and went home to clean (in preparation for my dad's arrival the next morning) and then basically called it a night after that.
Monday...I did 65 minutes on the elliptical at the gym.
Tuesday...I woke up early (!!) and went to a 5:30-6:30am Zumba class with my co-workers Kristin and Jamie. It was a total blast! Lots of chest-shaking and hip-action; not my usual cup of tea ;)...but I enjoyed myself! I plan to go back this Tuesday. It DEFINITELY used muscles that I am not used to "workin'" as I was quite sore that next day! :) Later on Tuesday, we had our first "group run" of the little running/walking group I started for co-workers; trying to get people ready to run/walk the Easter Seals Run the Woods 5k in Oct! It was fun to socialize :) and I probably got in about 2.5 miles of walking/running. Nothing too spectacular ;), but it was something!
Wednesday...I went to the gym and did 30 minutes on a bike and then ran on a treadmill for 15 minutes (with some sprints thrown in for fun).
Thursday...AND Friday....I didn't do jack crap. WHOOPS! Thursday I went to a book club meeting with some friends in Peoria right after work, and Friday I worked til 1 and then had to bring Izzy to her first vet appointment...and then had an appointment of my own...and then we had an appointment for a photograph for our church directory...and then we went out for dinner to Chili's with our friends the Ericksons and the Fifarks! It was a great couple of days...but I was down on myself for slacking this week! According to my training guide...I was supposed to do 4-8-4 on Tues-Wed-Thurs. Argh! Oh well...Life does go on. It also just seems to get in the way of my good intentions to train RIGHT! :)
Well, I need to go make myself more useful ;). Jeremy is currently grouting in our basement (!!!) and I should see if he needs assistance (???) and tend to the laundry and general cleaning needs of our too-messy house!
Happy running!
~RLB
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