Start time: 02/15/06, 6:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 10:57min/mile

Snow, snow, and more snow was still on the trail. Julie and I took it easy, trying to keep from wiping out on the snow-covered trail. Not a bad time, all things considered.

Hopefully the next I’m running will be out in LA, but considering where our hotel is, that run might be on a treadmill! Ugh.

Start time: 02/09/06, 6:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 10:40min/mile

Technically a few seconds slower per mile than Tuesday, but much more consistant; Julie peaked fast on Tuesday and the times slid (as happens when you haven’t run for three weeks) but Thursday was really on pace and good. Yay!

Start time: 02/11/06, 8:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 12 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 10:45min/mile

I ran with a bunch of my pace group from last training season (the first time in a while) and the results were… interesting. Some of them were running a 20-miler so several of us joined them partway into their run. Their pace was all over the place and I just tried to tag along as best I could. An… interesting morning.

Start time: 02/07/06, 6:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 10:36min/mile

The last time I ran with Julie was back on the 17th, so it was good to get back out with her three weeks later. A bit of chit-chat, a bit of both of us just thinking in silence… but good, good company. It’s nice to be back.

Start time: 02/05/06, 9:30am
Location: Rock Creek Park
Distance: 10.5 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 10:30min/mile???

I went running with Tod and Doug this morning; it was a cold, sort of blustery sort of day at times, but I couldn’t beat the company or the scenery of Rock Creek Park. The only real downside was that early on we ended up going through a flooded section of a running trail, which resulted in mud and water going into my shoes. Ugh. Even better, I’m pretty sure it was what caused the blister on the bottom of my foot that made the last miles a bit… less than pleasurable in places. Due to one or two stops we didn’t get an accurate time for our actual running, so the pace is a guess. We may very well have had a better pace going on, but better over than under for my records.

Start time: 02/02/06, 6:00pm
Location: Custis Trail
Distance: 3 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:52min/mile

Bleah. The Custis Trail is hard enough on a good day… and this was anything but one. I’d planned on running 4 or 5 miles, and after a mile and a half I was turning around. Between a stitch in my side almost instantly, my foot starting to hurt, feeling exhausted, and making a wrong turn briefly, enough was enough. Sometimes it’s important to know when to just call it quits. Ah well, next time will be better.

Start time: 01/30/06, 6:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 8:58min/mile

Well, after a week off due to being sick with a nasty cold, I headed back out onto the trail today. Part of me was saying, “Wait one more day, know you’re really better.” The other part was saying, “It’s in the 60s in January. It won’t be tomorrow. Go running.” Well, you know which part won.

The problem with having taking a week off and then being all on my lonesome was that I headed out of the gate fast. Way too fast. (Well, too fast for me.) I’d been originally thinking that I’d start with 4 miles, maybe push it up to 6 because I’d have a more pleasing total mileage for the month. Well… 8:33 was probably a bit fast for the first mile when you consider that was almost my pace for my last 5K. The next two leveled out somewhat (8:51, 9:06) and I coudl feel myself getting tired. I knew the fourth mile would have an extra walk break… but I wasn’t prepared for it hitting where it did. It seemed early, way too early along the trail for the mental math game I was playing. (And if it was going to come early, I almost would’ve rather it had been at the base of the hill, not just after I crested it. Hmph.) I just felt run over with a steamroller. Finally it ended, I ran the last bit in, muttering to myself, and looked at the watch: 9:23. Which was still slower, but not as slow as I’d convinced myself. (Especially when you compare it to the previous mile and know that this one had an extra minute of walking.)

Isn’t it fun, the games your mind plays with you?

Anyway, for my first time back out doing any sort of exercise in a week I’m not displeased. And for the month? 48 miles, an improvement over last January (42.45), which considering I didn’t have any double-digit runs and was sick for a week is a good amount indeed.

Start time: 01/22/06, 1:45pm
Location: Custis Trail and a bit of the W&OD Trail
Distance: 8 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 10:03min/mile

Tod and Bug were having their open house today, so while Bug and Lucy watched some Battlestar Galactica, Tod and I hoofed it up and down the Custis Trail. I’m not kidding about the up and down part, either. I already knew the first mile and a half of the Custis Trail was Hill City, but now I know… the next portion of the trail is just as crazy. Phew! We ran about 5.5 miles worth of Custis Trail (annoyingly, where Custis strikes the W&OD is about a quarter mile past Custis’s 0 mile marker) and supplemented with a bit of the W&OD, the latter of which was blessedly flat.

It was a great run, though. Really tiring, don’t get me wrong, but considering the amount of climbing we did (oh, how I hate going up hills and how they hate me) I think we did fantastic.

Although since Julie’s going to be out of town and I’ll run by myself on Tuesday, my original plan to jump onto the Custis Trail then is now sounding decidedly mad. Better think this through carefully; up and down after a long day at work? Maybe I’ll just run Tuesday morning on the Arlington Boulevard Trail.

(Oh, and as of this morning? 3.5 of the 5 pounds I wanted back off of me are gone. Half a pound until I’m at the top edge of my 3-pound range I was in before depressive eating started, a pound-and-a-half until I’m squarely in the middle of it again. Phew.)