August 30, 2006

Parks Half Marathon

Today I registered for the Parks Half Marathon. The race is on September 24, and I plan to use it as a gauge of my fitness before the marathon. After registering and perusing the web site, I started to wonder about all of the amenities. I don't care about a special shirt, I don't care about a party afterwards, and I don't care about themed water stops. It's a race. All I want to do is get from the start to the finish as fast as I can. None of the so-called amenities I listed above will help me do that. If I could find another half-marathon to run, I'd do it. Baltimore has one in mid-October, but I'd rather run one a little further out, and not only would running in Baltimore likely require a night in a hotel, the race is also $30 more expensive than the Parks. Two years ago I ran a great half marathon at the end of September in Fredericksburg, but that race has since moved to December.

My training over the last week has been so-so. I've felt really tired, which is especially odd considering my mileage has not been particularly high. Part of me wants to see if I can run through it and come out the other side in one piece, but part of my also wants to take two easy days and see if that helps, and that side of me won. So this morning I ran seven miles with some strides afterwards, and tomorrow the plan is six followed by some strides.

August 23, 2006

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I'm 26 years young. I say young because of all the audible sighs from everyone at work when I mentioned my age. I don't have any big plans for tonight, just a nice evening with J and the kids.

I've have better weeks of running. To end last week, I met some friends at Burke Lake Park on Sunday morning for a run. Most of the group just did one lap, but Jimmy and I tacked on a second, giving me nine miles for the day and 60 for the week. Monday morning I ran ten miles. I think there were some effects from giving blood; I didn't feel bad, but once I checked my watch I discovered I was running slower than I thought my effort level indicated. The last two nights have been nights of little sleep, and thus I didn't run yesterday morning or this morning. Yesterday I didn't even get out of bed before resetting my alarm, but today I got as far a getting dressed to run and making my way to the stairs before the tiredness got the best of me and I went back to bed.

August 20, 2006

Not Feeling So Good

Yesterday morning's long run did not go well at all. I felt sore and stiff and considered postponing it until later, but I was giving blood at 12:30 and needed to be done in time to shower and make it there. Plus, I'm sure running an hour or two after you give blood is not recommended. So I ended up running/walking 12 miles, not running 17 like I had planned. Oh well, I know one bad run does not a training program break.

I was probably so sore and tired from my running on Friday. I ran five miles in the morning, and then since I was feeling compulsive, I ran another six in the evening. I took a nap on the bus on the way hone, and if I had been going straight home, probably would not have run. But I had to go to the grocery store to get dinner, so I had time to wake back up and decide to run.

Thursday's race went pretty well, though it became more of a tempo run than a race. J and I were late leaving because we were leaving the kids with her sister and she wanted to give them a bath before we left so all her sister would have to do was put them to bed. I very briefly warmed up, and then the race went off. Though a lap around the lake is 4.5 miles and the race distance was 4.5 miles, the race was not exactly one lap around. It was most of one lap, and a little bit of running on the park roads. I have no idea where the mile marks were, but I finished in 29:13, barely under 6:30 pace, in 19th overall. This race featured some family competitions, father/son, husband/wife etc., and I'm pleased to report than J and I were the winning husband and wife team. Of course she told me, "Now we have to run this race gain next year and defend our title."

August 17, 2006

Let's Go to the Punk Rock Show!

I didn't run yesterday. After a fitful night of sleep, I slept in rather than get up in the morning. I left work early because I was going to a concert and needed to go home first, but I didn't get to leave early enough to have time to fit in a run.

Last night two friends and I went to see the Ducky Boys, H2O, and Rancid at the Black Cat. It was a great show. I mainly went to see Rancid, and they definitely did not disappoint.

Tonight J and I are running a 4.5 mile race at Burke Lake Park. It's an odd distance because it's one lap around the lake, which is 4.5 miles. Since I've never raced the distance before, if nothing else it's a guaranteed PR.

August 15, 2006

Tired Legs

I took the day off work yesterday to watch the kids while J went to help her sister move. That gave me the opportunity to take the kids and run at Burke Lake Park. The park has a nice shaded trail that runs around the lake, and J usually runs there with the kids twice a week. I was going to run two laps (nine miles), but then B lost his shoes. They're slip-ons that he has figured out he can slip off. I never would have even known they were off except Puff started making noise and I stopped to see what he was fussing about. Then I turned around and ran back the other way to look for the shoes. I found the first one quickly enough, but the second was pretty far back. I went all the way back to where I started, and then a little further down the trail in the opposite direction before turning around and coming back. I ended up with eight miles. In the afternoon, I felt like running a little more, so the kids and I went out on the path for another five miles. The diggers were out working, so that made the kids happy.

This morning I went to the track for some mile repeats. I knew my legs would be tired, but that was kind of the point of running twice yesterday. I did 4 x 1 mile, with each one faster than the previous. The first one was slow, as usual, but after that one I got down a little below marathon pace. With the warmup and cooldown I ran nine miles.

August 13, 2006

Stroller Ride

I ran six miles with Puff in the running stroller today, ending up with 61 for the week. Now that there's some construction going on next to the path, it's easy to get him to go with me. I just have to ask, "Do you want to go on a stroller ride and see some diggers?"

August 12, 2006

Hiatus

As anyone who has actually checked in the last month or so knows, my blog has been on hiatus. Basically, life, especially work, has been stressful, and the blog fell by the wayside. Things really haven't calmed down much, but I've gotten used to it, so I'll try to actually write.

So far this week I've run 55 miles in six days. Eleven Monday, nine Tuesday, none Wednesday, ten Thursday and Friday, and fifteen today. I didn't have any real workouts this week; Friday I tried running a local 5k course at marathon pace to get my legs moving a little, but that didn't turn out well. Today I had planned on running a little more than fifteen, but after two hours I was pretty spent, and with this being one of the few runs I've done lately over ten miles it wasn't worth killing myself for an extra mile or two.