Start time: 12/29/09, 7:00am
Location: TJ Community Center
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:35min/mile
Total Miles For December: 89 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 867 miles

I'm a big wimp when it comes to winter running. So when I heard that wind gusts would be up to 50mph this morning and it would feel like 15 degrees? Off to the indoor track it was...

(8:51, 8:34, 8:30, 8:23)

Start time: 12/26/09, 1:30pm
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:38min/mile
Total Miles For December: 77 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 855 miles

Yay! Some rain came last night and melted a lot of the snow out on the sidewalks. Not all of it, alas—anywhere it was piled up still has snow, especially at the corners of streets. So I still had to do some serious snow dodging, but I'd say 80-90% of the sidewalks were completely clear. It felt good to do a short run and try and undo some of the approximately 8000 calories I ate yesterday. (I wish that was an exaggeration.)

(8:32, 8:27, 8:49, 8:43)

Start time: 12/15/09, 8:00am
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:24min/mile
Total Miles For December: 60 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 838 miles

I have got to try and get to bed earlier. Ended up tired and groggy this morning—again—and got a later start than I'd wanted. I'd also originally planned on taking advantage of the balmy temperatures (47 degrees when I left!) and do a 5-miler, but I was so tired (and getting a later start) that I ended up just doing the normal 4-miler route. A little stiff at first but not too bad. Certainly better than Sunday!

(8:38, 8:20, 8:30, 8:08)

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3024271

Start time: 12/8/09, 5:30pm
Location: TJ Community Center
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:33min/mile
Total Miles For December: 31 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 809 miles

Oops, I'm a week behind now. My data for the other two workouts isn't handy, but I do have Tuesday's laps on my watch. I was still feeling a little stiff on Tuesday, but I forced myself to knock out four miles on the (bleah) indoor track. I really should have gotten up before work and run, but it just didn't happen. I really need to get better about going to bed at a decent hour so I can actually wake up and do exercise. I used to be better about this. Anyway, the run started out in a "just go slow and do something" but once everything loosened up I felt a bit better.

(9:03, 8:40, 8:23, 8:06)

Start time: 12/1/09, 6:15pm
Location: TJ Community Center
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:06min/mile
Total Miles For December: 4 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 782 miles

One of the (many, many, many, MANY) reasons why I will never be an elite runner: I lose what little motivation I have for running when it gets cold out. It wasn't even that bad out yesterday but I still bailed and went to the gym and ran on the stupid indoor track instead. Which I am also not a fan of. After four I just had no desire to keep running, so I stopped there.

(8:15, 8:08, 8:08, 7:52)

Start time: 11/17/09, 8:00am
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:10min/mile
Total Miles For November: 48 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 754 miles

Just another whirl around the four-mile loop. I did come up with a new five-mile loop course that I'm tentatively going to start running next week and make that the new regular morning run. We shall see.

(8:16, 8:06, 8:15, 8:00)

Start time: 11/12/09, 6:00pm
Location: TJ Community Center
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:25min/mile
Total Miles For November: 34 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 740 miles

I ended up missing my first run this week, due to a trip to the oral surgeon for a tooth extraction. (Joy!) I did get out for a swim mid-week, though, which was better than no exercise at all, of course. Anyway, I find it very funny that whenever I run on the indoor track, there's always a ramping up process. Apparently it takes a mile or two to adjust to those 1/8th mile loops! Too wet and cold out to hoof it outside, unfortunately. Hoping to do an 8-10 miler on Sunday morning.

(8:47, 8:38, 8:13, 8:01)

Start time: 11/8/09, 11:00am
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:23min/mile
Total Miles For November: 30 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 736 miles

After a week off, I finally went running again the Sunday after the marathon. It was an unseasonably warm day, which was lovely, if suddenly a slight shock to my body which kept saying, "Wait, what, I need to start cooling you down?" It felt good to get out and moving again, though.

(8:15, 8:14, 8:35, 8:30)

Start time: 10/29/09, 8:15am
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:14min/mile
Total Miles For October: 89 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 706 miles

Boy, it sure is getting dark out in the morning. It'll be nice to have the clocks change an hour on Sunday. Last pre-marathon run this morning and I ended up just doing the regular loop. Today, fueled by something I haven't eaten in years: a pop-tart. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

(8:20, 8:04, 8:24, 8:08)

Start time: 10/22/09, 5:45pm
Location: Arlington Boulevard, Iwo Jima Memorial
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:29min/mile
Total Miles For October: 72 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 689 miles

Another night of poor sleep equalled no running in the morning. On the way to work, though, I saw that a lot of the set-up for the finish line area of the Marine Corps Marathon is already put together. So after work, I ran a mile down the Arlington Boulevard trail, and then ran through the Iwo Jima Memorial area and down to Memorial Bridge so I could see the stuff. Doing so was fun and brought back a lot of memories of running MCM (four times, 2002-2005) and I was definitely speeding up. Doubly so because it meant that I spent two miles running straight downhill. And then I turned around... and kind of ran out of gas. Oops. Doubly so since I was then going straight uphill the whole way back. Ah well. It was still a nice run.

(8:14, 7:44, 8:43, 9:16)

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3276789

Start time: 10/15/09, 2:30pm
Location: Spring Hill Rec Center
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:41min/mile
Total Miles For October: 58 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 675 miles

It's a gloomy rainy day, and after getting little sleep last night thanks to what I have charitably decided was a slowly dying car (I like to think someone did not lay out their horn, deliberately, for a solid two minutes at 1am, 2:30am, and 4am) I didn't make it to the gym this morning. So I decided I'd go in the afternoon to Spring Hill (where I normally swim) and run on a treadmill there. Ugh. Hated every minute of it. There was no air circulation so I felt really badly overheated from start to finish, and some crazy lady decided that she needed to turn ALL the televisions to Fox News. Including ones right next to other ones on Fox News. Great, six big screen tvs all showing a run-away balloon soaring through the air. I was going to run five miles but after four I felt like such crap I stopped. Death to the treadmill.

Start time: 10/12/09, 12:45pm
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:27min/mile
Total Miles For October: 54 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 671 miles

Well, the temperature has dropped big time in the DC area. I left for my run around lunchtime and it still was in the 50s. What a difference! It felt great to run in the cooler weather, and I do love it—except for that my body is adjusting to the colder weather and I was a little hacky at times. Bleah. You know things are bad when I'm having to do the runner's spit, which I consider to be one of the grossest things about the sport in general. It was a nice run, though, even though at all three major intersections that I run through, I somehow ended up with green lights for all of them. (I know, I know, boo hoo. Normally, if nothing else, the one around the 2.5 mile mark results in a temporary catching of the breath.) Had thought about doing five miles, but thanks to getting almost no sleep at all on Saturday night (even after that 20-miler!), still a little worn down.

(8:35, 8:16, 8:30, 8:25)

Start time: 10/6/09, 7:45am
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:30min/mile
Total Miles For October: 24 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 641 miles

I'd skipped swimming yesterday because I was feeling a little creaky after the weekend's runs, and now I'm glad I did so. Still feeling a tiny bit creaky when I headed out this morning, although by the end I'd definitely loosened up somewhat. (Hoping to fit swimming in tomorrow mind you.) On the plus side, though, gorgeous weather, in the mid 50s. I'm going to have to dig out the rest of my long-sleeve running attire, both of the ones I'd kept hanging around are now waiting to be washed!

Start time: 9/24/09, 6:00pm
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:32min/mile
Total Miles For September: 40 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 609 miles

Oops, forgot to post a couple of these. Catch up time. I had to squeeze this run in between getting home and heading off to book club. Slowly starting to pick things back up a bit after my brief sabbatical.

Start time: 9/22/09, 7:30am
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:40min/mile
Total Miles For September: 36 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 605 miles

Well, the doctor said it was a strain, and gave me something to put into my right shoe to hopefully keep it from happening again. (Fingers crossed.) I was also told to take two weeks off, so 14 days later... back out I went. I had gone swimming a few times as well as gone to spinning class, so I wasn't sitting on my butt the entire time, but still, it was not pretty out there. Ended up taking two walk breaks in the second half of the run; just really tired and winded. It's amazing how quickly one's endurance can fall back when you don't run for even just a week or two. On the bright side, no calf problems.

I have a 5K on Saturday and we'll see if I actually run it or not. My last 5K in November was right after being sick and it was a miserable experience; part of why I'd signed up for this one was to finally get an official 5K time of what I'm actually capable of, not ones hampered by sickness or having just run a marathon a week earlier. Whatever time I could've done two and a half weeks ago is certainly long gone. As long as I can lower expectations enough in advance, though, I'll give it a stab.

Start time: 9/8/09, 6:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:29min/mile
Total Miles For September: 32 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 601 miles

I was planning on running 6 miles after work today, but two miles out, my right calf started hurting. This after several months of it being fine. Dammit.

Start time: 8/27/09, 7:30am
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:32min/mile
Total Miles For August: 92 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 551 miles

Decided to run my more regular 4-mile loop with an option for a fifth if I was feeling it. Sooooooooooo tired this morning. I think I need to just worry about getting more sleep tonight and Friday if at all possible. It wasn't a huge speed drop (only about 15 sec per mile) but still, the zip was not there.

Start time: 8/18/09, 6:40am
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:13min/mile
Total Miles For August: 57 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 516 miles

Uggggh when will August be over? Sick of this heat.

Start time: 8/13/09, 8:15am
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:23min/mile
Total Miles For August: 45 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 504 miles

Ah, the best-laid-plans and all that. I originally had this week's exercise all mapped out:

Mon: 4-5 mile run (morning), lap swimming class (evening)
Tue: spinning class
Wed: 4-5 mile run
Thu: rest
Fri: 7 mile run
Sat: 14 mile run

Instead, I came down with what is either allergy problems or a nasty cold starting on Saturday; the jury is still out on which it was. All I know for certain is that it knocked me for a loop through the end of Monday, but even Tuesday and Wednesday still had lingering effects. So, I ended up taking those days off. Under the circumstances, my 7/14 run for Friday and Saturday seemed like a pretty bad idea. So instead I just went for a four-mile run today, and then I'll run some on Saturday. As it was, today's run definitely was tough towards the end; in the last mile I ended up taking a minute walk-break because I was feeling majorly beat, but even with that it's not a bad pace at all considering how badly I was feeling earlier this week.

On the bright side, I could really feel the difference with the new shoes this morning. And since the last pair was retired at the 500-mark for the year, it'll be easy to track how many miles this new pair has!

Start time: 8/5/09, 6:10am
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 2 miles & 2 miles
Average pace: 8:13min/mile & 8:16min/mile
Total Miles For August: 20 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 479 miles

Greg vs the duathlon! Sort of.

To switch things up a bit this morning, I got up early and ran the first two miles of my 4-mile loop, which conveniently has my gym just past the 2-mile point. I changed my shirt, headed in, and went to spinning class... well, except the instructor never showed up. (Oops!) Still, I did get my 45 minutes of cycling in, just without someone pushing us extremely hard. (One of the people in the class did lead us as best she could, though, which was nice.) Then, I grabbed my stuff, jogged over to where I'd left off, and ran the remaining two miles home. It was a nice little way to have transitions of sorts, and to make the morning a little more exciting. Plus, the plan was to go get burgers and fries at lunch today, so an extra caloric burn was definitely a good thing.