Doing my 8 miler this afternoon, since I wasn’t able to do it on Tuesday. Kristina, who hasn’t run with me since mid-January, is going to run two laps of the park with me. I’m going to run one, then she’s going to meet me and run two, then I’ll do one more on my own. I’m so glad to have her company while running again! Yay!

I also remembered a cool thing about Tuesday’s run. This woman was getting in her car as I ran past her and she said “looking good!” which was nice. I yelled “thanks” as I flew (ha ha) by. I love it when total strangers are supportive!

Ever had one of those days where you have a specific run planned, you’re all prepared for it and everything, and then nothing goes as you expected, but you have a great run anyway? That’s what yesterday afternoon was like for me.

I had my eight miler all planned out. I brought my running clothes to work, had my Camelbak filled with Gatorade, and drove to the levee to go four miles out and then four miles back. I was pretty bundled up to begin with, but removed the long-sleeved shirt before I started running. The wind on the levee was whipping around me, making it impossible to either hear my headphones or go in a forward motion. So I turned around after half a mile and just decided to finish at the park.

But I had to pee, and when I walked to the public restrooms at the fly, they were locked. Well, surely the ones at the park will be unlocked, I thought, so I drove to the park to use the restroom and finish my run. Oh, but no, the restrooms were locked there too. Makes absolutely no sense, it’s a public park with lots of people out there on a sunny afternoon like yesterday.

So, angry, I drove home, not sure if I was going to run or just bag it and lay on the couch. Fortunately, Kristina was doing Tae-Bo when I got home, so just lying on the couch wasn’t really an option (guilt is a strong motivator.) So I just walked out the door and started running. Went pretty far, too. I’ve never run in my neighborhood alone before, but I had about an hour before it started to get dark, and I just ran. It was great. I ran around blocks, up and down streets, even found Anne Rice’s house. (We went to a party there a few years ago, and I even chatted with her about apple martinis and paper cups. Well, you can’t really decide what you’re going to talk about with a famous author, can you?) I ran for a total of 42 minutes, and including the mile I had run earlier, I probably covered 4.5 miles yesterday. So I’ll just to the eight miler tomorrow afternoon instead. No big deal!

After my run, we went and saw “A Beautiful Mind.” Great movie!

I had a gorgeous run this morning, but first I should recap the weekend…

Saturday, on the advice of my running “mentor” (see Friday’s second post) I cross trained instead of running 16 miles. I had the idea that I had to cycle 64 miles (4 miles on the bike for every 1 ran) but holy cow. Riding a stationary bike is boring! Even though I had my radio and a book, I couldn’t do it for more than 29 miles. Still, it’s longer than a marathon. 🙂 I also did half a mile on the stairmaster (also boring) and half a mile walking on the treadmill.

I think I really needed this break. My feet felt much better afterwards, and my cough is pretty much gone. It also took away some of the staleness in my running, gave me a fresh start. Which leads to this morning’s fantastic run.

Got a bit of a late start, hit my snooze button accidentally. Got to the park, temperature in the mid 50s or so, cloudless sky, no humidity, simply gorgeous. Plan was to run 3 laps around park, for a total of 5.3 miles (of a scheduled 5, but because of the size of the park, exactly five miles is difficult).

The first lap went well, and after I finished it, I stopped for some Gatorade. Started running again (by the way, didn’t walk at all this morning, which was a problem I had last week – too much walking) and a few minutes later (as if someone spiked my Gatorade with endorphins) I had this incredible feeling of happiness sweep over me. I either wanted to laugh or cry, but I settled for a huge grin instead. The intense feeling only lasted a few moments, but it lingered for the rest of the run. I could prolong it a bit if I closed my eyes while I ran. Fortunately, there was no one heading towards me to see this idiocy, and the surface of the path is smooth enough to do this safely. 🙂

I finished the run in 1:06.17, which works out to 12:25/mile average. Not bad at all!

Tomorrow afternoon is my next run, 8 miles. It’s going to get really cold tomorrow, so I’m glad I don’t have to do it in the morning, when it’s supposed to be in the 20s or 30s. At least in the afternoon, it’ll be in the 50s, which I can handle better.

Rest day today. Thank goodness. (Oh right, you say, as if you haven’t taken enough rest days!) But I took a Tylenol PM last night so I could sleep well (finally, I did!) and I feel much better for it. My throat feels somewhat better and my arches hurt much less. I think I’m going to crosstrain tomorrow instead of a 16 miler. If I don’t give my feet a break now, there won’t be another chance. So tomorrow morning, Kristina’s going to get me into the Tulane gym and I’m going to ride the stationary bike or maybe do some elliptical training (never done it though, and I can be pretty uncoordinated, so I may just stick to the bike.) I heard that the ratio of running:cycling is 1:4, so if I’m supposed to do a 16 mile run tomorrow, I should cycle 64 miles. Woah! Well, the great thing is, I can bring a book. Yeah, I could polish off a decent-sized book in 3-4 hours.

Monday is Kristina’s birthday, so we have a fun weekend scheduled. Saturday we’re going to this yummy burger place for dinner and then to Pat O’Briens, or some other tourist trap in the Quarter to have a hurricane (just one for me, no doubt about it.) Sunday we’re having dinner with my cousin, who I never see. She’s a lawyer in DC so she and Kristina can talk aaalllll about, well, the law. Woo! Fun! Hopefully we’ll get to see a movie in there somewhere. We really need to see more of the movies that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar so we can be well informed.

Just something really cool that I wanted to mention…

Back in August, I joined a running mailing list called the Dead Runner’s Society. It’s a big list (2000+ subscribers, I think) but only 50-60 of them post with any regularity. I lurked for a long time on the list, because most of the members who post are serious runners. Fast runners. But when I started the actual marathon training, I decided to post, because these people can be a fantastic source of information.

One woman, who is married to another member of the list, has become my virtual running mentor. She is in her early 40s, I think, and just had a baby (which was all the talk of the list back when I joined) and has been following my training and giving me advice and encouraging me. What a wonderful person! The best part is, I also get her husband’s advice, as she consults him when I have a question. I get two opinions from experienced, fast runners (I think her husband has run Boston – woooo!) who are very well respected on the list. It’s just all very exciting. Another reason to be thankful for the Internet!

Whew!

Did my seven miles this morning. Should be the last time I have to do my long mid-week run in the morning. I made a deal with Sarah that I’ll come in early and not take a lunch break (well, I’d eat lunch at the office, not skip it altogether) and then I can leave at 4 and go to the park and run. I just hate getting up at 6:15 to run at the park, when it’s only just getting light. It’s just not that safe, and when I have to do eight next week, I’ll have to wake up even earlier. It’s not getting dark here until around 6 p.m., so I should be fine. Can’t wait until next Wednesday now!

The run went moderately well, I’d say. Last night when I was going to sleep I was thinking perhaps I’m just holding myself back and I really can run faster than 13-14 minute miles for an extended period of time. Would be a shame if I could run faster, but didn’t know it. So I started out just running at what felt comfortable at the time, and ran the first mile in 11:06. Hmmm. Had to slow down after that, and it seemed to take a lot out of me for the rest of the run. Didn’t have any problem running 13 min/miles after that, but I did have to take a few walking breaks. Nevertheless, the whole run averaged 13:09, even with the walking breaks. Woo!

I’m feeling a bit better, I think my cold is going away. I didn’t have a stuffed nose last night, just a tickly throat. And I wasn’t hacking up phlegm during my run, so I think my lungs are pretty clean as well. Surprisingly, running seems to make the phlegm go away, not get worse, like I thought it might.

We got our proofs emailed to us from Marathon Foto, the company that took the finish line photos and the ones along the course. Gag! Some of the pictures are very disheartening. I hate the way I can see a photo of myself and my self-esteem is shot for the next week or so, until the mental picture has faded. My New Year’s resolution was to be happy with my body, so I need to work on that some. Now, after looking at the pictures I want to wear a long-sleeved turtleneck and long pants for the marathon, but I suppose that wouldn’t be very practical in April. Hmmph.

Didn’t run today. Am sick. Throat hurts, stuffed nose. Nothing major, but it makes it very difficult to sleep, and I hardly think running is going to help. (Am I wrong? Aren’t you supposed to rest when you have a virus like a cold?) Right now I feel okay, feel like I could go run (if it weren’t for work) but at 6:45 this morning, when I was woken from a really deep sleep (the first in days) by my alarm clock, with my head full of cotton and my throat all scratchy and sore, I didn’t feel like I could. Tomorrow?

I remembered a few more things from the half-marathon.
1. We got oranges at mile 9 or so. Yummy! Chris didn’t like them because the citric acid burned his lips. Wuss!
2. Hmmm, that may be all that I remembered. I forgot what I remembered, apparently.