Fresh Snow

10 mile tempo run at target pace of 8:10-8:15 - I did a really bad job of keeping track of the split times, so taking the average we did an 8:36 pace. This was cutting off a little on 5th Avenue due to the road construction at Neville, but shouldn't have a huge impact.

Mileage Count

I am in the middle of clocking the mileage for what we ran this morning. (I am at the office at our water/bathroom break spot and will be taking a long stop here before completing the rest of the mileage via auto.) Anyhow, down to the office via our route is 7 miles from my house! Can you believe it? (Lisa, I definitely think the 51 minutes my watch registered was wrong.) Also, can you believe the Birmingham Bridge is almost .7 miles across?

Continued later in the day: back to my house gave a read of 16.9 miles - how good are we? This probably means from the corner it is 15.7 miles b/c it is .6 from my house to the corner. Yea! Not bad on our time, either.

Interrupted Conversations

Workout was 7 x 800 at a 5:20 - 5:30 pace, which means that Lisa and I probably had about 7 separate conversations started that never got finished. Only so much time to talk in between and by the time you're done w/ one repeat a new topic is brought up. 3:19, 3:26, 3:24, 3:25, 3:28, 3:24, 3:34.

Running Apparel

Hey girls - I had good luck w/ some purchases of running apparel at Filene's basement - only trick is avoiding the traffic and figuring out how to get across the bridge (and hoping the bridge does not collapse while you are on it)!

Git 'er Done

8 mile tempo run at 8:10 - 8:15 minute pace (yeah right!) I think spinning took a bit of a toll on my legs; today was less then a stellar performance - 8:50, 8:47, 9:12 (missed the marker), 7:35, 8:32, 42:23 (missed the rest of the markers - did I fall asleep? - and then forgot to end the timer when I got home...) 1:25 less approximately 10?? = 1:15??

15 mile biathlon

So Saturday I was super excited to finally run with Deborah until I checked the weather and the windchill was below zero. ouch. not good if you're going to be in the elements for two long hours. So we moved our run to the Y. and let's just say that treadmills are terrible. we lasted about 15 minutes in misery and then raced of to do some of our own spinning for the rest of the two hour period. Spinning is definitely not as much fun without the full room and instructor to force you to do all the hard and grueling work especially when you're there for well over an hour.
So Megan I'm impressed that you attempted to go running this morning not only alone but in the bitter cold.
Seriously, let's move our entire friend base down south... we'd save a ton of money on winter running clothes...and we'd be able to do all of our runs.

Back to my warm bed

I was dreading my upcoming lonesome run of 15 miles in 3 degree weather a few days before it actually happened, but I was fairly determined to follow through on it, so in between hitting the snooze button this morning, I debated with myself how far I actually had to go. I set a goal of the 40th Street Bridge and back. Definitely not 15 miles, but at least an attempt at doing something.

As soon as I got outside, I thought "this isn't all that bad". Then about a minute later, I realized I was chilled through and that no matter how hard I worked, I wouldn't get warm till I was back in my apartment taking a hot shower. So I ran to the bottom of the hill at the base of the 40th St. Bridge and pretty much reached fully-frozen status. Then it was back up the hill and home to a hot shower and time enough to take a nap in my warm bed before church.

I clocked the route afterwards and it is exactly 5 miles roundtrip from my house - maybe a good run to throw in there now and again.

Spring Track Workout

Super warm weather and Lisa to run with made for fast times. We still might not have reached the target times on 4 out of 5 of the repeats, but its still better than historical trends on the track (and pretty consistent). 5 x 1200 at target pace of 5:10-5:15; actual times - 5:07, 5:26, 5:26, 5:30, 5:21. Lisa and I both agreed that this track workout was fantastic!

Numb Bodies

I think we were all numb for our 14 mile long run and never realized how much we were hurting our bodies. We decided to do it Monday a.m. which meant we had to stick to a fairly tight timeframe in order to get to work on time. We all made it home safely (some via bus) but are feeling it the next day. Personally, for today I was going to cut the 7 mile tempo to a 5 mile tempo, but once Lisa limped over to me and said she wasn't going to run I cut it down to a 2.5 (maybe?) mile easy run w/ some good stretching afterwards. I think my body appreciated it.

Arrrrrrriba!

I showed up at the track that I had intended on running at only to find that a middle school girls track meet was going on. I was half tempted to stay and just watch, because it looked pretty exciting and everyone was cheering alot, but I asked one of the parents if there was another track close by, so I went to the opposing team's track since obviously it was empty. Things were going fine until the middle school boys team got back to the school. They were just waiting there until their parents came to pick them up and I must have been the most exciting thing around, so they started yelling things at me in Spanish - the only word I could pick out was "arriba" (with a very nice trill on the "rr's")! (And for those of you who were concerned for my safety - Nathan - it was mostly light out while I was running.)

10 x 400 at target pace of 1:30-1:35 (I think?) - 1:42, 1:48, 1:52, 1:49, 1:46, 1:50, 1:51, 1:56, 1:55, 1:54

Other noted items for the day - I got Sex & the City - Season 6, Part 2 at a pawn shop (John Smith really wanted to check one out b/c there are a lot around here) and I had my first crawfish (they are just coming into season down here).

Yogalicious

I decided to stretch out a bit today and went to morning Yoga at the Y. It was great! I do feel more stretched...but I haven't tried running since Sunday. I have been doing the occassional test-like running from the door of the library to my car, but it still slighlty hurts. I have been icing it. We'll see! I might try to do the track work out (or an adapted version) tomorrow. I can't wait for you all to get back!

Highway Happy Houston

Figured out why the country is "addicted" to oil - there are no sidewalks in Texas! Half a mile in every direction, you run into a highway where I tried to run this morning from my hotel. At one point, I saw a runner that I followed for a little while, but then I wondered if he was really the kind of guy I wanted to follow and he didn't look like he knew where he was going, so I turned around. When I got back to the hotel we actually rode up the elevator together since he had just grabbed some breakfast and he wasn't as scary as I had hyped him up to be. Despite being locked in office-park-central, I came across a few animals - a rooster crowing his wake-up call and a white cat that looked half cheetah and wanted to attack me. All in all, not my favorite run ever, but a good temperature!

Geedunk article

Just replied to some journalistic questions on our experiences in Las Vegas for an article in the Geedunk - stay posted for stellar coverage! (Maybe they will indicate to the world that we placed 26th and 27th...)

Ice Ice Baby

This morning I got ahold of the keys to the rental and headed over to the glorious A1A beachfront avenue. It was awesome. It was crazy busy at 9 on a sunday morning even though it was only 60 degrees at the start. But oh was it beautiful! Saw lots of interesting things. men with parrots on their shoulders, sweet ancient cars, real humvees, old men in speedos (ew!), and most excitingly - the atlantic ocean! So - my times weren't that great - I need you guys. I should've had you all fly down for the superbowl and a lot of beach action (Oh yeah - forget that it's tax season momentarily) My five mile splits: 45:11, 44:45. Hopefully my sports bra tan line will still be around next week - it's sweet.

Here we go Steelers Here we GO!

Game Day! Go Steelers!

I feel like its Christmas today! So excited for the game tonight! 10 mile long run w/ Amber and Ryan at target pace of 8:30-8:50 - (1) 8:28, (2) 10:05 (Amber turned around to head back), (3) 8:43, (4) 10:10 (missed the mile marker), (5) 6:31, (6) 9:02, (7-8.25?) 18:47 (cut it short and headed back) total 1:11.49

Mile Splits

I set out this morning to go back and forth on a non-USTFA certified sidewalk. I was told that it was a mile between lights so that's what I did. I think it might have been a little short - or I'm just amazing...haha...splits: 6:54, 6:53, and 6:48....at the very least I was consistent! Miss you guys!

winter wonderland?

Well, yesterday was my first official run coming off of being sick and injured. and it was wonderful. just three miles of course (I picked a good week to start back into the program!) and they weren't marked out for timing purposes but ran at an 8:30 pace. still have some work to do but can I add that I wasn't wearing a shirt! In January! I also want to mention that hotels that charge $200 a night should spend more than $50 on cardio equipment!