Start time: 08/29/06, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 3.75 miles
Average pace: 9:40min/mile

This was just another one of those “I’m not feeling it” runs. Chris and I were both struggling a bit today, and it was hard to say why. Still coming off my 14-miler from two days ago? Thick humidity? Strange planetary alignments? The only thing for certain was that things weren’t going well. I finally decided to stop half a mile from the end and just walk home; my left thigh was starting to feel a little tight and sore. Now it’s probably not ITBS—no knee pain, no sharp pain, just soreness—but why risk it? I figured it was smarter to just throw in the towel a little early, even if it was only another 5 or so minutes straight uphill that I was sacrificing.

I need to go back through my journal again and figure out exactly when I got these shoes, though; I’m thinking it might be time for a new pair. It’s hard to say, though; I wish I’d been smart enough to have written down when I got the last pair. (I know it was after my trip to Florida at the start of March. And I think it might’ve been before the National (Half) Marathon. I’ll do some more research though and figure it out.) I was already planning on skipping Thursday because of having bloodwork for next week’s physical in the morning and book club in the evening, but I dunno… I might bypass my 7-mile recovery run as well. We’ll see. Right now a week off from running just sounds nice.

Oh, and then there’s the whole “new type of shoe” dilemma. The Beast has been working well for me, but I’ve had several people (including Zen Running Guru Rick Weber whose opinion I trust very much) suggest getting a lighter shoe, and to be fair I was recommended the Beast back when I was 60 pounds heavier. But do I want to mess with something that’s been working? Hmmmmmm. Things to think about.

Oh yeah: 71 miles for the month of August, the highest total so far for 2006, narrowly beating out March with its 69 miles thanks to having a half marathon in there. Woohoo!

Start time: 08/22/06, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 4.25 miles
Average pace: 9:25min/mile

Once more into the breach… and by breach, I mean HILLMANIA. Why do I keep running this route on Tuesday? Must be the stellar company. (Ok, that and since my long run route is pretty much hill-free, it’s my only chance to get some good hill work in.) Today seemed tougher than normal; it was only around 90 degrees so I’m not sure what the big deal was, but I pushed through as best as I could. Another 9:25min/mile average when it was all said and done. Somehow those hills always make it feel like I was trying to run it a minute or two per mile faster… phew. Still, not bad progress since I first hit this course, especially when I look at my average times:

May 23rd: 9:57
June 13th: 10:17
July 11th: 10:36
July 25th: 9:24
Aug 8th: 9:27
Aug 22nd: 9:25

Now I just need to start shaving off some time…

Start time: 08/08/06, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 4.25 miles
Average pace: 9:27min/mile

This run was a little more inconsistent in terms of splits than my last run through (9:02, 10:16, 9:35, 9:09, 2:10), but I do have to remind myself how much hillwork I have waiting for me in that second mile. Still, considering that the last .75 miles is straight uphill and that last .25 pace was an 8:28 average… well, I’m really quite happy. Chris was back, and Pacers Kate (not to be confused with AIDS Marathon Katie) was back from two weeks ago as well. We had a couple of others draft off of us the whole way through, and a little disconcertingly I actually ended up finishing ahead of Chris by a bit; I somehow got Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me” stuck in my head (?!?!?!?!) but by god did it work for motoring up those hills. It felt a little odd to not be drafting off of him or Darrell (who wasn’t there) for the end part, but it also felt good to push up without having to mentally latch onto others.

(Oh yeah. I meant to finally give the heartrate monitor a try this run. Guess what I forgot? Oops. I think I’m going to put the monitor inside one of my shoes to try and remember it for Thursday.)

Start time: 07/25/06, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 4.25 miles
Average pace: 9:24min/mile

With the heat not where it was a week ago, it was time for another after-work run with the Pacers group in Clarendon. And of course that means… hills!

So the first three times on this route, it kicked my butt in varying degrees (9:57min/mile; 10:17min/mile; 10:36min/mile). So today I headed out with Darrell, along with two new runners (Kate and Pam). It was nice to talk with Darrell for a bit, and the new runners down at the slow part of our spectrum did pretty well too. I just kept pushing, and while that final climb felt it was killing me (and Darrell pulled ahead a bit), I felt I was moving at a good clip. So then I pulled up my splits and… wahey! 9:14, 9:29, 9:28, 9:38, and for the fraction of the last mile an average of 8:52. I’m thrilled with this; not only because of a really good average for a really tough course, but how consistent my splits were. I’m utterly delighted. Yay!

Start time: 07/11/06, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 4.25 miles
Average pace: 10:36min/mile

I finally got back out to the Pacers group and it felt nice to do so. Well, despite the sweltering heat. When I left the house, the weather was saying it was 89 degrees, but that with the humidity it felt like 96 degrees. Eek. What was I thinking?

And yet, there I was. Chris was there as well, and the two of us headed out. The head of the run said that people could go up to 7 miles if they wanted, but we wisely stuck to the tried-and-true trail. The quote in the subject line was something said by Chris, but we pushed each other along. Considering how horrendously hilly (it’s out of control, to put it mildly) and hot it was, I felt like we did a good job. Add in that I’m still getting back up to speed, I consider my splits (9:18, 10:16, 11:39, 10:50, 2:30) not too bad at all. Only about 15 seconds off of last time.

Start time: 05/23/06, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 4.25 miles
Average pace: 9:57min/mile

About a month ago, lostchaos e-mailed me a picture from her cameraphone telling me about a local running store (Pacers) and how they had a weekly “fun run” open for anyone. I saved the e-mail and kept telling myself that I’d actually do it. But (and I know people find this hard to believe!) when it comes to new things I can be a bit shy; if there isn’t someone that I know there, I just as often will not go. Then, last Tuesday, I was standing outside the Clarendon metro station to meet jblum and kateorman for dinner and saw the Pacers group across the street assembling and heading out on their run. They all zipped by me, and suddenly I realized… I knew someone there. It was Chris, a fellow site assistant for AIDS Marathon (he’s working with the Half Marathon runners). So I dropped him an e-mail, asked him a couple of questions, and then decided that this upcoming week would be a perfect time to start.

One quick stroll down Clarendon Boulevard and I was at Pacers. There were about… oh, fifteen or so people there, including Chris. We were sorted into time groups (the first one was “6-7 minute miles” and I had to keep from snickering in response as I quickly scooted out of that rance) and we headed out for what was promised to be a “5 mile” course… and oh yes, we were going to head down the hill that is Highland Street, and go from there onto Hill City, aka the Custis Trail. Ack.

That said, it was a nice run. I chatted with Chris as we ran about this and that, and while we were towards the back of the pack we weren’t last (phew!) it was a pleasant run. I figure some hill work could do me good, and the change of scenery was huge. Running with different people and a different place just felt really… really good, really refreshing. It could be just what I needed, having something different. (And no walk breaks either.)

The only downside (well, aside from hill mania) was that when I looked at my time, I felt really surprised because it seemed a bit… low… to really be a 5-mile course. (42:17? Really? Although having the two splits being 20:42 and 21:35 was a relief to know it wasn’t that different.) I didn’t have the GPS unit with me so I mapped it out afterwards… sure enough! It’s actually just a 4.25-mile course. Still, not bad at all!