Start time: 12/5/09, 4:00pm
Location: Thomas Circle Gym
Distance: 7 miles
Average pace: 8:40min/mile
Total Miles For December: 11 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 789 miles

Start time: 12/6/09, 1:00pm
Location: North Arlington, Bluemont Park, W&OD Trail
Distance: 16 miles
Average pace: 10:26min/mile
Total Miles For December: 27 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 805 miles

After missing Thursday run (was really not feeling at all well), it was time for another "goofy run" this weekend. When I woke up Saturday morning I could hear the rain coming down; coupled with being a little exhausted, I decided it was wiser to stay in bed for a few more hours. By that point, of course, the rain turned into snow. I ended up running at Charlie's gym on one of the treadmills, which wasn't so bad. Unfortunately I should have remembered to take it slow because I had a lot more scheduled for Sunday...

Sunday's run was supposed to be 14 miles; about four miles in, I started hitting a ton of snow and ice all over the W&OD Trail. UGH. It's funny, you'd think that having to slow down so much to keep from wiping out would make the run easier, but I think it actually makes it harder. Your muscles tense up, you've got to really concentrate hard to stay upright, and it's an unpleasant experience. Plus, of course, all the cold coming off of all that snow and ice. Brrrr. I was about three miles from home when I got a very stupid idea; I should turn around and run back one mile in the relatively ice-free area, so that I would have 16 under my belt and next week's 20-miler wouldn't be so bad. Wow. Stupid move. I felt like I was face-planting on miles 15 and 16. Just glad it's done. Next week I will be more mindful about taking it easy!

(9:21, 9:05, 9:46, 9:55, 10:47, 10:46, 10:54, 10:29, 10:19, 10:49, 10:17, 10:18, 10:36, 12:14, 11:00, 10:20)

Start time: 2/14/09, 9:00am
Location: LAX Marriott
Distance: 7 miles
Average pace: 9:09min/mile
Total Miles For February: 36 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 81 miles

Yay for a small mileage Saturday! I ended up not running on Thursday due to being at Disneyland all day (and walking all over it), but it all worked out well... or rather, as well as it can despite being on a treadmill while it was cold and drizzly outside. Only minor inconvenience I had was when the treadmill hit 60 minutes and kept trying to go into "cool down mode." I was so close to the end I just kept pushing the speed back up, which worked as well as it could. I'd felt a little bleah on Thursday and Friday, but this really kicked me back into high gear.

Start Time: 6/15/08, 8:00am
Location: Arlington, Washington DC
Distance: 7.5 miles
Average Pace: 10:08min/mile
Total Miles For June: 34 miles

Laura and I met up with Emma, Donna, Susannah, and someonewhosenameIcan'tremember for a planned 8-miler (or so) on Sunday. It was a group of varying speeds, so we decided we'd just take it easy. We had a walk break request, so on each mile we took a minute walk break and then trucked on. It was nice—we started at Iwo Jima, ran past Memorial Bridge down the 14th Street Bridge, then around a slice of the Tidal Basin and by the Lincoln Memorial before heading up into Georgetown, onto part of the Capital Crescent Trail, then over Key Bridge and through Rosslyn. Donna, Susannah, and the other person (sorry!) slowed down after a bit, but Laura, Emma, and I trucked through to the end. It all went really well...

...well, until we hit Rosslyn and Laura tripped on the curb and wiped out pretty spectacularly. From the sound of the thud, Emma and I were convinced she'd broken something, but thankfully it was just a scrape. Still, that was the end of the run for that day! Otherwise, though, it was a nice run with good company.

Start Time: 2/9/08, 2:00pm
Location: Yulee, Florida
Distance: 7 miles
Average Pace: 8:50min/mile
Total Miles For February: 15

Running through my parents's neighborhood—which was quite nice—and then the next neighborhood over... which was not quite nice. In fact, rather terrifying. And lots of snarling dogs. Eeeeek.

Start Time: 1/2/08, 6:30pm
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center
Distance: 7 miles
Average Pace: 8:28min/mile

Well, the plan was to hit my cycling class tonight. Even getting there almost half an hour early, though? Toooo late, already full thanks to the New Year's Resolutioners. But, that worked out well because I needed to run my 7-miler either tonight or tomorrow morning. So while the others pedaled, I ran. The indoor track wasn't too crowded—mostly regulars that I recognized, like the guy who runs in the same polo shirt and sweatpants every time, or the guy with the t-shirt from Iran, or the super-tight-and-trim guy who wears a spandex shirt underneath his running shirt. Good times, good times. (8:44, 8:25, 8:24, 8:30, 8:25, 8:32, 8:19)

Start time: 7/29/07, 8:00am
Location: National Mall
Distance: 7 miles
Average pace: 8:45min/mile

Well, the good news about Sunday's run is that despite some pretty warm temperatures we stayed slightly above pace for our tempo run. The bad news is that it was supposed to be 8 miles. Erica and Cassie zoomed off (per usual) and did all eight. But of the rest of us...

Aaron: Stopped after two miles, turned around and walked back
Dave: Walked one mile and skipped one in the middle while we headed out and back.
Paul & Devora & Me: Toughed it through seven miles and called it quits.
Laura: Toughed it through seven miles a tiny bit behind us, then after walking for about two minutes or so decided she was good and ran the rest of the eighth mile.

A tough day! It was hot, it was super humid (the bigger problem), and we all decided we had nothing to prove.

Start time: 7/15/07, 8:00am
Location: National Mall
Distance: 7 miles
Average pace: 8:30min/mile

...but I did blow the house down. (Despite my running partners being a little... um... unenthusiastic.)

Start time: 7/12/07, 8:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 7 miles
Average pace: 8:45min/mile

I was a little tired this morning, and having had little success with my last two mid-week tempo runs, I was determined to do a little better this time. Since I was giving the W&OD Trail another shot, I decided it was time to reverse my path; the entire section I use has a slight incline, so rather than my bad run two weeks ago where I ran down-up-up-down (and then pooped out at the end of the last "up") I would reverse things and tackle it as up-down-down-up. That way there wasn't such a long, steady uphill climb and breaking it up would do better.

Sure enough, my first two miles (up) were off-pace (9:07, 9:01) but I also don't have a problem with taking those slower and then ramping up. The next stretch—aside from an incident that I will explain momentarily—the two stretches of "down" went pretty good (8:35, 8:26, 8:38). Even the final stretch of up wasn't so bad; a little off-pace but nothing that I was going to worry about (8:46, 8:42). So, overall, an 8:45 average, which I'm pleased with. I'd have liked an 8:30 but I will take what I can get.

Oh yes, and the "incident"? Well, about two and a half miles in... a bird pooped on my face. This, by far, beats the infamous "Greg finds a cicada clinging to his neck" incident of 2004. GAH. SO GROSS. (Yes, I stopped and wiped it off.)

Start time: 1/6/07, 8:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 7 miles & 6.4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1 & 7:1
Average pace: 11:33min/mile & 9:37min/mile

Today I decided to run with mai_neh in his final training run for the Miami Half Marathon, a 14-miler. The first half of our run was with his two pace group members, who were training the full marathon so they were at a slower training pace. They were supposed to be running an 11:30min/mile, so we hit that really well. On the way back, with about mile and a quarter left to go I was starting to feel beat and I could tell that mai_neh was raring to go. Since I'm not training for a race and he was, when we hit 4th Street I told him to keep going, and hooked a right-hand turn to go directly back to home base. It lopped off just six-tenths of a mile, but it was nice to get back a little quicker and to be done. Since he finished up his last two miles at an 8:30min/mile average, I'd say I made the right decision to cut him free of my anchorness! :) We saw Chris S. on the trail heading out as we were zooming back, which was fun, and it was nice to see all the other staff members as well. Good times, good times.

Start time: 09/03/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 7 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:20min/mile

Well, after Tuesday's "maybe I'll skip this weekend's recovery run" comment, did I? Well, obviously, no. It was just me again (booo) but it also wasn't raining (yay!) like the Saturday runners got. I headed out by myself at a nice clip, though; after the first warm-up mile we're talking about miles 2-4 being 9:08, 9:07, and 9:09. Part of the return trip was a little slower when I picked up Coach Karen at two different spots; we ran together for part of mile 5 (9:56) before she took care of another runner, then she cut across the mall and we did part of mile 7 together as well. (Meanwhile, mile 6? 9:11. It seems that I am very consistent once more.)

It was interesting contrasting the streets in Southwest DC versus up by the monuments and museums. There, you could tell that there had been the remnants of a tropical storm coming through; lots of branches and leaves carpeting the sidewalks as far as the eye could see. The water in the Washington Channel was just as high as the humidity, but the temperature was still low (mid-60s!) and it was a nice way to center and focus once more after last week's not so great 14-miler.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=299537

Start time: 07/09/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 7 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 11:00min/mile

Rick Carter: "Sounds like you've been doing everything right to get back from your injury."
Me: "Yeah, but it's still hard to accept slowing down for a bit."
Rick: "So true!"

This morning actually went really well. Once I'd accepted on Friday morning that I couldn't run in my 9:30 group (more on that shortly) and needed to slow down, my return to the training program was a breeze. I ran with the 11:00 group this morning; a little quiet but very nice. No alumni in the group, so I got questioned a bit on what it's like to run a marathon (things like packet-pick-up, starting corrals, and sports gels). Really good people, and I wouldn't mind running with them another week. I still haven't figured out exactly what group I'm going to run in for the 8-miler...

...and therein lies the problem. When I ran the 4-miler, the fastest group was me and Stephanie as the 9:30 pace group. There were five or six people in the 10:00 group below us, and I was hoping that perhaps they'd merge with ours. Instead? I got there today and the fastest group I could definitively recognize as being one was the 10:30 group. No sign of Stephanie (who'd said she might be running on some Saturdays, but I wonder if me being out two weeks made her decide to shift there entirely) or anyone from the 10:00 group at all. Hmph. The 10:30 group had a whopping 3 people in it; while I've run in a small group (2002 in particular) I must admit that I'm happier with higher numbers.

Hopefully some of the 10:00 people will come back. Or perhaps once grok is back up to speed we could run together on Sundays? (I have no idea what his training pace will be, although I know he's still a bit faster than I.) If not, I guess 10:30 will be it, which is a bit disappointing, but doable. Still, we'll see. There's a long training season ahead, who knows?

Start time: 05/28/05, 8:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 7 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 12:03min/mile

AIDS Marathon has what's called a "designated driver" system; each week, someone in the group offers to be the "DD" and if a runner is having problems, the DD hangs back with them so no one's out by themselves. (On really long runs, you assign two DDs and then the DDs can drop off the ailing runner at a water stop and then keep running their old pace.) I was DD this week, and alas, my services were needed. One runner was running out of steam before the fourth mile was even over, so for three-and-a-quarter miles I got to go at a slower-than-normal pace. It wasn't until after I got back that I discovered she'd had the same problem last week. *sigh* Let's hope this isn't a trend.

Ah well. Being DD means that sooner or later you're going to be taken up on it, and in five years this is the first time that's happened for me. At least it was on a week with short milage!

Start time: 01/08/05, 9:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 7 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 4:1
Average pace: 12:29min/mile

Went out running with "the group", which means going a little slower. I don't know why running with multiple people slows me down so much; I guess it's the social interactions and all. Half of the people we were with hadn't done much running lately, so we did a small distance. Pam, Randy, and I ran an extra mile afterwards but since Pam and Randy both had places to be even they had to stop relatively quickly, so I decided to get out of the moisture and go home and... take a bath. Hmmmm, something seems wrong with this story, I'll figure it out sooner or later.

It was really nice to be back with the group, though, something I hadn't done since before Christmas. (A good turnout too, with seven of us in all.) Everyone seems to be adjusting to the new pace pretty well, and I think before long we'll have lopped off another half minute as a group. (I've been running faster 5-milers on my own, so I'm not too concerned about that.) Since I figure I'll land in either the 12:00 or 11:30 pace group in May (you train a minute slower than you finish the "run an easy 3-miler, no huffing and puffing allowed" time trial), it's nice to know that I'll almost certainly have some of my buddies with me there as well. They're good, good people.

Start time: 7/12/03, 7:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Activity: Running
Distance: 7 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 3:2

Another recovery run, another short week to report—aside from big thanks to Derek Barnes for helping support my fundraising this year!

After my uncomfortable 14-miler last week I took it pretty easy this week. I was watching my parents's dog all of this week, so he was at least going for a very short walk every day, but otherwise I have to admit it was spent with me sitting on my butt a lot. The run site on Saturday was pretty deserted; I think some people are taking these short "recovery" runs for granted. We only had five people in our group, but Julie and I were the only ones in good shape. John was recovering from his fall two weeks ago, Lindsay just had some soreness issues that were being worked out, and visiting from another group was Lisa who is having what's called IT Band Syndrome. I think our group should've been renamed "walking wounded" this week!

We ended up going a little slower in deference to the rest of the group, but John and Lindsay decided that discretion is the better part of valor (which it is) and after the first three miles decided they would just walk another two miles and call it a day. Julie and Lisa and I pushed on, and while a coach recommended that Lisa call it quits early, she pushed her way through with us.

Next Saturday I'll be out of town (in the first three weeks of July I will actually have been at home for all of five days!); I'm tenatively going to try and make up the missed 16-miler that following Tuesday, but a lot will depend on how I'm feeling that morning. (If I do try and make it up, I'll be doing half in the morning and half in the evening, which my coach last year swore works just fine.) If not, I'll play it by ear. I'm good at that.

Start time: 5/31/03, 7:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Activity: Running
Distance: 7 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 3:1
Average pace: 14:00min/mile

Another week, another progress report... big thanks this week to my grandmother Ruth Spinelli, who became my latest donor while I was up visiting her in Pennsylvania over the weekend. Thanks so very much!

It's amazing how a bad week can radically change someone's attitude. If you'd asked me how I was feeling about this year's training yesterday, the truth is that I wasn't feeling terribly positive about it. After last Saturday's run, sitting in a car for four hours was not one of the best things I could've done for my legs. By the time we arrived in Pennsylvania my calves were feeling stiff and sore, something they shouldn't have been doing after just a six-miler. Even worse, I wasn't able to shake the soreness; I went running on Monday evening after I got back home, and I had to quit halfway through because it felt like I hadn't run in years.

All week long, I was trying to loosen up my legs and get back up to speed, with both crosstraining and just plain old walking. Add in strange shifting weather patterns and my joints were hurting on and off with no rhyme or reason. (Bizarrely, so were Julie's, making us decide that it was the fault of the weather.) Even as late as Friday night, though, I wasn't feeling good about it all. I was quietly thinking to myself that if this kept up, I'd have to seriously re-evaluate my decision to do the marathon this year.

So this morning when the alarm went off at 5am, I was not in the most pleasant of moods. I hauled myself to the run site, we split into two smaller groups, and headed out into the (thankfully not very hot) humidity... and a funny thing happened. Everything seemed to finally snap back into place. I didn't have any problems at all with my legs or any body part. Maybe all I needed was a nice long run to finally get back to speed, but the seven-miler flew by really quickly, and our group (me, Julie, Asha, Lindsay, and Mary) did a great job of hitting all of our time goals.

Needless to say, I've made sure to keep everything moving today since then, and so far so good. Sometimes, it seems, all you have to do is not give up and it'll all work out in the end.