A Race and Coming Home

On Thanksgiving I ran the Downtown YMCA 5-Mile Turkey Trot. I've run a race on Thanksgiving the past few years, and it's a tradition I'd like to keep alive. Race morning wasn't too cold, but there were some flurries and some snow on the ground from the day before. It was also pretty windy. As usual, I had high expectations going into the race, but realized given the state of my running lately I probably wouldn't meet those expectations.

The race was started by Carol Zajac-Tynan, a Pittsburgh native who had just been named the most outstanding women's athlete in NCAA cross country over the past 25 years. Other than my first mile of 6:37, I don't recall any exact splits, though that first mile is in question since we supposedly ran the wrong way into Point State Park and added some distance to our race. When I ran that same mile on the way back to the start/finish line I ran closer to 6:10. I finished in 33:23.

I spent Thanksgiving with the family and then J, Puff, B, and I headed home Friday because J's mom's 50th birthday surprise party was Saturday. Since I've been home things have been kind of hectic, and I haven't been running like I want to. Case in point:
Sat.-off
Sun.-8 miles
Mon.-7 miles
Tue.-off
Wed.-off

I need to get my act back together and get out there.

The Difference a Day Makes

I felt much better running today than I did yesterday. I'm not completely over the cold, but the cold medicine I took definitely helped. I managed to get a good night's sleep as well. I ran six miles this morning, the majority of it on the trails near my parent's house. The six miles took just over 48 minutes.

I wish that there were trails like this near my house in Virginia. The surface is crushed limestone and the trail is marked every quarter mile. The limestone part is 2-3/4 miles long, though the trail continues on. After the limestone section ends, the rest is asphalt. It's also almost completely flat, making it great for workouts like tempo runs.

I've written about it recently, but reading Mike's latest entries really helped it sink in. If I'm going to be the best runner that I can be and also have a family, I'm going to be tired. But even if I am tired, I need to get out the door and on the roads.

What's Going On

I've been quite busy recently, with not much running fitting in. Tuesday and Wednesday nights were both bad, so I didn't run Wednesday or Thursday. I had a good eight-mile run out the Parkway on Friday. Friday night I was up until 1 AM getting things ready for Puff's birthday party on Saturday. His actual birthday is not until today, but we're out of town, so we had the party Saturday. We had an Elmo party, complete with Elmo cake. Saturday night was another late night getting everything ready to go to Pittsburgh. We had originally planned to leave Saturday after the party, but we changed our minds and left Sunday morning instead. It was a good thing to, because there's no way we would have been able to leave Saturday. Sunday we had a smooth trip to Pittsburgh.

All that brings us to today. I headed out for my run this morning and was planning on going six miles. However, I didn't feel too well and turned around after a mile and a half and came back home. I feel like I've come down with a cold. Running just didn't feel good, so I cut the run short. I've taken some cold medicine, and hopefully I'll feel well enough to race Thursday morning.

Day Off

I took today off. Puff ate a little later than he usually does before going to bed, so I was a little late going to bed as well. When my alarm went off this morning, I decided that I was better off getting the extra sleep, so I reset the alarm and went back to sleep. Despite the extra sleep, it was still a struggle to get out of bed this morning.

I've been thinking about my plan for the upcoming year recently. I'd like to see what I can do in a 10k this spring. I'm not sure I'd really count it as a PR, but my fastest 10k was my 10k split during the 2004 USATF Cross Country Championships 12k. According to the results, I came through 10k in 37:42. After the 10k, I'll start marathon training for Richmond in the fall.

New Shoes

My new pair of the Brooks Axiom were waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday. I needed new shoes; I had been feeling the lack of cushioning in my old ones. The new shoes felt great on my run this morning. Brooks has used a softer rubber in the forefoot, which is great for me since that's where I land. I ran the same six-mile loop that I ran Sunday in just over 50 minutes.

I can't say enough about Holabird Sports, which is where I bought the shoes. I've bought a few pairs of shoes from them, and their prices are great and they ship quickly. Ideally, I'd like to support one of the local running stores, but at this point I can't pass up the chance to save $20-25.

Recap

Since I haven't written anything for a few days, below is a brief recap of my running.

Saturday-I ran seven miles Saturday morning. For the second Saturday in a row after running for a little while I felt a bit lightheaded and walked for a few minutes until I felt better. I'm not sure what's causing it, but after I walk a little I do feel better.

Sunday-I ran six miles on a loop that I haven't run for a while. When I got back home and tried to stop my watch, it made this horrible beeping noise and then went blank. Luckily it came back on in a few seconds, but it had reset itself and said at was midnight on January first. I think it just needs a new battery.

Monday-I ran eight miles, out and back along the Parkway. I felt like I was moving at a good clip the second half of the run. It's been unseasonably warm here the past few days, and I was surprised to be running in a short-sleeve shirt this morning.

Veterans Day

One of the benefits of working for the Government is the holidays. I took advantage of my day off and ran at noon. I took Puff with me in the stroller, and ran six miles out and back on the Parkway. It was still windy, but not quite as much as yesterday. I didn't feel too good until we turned around and the wind was behind us. I ran the six miles in just over 50 minutes, but that includes the time we spent waiting to cross the street three times.

Thanks to those who served our country.

Woof Woof

I made it out this morning for five miles. I averaged 8:30 pace for the five miles, which kind of surprised me since I thought I be running slower. I wasn't too tired, but my five mile loop is one of my hillier routes and the wind was gusting up to 30 miles an hour this morning.

I like this loop, except for the part that goes by the house with the dog. I don't see the dog every time that I go by, but I've seen him a few times. He's always just out in the yard. The house sits back off the road and on a hill, and even though it hasn't happened, I expect the dog to come running after me. I've been bitten twice by dogs during my running career, and one of the dogs that bit me while running has also bitten me while not running. I don't think I'd be so concerned if I ran when it was light out, but it's certainly not light at 5:30 AM or so when I go by the house.

Two-thirds

So far, I've run two out of the three days since I made my proclamation. I wanted to run Sunday, but didn't get out of bed. J and I were up late Saturday night discussing the stresses of having two small children. I spent some of Sunday kicking myself for not even trying to run.

This morning I ran six miles out and back along the Parkway. It was a beautiful morning to run, with temperatures in the low 50s. The weather here has been great the past few days, with highs in the 60s and 70s.

I haven't mentioned it too much recently, but B seems to be doing quite a bit better. He's getting pretty chubby and is outgrowing his 0-3 month clothes. Not only that, but he's much happier and more alert than he ever has been.

Kind of Lost

I didn't really get lost on my run this morning, the road just didn't go where I thought it did. I planned on running seven miles out and back along the Parkway, but I changed my mind and made a right turn off the Parkway instead. According to my map, if I follow the road I turned on to, make a left, go through a small section of woods, and come out on another road, I'll wind my way back toward home, and eventually come out on one of the main roads by my house. I made the left turn and followed the road until it ended at the woods. There was a path that went into the woods, so I followed it. The path ended a short time later at the Occoquan River. I didn't see anywhere else I could go, so I turned around and ran home the same way I came. I ran eight miles instead of seven, but one extra mile is no big deal.

It was a good run overall, except that about twenty minutes in I felt a little lightheaded and slowed down. I walked for a few minutes and then started to run again. I felt fine the rest of the time. I had a glass of Ovaltine before I left, so I don't think the lightheadedness had anything to do with a lack of calories. Maybe I was just tired.

What's my Motivation?

It's hard to come up with things to write about when I'm not running. Each of the past three days I've set my alarm, only to reset it for a later time when it goes off in the morning. Sure, I'm not getting the ideal amount of sleep, but I'm still frustrated that I'm not getting in the miles. So I'm going to put it out there: I'm going to run. I figure making it public will make me more accountable.

Trick or Treat

Halloween didn't quite go as planned. Puff didn't want to put on his costume, so we didn't exactly go trick-or-treating. Puff just wanted to play with the costume. I think he wanted to try and push it around like his other vehicles except the bus didn't exactly have wheels. We did go outside and walk around and Puff did get a little bit of candy.

I didn't get to bed last night as early as I did Sunday since B's schedule was a little messed up by Halloween. I still got up and ran this morning. I did one of my eight-mile loops, which was again interrupted by an unplanned bathroom break. I felt pretty good during the run, and managed to finish the last two miles or so at a steady pace.

The most remarkable aspect of my run is how different the temperature seems to be in different parts of Woodbridge. The Weather Channel said the temperature was 37 degrees when I left this morning, but it felt warmer than that until I made a turn on to main road that goes back to my community. It felt like the temperature dropped five to ten degrees in a matter a minutes.