Running Success!

Happy Fall! I thought this picture captured what this Fall day is like right now in Minnesota. It's cloudy and windy here. It's also in the mid 40s after 2 days of rain. I didn't think it was the best day to run outside.

So, indoors I went. It's homecoming at Carleton College today. The big game is against the hated St Olaf, our in town rivals. Everyone is at the game, so the gym was pretty empty!

My first mile was at a 10 minute pace. I was pretty happy with that. 2 days earlier, at the same gym, I ran a 10:30 pace. Things just felt good. Only 1 other person was on the track, a college girl on lane 3. I run in lane 4 by the way.

At 1.5 miles I ran it at 15 minutes! Yeah me! I figure during my AF testing I can easily cut off 30 seconds due to adrenaline.

After my 1.5 mile point, the college girl caught up to me. She passed, but didn't stay to far ahead. In fact, in 2 laps, I passed her again. We traded places about every lap, because she would go inside 1 more lane, cutting her distance. It takes 7.6 laps for 1 mile in lane 4, 7.8 laps in lane 3, and 8 laps in 2. She really helped me keep my pace up.

At 2 miles, I was at 20 minutes. Could this really be happening? Am I keeping a constant pace? Well, at 2.5 miles I was at 25 minutes. It seemed to be true.

At 3 miles, I had run for 30 minutes! Yeah me! I was a wonderful consistent pace run. I don't think I've ever kept my pace for longer than 1/2 mile. It is amazing! I'm so happy. It was a great confidence boost.

I may be a runner yet!

Defeat of Jesse James Days 5K

OK, I'm not doing so hot at keeping up with this blog. On Friday, I went for my first bike ride since RAGBRAI. It was only 1/2 hour, but it felt great! I actually missed my bike, and didn't know it. I'm looking forward to riding my bike more often, at least until the snow starts to fly.

Yesterday, I ran in the Defeat of Jesse James Days 5K in my hometown of Northfield, MN. Greg was so excited to run with me, but he is still recovering from his cold/swine flu. So, he brought Skeeter the Wonder Dog to cheer me on. It really means so much to have a cheering squad out there for you.

In past years, there have only been about 50 runners with me. This year there was easily 200 runners. Missing from the crowd was my dear friend Kari, who didn't have the vacation time to come up from Dallas. It wasn't the same without her, but I completely understand why she couldn't make it. Also missing, the blind man who kept passing me. I really wanted to see him too!

2 blocks into the run, I saw a member of the James Gang on horse back. It was so cool! Then we were headed up a short hill. 1 mile into it, there was a pretty good hill, but not as bad as I remembered it. A little over 1 mile into it, I passed a local girlfriend of mine, Sarah. Her 11 year old son then smoked me! 1 1/2 miles into it I hit the hill that haunted me 4 years ago. However, this year it was like an ant hill. I can't believe that hill made me have to walk back then.

At 2+ miles it felt like most of the course was downhill. I remembered it being almost all uphill, but now I realized that there are some big ups, but it mostly a gradual downhill course.

The last 3 blocks of the course had people lining the streets and cheering us on. It made me grin from ear to ear. Again, this is very different from 4 years ago when I was quietly flipping off the crowd. Greg and Skeeter were at the finish cheering me on. It was wonderful!

I forgot my watch that day, but Greg timed me and said I finished in 31 minutes flat! What a difference 1 year can make!

Hey fever, a Cold or the Swine Flu

Week 2 of the 1/2 marathon training began today. I ran 30 minutes. This isn't too bad so far. It's pretty much where I've been for the summer.

However, when I hit the trail, I felt odd. I'd been stuffy all day. Now, my back muscles feel odd. I think it's hey fever. It's pretty bad here right now, with everyone feeling the hey fever itch. Then again, Greg has a pretty bad cold right now. Or, Greg may have the Swine Flu. They symptoms of both are so similar for him. He is slightly stuffy, but now he has a pretty deep cough. I just hope he slept better tonight than last night. He looked pretty rough today on Skype.

Tomorrow is cross training day. I'm planning on going for a bike ride in the morning. It will be my first time on the bike since RAGBRAI. I can't wait!!!

1/2 Marathon Training

Yesterday, Greg and I officially began training for our 1/2 Marathon. We will be doing the Rock-n-Roll Vegas 1/2 Marathon in December. It's scary, but should be so much fun. We're starting at one end of the Vegas strip, running to the other end, then back again. It's going to be so flat! Yeah!!

So, back to yesterday. I was to run for 30 minutes. It was supposed to be speed drills, but with my sore foot, I decided just to concentrate on keeping my pace up for the duration.

It was a good run. My first mile was 10 minutes, which is really good for me. I'm getting slowly faster, and it feels great. I'm excited to see where I will be come December.

I think the training plan I've chosen will be so good for me. It's time based for the majority of the week, with the mileage days on Saturdays. It seems do-able. I can't see doing 13.1 miles, but then again I never saw myself doing a triathlon or riding my bike across the state of Iowa for a week.

This should be a trying and amazing time. I'm so excited!

Broken Toes

12 longs days ago, I broke my toe. It is my "ring" toe on my left foot. It was a tragic accident. So violent and heart wrenching. That's a lie. I stubbed me toe on my dog's bone. It was one of those huge pig femurs. It's a dinosaur bone! It didn't move, and my toe cracked.

This is now my 3rd broken toe over 10 years. Not too bad of a track record for how clumsy I am. Anyway, Greg convinced me to go to the doctor. He wanted to make sure I didn't injure myself further by training for our half marathon. So I went and she was wonderful. She said I could run in 7 -10 days, with no problems.

So, it's day 12. I've been in St Croix, USVI for 4 days now and I feel like a slug. I feel bloated. I've eaten too much. My diet isn't going so well. I needed to do something.

I hit the trail at the Buccaneer Resort. It's really a golf cart path, but it works. It's a hilly course with an amazing view of the Atlantic Ocean. What a beautiful site.

My toe did OK, except for the up hills. It helped me practice my flat footed technique for running. Running flat footed did help. However, after a 30 minute, slow, run I was finished. Now, I'm off to fly into Hurricane Bill. What a great way to start a night flight! I'm stoked!

RAGBRAI Recovery

My body has returned! I went for a 3 mile run today, but it felt so good, I decided to run for at least 45 minutes. That went a little longer, 47 minutes. It was about 4.3+ miles in total.

Finally, my arms didn't feel week. My breathing seemed normal. My legs still felt strong.

It took 1 1/2 weeks, but I think I've pretty much recovered from RAGBRAI!

Now, I need to remember that I shouldn't push too hard. I want to go out and run again tomorrow. However, I don't want to back track. So, tomorrow will be yoga or an easy bike ride. Although, I'm not sure if I'm ready to get on my bike again. We'll see.

Running after RAGBRAI

Today, I went for a 5K run on the path just in front of our house. I just wanted to get moving again. I still feel tired after RAGBRAI. I feel almost lazy. I just feel drained, weak, and generally exhausted.

It was tough. My legs felt heavy. However, they felt strong too. My legs were not what held me back.

My lungs felt heavy too. It almost felt like I had a cold. At the end of the run, I realized that the issue with my lungs was probably that I didn't breath too deeply when I was biking. Now that I'm running again, I'm taking deep breaths. I need to train my lungs again.

My arms were also failing me too! They felt like jello. They felt like lead weights. The felt like they were weighing me down. I was hard to swing them and get a good stride.

During the last .65 mile, I turned into the wind. That head wind DID NOT help me. It was a struggle. I tried to let me legs do the work, since they seemed to be the only strong part of my body left.

At the end, I started to walk but had to quickly stop. I started to feel very light headed. I had no idea how hard I had pushed myself. Apparently, too hard. At least I can say I ran 5K today. That's better than the week before. Maybe my energy will return soon.