Increasing Mileage

Yesterday, Annie and I ran 5.5 miles in about an hour! It felt good to do it, although thre were times when it was really really hard! We ran from Annie's house up to Killingsworth and then around a big block and then up a HUGE hill at the end... oh my goodness, I thought I was going to die!!! But, I was able to finish pretty strong (the last two blocks, I kicked it up a notch) and it was nice.

Of course, yesterday afternoon and today my right knee is killing me, but I think that will get better. I'm really excited that we seem to be on course for getting strong enough to run a 10K, in April, in an hour.... We're already at the mileage (almost) so now we can concentrate on speed building. I will sure be happy if we can do it! We'll see.

I didn't work today, for the first time in 2 weeks. hooorah! but it iwll be back at it tomorrow.... and I know I have to work this coming Saturday - maybe Sunday too... I don't know. In any event, I'm tired and already wanting to go to bed (it's only 7 p.m.) but I"m looking forward to the week and to being productive.

I think I went running this morning

At about 6:00, when Trumond was up and ready to go, but Steve and Parker were not... so, I got up and took him out for just under a mile run - then we came back and I gave him a bath because he smelled bad, generally (I figured out today that he piddled in his crate so he was laying on a pee-smelling bed for who knows how many nights - poor poochie... his bed is being washed now) Anyway... then, I went to work... and I came home at 10:15 p.m.... it feels like this morning's run was a year ago.

I don't mind working long hours, but I do hate the fact that of the 16.5 hours I've been awake, I worked almost 14 of them... it makes it feel like my day is just non-existent. I do have to say, though, that Steve is AMAZING!!! He knew I had to work late, so he prepared these two huge gift baskets for me of snacks and drinks and sent them to me at work - apples, oranges, peanut butter, caramel sauce, grapes, cookies, italian sodas, celery sticks, carrots, etc. It was awesome!

I think I'm going to try to sleep in until at least 7 tomorrow... that's my goal. we'll see how it goes. Maybe Steve will take early doggy duty. We'll see. Until tomorrow...

A much needed breakthrough

So, it's been a hard couple of weeks of running, and today, when I got up and thought about a 4.5 mile trek I was about to embark upon, I was less than excited. But, Annie was excited. She said she'd been looking forward to it all week. I told her that her enthusiasm and optimism would have to pull us through. And you know what, I think it did! It was pretty hard toward the end, and I suffered a bit of stomach aching stuff, but my breath and legs were OK. I am now feeling encouraged.

While we ran, Steve walked Trumond and Parker around the water front and discovered that Trumond is quite the ladies' man! They ALL wanted to pet him. Poor Parker got the "sympathy we're not ignoring you pats" too, but I don't that he can tell the difference between genuine pats and sympathy pats, so I suppose it doesn't much matter.

I spent 5 hours at work today... not so fantastic for a Saturday, but we're in full speed ahead trial mode, so life is going to be exceptionally busy for the next 6 weeks or so.

I am eating a tasty dinner of pesto pasta, cheese bread, and a wonderful caeser salad with avocado, olives, and pickles on it - all that I put together myself with stuff we had here - I'm feeling healthy AND frugal... yay.

This day turned out kind of strange.

Today started as most any other day; I woke up, went to work. I wrote some letters, read some case law, went to a conference, had coffee with Maureen. It was a pretty normal day (OK, so the conference part is not really normal, but it's not necessarily abnormal). Then, it all changed.

Steve called me and told me that the dogs had gone wild. I will spare you the details of what they did, but it was not good, and caused them to get very dirty, but he was running late to a job, and so he was just locking the dogs in the bathroom and he would take care of it when he got home. I went home around 4:30, though, so I stopped by Safeway, got some gloves and cheap shampoo and went home, put my germophobia out of my mind, and gave the dogs a bath (after which I scrubbed the bathtub).

Then, Trumond had so much energy that I just HAD to take him for a run or I knew he was going to get into trouble if I didn't. So, we ran about 1/2 mile. It was his first run, ever. He actually did pretty well on the leash; I was pleasantly surprised. I took Parker, too, of course, so he didn't feel left out. Then, I brought them home, fed them dinner, let them out to do their business, and then joined Annie at the track for a speed workout. We did 6 laps. The first, we jogged at our normal pace. The second, we ran fast and thought we were going to die at the end. That was the same for our third lap, as well. (We took a minute or so break between laps). Then, for our fourth and fifth laps, we ran hard on the straight stretches and slowed down to a job on the turns... For our last lap, we walked. So, I ran about 1.75 miles today, although not all at once. I think I'm still going to count it as 1.75 miles on my run log.

Our next run will be Saturday morning. 4.5 miles around the waterfront. I'm a little nervous about whether I'll be able to make it - I think I will make it, but I don't think it will be pretty. At all. Wish me luck!

My motivation is meandering away from me

So, since I last posted, I have run once. This morning. I did not do the 3.5 miles I was scheduled to do today. oh no. I did just under 2 miles. 1.88 to be exact. I really need to get myself in gear if I'm going to run 6.2 miles in just 3 months. really. I mean really. It's been SOOO stinking rainy lately, and dark, that the thought of running just seems miserable. Last spring, I had such joy in it; now it seems like a chore. I am CONFIDENT that it will get better, but I need to find the motivation to get to the spot where it is better. Having a friend to go with makes the difference, I think, and this weekend, I was on my own.

Alright, well, I suppose I should get to work. I said I would go in this afternoon, but I've been having too much fun chatting with my cousin, playing with my dogs, and planning the road trip I hope to take in September. Really; I probably don't need to plan all the details just yet - but it's so fun dreaming about it!

I'm off.

"Long Run" #1 - 2.5 Miles

It's so difficult to imagine that only 2.5 short months ago, I ran a half marathon... 13.2 miles. This morning, Annie and I ran 2.5 mils and I thought I was going to die. I guess it's a lesson once again learned, that I cannot take 2 months off and expect to be able to come back to it as though I had continued running that whole time. i do hope it comes back more quickly than it took me to get here, though. I think it will.

When we had gone about 2 miles, my lungs were burning and I was completely out of breath. Annie was such a great support- encouraging me that we only had a few (e.g. 11) more blocks to go. Thankfully, it was only my lungs that hurt, not my legs or any other part of my body. I think that's a good sign; the lungs should develop pretty quickly back into what they had been. This is much better than having to develop lungs AND legs!

We have agreed to run a 10K in April, and Annie is going to run a 1/2 marathon in May. Perhaps I will do the 1/2 marathon as well, but it's difficult to say right now. We'll see how it goes - life sometimes is just too busy to train for long runs like that. For the 10K, I'm really hoping to beat my best 10K time, which is about 1:11... if I could get it down to under 1 hour, I would be stoked, but that might be pushing it a bit, so i would be content to just beating my best time. Thus, I'm going to be doing some speed work once per week between now and April.

This week, I hope to run at least two times during the week, and then 3.5 miles on Saturday. Annie will be in Sun River so I'll be on my own - maybe I can get Steve to go with me. We'll see. I'll probably take Parker on one of my mid-week runs, just to give him a chance to get out of the house. Jackie is here for a visit, which is great, but Trumond goes non-stop and that is difficult for both Parker and Jackie, I think. Right now, he's napping in my lap which is great - he's such a snugglebug when he's tired and i like it.

Now, it's time for church, so I'm off.