Start time: 04/17/06, 8:00pm
Location: Arlington Boulevard Trail
Distance: 2 miles
Average pace: 8:43min/mile

So the original plan was that I’d go running this morning when I got home from Pennsylvania, then head into work after lunch. What actually happened, though, was that I got home later than anticipated due to a number of reasons, and the temperature had dropped to 45 degrees and raining. Brrrr. So, very tired from getting up early (in fact, earlier than necessary based on the other people I was driving home and their general poking around) and then driving all the way back, I figured I wouldn’t run at all. Then two things changed my mind.

The first was that it not only stopped raining in the afternoon, but the temperature began to rise. I was walking over to pick up dinner (having no energy to cook, I’d decided) and was marvelling over how it was now 60 degrees at 7:30pm and what a great evening it was turning out to be… and then I saw him. The Perfect Runner. Seriously, folks, there’s no other way to describe him. It was a guy out for an evening run in a sleeveless white running shirt and black shorts, and an absolutely perfect body. And as he effortlessly glided by (and I tried not to trip over my own feet as I stared in awe), I suddenly felt fat and lazy and lame.

So I went home, put my dinner aside on the counter, and got dressed to go running.

Except, of course, I was still tired. So while I had 2-, 3-, and 4-mile routes mapped out, as I finished up the first mile I was already starting to feel seriously pooped. And by the time I got back to my starting point (at which point I could’ve gone out for a third or fourth mile) I was ready to drop. Good intentions and inspiration can only take you so far when you’re just plain wiped out. So I decided two miles was better than nothing and stopped. (8:15, 9:10) Now at first I was feeling a little less than thrilled, both in terms of pooping out after just two miles, as well as having a less than spectacular second mile. Then I remembered that I used to run 2-milers for my weekday runs back in 2001, only I would finish each mile in (yikes) 16:30. And I’d just run two in 17:25, and without needing to stop and walk. So while it wasn’t my best day, it was still good. And now I’m really quite happy with that indeed.

I have really got to remember to get a new battery for the watch half of the GPS unit tomorrow, though.

Start time: 04/15/06, 8:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 8 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 11:00min/mile

I went out running with last year’s training group on Saturday (the day before Easter, thus the thoroughly unwitty subject for this entry); it was a large group, with me, Julie, Ali, Alma, Carla, Craig, Katie, Mark, Randy, and Craig’s brothers Jeff and Scott. We headed out slow, and halfway through mile two we had several people hit a bathroom break, so we were off to a slow start. (12:09, 12:24) Before long we got our groove, and miles 3-6 involved a bunch of speeding up by the group. (11:04, 11:27, 10:42, 10:30) The group had started to stretch apart around the end of that stretch, though, and around mile 6.5 there was a sudden shuffle at the front and Katie was about 75 feet ahead of everyone else while the people she was running with had suddenly started dropping back quickly. I had been content to stay with the main part of the group (for me the run was as much social as it was exercise since aside from Julie I won’t be training with any of them this year) so Jeff and I ran ahead and caught her and took the last part of it in. (10:17, 9:19)

What can I say, Katie’s fast. It still amazes me to this day that she did not utterly crush me at the marathon (like she did at the Cherry Blossom 10-miler). I’m just happy that half of the time I can keep up with her, or alternately that she humors me by letting me think so!

Start time: 04/12/06, 6:15pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 10:14min/mile

No run for me on Monday or Tuesday, alas. After Sunday’s run I felt good… up until the part where we sat down and had lunch. When I stood back up my left calf muscle was all cramped up and sore. I took it easy for the next two days and used The Stick on it a lot, and on Wednesday all seemed good enough to run again. Julie kicked out a faster-than-normal second mile (9:55, 9:49, 10:44, 10:25), which was a little entertaining because the second we did all I could think was that mile 3 would be longer as a result. (Normally we hit the second mile marker about 10-15 seconds into a walk break. Hitting the marker before the walk break began meant that we had two full walk breaks waiting for us in dreaded mile 3.) It was a nice run, though, and it felt good to get back out there. I was going to report that my calf is completely back to normal but about half an hour it mysteriously was sore again. Although now it’s not. Huh.

Since I’m going to be away on Saturday and Sunday I was thinking that I might just plan on running Friday and Monday mornings, but we’ll see what my legs are saying to me later tonight and tomorrow morning. If more rest is required, so be it!

Start time: 04/09/06, 10:00am
Location: Waterside and National Mall
Distance: 8 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: ~10:30min/mile

Since the new AIDS Marathon season starts in a month, and this year I’m a site assistant at the Waterside location, I figured it would be a good thing to get to know the area. This, in no small part, because I’ve never actually been there before aside from visiting a friend that used to live around there. I shanghaied grok and made him show me around the area. It went really nicely, despite huge crowds on the National Mall. Lots of dodging of people, sudden detours and loop arounds, and such, but still really enjoyable. It’s fun to run in a new neck of the woods, especially one as iconic as the monuments area of DC. I’ve never actually run down there aside from in a race, so it was nice to do so in a relaxed state of mind.

Start time: 04/05/06, 6:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 10:18min/mile

The subject line was a direct quote from Julie upon finishing. Once again, our pattern held true on mile splits (9:53, 10:14, 10:41, 10:22). This was also the first run since the race, and I am thoroughly impressed with Julie; not only had she jumped from 6 to 10 miles for the race, but she was still game for running on Wednesday and with no backsliding. I think she’s going to surprise herself immensely by the time training starts in June. She’s much faster than she thinks she is.

Start time: 03/29/06, 6:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 10:17min/mile

One final run to round out March. Julie and I took another four miles together, and to our surprise half a mile in we ran into Mark, who joined us for the rest. He seemed in good spirits, and we chatted about Cherry Blossom 10-miler plans and such. A slightly slower third mile (9:56, 10:17, 10:41, 10:13) but not bad at all. No stiffness at all is left from the half marathon, so fingers crossed for a good race on Sunday.

Speaking of half marathons, its presence also meant that this was officially my highest mileage for a month where I wasn’t in the AIDS Marathon program, topping out at 69.1 miles. (The previous record holder was December 2005 with the surprisingly high 66 miles.) The yearly total is at 162.1 miles, while last year at the end of March I was at 118.4. Wow!

April should be an interesting month in terms of running; starting on Mondays I’m going to be running by myself and experimenting with a GPS unit. Interesting may not even begin to sum up what’s ahead!

Start time: 03/27/06, 5:45pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 10:16min/mile

Two days after the half marathon, and thankfully all is well. I could definitely still feel it in my muscles, but it wasn’t a bad feeling, just more of a signal that the muscles had definitely been used on Saturday! And, as I commented to Julie as we were finishing, an added bonus was that it was still light outside when we finished. Shocking! Shocking I tell you! (10:04, 10:12, 10:38, 10:09. Julie was motoring!)

Start time: 03/20/06, 6:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 10:23min/mile

Now that’s the Julie I remembered from before (10:05, 10:26, 10:29, 10:32). She says that her allergy medicine doesn’t still seem to really be working though so she’s going to make another appointment to see if a different medicine will do the trick. Fingers crossed!