Pink Power

MY FUEL BELT CAME TODAY!! I'm a little excited about it. Not only will it be incredibly helpful to have on those two hour runs, it's also adorable.

It's pink! I love it. The water bottles are easy to grab and replace while running. And yes, I did put pink Gatorade in one of the bottles.... I couldn't resist.

It even has a nifty little pouch for gels and such. We'll have to see how it does on my long run next week. Instead of running with my group on Sunday I'll be racing in the Leesburg 5K. I hope that my running buddy starts feeling better soon because I know I'm going to need her to push me to my goal.

13.1 miles? BRING IT!

The Bird

As I was running today a bird fell out of it's nest and landed dead on the trail. So after the initial shock and heart break wore off, I had had two and a half miles to contemplate. This bird had reached its end by seemingly natural causes. His passing made room for other birds to grow and to flurish.

Now I feel that perhaps an end has come to a time in my life. I think it's my turn to go forth and do something new. I'm not sure what that new thing will be yet but I know it's coming.

After the bird died, and my shoes became untied 3 times over the course of a mile, I was finally able to run the rest incident free. I ran 3 miles in 44:13. Pace of 14:44. I want to be much faster for my 5K come Sunday. The only thing stopping me is myself.

Another goal for myself: Beat the streetlights

I ran a little to late today. As the days get shorter I'll have to figure our how to make the best out of the short daylight hours. But I have another month or two to figure that all out. Until then, I have more pressing matters to turn to. Wish me luck dear readers.

Three Minutes, Twenty-eight Seconds

Today I ran 8 miles in 3 minutes and 28 seconds faster than I did last week. It may not seem like long time but to me those 208 seconds feel like a life time.

8 miles
1:58:36
14:49 pace

I also got a new shirt this week. Which I love.

Dread the Treadmill

So just before today's run I walked outside to see this:

Rather ominous clouds along with thunder and lightning.

And although it never actually rained I'm glad I decided to go across town to borrow my parents treadmill.

This thing is the biggest pain in the ass for a now seasoned trail runner. So many buttons and  I don't deal with speed in terms of miles per hour. I've become so much more accustomed to dealing in terms of minute/mile pacing. I run a 12 minute mile. This I know. Now I had to figure out how many MPH that translates to. After playing with it for about a mile, I figured out that its about 5mph.

After all of the button pushing and exploring, I ended up running 4 miles in 57:26. That's a pace of 14:21. Not bad for a treadmill workout.

I even may have watched a few episodes of Futurama on my phone while I ran....

You Know You Have A Great Running Buddy When...

You know you have a great running buddy when...

• She lends you her spare water bottle when she can't go any further
• When you think you can't, she says you can
• She offers to drive you once a week to 6 am long runs
• She gives you GU gels (and even takes your trash for you)
• She's slightly faster than you and is humble about it
• She knows when to push you and when to let you be
• She makes sure you're awake before the sun is on weekends
• One word: Accountability 
• When you say, "I'm gunna walk up that hill." She says, "No you're not"

 
“Flatter me and I may not believe you, criticize and I may not like you, ignore me and I may not forgive you, but encourage me and I will not forget you.” -William Arthur Ward



Ran 4 miles. 53:59. Pace of 13:29. New PR. All thanks to my great running buddy.

Nerves

Today I learned an important lesson in hydration. You must sip water as you run. Never gulp. Taking in large gulps of water will cause an upset stomach fairly quickly. Go ahead. Ask me how I know.

In other news, I ran 8 miles in 2:02:04. That's a 15:15 pace. I started out really well and felt great until I hit a mental wall around mile 6. This is when my pace started really slowing down.

As we've been getting up there in mileage I find myself getting nervous Saturday evening. As we were walking to the trail this morning I was chatting with a man who was heading out for 14 miles today. He said that this would be his personal distance record. He's run five 13.1 races and he was nervous for 14.

At least now I know its perfectly normal to be nervous the night before a long run.

Ups and Downs

UP: I've lost 17 pounds since I started this journey. (I'll pause here for your applause)

DOWN: Today's run Sucked. And that's Sucked with a capital S.

Some days you don't have the energy. Some days you look at that 13.1 miles and you think, what the hell have I gotten myself into? I ran 7 miles a few days ago. I kicked ass. Why did I have so much trouble running 3.2 miles today?

I guess with the good you have to take the bad and the ups with the downs. And though Sunday and Tuesday were part of the good, today was the bad.

8 mile goal Sunday.