7/27

Happy birthday to me!

8 miles with 10x100-meter strides @ 8/mile.

7/25

14.2 for me this morning. I've really been
hunting for new people to run with after all my previous running buddies
moved away. I had a couple of runs lined up and then both people pulled
out, so then I found our local trail runners' group on Facebook (no road
runners' group around here) and met up with them today. It was nice to run
with other people, but only 3 people showed up, they were all planning to
run slower/shorter distance than me, etc., so it wasn't as ideal as I might
have hoped. Anyway, I ran about 4.5 down to meet them, 6 with one girl who
was running about a minute slower than I was planning to go, and then
another 3.5 by myself once she was done (that was hard getting it in, since
all the trails were flooded--I went .75 down one trail before it was cut
off by the river, turned around and ran .5 before I got cut off the other
way, etc.) Average pace ended up being 10:28 (about 9:45 for the first
miles by myself, 11:30 with the other girl, 10:30 for three miles after we
split, and then fartleks until the finish.); it was WAY more hills &
concrete than I've been doing lately, thanks to all the flooding on the
trails, so my knees were really hurting by the end. Wanted to finish on a
faster note as if I was pushing towards a finish line, so the last .69 were
8:04/mile, which seems to be my standard finish-chute pace! Did my
stretches up on a balcony overlooking the river, which was beautiful and
much more scenic than I usually get to enjoy! Overall it was a good run, if a little more interrupted than I would like!

40.3 for the week, 139 for the month!

7/24

SRD yesterday; 4 easy ones today (about 10:50/mile). Knee is a bit bothersome so really hitting the IT band stretches today.

7/22

8 today with 4 at HMP that actually felt really good! Nice change.

7/21

Long boring hard 10 yesterday on the TM; I don't even remember how fast it was. Whatever the range was for general aerobic.

Very easy recovery 4 today--this is the first time I've ever actually run at the correct "recovery" pace and it was crazy both how easy it was AND how long it took! I felt like I was going to be running forever without getting very far...I finally had to start playing with some slightly quicker intervals just to make it go by a tiny bit quicker. Ended up about 11:15/mile.

I'm working on getting some more running buddies/groups set up; I'm logging so many more miles that I really need to have someone to talk to!

7/18

10 in Chicago--SO hot! I finished about 8:30 AM and it was already 90 (wouldn't you know that a storm blew in later and dumped rain everywhere and it was a frigid monsoon!). I love running in Chicago because of the comraderie with hundreds of other people out doing the same thing and chatting at water fountains and stoplights about the heat and how many miles we have left. Midwesterners are so friendly!! I ran a couple of miles from my sister's neighborhood in Lincoln Park over to the loop around North Lake, then headed out for the lakefront trail and ran for a few miles until I hit my halfway point, then turned around. It was a gorgeous run but I was glad that I'd done my LR earlier in the week (especially since we went to the Field Museum later and were walking all over town--I think we walked another 4.5 miles and I did 24 trips up and down my sister's stairs during the weekend (third-floor walk-up)).

39.7 miles for the week; 98.7 for the month.

7/17

5 today at 9:48; should have taken it slower since it was supposed to be a recovery run, but I didn't have much time.

13.1 late late late Wednesday night (finished at midnight). 5 warm-up miles and then a brutal 8 at MP. Seriously felt awful holding it, but I didn't pass out or throw up afterwards.

Yesterday was a not-very-restful SRD (decorating church, dealing with sick kids, mowed lawn, yoga).