Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today

For once, I decided not to procrastinate, and it worked out well.  Okay, when I don't procrastinate, things USUALLY work out well; the trick is to NOT procrastinate, and that's something I have difficulty with.  Perfect example is that I'm kind of cramming for my marathon.  Well, yesterday was supposed to be my track day.  I had planned on either heading over to the Fort Lewis track at Noon, or, if it was nasty outside, doing my intervals on (shudder!) the treadmill.  Due to circumstances beyond my control, my morning clinic ended at 1:30, so the Noon run was out.  I decided to wait until I got home and then head to the Steilacoom HS track. 

After working with Ryan on his music, Tracy and David got home, so I told them I was heading to the track.  There was a light rain falling, and I contemplated doing a bike trainer session instead and leaving the track for a later day, but, since I had heard that the weather was supposed to be really nasty for the rest of the week, I headed out.  The rain let up enough that I was able to do my intervals without getting too wet.  Traction was a bit on the iffy side, because I could hear my shoes squeaking a bit.  It's a poor excuse for running my 600's slow, but I'm sticking with it.  I got through my 5 x 600's and felt okay.  As I was jogging home, my left knee started tightening up a bit.  I figured it was due to the turned ankle (x 2) on Sunday, so I got home and iced it.  Since I didn't get my post-long run beer on Sunday, I helped myself to one, rationalizing that, even though it was a weekday, I earned one from Sunday's run as well as from my track workout.  I know that I shouldn't have to rationalize drinking one beer, but I usually don't drink on "school days."

When I drove into work this morning, I was happy with my choice of doing my track workout yesterday.  It's pretty miserable out today, with the wind whipping and the rain falling sideways.  I'm going to try and sit on my bike later today, and maybe even pedal a little bit. 

Less than 3 weeks left! Yikes!

Listen to the music

I did my long run yesterday.  Figuring that I would be running on my own for nearly 3 hours, I decided to bring my iPod along to keep me company.  I think the weather is just messing with me now.  On Saturday, I was just supposed to run an easy 4 miles.  There were showers all day, and not just the typical misty Spring showers.  No, there were torrential downpours mixed in, too.  I decided to run while Ryan was getting his baseball coaching.  As I got ready to start, there was another downpour, so I elected to wait for that to pass.  When it was over, I looked to the west and there looked like there was a break, so I headed out.  No sooner had I gone about 200 yards, when I started getting rained on.  Luckily, it soon stopped and I was rain-free for the rest of my short run.  That's what I mean by messing with me.  Doesn't seem to matter what the weather looks like; whenever I start running, I need to get rained on just a bit.

Not so with yesterday.  I pretty much got rained on the entire time.  Because I was starting out in the rain, I decided to head off into the trails where there would be some tree cover.  And I hadn't run on the trails in awhile anyway.  Tracy's last comment before I headed out:  "Don't sprain your ankle."  So, of course, within the first 4 miles, I turned my left ankle twice, because of rocks.  But, I've done thatso many times in my life that I just figured I'd keep going and it would be fine.  It was a sloppy slog, but I had my iPod, water, Hammer Gel (more apple cinnamon), and Endurolytes.  I passed Matt Ellis and a friend of his twice on the trails.  We were going in opposite directions, but they definitely looked more like "real" runners than I felt; once upon a time, I think my stride was that effortless... or maybe not.

So, 19 miles (it was supposed to be 20, but I got 19 in without doubling back and I decided that was good enough, especially with all the elevation changes and puddle-jumping that I did) and multiple songs later, I was done.  Fortunately, the rain never got too heavy, so I never got too soaked or cold.  It was ironic that one of the first songs that came on my iPod was The Doobie Brothers, "Listen to the Music," and one of the last songs was BTO's, "Takin' Care of Business."  Sometimes, just listening to the voices inside my head (my ears in this case) works!

Is it age or is it the miles?

Over the past two days, I have wondered:  how many miles can your body (especially your legs) tolerate?  There has been a thought that an individual only has a finite number of miles in his/her legs, and it is the cumulative mileage over years that causes the decline in performance.  That's why those people who were the fast runners in their early years may not be the fast runners in the upper age groups (with some exceptions, of course). Why am I thinking about this, you ask?  Simply put:  I'm getting slow.  3 days ago, I had a fairly easy run, cruising 10 miles at (what is now) a moderate pace, a hair under 7:40/mile.  Felt good, finished feeling fairly refreshed, etc.  Waking up the next morning, my legs felt a bit tired, but I knew that it would be an easy recovery run day.  Well... it was a slog of a run in the trails for 5 miles.  I never felt very good during the entire run, as my entire body felt "tight."  I finished with some strides, and that made me feel a little better, and left me looking forward to the next day's track workout.

Stepping onto the track yesterday, I felt okay.  Rarely do my legs feel bouncy anymore, but I've come to accept that.  What I'm having a difficult time accepting is the speed at which I now run intervals.  My previous quote:  "never did I think I would be working so hard to run so slow" was never as true as it was yesterday.   I keep hoping that my fitness will have a breakthrough, and, all of a sudden, I'll be running fast.  And I also hope that, since I'm training for a marathon, my foot speed is slower because my aerobic fitness is good.  Nevertheless, it's not pretty to go through a 400 in 90 seconds, feeling like I'm working really hard.  I got through my 4 x 1200's yesterday, which were supposed to be at 5k pace.  Based on my intervals, my 5k time is right around 6:15 pace.  Guess what?  My last 5k was at 6:20 pace.  Sheesh.  I guess I need to realize that maybe the miles have taken their toll.  My other thought is that I need to lose some weight.  Late night snacking has put a few pounds on, and, although I have a difficult time reconciling this fact, my metabolism has slowed down a bit.  So, maybe the goldfish and the pita chips will need to go away for awhile.

 I related a "fun" workout I used to do several (well, okay now it's like 15) years back, where I would do 400's descending by 1 second each 400.  And I would warm up by running the first one in 80, then start at 75.  And it wasn't hard.  I think I'm going to try to get some foot speed back after the marathon.  I don't think I can ever do that workout again, but maybe I can get faster.  Either that, or plan to spend more time on the golf course!

Another brick in the wall

Today was a day to "check the box."  My schedule called for a 5 mile recovery run with strides.  Tomorrow's run was a 10 mile run.  Since I am Attending tomorrow afternoon, I decided to switch the workouts.  That way, I would also get a semi-rest day before my next interval workout.  I was still a bit sore from Sunday's run (just another way that my body is telling me that I'm no longer young), but nothing that wouldn't go away after a few miles (at least that was my hope).  Clearly, as you train for longer events, you realize that the muscle fatigue and soreness is part of the process, and is just there to remind you that you are working your body.  And then you promptly forget this after the event is over.  The other thing that is pretty amazing is how quickly your body adapts to the stressors.  A 10 mile run early in my training program was long and tiring; today's run was simply a cruise, with virtually no perceived stress.  It gives me hope that my body is making the necessary adaptations to run the marathon in time for Boston.  That's why I call it "checking the box."  Some workouts are epic; some are for recovery; and some are just to put in the time.  Today was that kind of day.  And even though it was partly sunny, it wouldn't have been a springtime run in the Pacific Northwest if there hadn't been a brief rain shower.  Of course.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

A typical long run for me usually has several different phases.  Although not nearly as dramatic as my long-course races (where I cycle through the Kubler-Ross stages of grief multiple times), most of the time my long runs start out on a positive note.  Sometimes, I feel a bit worn down from the previous days' training, but figure that it will get better as I warm up; sometimes, I feel great and think that I want to run forever.  Yesterday, I felt surprisingly chipper, considering the previous day's tempo run.  My legs could feel just a bit of fatigue, but much less than I expected.  So, off I went on a planned 17 mile journey, carrying some Apple-Cinnamon Hammer Gel, Endurolytes, and water (no bonking for me today). 

It was the first day of Spring, and the weather, although blustery and a bit cold because of the wind, was dry.  I was hoping that it would stay dry for me for a change.  The wind was coming mostly out of the north, so it was going to be a cold one.  From my high school days, I remembered that it was always more pleasant to start off into the wind and return with the wind, so I decided to head north and run for awhile.  Figuring that one of my out-and-back courses would get me 15 miles, I realized that I would need to add a few more miles somewhere.  I thought about adding on a couple of trail miles at the end of my run, but then decided to add in the Soundview Trail by Chambers Bay golf course.  Nothing like throwing in a 250 foot elevation drop (and subsequent climb) in the middle of a long run to challenge the quads and make one wonder about his intelligence.  Still, I figured that if I could survive it, I would feel better about my fitness.  I also rationalized that, although the "out" part of my run was going to be hard because of a headwind, the return trip should be a literal breeze.  And I could look forward to a tailwind while I was running along the golf course.  I was partially right.

The "out" was hard, but not terrible.  The "back" was interesting; because of the tailwind, my stride was affected and I felt like I was being pushed along at a faster pace than I really wanted to run.  And the Soundview Trail?  Yikes!  Steep enough heading down, that I was punishing my quads to brake, and equally steep heading back up, so my hip flexors were suffering.  And there is a good news/bad news part of almost every run from home:  the good news is that the finish of every run challenges me and (I hope) makes me stronger; the bad news is that it is because I have to climb a 1 mile hill at the end. 

But, with the Chambers Bay loop added in, I did run my 17 miles, with a feeling of accomplishment due to the wind and the hills.  A day off today is going to feel good.

The road is long... with many a winding turn

 Over the past several years, I have used this phrase with more and more regularity:  "Never did I believe that I would be working so hard to run THIS slow."   I keep hoping that one day I will run fast again.  Sadly, today was not that day.  The other thing that I have noticed is that I have not felt very fluid when I am running fast.  Something always seems to be a little off.  Perhaps it is because the amount that I have been running in the past few years has decreased, or maybe I just haven't put myself into that uncomfortably fast pace often enough. 

Today was a tempo run.  It was supposed to be a tune-up race between 8-15k.  Because I could not find a race, and life was too busy to accommodate, I decided to run a tempo, trying to simulate a race.  I have never been particularly good at this, as I have a hard time pushing myself hard enough in a non-race setting.  Some things never change.  As I started on my warm up, the warm sunny weather that we were having disappeared quickly, and I started feeling the first few drops of rain.  What else is new?  I was better prepared for this today, wearing a wind vest, so I decided to push onwards and see if it let up or didn't get any worse (thankfully, it stopped).  Because of the Ling weekend activities, I was doing this run in Olympia, while Ryan was getting his baseball coaching.  The route was anything but flat and straight, but, since Boston is neither, it wasn't a big deal.  I used to think I was a good hill runner, but lately, it seems like I lose an awful lot of steam when the road turns up.  Anyway, I ended running 6 miles tempo at 6:51 pace.  I chose not to look at my watch, except to make sure that I ran enough.  My plan was to run around 1 hour total and I finished in 59:25, so at least I timed it correctly.

I keep hoping that things will start clicking soon.  I would even settle for April 18th.

Addendum:  Ryan's recital went very well.  Apparently, all of the extra practice (and angst) of the previous week paid off.  He appears to be someone who can put it all together when the pressure is on.  I don't know if that is a good or bad (does it make him more likely to wait until the last minute?) trait to have.

Stream of consciousness

I had a pretty good run yesterday.  11 miles at a moderate pace was on the schedule.  I don't even know what moderate pace is anymore.  Once upon a time, I could run and figure out my pace and distance pretty closely based on feel.  Now, I'm a slave to my Garmin, and I have no clue.  I chose to run a pretty typical (for me) route in and around Madigan.  As I was running down a trail, I realized that it was nearly springtime, and that the bears would be coming out of hibernation right about... now.  Last summer, when I was running down the same trail, the hairs on the back of my neck started standing straight up; within about 200 yards, I saw a fairly young black bear.  He looked at me... (he looked at me)... I looked at him... (I looked at him)... he sized up me... anyway, he scampered across the trail in front of me.  As I ran past the spot where I saw him cross the trail, I looked off to my right.  There he was, appearing to try to hide behind a pretty small tree.  It was pretty comical; I guess he figured that if he couldn't see me, I couldn't see him.  The only problem I had was that I was guessing his mama was somewhere in the area as well.  I didn't see any bears yesterday, which was a good thing, because I am not very fleet of foot at this time.  All of the longer distance stuff is killing my foot speed, which was already slowing down at an alarming rate. 

The sun was shining (kind of) when I started my run, and I thought, "What a welcome relief from my recent rainy runs."  Predictably, as I was finishing up the last few miles, the squall line, which I did not notice in the west, rolled in and it started raining on me (AGAIN!)  A few years ago, when I was training for an Ironman, it rained for 28 days in a row.  The record for the Seattle area was 32 days.  By the time we got to the  mid-20's, I figured that we might as well get the record.  Of course, it stopped a few days short.  All I remember was that just about every day that I went out to run that winter, it rained.  Kind of like this year.

Because it was St. Patrick's Day, I even wore a green shirt while I was running.  And I did have a Guinness last night to celebrate.  And yes, it tasted good.  By the way, I can write about more than running and beer; it's just that, for many runners, one begets the other, and I do enjoy moderate amounts of both.  But my face definitely turns redder after a beer than after running.

Going nowhere (relatively) fast

I love the track.  I know:  what kind of masochistic streak is inside me?  Stay with me here.  I love the track, because you can't fool it, can't lie about it, can't trick it.  If you run a 400, it's a 400, not 395 and not 405.  And if you run mile repeats, they're a mile (well, okay 1600m), and your splits don't lie.  Just like the clock (or watch) doesn't lie.  And I know the track.  I've been running around one for the better part of 3 decades.  I can run faster on the track than on the road.  I cannot run as fast if I run clockwise around the track instead of counterclockwise (left turns).  Now, I've never been really fast, so it's all a relative thing, and my times from my youth are definitely faded memories.  Nothing short of a miracle is going to make my times on a track go backwards.  But I still love the track.  Today was a track workout if you haven't guessed by now.  It was REALLY windy, and I was running 600's.  The first turn was crazy hard into a cross-headwind, then a tailwind down the backstretch, back into a headwind down the home stretch, back into the cross-headwind, and then a finish with a tailwind.  I finished my 5 x 600's just as the first drops of rain started.  Tomorrow is a cross-training day with my lonely bike and trainer (I say lonely, because I have not ridden it in several weeks).  I might have to brush off the cobwebs before I start!

There's one more thing:  I was driving home and was listening to sports radio as I usually do.  A mention was made of the 1993 NC State NCAA National Championship basketball team.  The conversation turned to Jim Valvano, as it invariably does.  I remember hearing his "Don't Give Up" ESPY speech and being particularly moved by it.  Here is one of his quotes, by which I think we should all live:  "To me, there are three things we all should do every day.  We should do this every day of our lives.  Number one is laugh.  You should laugh every day.  Number two is think.  You should spend some time in thought.  And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy.  But think about it.  If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day.  That's a heck of a day.  You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."

5 weeks to go!

Not that I'm panicking again, but I should be on the downside of my training.  Notice the "should."   Last night, I looked at my shoes  from the Saturday downpour; after 12 hours on the shoe dryer and another 18 or so sitting in the garage, they were still wet!  Back onto the shoe dryer they went.  When I looked at the amount of rain that fell, only .3" was recorded.  Really?!  It sure seemed like a lot more than that.  Yesterday was a day off for me, so my body got a chance to recover.  Today was going to be an easy run after work, but I found out there were a couple of crises that needed my attention.  My boys are much less compulsive than I am.  With several days left until a big solo recital, Ryan is still trying to learn the music.  And David was supposed to play duets with him, but decided to start looking at the music today.  Now... I have always been able to sight-read my way through a lot of things, but that comes at the expense of my ability to play by ear.  Conversely, David can play nearly anything by ear, but his ability to read music, much less sight-read, suffers because of that.  So, as can be expected, the duets did not go so well.  Maybe the kids are learning to wait until the last moment from their dear old Dad.  After all, I am cramming for a marathon!

Raindrops keep falling on my head

Tomorrow's run was changed to today, because of life's busy-ness.  So, I decided to run to downtown Tacoma, where I would meet the family.  Part of this was to dispel the demons from my last attempted run from downtown, when I bonked so badly.  Unfortunately, yesterday's nice weather left yesterday, and I awoke to steady rain.  Figuring that I would be cold, I changed my original plan to wear shorts and put on some tights instead.  As it turned out, this was a wise decision.  I also packed my trusty Fuel Belt, which was wise decision #2.  After herding the dogs into their kennel, I headed off to T-Town.  As I ran along the water, I thought about how calm it looked; I had seen pictures of the earthquake and tsunami that had struck Japan yesterday, and was struck by the constrast.  I said a silent prayer for those that were affected by the earthquake and tsunami.  The rain was steady for the first few miles, and then it really started to pick up.  I remembered Carl Spackler's line from Caddyshack:  "I don't think the heavy stuff has started yet."  At one of the intersections, I watched the signal cycle through 3 times without giving me a "Walk" signal.  ARRGH!  A little jaywalking never hurt anyone, I guess.   As I crested the last hill out of University Place, I imagined that the amount of distance I had left was about the same as I will have when I crest the last of the Newtons hills AKA Heartbreak Hill.  That gave me a little boost of energy, as a mental image of that flashed through my mind. 

Most of my run was uneventful.  I did see Karen Ballard when I was downtown, as she was heading off to find some coffee after the St. Patty's Day Run.  She looked as wet as I did, and she was only out for a 5k!  I guess, once you reach a certain level of wetness, you're not going to get any wetter.  Although my run was a bit short at 15.3 miles, it was mission accomplished, and the demons of the last long run have been put to rest.

Maybe it was all a virus' fault

I'm now wondering if I was trying to fight off an illness over the past week or two.  Ryan was feeling sick yesterday, and then I started getting a scratchy throat and feeling very fatigued.  After a long night's rest (9 hours of sleep!), I awoke this morning feeling much better.  My run was cut short, due to a busy day at work and dinner plans, but I definitely felt better while running than I did a few days ago.  I ran about the same pace, but my effort was much less, and I didn't feel drained after the run.  Of course, it was only 8 miles, but still... I'm hopeful that things will continue to improve.  I had originally planned to run the St. Patty's Day 5k race in Tacoma tomorrow, but I decided that I need to run long instead.  So, it's a 20 miler planned, with the weather expected to be nasty.

I definitely will be bringing food and drink for the run.

Slogging through the miles

I must be getting old.  Well, okay, I AM getting older; that is a truism, and nothing I can do will reverse it.  But I'd like to get old a little bit more gracefully, and not trip and stumble into it.  Yesterday's run makes me feel like it's happening more like the latter than the former.  The plan was for 12 miles with 7 miles at half-marathon pace.  Sounded like a reasonable hard run, and I was feeling pretty good as I started out.  When I looked at my watch, though, it was feeling pretty hard to run at an easy pace.  I decided to just run 12 at long run pace.  And I kept getting slower and feeling worse.  I finished my run at a bit over 11 miles (loop course), and was pretty thankful for being done.  I seem to be getting slower and losing fitness, rather than gaining fitness.  In mid January, after being in Taiwan for nearly 2 weeks, I ran a 10 mile race at 6:45 pace, and felt pretty good, even negative-splitting the race.  Yesterday, I ran nearly the same distance at almost 1 minute/mile slower, and didn't feel like I could run any faster.  Between that run and my long run disaster from a couple of weeks ago, I'm starting to panic about Boston... more than a little bit.  I guess the good news is that I can still run a respectable race (relatively) if I run my long run pace for the entire marathon.  That, and it was relatively warm and sunny when I was running yesterday.  Well, today is my day off from running, and tomorrow is another day, so we shall see if things get better.

Has Spring sprung?

Daylight savings time is this weekend.  We get to spring forward, which means one less hour of sleep on Sunday.  Rats.  On the bright side (pun intended), this means that it will stay lighter longer.  On the down side, it will be dark in the morning for a little while longer.  But it means that we're on the way to warmer, sunnier, brighter weather (hopefully).  Yesterday's run was definitely one of the more pleasant ones of the year, weather-wise.  It was still light when I headed out at 5:00 PM for an easy six mile run.  After running through the tip of Fort Steilacoom park, I headed home for some strides.  All in all, it was a fairly easy running day, and the stress of the past two months has melted away.  Now, I just have to concentrate on (and worry about) the marathon.  If the above makes you think I'm obsessed with the weather, well, I'm not.  I'm just finding it harder to go out and do things when the weather isn't cooperating.  I guess it is too many runs and rides in the winter rain that has done it to me.  Cold is fine... snow is fine...cold rain?  Not so fine.

Wave 1 or Wave 2?  That is the question.  I just read about the decision to add a third wave to the Boston Marathon.  They're planning to break it up into three equal waves, with the exact cutoff between waves still to be determined.  Tentatively, they mentioned 3:22:42 as the cutoff, and since my qualifying time is 3:23:16, I'm either at the tail end of Wave 1 or at the front of Wave 2.  Does it matter?  I guess the biggest thing is to make sure I don't start out too fast, which has always been my problem.  We'll see.

Dancing in the dark

I spent most of the day at the Temple, burning up nervous energy prior to the sukiyaki dinner.  I keep thinking that I need to be doing something, but most of it is being done by the various chairpeople.  I've always been a "hands-on" leader, so to delegate things is difficult for me.  By the time I finished all of the updating of files, it was heading towards dusk.  I needed to get my interval workout in, so off I headed to Steilacoom High School for my 1000's.  My goal was 3:45-3:50, as they were supposed to be at 5k pace.  Yes, the pace I had chosen was a bit optimistic, but I figured I could make them, since I can always go faster on the track.  I could read my watch for the first two, and they were 3:50 and 3:48, after checking my 400 and 800 splits.  I was supposed to take a 2 minute recovery after each, but after jogging a 200, I was at 1:20, so I jogged for a bit, and took off.  Then, it got too dark to read my watch, so no splits.  In fact, it was dark enough that I could just barely make out the numbers.  #3 was in 3:44, so I was descending which was good.  #4 and #5 were both 3:4x (couldn't read the last number), but I figured that as long as I was somewhere in the 3:4x range, I was okay.  When I got home, I found out it was 3:47 and 3:46, which was reasonable. I jogged home and had a nice dinner, again feeling that I earned my beer tonight.  My new Sauconys are working well, and definitely aren't causing the discomfort that the DS Trainers were, so I'm going to try to sell the DS Trainers.   I'm guessing that any run tomorrow will be difficult, due to the sukiyaki dinner, but today's run was a good one.

Dodging raindrops

Yesterday's run was supposed to be just a fairly easy short (5 mile) run.  I had planned on doing this after work.  As I was walking out to drop off my stuff at the car, it started pouring.  The rain was also nearly coming down sideways.  After I got to my car, I realized that the run would not be happening at that particular time.  Driving home, I was told by the newscasters on the radio that March 3rd is historically the stormiest day of the year.  No kidding.  My change of plan was to ride on the trainer inside; not a run, but at least I would get something done.  The newscasters then said that the squall line was headed north, and the weather pattern, although very unstable, should be lightening up.  As I got home, the rain stopped.  I checked in with the boys, changed my socks (which were soaked from walking out to my car), and headed off for my easy run... in my new shoes, which, by the way, were still wet.  They felt pretty good, and my run was uneventful.  Of course, it started to rain as I headed home, but I'm much better to tolerate the rain if it happens during, rather than before, my run.  Something about heading out into a rainstorm is unappealing to me.  I'm not sure if I would have headed out if Tracy hadn't "suggested" I should go.

Now, I'm a bit stressed about the Temple's Sukiyaki dinner fundraiser.  I couldn't say no when I was asked, and now I'm hoping it goes well.  Kind of strange to be a Taiwanese in charge of a Japanese sukiyaki dinner, right?

A needed day off

The short of it:  I had a day off planned after yesterday's run.  And I felt that it was deserved, since I ran on Monday as well.  Getting a chance to fully recover felt good.  Besides which, today was a busy day, starting with a Faculty Development meeting in the morning, Attending in the afternoon, and the SST Social at Tacoma Bike in the evening.

As my motivation had been flagging, I also had bought a new pair of shoes, and they arrived in the mail today:  the new Saucony Pro Grid Mirage.  They feel good; maybe they'll help me run faster, too!

Catching up

I will add more historical information as I go along.  Exactly 49 days away from Boston, I needed a medium-length run yesterday.  Not that I’m starting to panic or anything, but I haven’t been able (or willing) to be as diligent with my training as I had planned.  So, basically, I am starting to panic a little bit (obviously, the sentence above was a lie).  After my miserable run 1 week ago, when I staggered into the Chambers Bay Pro Shop and (as E.T did) “phoned home,” I started getting a bit nervous about my fitness.  So, yesterday, according to Pfitzinger’s book, it was supposed to be a 12 mile run.  According to EN’s Marathon Hack, it was 2 x (8′ at MP, 2′ at LRP, 8′ at TP, 4′ at LRP) for a total of 80 minutes.*

(MP-marathon pace; LRP-long run pace; TP-threshold pace)

It was a dark and stormy night… running after work (after I had checked in on Ryan), it was getting dark when I set out into a steady rain.  I decided to head off to Fort Steilacoom Park, where I would stay on pavement instead of the trails.  In my mind, I figured that two loops around the lake and then home, would get me close to 11 miles, and I could be relatively sure of my footing, even at dusk.  The good news:  I was able to complete my planned course and it came out to 10.5 miles.  The bad news:  my splits were slower than I had wanted, and the slog up Union was a bear, because I was hungry and tired.  During the entire run, my legs felt tight, and I didn’t feel like I could stride out.  But, for the first time in a few weeks, I felt like I deserved a beer, and treated myself to a Mirror Pond Pale Ale.  Life was much better after I ate dinner with the family and drank my beer.  Although I was slower than I had wanted, at least I accomplished what I had intended to do.

I'm Live!

Lao-tzu is credited with the saying:  A journey of a a thousand miles begins with a single step.  Therein lies the crux of this blog.  I decided that I needed something to motivate me to focus on my Boston Marathon training.  What better way than to publicly post my plans and actual training, so that I am accountable?  And then, if it all goes haywire, I have nobody to blame but myself.  AND… it is all immortalized.  So, here goes.