RUN4IT

Quite ironic that we saw a car with that license plate on it pulled over by police on Grant Street. We had a decent 13-miler on Saturday morning. It was muggy and all of us were feeling it by the end, but afterwards we treated ourselves to breakfast, a quick shopping spree at AE and yoga in Tunnel Park, so we were feeling relaxed by the end of the morning!

No Cruise Control

While Lisa was experiencing the hot, hot, hot outside, I was experiencing it inside a car en route to Philly. I'm hardly ever able to use cruise control on the turnpike because of all the trucks and curves and construction and I rarely use it after dark (which was about half of the drive), so needless to say my right leg is going to be strong...or at least sore and cramped. We'll see how the drive back tomorrow goes.

Feeling hot, Hot, HOT

My tempo run was anything but dark as I decided to run home from work today. I don't think that it was much about 80 degrees but it was starting to get really humid and I could feel the heat from the sun and asphalt radiating intensely. I didn't realize until I was forced to stop at CMU for some water that I hadn't had any sort of shade up until that point. My hands were swollen at least twice the normal size and my skin was all blotchy. So, I believe wisely, took a short break watching some frat boys run some football plays. My run was also slow, as I had large hills most of the way on top of the nasty temps. I'm glad I fit it in though and the run home is definitely doable - I'll just pay more attention to the weather next time. The funny thing was that I could tell it was going to rain mid-afternoon as my knee started to swell - I thought that was only supposed to happen to old people!?!?!

A Dark and Slow Tempo Run

Headed out the door at 5 am this morning...right when my neighbors were also walking out their door. Not exactly sure what THEY were up to, but maybe they were thinking the same about me. (I am nearly positive it wasn't the same activity as my previous neighbor on the Southside.) I ran down the main street in Ben Avon, through Avalon to Bellevue. Its all the same street, though changes names multiple times. I turned around at the Melders and then made my way down to Ohio River Boulevard to come back in different scenery. I wasn't feeling especially good (mostly just wanted to be back in bed), so it was a bit of a slow run and I cut it a little short, though I still think I got in about 7 miles.

Watermain Break: a Good Day to Go to the Y for a Shower

It was our second morning in the new house and we woke up to no water. After this winter of frozen pipes, I knew what not having water was like, but I also knew that there was no possible way they could be frozen. My next (rational) thought was that somehow they had turned it off when they came to check up on things on Friday during the Lorence move, but that wouldn't have really made sense since they knew that we were moving IN the same day the Lorences were moving OUT. I was headed to the Y and it was too early to get ahold of the water company anyhow, so we figured we'd deal with it when I got back. (Gave me a good excuse to stop at La Prima for coffee on the way home!) As I was headed to the Y, I came across 4 water trucks, a multitude of flashing lights and flares and a LOT of water on Ohio River Boulevard. My sleuth-like mind pieced together that probably NOBODY had water and this was verified by a DEP officer directing traffic who confirmed that there was a watermain break. A rustfree shower at the Y was much enjoyed and by the time I got home the water was back on, just quite nasty.

Tennis Anyone?

Geoff and I set out for the best variation of cross training that I've had in a long time. We played tennis for forever this afternoon and even though I hadn't played in two years, I hadn't lost it completely! Now if only I could serve....

Friday Long Run

It was almost a pleasure to roll out of bed at 4:30 this morning. Temps were in the upper 50s, but even more exciting was the joy of running with Megan AND Amber again for the first time in forever. We also hit some of our old running stomping grounds (Shadyside corner to 5th downtown and back up the massive hill {could we qualify it as a mountain?} through the 'lovely' neighborhoods along Penn Ave. The pace was fast for 12 miles but I must say that it was one of the more favorable runs in recent history.

Girl Outruns Barge!

Yes it is true - I outran a barge from the Ingram Barge fleet! Today was my last tempo run with the starting point of 50 Magdalena Street and I headed down to the Riverfront Trail (as always). Once I crossed Hot Metal Street, I saw a barge ahead and thought that it might be possible for me to catch up to it. Just as I was about to reach my turnaround point, I passed it. Despite my best efforts at running some fast splits, they were still some of my slowest since we've started training (must be that humidity outside today).

Six Times Past the Dead Squirrel

They're still doing work on the track at CMU, so we headed to our favorite block in Shadyside to do our 6 x 1k repeats. Who knows how accurate we were with the distance, but I think a 1k might be my favorite repeat interval.

Morning Tempo

The morning tempo (in honor of the Bday party) almost didn't happen as I rolled out of bed on less than five hours sleep. Fortunately, it's Geoff's week off and he rolled out with me. The 2/3/2 run was delightful on the cool, bright morning. Geoff turned around after the first couple miles and I moved on to actually do 8 since I decided to not end on the same loose gravel trail that I usually take. I headed up commercial ave regretting that soon thereafter. It gives me inspiration to switch back to morning runs again, as long as the husband doesn't keep me up so late...

Tough "Track" Course

Megan and I attempted to meet at the CMU track for our 3 mile repeats but it was still under construction. We ended up heading to our new favorite half mile loop around the block surrounding Shadyside Pres. The whole purpose of the workout is to train the body to continue to go fast under fatigue. We did ok, but we have a lot of work to do to stay consistent the whole workout. Mile splits: 7:26, 7:30 and 7:47 (ouch!). Thank goodness the rain has come today to cool things down for our tempo run.

Future Runner

A future runner for sure - look at those long legs!

The Father-in-Law Route

We are in Carlisle this weekend for Nathan's cousin's wedding, so I gave my father-in-law a heads up that I was going to need a 12 mile route. We sat down on Friday night when we got in to go over my two options. I had a country option or a town option. He also offered to pump up the tires on Maggie's bike so that Nathan could ride with me! I ended up going with the country route since it was a simple triangle and only required me to remember two turns. I started out pretty early because I knew there was a high of ninety predicted for the day. It was a beautiful run, kind of reminded me of running at Grove City in cow pastures and cornfields. Nathan ended up playing tennis with his dad (instead of riding Maggie's bike with me) and then met me for about the last mile and a half and finished with me.

Long Run Successful

So I started out for my 12 mile run thinking that I'd just extend the last 10 miler from my house. There happened to be very little the same other than the starting point, running through Frick Park and the cemetary (but different trails/paths). I didn't make it out of the house til almost 9 so it definitely was killer hot (I have a nice watch tan to show off). I inadvertantly passed by a waterfountain every half hour. I couldn't have planned it better if I tried. Unfortunately, to avoid going up the double hill of Wightman from Wilkins, I took Beeler until it came out at the CMU track (sucky! I then realized that I would be forced to run up that hideous section of Forbes). Another point of interest. They have resurfaced the CMU track - I believe that it is going to be black now unless they are putting another layer on (it looked to be back at normal level). We'll see if they have lines on it and we can use it by Tuesday or else we have to find a new place to run this week. Overall, a good run. I should have brought a gel pack for mid run as my joints were very tired for the last couple miles. Excited for everyone to stop being on vacation so we can do some joint runs again.

All I Need to Know I Learned from my Massage Therapist

My muscles were so tight the other day, that I broke down and decided to go get a full body massage before we headed out of town for the weekend. A few tips I learned:

• I am not drinking enough water. Jay continued on to tell me that if you don't get enough water, your body becomes like a stagnat pond instead of a flowing river. He also gave me a good rule of thumb of how much water you should drink. He said to take your body weight divided by two and that is how many ounces you should drink. This works out basically to the 64 ounces I've always heard (8 glasses of 8 ounces a day), but the same equation would indicate Nathan needs to drink more than that!
• I also need to have more magnesium...need to do some research on where exactly I get this, but I need to get it. One thing he mentioned is to take baths with epsom salt...apparently epsom salt has magnesium in it.
• Along with the magnesium and water tips, he told me that drinking coffee mitigates any of the good effects of drinking water and consuming magnesium. Maaayyybe I will consider limiting my coffee intake, but definitely not giving it up entirely.

I liked the guy a lot...will consider going back to him. He does housecalls too, which is a little weird, but super convenient.

HUMID Tempo

Well for a day filled with rain, it was pretty ironic that last night's run was sunny, hot and humid (until of course I stepped on my porch as it started to pour). The 5 mile run was actually very nice as I did a portion of our last 10 mile loop. I need to start finding routes that do not end on massive hills - I guess that means I have to start doing them backwards...But again, Frick Park saved me from the heat and the busy-ness of cars.

An Infinite Number of Pigeons, 6 Rabbits, 5 Miles, 3 Other Runners and a Very Successful Tempo Run

You can sing that to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas. A humid run after last night's massive thunderstorm, but successful!

Brentwood Firecracker 5k & Parade

Alright, just had to post the picture of my hair in flight on the run.
Here is a link to the results: http://www.runhigh.com/2007%20Results/2007%20Results%20A/R070407AB.html








Here's the picture of the crew that was there for the parade: Erika, Amber, Lisa, Mike, Geoff, Nathan, Pat, Alexandra, Olivia and Trish. We have no clue who the two old people are in the front.

Spinning on the Roof

A fun surprise this morning - spinning was on the roof. I was jealous of the sunrise yoga the other day, but was not going to jump into the class simply because it happened to be on the roof. The spinners got the same treatment today! No one, including Emery, knew it was happening, but it was great! It was a perfect cool morning for it and it was great to have some fresh air. Emery wants to continue it in the future, so keep your eyes open for it!

Another long-sleeved shirt run!

Can you believe it - two long-sleeved shirt Saturday runs in a row in June? This nice weather on weekends is absolutely amazing! I did an alteration of our "9-mile" 4 bridge route as my 11-miler on Saturday.

My husband happened to wake up about the time early-risers in Reykjavik (the capital of Iceland) get up. I figure they are about two time zones east of us. I can't figure out any other country who might be in that time zone - potentially the Bermuda Triangle? I guess there is a large gap between normal cities we've all heard of - NYC compared to London is 5 hours difference...who is in that void? Anyhow - I got an early start on the run and then had a whole Saturday ahead of me!