The 7 of '07

I'm taking a page (or stealing an idea) from fellow runners as I reflect on the year that has passed. In a number of ways, 2007 has exceeded my expectations. To say that 2006 was a rough year for me would have been a grave understatement. I knew 2007 had to look up, and, indeed, it did. This was true of my running as well. I know some runner/bloggers go for the Top 10 running moments when they compile a list such as this. I'm not sure I have ten, but we'll see how far we get. In no particular order:

1) Discovering the joys of Tinicum. It really wasn't until 2007 that I came to realize how fortunate I am to have this wonderful place to run. One run stands out for me in particular. It was late May and Amy and I ran the figure eight loop counting along the way the number of turtles (most of which were actively laying eggs) and the number of bunnies. It was a close contest. Amy was pulling for the turtles, but in the end, the bunnies with their reproductive zeal took the prize. Turns out bunnies and turtles aren't the only things that procreate in Tinicum - that I will never forget either.

2) My first real run with Seebo. Yes, as mostly everyone knows, he is SPRNTC fast and I, well, am not. I was nervous about it and fought dozens of inner demons along the way. I survived, but the scene has not recurred since then. Hmmm. Maybe in '08.

3) Not running the Stone Harbor 10k. How could not running a race be memorable you ask? Well, I thought I was going to have to run it. As an honorary member of Philadelphia Athletic Charities running club, I was going to 'take one for the team' if they needed a female entrant (other team members' performances don't count if there is not at least one female member). It was August, it was hot and sticky and sunny - as bad as it can be, or worse, on a late summer late morning. I was thrilled to see some of the other PAC women in their running gear... which meant that in no time, I was changing into my bathing suit and ready to swim in the ocean. Of course, I had to be polite and cheer the other runners on, but eventually, I did get to play in the waves.

4) PR-a-palooza 2007. I was consistently surprised throughout the year, especially during the second half, when my race times improved one after the next. I'm not going to rehash each one, but suffice it to say that it was nice to see that pushing myself in my training runs paid off during my fall racing season. I PR-ed at 5k, 15k, and half marathon distances. I felt most pleased by my Distance Run performance; it was just one of those perfect days where everything seemed to come together and the fact that I forgot my watch actually seemed to help me.

5) Using my health insurance plan. There were certainly times in my life when I didn't have health insurance and really could have used it. Mostly, I'm a healthy lass and require little to no medical attention. This year, my hip was giving me some issues, so I decided to enlist my trusty HMO (yes, that was a joke) to investigate the problem. I had X-rays, an MRI, Physical Therapy, the works! And, yes, the hip seems like it's doing much better.

6) My First Schwag! Indeed, an exciting occurrence for me, and I didn't even do it on purpose. In fact, I wouldn't have even known that I had won 3rd place in my age group if it hadn't been for a nice woman I met during the race (who, incidentally, won 2nd place in the same age group). It was an unseasonably warm day and I was disappointed that Seebo wasn't running it due to his hobbled condition, but the race went well and I got to sip Mimosas with my sweety to celebrate the race where we originally met the year prior.

7) Running with the Canna-Clan: There were a few occurrences throughout the year where I had the opportunity to run with my family - some configuration of my sister, Tammy, my brother, Scott, and my sister-in-law, Sarah. They all live in Denver at the moment, so these opportunities are rare. Tammy was out here last January for a convention and I took that opportunity to run part of Tinicum with her. I was out in Denver in March and Sarah and I ran a good 10 mile stretch of somewhere. Then Scott and Sarah were here for Thanksgiving and we again ran Tinicum. Finally, exactly one week ago from today, we ran a bit out in Denver. I miss my family and love that we can share in running together.

I think that about sums it up for 2007. I'll stick with seven entries as that seems to be a lucky number and I can use all the luck I can get heading into 2008 as I have a lot to live up to in terms of my running and in other areas of my life. Best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthy 2008.

Brisk Tinicum Morning

Just a quick post, as I'm only going to be here at work for a few hours before jetting off to Denver to hang with the FamDamily for the holidays.

Ran the same Tinicum/neighborhood route that I ran a few days ago. The mud had pretty much dried out, but there were a few obstacles on the path (in the form of downed trees/shrubs) that I had to negotiate. It was kind of funny how surprised I was by these 'changes' in the trail. Considering it is 'nature', after all, and the one constant in nature is change.

My legs felt a bit tight today and I had a weird tightening/numbness in my left forearm that crept up on me and hung on for about ten or fifteen minutes after my run. It's fine now. The run was okay. I felt like I was working hard. Again, I had those thoughts of easing up because I felt like I am still doing that thing where I'm more worried about running a good time than I am of actually enjoying the run. Guess it paid off in a way, though, as I ran the route about a minute and a half faster than I did last week.

Not sure what Denver holds for me in terms of running. I'll definitely get out there, but I'm such a wimp when it comes to hills and that's about all there seems to be around those parts!

5.1 in 42:25

I can live with that

Just a quick blog entry today as the forces of evil (aka: my employer) continue to load on the work. Merry Christmas.

Had an early morning PT session - which is close to my gym, so that's where I did my running today. I didn't feel great - my biorhythms must be on the down slope, but it wasn't horrible. Hip pain is still there, but tolerable. I don't know whether or not I'm fooling myself, but sometimes I think the pain has changed a little bit - migrated a little to a slightly different place in my hip. I'll have to keep an eye on it.

After my run, I did some stretching and noticed a small white plastic/shiny metal object sitting on a table. I quickly determined that it was a body fat measuring device. Ever since Seebo had his numbers run by his coworker, I've been curious about mine. No woman really wants to know what her body fat percentage is, but curiosity got the best of me.

I wasn't sure if I was allowed to just pick this device up and use it, but I figured if anyone minded, they could say so. Being the quick study I am, it didn't take me too long to figure out how the gadget worked. When I got my number, I didn't know what to make of it. (And, no, I will not divulge what it was). So, of course, I Googled "body fat percentage" and looked at several sites. Naturally, different sites had different ranges of what was normal, "good", "bad", etc. But overall, it seems that my number is slightly below the normal range for "normal" women and towards the upper end of the range for "athlete women". Okay... I can live with that.

5 miles in 41:26

Powered by Cookie

This weekend, I was happy to have my friend Brian in town for a little visit. He moved to Oklahoma (yes, on purpose) at the beginning of the summer and I have not seen him since then. Of course, having friends in town sometimes makes it difficult to find time to squeeze in a long run. I wasn't sure exactly how it was going to happen, but I know that I wanted it to happen, and that is for me at least 90% of the battle.

Brian's friend picked him up for the second leg of his Pennsylvania visit around 6pm last evening. By that time, it was dark and really, really windy outside... so, it was off to the gym for me. I had wisely stopped eating the Christmas cookies we had made earlier in the day, so I was feeling sugar-primed, but not overloaded for my run. Still, a long run on a treddy is not so much fun. I was left with my iPod and varying the speed and inclination on the treadmill to entertain myself.

The run felt pretty good and, like earlier in the week, all systems seemed to be working well together to allow me to run a bit faster than usual. My hip pain was there a little in the beginning, but not bad.

8.5 miles in 69:54

It's your biorhythms, stupid

In the seven years that I've been at this crazy sport, I have learned a lot. I won't bore myself (or you) with a summary of it all, but I will say that one thing that has largely escaped my learning is being able to figure out why some days I have 'good' runs and some days I have 'bad' runs. Of course, there are some factors that I know will contribute to a bad running day. For example, if I eat a lot of sugar and junk the day before, my legs - especially my calves - feel really tight and painful the next day. I don't really know why... I've chalked it up to some form of mild, temporary gout or something like that.... in my mind... all the sugar and junk trickles down to my calves and makes the muscles sticky. Makes sense, right?

But for the most part, I can't figure out why some days I feel great and other days not so much. I haven't found any consistent correlation with sleep, hydration, time of day, etc. Anyway... today was a good day and that is something to be happy about. I was on the treddy this morning and did the first warm-up mile at my usual warm-up pace (8:40), but as I starting increasing the mph's I found that my legs, heart, and lungs were responding really well. I felt great and as a result, kept the pace under 8:10, which for me is a bit faster than usual... and I probably could have even ramped it up beyond that. Cool. Of course, I'm not naive enough to totally trust it... I'm sure it's an anomaly and I'll be back to huffing and puffing to maintain an 8:20 pace sometime soon. But that's fine... it was nice to have a good day today.

In trying to figger out why today, Seebo suggested that perhaps it was related to my biorhythms. I had heard the term before, but was not familiar with what it really meant. Apparently, this was big in the 70s when I was like three. So, of course, I Googled it.... and wouldn't you know.... looks like today is right about at my 'peak' in terms of my physical cycle... which, of course, relates to my "strength, health, and raw physical vitality".



Who knows, maybe I'll start planning my race calendar to coincide with the peaks in my biorhythm cycles.

6 miles in 49:08

Pitfall

I don't know why I'm so resistant to running some mornings. I didn't even have the cold to complain about as it was a balmy 54 degrees when I set out around 7am. I felt pretty good on the half mile jaunt to Tinicum and was looking forward to a good, quick run around the initial loop. However, when I got to the 'interesting' part of the loop, I quickly realized that I would be better served being sure of foot, rather than swift. I was reminded of that cool 80s video game, Pitfall, except there were no alligators, scorpions (that I saw), or gold.. but there was plenty of mud and I did worry about about falling. I didn't fall, but I did have several Scooby-Doo moments - you know where your feet are moving, but there's no traction and you're not going anywhere.

I tacked on a little bit at the end to give me just over 5 miles.

5.1 in 43:50.

Ciabatta or Bust

Today it took me almost 80 minutes to get a sandwich from the WaWa half a mile up the road. I guess you could say I took the long way. What might be more accurate might be to say that I did a destination run, or rather, a reward run. The reward being one of the most scrumptious sandwiches in the WaWa line-up.

In planning my neighborhood route for today's run, I wasn't originally planning on hitting the Wa at the end, but like so many great ideas, this one just came to me out of the blue. Inspired, really.

Anyway.... so the run itself was pretty good. I consciously wanted to take it easy today to try and regain some of the joyfulness of running that I seem to have been losing as of late. Since I've grown accustomed to Tinicum, the Drives, and the treddy, I knew that some of the hills on today's route would present a challenge. My goals were to take things fairly easy and just try to enjoy the run and to make it up the hills without feeling like death. And I was rewarded for my somewhat cautious approach... the run felt good, the hills were a challenge (yet, doable), and at the end of the run, I didn't feel toasted (unlike my Ciabatta, which is nice and toasted).

So now, my blog entry is done... and so is my delicious Ciabatta... yum. Unlike the picture above, I opted for the Build-Your-Own variety, which I had made with turkey, BBQ sauce, roasted peppers, Swiss cheese, and lettuce. I dare say it was as close to Ciabatta perfection as I have come in a long time.

9.15 in 1:19:26. Cool down of a half mile from WaWa to home - Ciabatta in hand.. untimed.

Dum-Dum Est Morte

Had a rough night last night, so I knew there was little chance I'd get out the door this morning for a run. I let myself sleep in a bit and packed some running stuff.... I packed for both indoor and outdoor running, since I didn't know what the day would bring. I'm glad I did that as I was at work later than I had expected. So, here I am, writing about yet another treadmill workout. I was really hoping to go down to the drives this afternoon, but it wasn't in the cards. A treddy run is better than no run at all.

I must have climbed on the same treddy as I did a few days ago because a mile and three quarters into my run, it shut down again. I think it would have restarted, but I decided not to press my luck and hopped on the neighboring one. Unfortunately, I lost my time for that mile and three quarters.... I know my initial warm up mile was 8:53, but the 3/4 mile time is lost to me. I know it was a quicker pace, but can't really say what it was.

When I moved over to the next machine, I felt like the calibration was different. Not sure whether the other treddy was fast or this one was slow.... it just felt different and now I'm deeply skeptical of the accuracy of treddies in general. Anyway, I felt pretty good during the remainder of my run. I was right when I wrote on Wednesday that I feel like I'm on the other side of my running funk.... still not back to feeling 100%, but much better than I was. The remaining 4.25 miles of my 6 mile run came in just under 35 minutes... a good sub-tempo pace for me.

A note about the title of this blog entry.... recently, my pet beta-fish, Dum-Dum passed away. He had been with me for over a year and I was a bit surprised he made it that far. Of course I feel somewhat responsible for his passing. He was a good fish... never complained when I took my sweet time cleaning his home. He appreciated that I used bottled water for his bowl and was never rude to guests. I will miss you Dum-Dum; I hope I was good to you.

Working through

So I'm hoping today will be the last day of not feeling good on my runs. I know why I didn't feel good Sunday... and when I did a quick two miles on the treddy yesterday, my legs felt like lead. Today was marginally better as I did my five, though I find that I am still working a lot harder to keep the pace I've been trying to keep. But, I'm hopeful that I'm over the hump and on the other side of this brief running funk, so I'm looking forward to Friday... we'll see what happens.

I returned to PT today as well and confessed my sins of lassitude. I didn't get spanked too hard by Mary Ellen, but had I seen Keith, I imagine he would have given me more of an earful. Hopefully though I'm back on track with doing what I'm supposed to be doing and my hip pain will again subside.

5.07 miles in 42:53 (mile 1 8:53, the rest at tempo pace (8:22).

Off Day

A cold, rainy winter's day.... making my decision to hit the gym an easy one. My left quad and knee were aching this morning after some serious salsa exercises yesterday. I tried to stretch it out before running to help the matter. This, combined with not such great dietary choices in the last several days made for a difficult time on the treadmill. I knew I wouldn't make it as far as I would have ideally liked (something around 9), but I was hoping to at least make it to six miles. I am also noticing some resurgence in the hip pain - probably due to the fact that I blew off PT last week and have not been such a good girl about my exercises.... see what happens when I start to make progress? I think it's all okay and I start to slack. Hopefully today will serve as the wake-up call I need to stay focused and on track.

Somehow I slogged through eight miles. The iPod was not as cooperative today - playing some of my less inspiring music.... had me seriously considering creating actual playlists rather than just putting it on shuffle. I felt pretty down on myself for having such a difficult run that ultimately fell short of what I wanted to accomplish. I try to keep it in perspective and keep in mind that now is a good time to have off days since there are no races on the immediate horizon.

Now - over two hours post run, my quad is still really sore and something isn't right with my knee. Just feels like salsa soreness though - and nothing more than that.

8 miles in 68 and a half minutes.

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans

While on the phone the other night with my friend Juliet, this saying came up. Googling it, I've learned that the quote is attributed to John Lennon. This phrase has been rolling around in my head quite a bit lately as I feel somewhat stuck in a rut. I have a lot of plans, a lot of things I want to do and accomplish... and I believe those things will happen... but right now it seems that I am in a bit of a time warp - the kind where everything slows down to a painful crawl and none of those plans or ideas seem even close to fruition. To combat this torpid state, I run faster.

Jumping on the treddy early this morning, I had no real plans, other than mileage. In fact, I planned on running a bit slower than I have been since I haven't been liking the pressure I've put on myself to speed up. Despite feeling like I was really barely running and wanting to speed up, I kept the first mile to just under nine minutes. And then something weird happened.. the treddy just shut down. I don't know why. I couldn't get it to come back on. Rather than try to figure out the art of treddy maintenance, I jumped on the neighboring one. I was pissed though, pissed that my workout had been so rudely interrupted.

It wasn't really a conscious decision to change 'the plan' and run faster, it kind of just happened. My body wanted to go faster; my legs were itching to turn over more quickly. I even wondered if this treadmill was calibrated right (who knows, maybe it wasn't... but we'll just go on the theory that it was). The next four and a half miles were kind of a blur. My iPod was cooperative, playing a mix of songs that were largely up tempo and with just the right amount of angst. The pace hovered right above 8 minute miles... those 4.5 came in at 36:24.

While on the one hand I feel good about the run, on the other, I don't feel like I can take credit for it entirely as it seemed fueled by things other than just my desire and ability to run.

Regression/Progression?

A cold, windy morning out on the drives. I think I need to update my winter running wardrobe. I knew when I started out on this run that it was going to be a chilly one and, really, I just wanted to get it over and done.

My first mile felt fast. I knew I was going faster than I probably should have, but damn, it was cold and windy and I was convincing myself that if I could just get around that next bend, the wind would die down a bit. Plus, I figured, the faster I ran, the faster I'd get warm. Mile 1 came in at 8:18 - which for me is a few seconds below tempo pace.. and, yes, probably a bit too fast for me for mile 1. Mile 2, still cold, but a little slower - 8:20.

I had in mind to do six total - three out, three back, but at this point I was feeling really tired, windblown, and did I mention cold?... so I opted to turn around at the 2 1/2 mile mark instead. This third mile was really hard for me for some reason. I knew I was slowing down and I didn't really care too much (mile 3 at 8:24).

Sometimes I think I put too much pressure on myself to try to run harder/faster each time I go out. This stands in sharp contrast to how I used to approach running. I have seen positive effects from this - my average mile time has come down about 30 or so seconds in the past year. But I also find that I am enjoying running in a different way. I was going to write "enjoying running less", but I'm not sure that really captures it. Yes, I do think it's true that I'm enjoying it less overall, but I have enjoyed the faster times I've run. I feel a sense of accomplishment.

I know I miss some of the camaraderie of running with Amy, but I also think that some of my enjoyment of running has faded because of this self imposed pressure to do better - i.e. run faster and, to some extent, run more miles. All in all, I've enjoyed my runs less in recent months. This reminded me of something I read on the PhillyRunners message board the other day about someone who was running in the Philly Marathon. He decided mid-marathon to just stop. This guy is an accomplished runner. He was having a good race, time-wise, but just didn't feel as though his heart was in the race. He had no motivation to continue and finish the race. Wow. I'm not there. I'm not feeling like I don't want to run.. and believe me, if I were having a good race (time-wise) I'm pretty damn sure I'd just stick it out and finish. I don't want to get to that point where the love for the sport it gone. And, really, I don't think I'm close to that, but this morning was a struggle.

Anyway.... getting on with it. So... miles 1,2, & 3 got progressively slower... but again, right around tempo pace. Mile 4 I dropped it back down to 8:20. I kept making those little deals with myself to try to keep from stopping. It seemed to work. I was very glad to get to the last mile... so much so, that I ran it in 8:04.

All in all 5 miles in 41:25.

Post-Gluttony Penance

I hope everyone had as wonderful of a Thanksgiving weekend as I did. My brother and sister-in-law were in town from Thursday until Sunday evening. We managed to fit in a run on Friday (see last entry), but opted for some dance classes (specifically Bachata and Salsa) on Sunday instead of running. On the one hand, I did not miss lacing up for that long run... on the other hand, I knew that if I didn't get it in, I'd feel like a big bloated stuffing monger. So, since I had the day off yesterday (Monday), I decided I needed to do it. Of course, this decision only came after some whining about how cold and wet it was outside. Wah!

I have really no clue exactly how far I went, since I decided to forgo possibly encountering Tinicum mud puddles and opted instead for the mean streets of Delco. If I really, really wanted to, I could probably G-map it with some degree of accuracy, but I don't have the time or inclination to do so.

The run itself was just okay. I had some of the highly acclaimed Interpol on the iPod, which I liked and helped get me through most of my run. The hip felt pretty good. I really think the PT is doing some good!

I ran for exactly 77 minutes and given that it felt like a pretty quick, typical-tempo pace, let's call it a little over 9 miles.

Two-fer

I have ample excuses for not blogging... though I don't like that I've fallen behind on my entries. I ran on Wednesday and had all sorts of thoughts about what I'd say in my entry for that run, of course I've forgotten mostly all of them. I even knew what the title was going to be: I Heart Global Warming.... sort of. As you might recall, Wednesday was unseasonably warm. Originally, I had pants and a long sleeve shirt on, but as soon as I opened the door and felt the warm air, I turned right back around and changed into a tank top.

I made it out for my run somewhat later than is usual for me(due to a really, really late salsa night). Ran out to the track - did a mile at the track - and then headed home again. I felt okay... not great, but okay. There are a few 'hills' en route to the track, reminding me that hills are really something I should be adding to my repertoire. By the time I got out to the track, I was pretty warm and feeling kind of down about how much that last hill before the track kicked my butt. I did the mile at a comfortably hard pace - which turned out to be 7:48. Then, back home... and I enjoyed the downhills.

This morning, Scott, Sarah, and I headed out to try to undo some of the Thanksgiving damage. We did the initial loop of Tinicum. I expected to feel not so great with the food/wine hangover, but I felt pretty good. In contrast to Wednesdays run, it was quite cool (in the 30s or low 40s) with a good stiff wind. I was a little nervous running the interesting part of the loop. While the fall colors are beautiful, most of those colors are now in the form of fallen leaves on the trail - obscuring tree roots, rocks, and holes in the trail. Fortunately, all went well (my proprioception seems to be functioning pretty well).

I didn't worry about time during this run, as it was more about going out, post gluttony, and sharing Tinicum with Scott and Sarah. I felt good, though and felt like my pace was pretty quick... around tempo pace.

Weds - probably just shy of 5 miles in 40mins.
Friday - again, a little under 5 miles - and I'm not sure of the time.

100th Post

Wow, that went pretty quickly. Here I am at my one hundredth post on this blog; I'm impressed with myself that I've stuck with this that long. Of course at one point I could have said the same thing about running.

The Philly marathon was today, which quashed any ideas I might have had about going down to the drives. The forecast for the morning wasn't great - good chance of rain, windy, and on the cold side. I had thoughts about the hamster wheel. It's funny, as much as I complain when I have to run on that thing, I still look to it for comfort when faced with possibly not so nice weather conditions. I knew I'd never make it for the nine or so miles I was hoping to do today on the treadmill, but I entertained ideas of running the 3 miles out and back to the gym to run three or so more in the relative comfort of the treddy. This was ridiculous, I decided. How could I say no to Tinicum in the fall? The answer, of course, is that I couldn't.

I've always been envious of those who can hash through lots of things in their minds while they run. Usually, for me, I don't do too much serious thinking during my runs. Today, I tried to make myself think. Towards the beginning of my run, I was thinking about all the things I have to do for work, studying, the upcoming holidays, etc. I didn't like that train of thought, so I let it go.

One thought that kept coming up for me was the idea of being alone. I've been kicking about the idea of being alone in a number of different ways lately. Of course, most immediately, I thought of how I was running alone and how that's been a fact of my running in the last few months. Amy has been out of commission, running wise. I miss her. I miss the camaraderie, the 'deep thoughts' we would come up with during our runs together. I miss having someone beside me to push me when I needed pushing and to suffer along side of me during those miles that never seem to end. And, of course, its harder to get myself out the door on a morning like this morning if there is no one waiting on me.

On the other side of the coin, there is something nice about being alone. I alone set the pace. If I want to go faster, I go faster.... if I want to slow down, I can do that as well. Running alone is also highly consistent with my sometimes all too existentialist way of looking at life. This is sometimes a good thing and sometimes not - depending on the day and how far I take it. Today, I felt a lot of ambivalence about my solitary state. Neither unhappy, nor content.

All of those ruminations aside.... the run itself felt pretty good. I was facing a stiff headwind for about 70% of the time I was out there. Fortunately, the rain held off to a just a sprinkle here and there - nothing too bothersome. Tinicum was quiet - saw a handful of humans, some in groups, others alone like me. I was the only runner - something that gave me pride, but also had me feeling lonesome.

The hip remains feeling pretty good. I'm cautiously optimistic. There was a bit of awareness of the pain initially, but not nearly as bad as it's been and, as is usual, it faded after the first two miles. This makes me happy.

9.4 in 79min 2sec.

Day Late

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know, blogging takes work. Honestly, though I've got enough going on with other types of work to worry too much about blogging.

Did a treadmill workout yesterday. The hip is still feeling good (knock on wood, touch black, throwing salt over my left shoulder, all that stuff). I took the first mile easy at right around 9 minute pace. The rest were progressively faster. No, I don't know the splits, but I do know that overall, I averaged tempo pace.

5 miles in 41:45

Tedium

Wednesdays are horrible days for me to blog. I'm just too damn busy. Luckily, there isn't too much to say. Hamster wheel morning. Lately I can't seem to quite find my groove on the treadmill. I find that my stride feels different and I'm more prone to having shoulder pain while I run than if I'm running outside.

As far as the hip issue goes. It's still an issue. As bored as I am with dealing with it and writing about it, I'm thinking that it might actually be helpful to me (and my PTs) to keep better track of when I have pain and when I don't. I find that it's sporadic and fairly unpredictable - at least it seems that way - though, maybe if I track it better, I'll be able to see some sort of pattern.

Of course, it's always there when I start out on a run and today was no exception. I didn't have the more intense pain as badly during those initial 200 or so steps, but it did linger for about the first two miles or so before fading away (either due to adrenaline, me just ignoring it, or to it actually going away... I don't know). But I am noticing it more during times when I'm just walking during the normal activities of my day. Today, so far (late afternoon), it hasn't been bothering me at all (except for when I was running).

A boring 5 in 42:25

Heavenly Day

What a beautiful fall day. Can you believe I was practically whining as I headed out the door for my run? I only wanted to do the figure eight loop, which would give me about eight and a half since I'm still kind of "on the mend"... so believe it or not, I drove the stinkin' half mile to and from Tinicum. I actually think this made a bit of a difference for me psychologically - it's just nice to not run that stretch of highway with the carbon-monoxide and the ever present road kill.

This was the longest I've run since the Delaware Distance Run. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel, so I made a deal with myself to take it at a reasonable pace and just try to enjoy the run. I felt pretty darn good throughout. After about five miles, I knew I was getting tired, but I still felt good. Towards the end - like the last two miles - I was still feeling good, so I did little fartleks here and there.

The hip wasn't too bad... even on the start up. Interestingly, while on a walk yesterday, it bothered me almost the whole time. Go figure.

Well, anyway.... it was a really good run and it was nice to know that even though I haven't run more than 6ish miles in over a month that I can still go out there and tear up Tinicum.

8.56 in 71:30

Hibernation

Okay, I'm starting to get the point that winter is here - or is, at least, very close. Given the warm days we had all through October, I've been reluctant to relent to the notion that it is getting colder outside - and the days are shorter than they were. Boo and Hiss to both of these things. As I thought about my run for today, I figured a hamster wheel jaunt was probably the way it would go since I wanted to get it done early.

As I climbed into my car to drive to the gym around 5:30, I had that cold and sleepy feeling that reminded me of doing just this very same thing last winter. That's pretty much when it hit me that, despite the Indian summer we had, winter is, indeed coming. I thought about the upcoming months of cold, possible snow, and darkness and all I wanted to do was crawl back into my warm bed to sleep. The hibernation instinct kicking in. But instead, I went to the hamster wheel.... which got me thinking.... Do hamsters hibernate? (Guess you'll have to click the link to find out).

Anyway... there isn't too much to write about hamster wheel workouts, at least for me. I had a bit less pain this morning as I started my run. Hopefully that means the PT is working.

5 miles in 43:05

Mindfull

A perfect fall morning for running - sunny skies, crisp air. I ran this route - mostly the initial Tinicum loop with a tiny neighborhood piece tacked on at the end to try to stretch it to five miles.

I've been good about keeping up with my PT, doing my exercises daily and trying to keep track of how my hip feels. The first 200 or so steps of my run this morning were definitely the worst - almost enough to make me not want to keep going. Almost, but not quite. Eventually, it did ease up.

Tinicum was quiet this morning. There was a fairly stiff headwind that was pretty constant, despite the fact that I was running a loop... reminded me of the drives. No wildlife to speak of. There were a lot of random thoughts tumbling around in my head during the run, though I can't put my finger on a single one right now. Mostly work related, life related... contemplating my future... that kind of thing.

The running felt pretty good, once the hip pain subsided. At some points during my run, I felt that my cardiovascular capacity exceeded my muscular ability to run faster. I don't know if this is common or not. I hate to say it, but it had me thinking that I need to do some hills and/or think about the track again. We shall see.

For now, though, I'm trying to focus on my rehab and count among my blessings that I am able to run.

5.07 in 43:15

Bridge Run

This morning was the Bridge Run - which (kind of) starts and ends at Campbell's Field (home of the ferocious Camden Riversharks. Mmm, mmm, good.). I didn't have high hopes for this race. Given that I've been dealing with an injury, and that my running has been waylaid in the process, I wasn't sure until about a week and a half/two weeks ago that I'd be running it at all. Even as I drove home from salsa last night, I thought about ditching it. I wasn't relishing the idea of ending the fall running season on a down note. I'm happy to report, it didn't go down that way.

Seebo (in all his hobbled-glory) lined up with me amongst the plebeians. I could tell this made him jittery, but I think it was good for him... to see how the other half live. As is customary, there isn't much running when you're in the thick of the pack for the first two hundred yards of the race and from there, there's a lot of bobbing and weaving through the masses for at least a quarter mile. Now, since this run starts at the base of the Ben Franklin Bridge (on the NJ side), it's all uphill for the first 3/4 of a mile. Doesn't seem like it when you're in the comfy confines of your sedan, but when you're hoofing it, the 'gradual incline' is a force to be reckoned with. Being in the thick of the crowd probably helped me keep the first mile at a good starting off pace (8:27ish). Right towards the end of that first mile, you're headed down the other side of the bridge. It was fun to cruise down the other side - kind of like a reward for the climb that started the race.

Not having checked out the course map before hand, I didn't realize that the turn around comes immediately at the foot of the other side of the bridge (in PA). Somehow, in my mind, we cruised the streets of Philly before heading back up and over the bridge again. Nope. Ok.... so just as I was all smiley and happy-feeling with the down hill, I realized that what was going down was going to go up, and up, and up again... in short order. Ok, fine. So up I went. Mile 2 came in under 8 minutes. Good. Money in the bank, as they say.

Coming up the other side of the bridge was difficult. I was sucking some decent wind, but then there was the sweet reward of the downhill again. I like downhill. Mile 3 came in somewhere around 7:49, which is faster than I have any business running right now - even if it is downhill. I paid for those two sub-8 miles later though. Mile 4 felt good and I was cruising at around an 8:10 pace.

I don't know what happened during mile 5. Maybe I shouldn't have haggled so long over the price of some rock. Get it?.. I'm in Camden... buying some crack... ok... not funny... sorry.. just trying to come up with some reason why mile 5 took me 8:37. No good excuse. The last mile and change felt pretty good. I should have looked at the course map beforehand because the finish line kind of snuck up on me. Finish time (by my watch) was 50:36.

So I end the fall racing season with another PR (by over two and a half minutes). I am very happy and, given my low expectations for this race, pleasantly surprised.

*** ADDENDUM ***
Chip time was 50:35.
537th in 2034 10k participants.
13th among women aged 30-34.
1st place in the Rebecca division (out of five)!!!

On the Mend

This afternoon was my first Physical Therapy session. Keith was very nice and seemed knowledgeable. He put me through many of the same motions Dr. Collina did as well as a few others. Based on his assessment, his best guess is that there is one (or maybe a combination) of three things going on. One: I have a "sports hernia"; Two: I have scar tissue in that area (rectus femorus) from a past injury/wear and tear and that's rubbing against the hip joint; and Three: I have early arthritis. Either way, he gave me an elastic band-thingy along with instructions for two strengthening exercises and one stretching exercise. I'll be a good patient and do these daily. We shall see what happens.

In the meantime, his prescription was to run! Run and keep track of the pain. Being the obedient patient that I am, I went right out for a run.. a quick 4.25 (in 36) - that'll do for now. As is usual, the pain was there mostly in the beginning but eased up after about two, two and a half miles. And, again, it's pain I can live with. So I guess I'm happy with how things are going right now. I forgot to ask him if I can go back to regular mileage - but I'll ask him next week, no biggie. I did remember to ask him if he thought my salsa dancing was in any way related or contributing to the problem. He confirmed what I already knew... its not. Salsa would never hurt me! (Never mind the two inch long gash that's finally healing after two weeks on the top of my right foot - those salseras in their heels can be dangerous!)

The Bridge Run is Sunday. I'm signed up for it, but not feeling in racing mode with all that's gone on lately. Plus, I have some serious salsa plans with Jill for Saturday night. My only saving grace may be the fact that we set the clocks back an hour Saturday night/Sunday morning, so that will give me an extra hour for sweet sleep.

The fall racing season for me started out pretty well. I PRed in three races. While I'm disappointed that things have kind of petered out towards the end, I'm thankful for the good races I had and am looking forward to a healthy spring season.

Happy Halloween!

This was one of those mornings where the warmth of the bed holds you prisoner. I didn't mind. I would have stayed there gladly for another hour or so, but I could see the sunshine already warming the day. We don't get many days like this and I know that and to forfeit the opportunity to run outside on a day like today would have been criminal. So I peeled myself out of bed, laced up and headed out.

I opted for a neighborhood route this morning. Since it's Halloween, I figured I'd see what the inhabitants of Prospect Park, Norwood, and the neighboring boroughs had to offer in the way of decorations. Of course, they did not disappoint... all sorts of spiderwebs and other silliness... and, of course, pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins.

I tried to be uber aware of my how my hip felt throughout this run.. and not just my hip... but how I felt, in general. I've somehow gotten into this mindset that I'm not as fit as I was a few weeks ago because of my brief hiatus and because of my decrease in mileage (though, I have not been strictly adhering to the 'cut mileage in half' instruction I had been given). As usual, the hip was troublesome in the beginning of the run... for about the first two miles and then the pain subsided a bit. It does not go away completely, but it's less of a (pardon the pun) pain. By the end of the run, I really felt great. Cardiovascularly I felt better than I have in a while, which was nice.

I'm scheduled to see the PT on Friday. I'll be interested to see what he has to say. I'm hoping, at the very least, to learn a little something to help improve my running, my fitness, and to help me avoid injury in the future. Of course, I'm hoping for some help with this hip thing as well, but part of me wonders if this will just turn out to be a mystery injury/pain that I'll have to learn to deal with from here on out. We shall see.

5 miles in 42:35

Breezy like Sunday morning

It's hard to keep up with Amy's busy travelling schedule. One weekend, she's in Vegas, the next New Orleans... so planning a run with her takes some doing. We managed to get together today for a bit of a run. We're both on the injured-but-recovering list, so we planned on doing a pretty tame six (3 out, 3 back) along Kelly Drive.

Originally, we had planned to do the Sebeka loop of Tinicum, but given the fact that it had rained for nearly four days straight (the animals were starting to line up two by two), we decided to forgo that route in favor of the paved safety of the Art Museum area. Of course, the trademark head-winds-in-every-direction were blowing steadily. The first two miles were pretty good... my hip was 'talking' to me a bit, telling me that she liked it better when we didn't run, but I ignored her and hoped she'd quiet down... which she did, a bit.

The first two miles went by in 18:05 - not a bad pace for two semi-injured lasses battling a stiff headwind. Unfortunately, Amy wasn't feeling great... so she opted to slow down her pace a bit but encouraged me to go on. I took her up on that and decided to see about picking it up a bit now that I was good and warmed up. Mile 3 went by in 8:20, mile 4 in 8:14, and miles 5 & 6 in 8:17... making for six miles in 51:13. I felt pretty good on those last four miles and felt like another mile or two would have been tolerable. Still, I'm trying to be a bit conservative until I go to PT and try to figure out how to fix this hip thing once and for all.

Holding pattern

I made good on my promise to schedule my PT appointment. I'm all set for next Friday. Of course, since nothing is ever as easy as it should be, I learned that the PT my doctor wants me to see is not part of the capitated PT center that my crappy HMO (Keystone Healthplan East) wants me to go to. Fortunately for me, though, the PT guy (Keith Wobeser) was very nice about it and agreed to work with me a bit on the cost. Very sporting of him.

This morning I was not feeling like dealing with the cold and rain, so I hamster wheeled it. There isn't really much for me to write about the run. Five miles in 43:30. I want to run more, but I'm trying to be a good girl and continue to follow 'orders' to reduce my mileage. Hopefully once I get PT underway, I'll be given the green light to resume my regular running schedule. But for now, I'll hold steady.

I am definitely still in a funk with this whole hip thing. I'm frustrated that there is no definitive answer for what is going on. As I've been easing back into the running, the pain is still there. My first run back wasn't bad, but I can tell that it's getting a little bit worse each time I run. Of course, it's not stopping me. While I am frustrated by the whole thing (and the limitations it puts on me), I am thankful that I am still able to run a bit.

Falling off the Wagon

So far, I've been pretty good about following doctor's orders. I made and kept all my appointments, did the MRI and X-ray in a timely manner, laid off the running, all that good stuff. For some reason though, now my O.D.D. is showing. I've had the PT referral for almost a week now and haven't done anything about scheduling an appointment. My excuses are as follows:

1) I've been really busy.
2) I can't imagine how I'm going to fit the prescribed 2-3 PT session a week in my schedule.
3) I don't even want to think how much this will cost me in co-pays.

I know, I know... excuses are like bellybuttons - everyone's got one. I'll do it. I'll do it tomorrow. I promise.

So... anyway... today I ran five miles in 44:50.

Update

Sheesh... a lot has happened since last I wrote. I'll keep this pretty minimal: Had an MRI (aka my $60 nap), had some X-rays... they didn't show what they were expecting to find (femoral neck stress fracture). This is good news. But they did find something amiss in the bone marrow of my right femur. "What does that mean?" you ask. Good question. It could be a stress related injury from running (and that is the popular consensus), or it could be an 'incidental finding' (meaning, they just stumbled upon it doing the MRI and it's unrelated to my pain). No one is thinking it's bone cancer - though, of course, that term got thrown around initially just for shits and giggles. So the long and the short of it is they don't really 100% know what was/is wrong with my hip. They're sending me for a short course of PT to help work on some tendon stuff in my hips and some core strengthening.

The best part of it is that I've been given the green light to run again (YEAH!!!)... however, I have to cut my mileage in half (booooo!) for the time being. I can live with that compromise. So, Friday I ran 3.1 in right around 25 and today I ran about 4 in 36. The hip pain is still there, but a week's worth of rest seems to have helped as the pain is about half (or less) what it used to be.

The Bridge Run is in two weekends and since I've already paid for it and am allowed to run... I'm going to do it. I'll likely do a 5k with some friends sometime in November, but I think my racing for the fall is over.

BOO & HISS

So I went to the doctor's office today to see about this hip pain I've been having for the last month and a half. I didn't know what they'd tell me... though I was sure of one thing... that if they told me not to run, I wouldn't listen. With referral in hand, I went over to the Healthlex in Springfield to see Dr. Collina. Nice facility... nice guy... seemed to know his stuff.

I've never been to a sports medicine doctor before, so it was interesting to see how they do their exams - checking strength, balance, flexibility, mobility, etc. He did all sorts of 'tests', which included pressing on the tendons in my hip/pelvic area. I'm not sure what he learned from that other than I am extremely ticklish. All of this just seemed to confirm what I had been saying all along - which is that it does not feel muscular and it does not feel like a tendon issue. Based on my reports and what he discerned from the various motions he put me through, he said that, most likely, I have a stress fracture - more specifically.... a femoral neck stress fracture.
In order to confirm the diagnosis, I have a prescription for an X-ray and an MRI. Joy. In the meantime, I've been forbidden to run. At all. Of course, I objected.. at which point I received a stern warning that if I choose to run, I'm putting myself at risk for a displaced stress fracture... which is apparently more serious and will cause me a lot more grief in terms of treatment. Blah, blah, blah. So I agreed to give it a week - In the mean time, I'll get the X-ray and the MRI and go back to see Dr. Collina next Friday.

I wish I could say that I'm a stranger to stress fractures, but I'm not. I have had, and likely still have, a tibial stress fracture... also in my right leg. This I've (kind of) dealt with and have learned to manage successfully over the years.

Also... interesting tidbit I learned today. I've always known redheads are special, but today I learned that along with all of the wonderful things and many blessings of being a redheaded, speckled being... there are some, shall we say, costs. According to the fine doctor at the Healthplex, redheads are genetically 'different' in a number of subtle ways from lesser, I mean other, humans. One way that we are different has to do with our collagen - which is the main component in our bones. Apparently, this difference makes us more suceptable to injuries such as stress fractures.

So, I'll try to be a good girl and lay off the running at least until I get the X-ray and MRI. It's very disappointing as I was really starting to see some positive changes in my running. Boo and Hiss.

Little Red Corvette

I was out a bit late last night (salsa... what else) so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this morning's run. I'm not used to a late night before my Wednesday runs, but I had that eye-of-the-tiger feeling for some reason.

I already knew I'd be doing the Seebeka loop in Tinicum. Some impressive rain storms had rolled through last night, making a few puddles here and there and restoring some of the car wash properties to the Interesting Part of the loop, but conditions were good. Overall a quiet morning... lots of mist and moisture hanging about. I thought I'd see more wildlife, but the sightings were limited to the usual cranes, a deer here and there, and one Felis silvestris catus.... something I haven't seen in Tinicum before.

I've run this route enough times now that I'm starting to really know every nook and cranny. While in some ways, this can lead to boredom, in other ways, it's liberating. I know where the roots and burrows lie on the interesting part... I know how many bends there are in the trail before you pop out the other side... and this knowledge allows me more control over my run.

Like I said earlier, I kind of had the eye-of-the-tiger feeling this morning and really was in the mood to tackle the run. Now, I've had this feeling before and then wound up feeling disappointed in my body for not rising to meet the challenges I place upon it in the manner I would like. Today felt different. Today, I felt in control. I was working pretty hard (really hard, at times), but I felt like my body was doing what I wanted it to do... speeding up when I wanted to, holding steady, slowing a bit, etc. I don't know how else to describe it other than I kind of felt like the car and the driver at the same time. That was a new expereince for me.

I feel like my running has changed a lot in the past six or so months. I have to admit to having mixed feelings about it. It's fun and exciting to run faster and see results from the work I've put in. On the other side of the coin, I feel more pressure now in my running than I ever did before. It hasn't gotten to this point yet, but I do worry about that taking some of the fun and enjoyment out of it for me. Like all things, I suppose, it's about finding the balance.

6.5 in 54:40.

Maybe I was wrong

It happens once in a blue moon... with about the frequency of Haley's comet... sometimes I am wrong, or mistaken, rather. It's been about a month or so now since the evil Bruce took over Nancy's spin class on Tuesday mornings. As you may know, I am not a fan of Bruce's. However, he has been slowly but surely winning me over. I haven't heard him mention how many classes he's done/will do in several weeks now. He's even gotten on a bike himself in recent weeks! And even beyond all that... he has really good music. Today was an interesting mix - some 80's pop, some Springsteen, and even Seebo's favorite song. And, yes, the workout is good too.

After spin class... jumped on the treddy for 2.25 in 19.

Delaware Distance Classic* LBRR (Schwag!)

A year ago, I ran this race for the first time. It was an unusual race for me - first of all, it was in Wilmington (I didn't know there was anything in Wilmington other than credit card companies)... secondly, it was a 15k - a strange distance too. And I went down there not knowing a soul... and there were Kenyans. I was intimidated and almost went home without running. But I did it, had a good time, and met a wonderful man.

Flash forward to today - no Kenyans, there were a few now-familiar faces, and from the temperature, you couldn't tell that it was the beginning of October. Even before race time (8:30), the sun was making itself known and it was already in the low 70s. Fine. It was going to be hot. I was just eager to get started so I could get finished and have some delicious muffins.

I think because I was so eager to get this over and done, I went out too fast.... my first mile coming in right around 8 minutes - not far off from my 5k pace from last weekend. Not smart, I know. I'm usually good about not doing that. Around mile 2, I met a woman named Kelly and we chatted for a bit and kept pace together. She's training for a marathon in about a month. She said that her goal for today was to finish under 1:20. That seemed ambitious for me given the heat and my time for last year (1:24), but I thought I'd try to hang with her for as long as I could.

Mile 2 came in around 8:20. Three and four weren't much slower than that - 8:25ish for both, if memory serves correctly. That's about when the heat started to get to me. There are long, long stretches of this course that are not shaded. The sun was brutal. I took water at all of the water stops (except the last) and I walked a bit as I downed and doused myself with some water.

Somewhere around mile six I was thinking that I would have been wise to have brought a Gu or something - though I can't imagine how I would have choked down the thing being as dehydrated as I was. The last three plus miles are kind of a blur. I definitely slowed down. I think there were at least two miles that were 8:45 pace... and I know the last mile was about a 9 minute mile pace. At that point though, I was just glad that it would be over soon.


With Kelly just ahead of me, I finished in 1:19:40. I was really happy to have finished under 1:20. Like I said, it was rough out there, but I felt proud that I did not give up and I kept pushing. Took me a little while to cool down afterwards, but when I did I was rewarded for my efforts with a delicious muffin, some strawberries, and some Mimosas (courtesy of Seebo).

Kelly found me later and told me that I had won 3rd for my age group! (She won second.) I was so excited... that's a first for me. Good thing she told me, otherwise I probably would have left without collecting my plaque! And while it is a nice plaque.... it's not nearly as nice as the schwag I got last year!



*This race was nearly renamed the Amy V. Memorial Run yesterday. Yes, as in the Amy that I run with. Indulge me a brief story.... So I'm all set to meet my super-responsible, conscientious pal Amy for a little Ardmore Farmer's Market breakfast Saturday morning. She texted me the night before: "How about 930 tomorrow?" I confirmed the plans and headed over to her apartment. Granted, I was about five or seven minutes late when I arrived at Amy's apartment. I knocked and waited. Nothing. I knocked again, louder this time. Again, nothing. Hmmm. I call her house phone and leave a message. I call her cell phone and leave a message. Now I'm officially starting to worry. Her car is parked in the lot... she must be here. Hmmm. Now I'm starting to really worry. Nope, no signs of 'forced entry' into her apartment.

The mailman arrives and delivers the mail without ceremony. Do I tell him that I'm worried that she's on the floor, dead? Nah... too crazy. But his delivery of the mail gives me an idea. I peek through the mail slot. In doing so, I have a clear visual shot up the steps that lead directly to Amy's apartment - lights are off... all looks quiet. Hmmmm. I call again. Pressing my ear against the open mail slot, I can hear her apartment phone ring, and ring, and go to voicemail. I try the cell phone again - listening.... the ring tone for Amy's cell plays........"Breathe... just breathe....", sings a lovely lilting voice and all I can think is YES, AMY... BREATHE!!!... because now I'm convinced that she's dead on the floor. I don't know what to do. I leave her crazy, desperate, pathetic messages on her phones.

Amy would never leave her apartment without her cell phone - especially when she's supposed to meet somebody. None of this is adding up. I feel helpless... I don't know what to do. I think about all the horrible possible fates that could have befallen my dear friend, Amy. She's had anaphylaxis before... maybe that's what happened.... maybe she drank too much last night and aspirated in her sleep.... maybe someone (carefully) broke into her apartment, had their way with her and then murdered her... maybe she ... oh who knows!?!?

I decide that I should walk to the Farmer's Market on the off chance she's there. I know she's not though... and the guilt over leaving her alone at the apartment overwhelms me and I can barely force my feet to cross Montgomery Avenue. As I do.. I see an omen... a black squirrel.... don't ask me what that means, but I'm sure it's bad. And then I see a BLUE PARAKEET!!!.... just hanging out. What is a bird like this doing 'in the wild'? It's another omen... an even worse one than the black squirrel.... I don't know why, but it is. I'm beside myself... am I dreaming.... I hope?

Almost as I round the corner, I see a lovely redhead walking with a young man ... with a bakery bag from the market. I have to look at her hard, three times before I can make sure that I can let myself believe that it's Amy. As we greet each other, she realizes that I am not okay... I'm a dork... I start to cry... so overwhelmed with relief that my dear friend is not dead. Phew!!! I think Brian (her beaux) must think I'm insane... but if you know Amy like I know Amy, you know that this type of disappearing act is hugely out of character. I was glad to later learn that I'm not the only crazy friend Amy has.... Her friend Leigh nearly called the cops to report a missing person when Amy was 20 minutes late to work.

So.. the race name will remain the Delaware Distance Classic... and thankfully, Amy is alive!!!

Run of the (tread)Mill

I went to the gym after work and ran on the treadmill. 6 miles in 52:16. The end.

No..... That's too easy. But really, how much can be said about a treddy run? First mile was slow-ish - over 9 minute mile. Second mile a little, but not much under 9. Did tempo pace for miles three and four and part of five. Slowed it down a little for the last one and a half. The only thing that made this workout a bit different was that I added more incline than usual throughout the run.... not so much during the tempo parts, but more so in the beginning and at the end.

I felt good cardiovascularly. It's just the damn hip. I really feel like I'm doing it no favors, especially when I run at tempo pace. Of course that doesn't stop me. One week until I see the doctor. I'll pay my co-pay of $20 or whatever it is so he can tell me to stop running so I can ignore him.

Paying attention

Wednesday morning down on The Drives again. Or 'Drive', I should say as really, I'm only doing an out and back along Kelly Drive - three each way. Ashley had a test to study for late night last night so I was alone today. Again, I was pondering the whole upcoming Daylight Savings time thing. Now I consider myself a fairly smart cookie, but for some reason, I have a really hard time wrapping my head around the whole time/space continuum of the seasonal time change. Just when I have myself convinced that once the time changes it will be lighter in the morning, I realize.. no... I'm wrong, it will be darker earlier... and then I talk myself out of that again. You'd think that the experience of going through 33 years of 'springing forward' and 'falling back' would have helped me know what to expect... but somehow.. not so much. Okay.. enough of that - let's talk running. (But, in fairness, this is what I thought about the entire first mile of my run).

My plan was to do another tempo-ish kind of run like I did last week. First mile was a warm up and came in at 9:01. Second mile was 8:40, third 8:30. Don't you like how I payed attention to my splits this time? Fancy, huh? Picked it up a little for the back three. Fourth mile came in at 8:15. I decided... okay.... pick it up a bit and push it for the fifth mile and you can reward yourself by backing off on the last mile. So I did; fifth mile came in at 8:05. I did ease up a little for the last mile, but I just wanted it to be over and done and when you know it's close, it's kind of hard to slow down. Last mile came in at 8:10. Not bad... three miles below tempo pace. I wondered if there was some fancy running term for this kind of run. I later learned that it's called a Progression Run when you do each mile faster than the last. Makes sense.. isn't very creative though. So I guess this was a progression run... big whoop.

A note on the hip problem I've been having: It's still there. I made a doctor's appointment for next Friday. I have, of course, been trying to self diagnose, looking up things like bursitis and other common hip running injuries. Nothing is really jumping out at me. My hope is that now that my hip knows I mean business (making a doctor's appointment is almost unheard of for me), it will straighten up and fly right. Of course, I'll do what I can to aggravate it between now and then - by doing things like progression runs and maybe even a race on Sunday. We'll see.

6 miles in 50:41

By the way... I was the second fastest Rebecca at the Parkway Run (out of 11).

The Reba Uniform

Pics are from the Parkway Run on Sunday. Photo credit to Seebo. He also pointed out that this is the Reba Uniform for most of the races I've run lately. What can I say... he's right... guess that's all the excuse I need to go shopping.

Parkway Run

You can't really have a LBRR for a 5k, can you? I think not, so this will be brief. Parkway Run was this morning - a beautiful day in downtown Philly, sunny and cool. This was my first time doing this particular race and I was impressed with the number of runners, spectators, and team tents lining Logan's Circle. Sometimes it's easy to forget that races are typically fundraising events for a worthy cause. This particular one benefits children's cancer research. There were a number of different teams that appeared to have been organized to benefit, honor, or remember a particular child. Making that connection was bittersweet. This was the first time I had ever encountered something like that on this scale.

For the most part, I was running this run solo. I had tried, and failed, to get others to join me, but that didn't work out for various reasons. And, of course, poor Seebo is still laid up with his cankle. Poor guy. Last year the team he was on won the team competition for the run and walked away with a very sweet prize (dinner for 10 at The Fountain). Luckily for me, I met Seebo at about the right time and was able to partake in the dinner as well. This year, I'd have to be satisfied with the post-race brunch. Works for me.

The race started about 15 minutes late, which was a little frustrating and made me wonder whether the 'warm up' I did was really going to make much of a difference after standing around, packed into the crowd of runners before the dang thing started. I had been warned that the beginning of the race was a bit nuts. The race begins by looping around Logan Circle... this makes the usual bunching up at the start of every race even worse as runners try to jockey for the inner track. And, of course, you have the large 'teams' of folks who like to stick together. Swimming through them is no easy feat! I did my best to get through without being too rude or throwing too many elbows. It wasn't until about a minute and a half into the run that I even sort of felt like I was able to actually run.

First mile went by at 8:10. I was neither happy or disappointed by this. Like I've said in previous posts, I don't know much what to do with 5ks as they are an unfamiliar racing distance for me. That and given that I'm a workhorse, not a thoroughbred... built to go the distance and get the job done, but not quickly. I didn't feel great during the first mile and wasn't sure how the rest was going to go. Mile two was a few seconds under 16 minutes, so obviously I was picking up speed. Helped that I didn't have to throw any elbows during that second mile too (not that I didn't want to). I felt better by this point and knew that I'd likely improve my best 5k time.

The third mile wasn't marked (or if it was, I didn't see it). Not sure I had much of a 'kick' left at the end, but I tried to get my heiny over the finish line before the clock read 25 minutes, which I did. Can't remember what the clock time said exactly, but my watch time was 24:32. I was pretty happy, not thrilled, but satisfied. Like I had said, going into this I didn't really know what to expect. My last sane 5k was about two years ago (Jingle Bell run) and my time was a little over 26 minutes. My running has changed a lot since then. I can't tell if this is as much of an improvement as I should have expected, or if I should have been shooting for more. Either way, I have a new PR and had a nice brunch with Seebo and company while soaking up some sunshine. A good day. (So much for this not being long.)

Dumb and Dumber

I am a morning person. I like being a morning person. There is nothing quite like getting up with (or before) the sun and accomplishing something before much of the world (or at least this section of it) rouses from slumber. Running fits this bill nicely. I like going into work having already run X number of miles - it's a good way to start my day.

Today I did a lot of things differently. For starters, I took a mental health day from work. Really, all this meant was that I was kind-of working from home. I didn't set my alarm clock last night and savored laying in bed for those extra moments this morning.... so much so that I decided to postpone my run for the afternoon. Dumb. Part of why I delayed it was because I knew I was hoping to go long today instead of Sunday - given that the Parkway run is Sunday.

I did the Tenicum, plus a little extra in the beginning around the neighborhood (took the long way out of my complex) to give me about 10.3. Not much to say about the run other than it F-ING SUCKED! Why on earth I decided to run at the hottest part of the day, I'll never know. The sun beat down on me and the steady headwind dried me out, making for one miserable run. I was pissed at myself for being so stupid. I tried to think as I suffered through that this was good for me and was making me a stronger runner, but even I couldn't make myself believe such drivel. Did I mention that I was miserable?

Okay... nuff said... lesson learned (hopefully). Incidentally, I weighed myself pre and post run just for shits and giggles - lost three pounds ... and that was after I downed a pint of water.. so really, probably lost more like four pounds of fluid during the run. Damn.

What's done is done... and thank sweet eight pound, nine ounce Baby Jesus it is done. 10.3 in 91:30.

It was an accident....

I swear. I didn't mean to do a tempo run this morning, but I think I did. Up until a few months ago, the term 'tempo' as it related to running was pretty foreign to me. I figured it meant kind of fast. Later I learned that tempo pace is about 1/2 marathon pace.

I met Ashley again at Lloyd Hall for an early morning six miles. We both wondered somewhere around mile 1 when Day Light Savings begins... or ends... or whatever. (1st Sunday of November, I just checked). At that point it was still before 6:30am and quite dark. I have a feeling in a few months, we'll be hating life - with the dark, cold mornings. I wonder how soon I'll hibernate in the confines of LA Fitness. But for today, it felt more like summer... an Indian summer morning, with temperatures in the mid to upper 60s and high humidity.

We set out at a good pace, the first mile came in at 8:50. My watch isn't snazzy enough to save splits and I'm not obsessive enough (yet) to mind them too closely, so I'm not sure exactly what the other mile splits were, but we certainly brought them down a bit. We did at least three miles well below 8:30 pace. It felt like hard work, but not impossible.

One thing that crossed my mind was that I'm starting to get to know my running style/abilities a bit more. Whereas I once believed I only had two speeds, not running and running, I'm realizing that I have at least one more... we'll call it tempo, where I'm running faster than I would normally chose to run. I've also been thinking/feeling that I don't have much more speed beyond tempo. My running has evolved over the last six to eight months. I've been running more miles and I've also been running harder, overall. So now I've reached a point where I can run at a pretty good speed (for me) over a significant distance... problem now is.. I really don't think I can go much faster than that... even if it is for just a few miles... say 3.1.

What has me thinking about this is the Parkway Run this weekend, which is a 5k. I typically don't do 5ks these days. The last one I did was an exercise in insanity - it was June... it was hot and nasty... it was in the evening... and it was hilly as all get out. Before that, I am not sure when I last did a 5k... maybe it was the Jingle Bell run almost two years ago now. Anyway... my point is that I have no idea how I'll do on Sunday. Part of me is expecting to be disappointed. I don't imagine I'll run it too much faster than my prior PR (just over 26 minutes), which is a little frustrating considering I blew my 1/2 marathon PR away by six minutes just two weekends ago. But I haven't been training for speed and I really don't even know how capable of speed I am. That didn't used to matter much to me, but that too has changed. Damn your eyes Seebo!

So I guess we'll just have to see how it goes on Sunday. I'm pleased with today's run (6 miles in 50:47)... so we'll call it a tempo workout and now I feel one half step closer to running geekdom... not sure that's a good thing.

P.S. Get well soon.

Talking smack

Sometimes I find that several hours pre-run (say... like 12 or so), I'm all psyched for it and thinking that I'll kick it's ass. Sometimes I'll even talk a little smack to my run - "Hey run... just wait... few more hours and I'm gonna trounce ya!"... and then sometimes I'll even kind of lunge forward a little bit to scare it... but it never flinches. My run is Ivan Drago.



That happens a lot. And then I get out there and it's a bit of a different story. More on that later.

Today I arranged to meet Ashley in the parking lot of Tinicum so we could run the figure eight loop together. I feel a little dirty as I write this. I haven't told Amy about Ashley yet. I don't know why... it's stupid. Compared to Amy, Ashley means nothing to me! I worry that Amy will think I'm "replacing" her with Ashley - when nothing could be further from the truth. I know Amy sometimes reads this blog and I don't want her to find out about Ashley by reading my blog... that would be wrong. I will call her tonight, confess my sins, and hope that she'll still have me as a friend and running partner. Seebo laughs at me... says I'm being ridiculous. But I know better.

Anyway... back to the run. I met Ashley around 9am - it was already pretty warm and very sunny. We headed out into Tinicum. As I expected, there wouldn't be much wildlife today since it was already late morning. We did see a few fellow runners, which is a rare sighting at Tinicum. So Ashley had to take my word for it that I often see lots of bunnies, deer, the occasional fox, turtles, and wild turkey.

When Ashley originally posted on Philly Runner's board, she said she runs a 9 minute mile... but I think she was selling herself short. When I run with her, we do under a nine minute pace (today was about 8:45) and I swear she is barely even breathing hard. Me... on the other hand.... I'm really having to push it. It was tolerable in the shade, but the sunny spots were rough. Of course I couldn't slow down too much or **God Forbid** stop, so I just sucked it up and kept up. I tried to remind myself that Seebo was doing 20 miles today and that I should just shut up and run. Still, on some of those sunny stretches, I could hear Drago in my ear:



I was glad when it was over - as usual. It was a good run - challenging, but good. This hip is - Eh... no better, no worse.

Including the jaunt from my place to Tinicum - and then the loop - just under 9 miles (8.93) in 77:50.

Hippy hippy shake

Coming off a good race like PDR makes me want to continue on with my training along the same vein... or even push a little harder. That is what is making this hip thing so frustrating. After Wednesday's run and the temporary limping that ensued, I've been getting more and more pissed off at this thing. It bothers me on and off - at varying degrees. Sometimes it's not even there and other times it's nagging as I walk or climb steps.

I delayed my Friday run until the afternoon to hopefully give it a few more hours rest. I decided to do a treddy workout yesterday afternoon for three reasons. One, I wanted to do a little lifting after my run; two, it was kinda hot and muggy outside; and three, I wasn't sure what the ole hip was going to do and I didn't feel like being several miles away from home when my hip decided it was time to stop running.

I set out intending to run five at a somewhat slower pace. My first mile or so was around 6.5mph. I was 'aware' of some pain in my hip, but it wasn't bad and certainly not enough to keep me from messing with the incline and speed. I felt pretty good throughout much of the run and upped the mphs to between 7.0 and 7.5. I could tell that the faster speed (7.5) was increasing the pain, so I slowed it down a bit. The good news is I wasn't limping when I stopped.

Don't exactly remember the time, but I think it was just under 46 min for 5.25.

New Friend

First run post PDR... don't have much time to write about it... so I'll try to keep it brief. I met up with a new friend, Ashley, who I met through the Philly Runners message board. We met bright and early at Lloyd Hall to do 6 miles. I felt tired pretty much throughout the run - probably some creakiness left over from PDR and/or the fact that it was 6:15 in the morning.. but I'm used to that. My arms felt heavy and no amount of shaking them out seemed to help. When Ashley posted, she said she runs about a nine minute mile. I suspect that she was being a bit modest as our somewhat sub 9 minute mile did not seem to be phasing her that much. I wasn't really up for a challenge this morning, but I took my lumps and told myself it was good for me. Overall, it was a good run, filled with good getting-to-know-you conversation. I felt bad for Ashley towards the end because she was doing much more to hold up the conversation than I was, but I was just trying to get the run done and over with.

Afterwards, I noticed some hip pain that was causing me to limp. I've had some pain in my right hip on and off for the past two weeks or so, but have largely ignored it (no surprise). It seems to be worst when I just set out on a run... then it kind of fades away. This is how it happened this morning with the significant difference being that immediately after I stopped running, the pain came back and was bad enough to make me limp. I felt like such an old lady. Within a few minutes, I was okay again but it has been giving me some pain throughout the day when I walk. I have no patience for injuries. I'm hoping it will go away with my tried and true cure all method of ignoring it. Keep your fingers crossed for me... and of course it won't keep me from salsa dancing tonight.

Happy Girl - PDR LBRR

Based on the title of this blog, you may have surmised, oh savvy reader, that I am pleased with how PDR went today. As I've mentioned in another post, the PDR half marathon has never been a good race for me - not sure why. I badly wanted to do well today - at least break two hours, which I've never done at this race (but have in the two other half marathons I've done).

The weather is always a gamble this time of year, but today was perfect - low 50s at the start, sunny, no real wind to speak of. I had foolishly taken a culinary gamble last night - eating beef, which my body has not really 'done' in more than 15 years.... but friends had made a delicious Greek dish called Moussaka, which is made with ground beef. I did not eat a lot of it, but spent the rest of the evening and part of the night feeling like I had done something very unwise as my stomach was in full protest. I was wondering if I'd have to title today's blog Mous-sucka. Thankfully, by morning, I was feeling back to normal.

I picked up Seebo and headed over to the race. We met up with Amy and tried to stay warm before the race began. As Amy and I headed towards our corral, I found my Dad waiting by corral #7 where I said I'd be. I had called him earlier to ask if he could bring with him a sports watch, if he had one, so that I could keep track of my time and splits during the race. (Like a knucklehead, I had forgotten mine.) He kindly brought what he had, but I opted to go without since it was one of those stretchy-metal-band watches and I worried that it would be too uncomfortable during the race.

Amy and I tried to pack ourselves into the starting lineup, but there really was no room. The first two miles were largely spent doing the ole bob and weave around the throngs of people. I missed the initial mile mark completely, but Amy heard someone say something about being at an 8:40 pace, so that seemed like a good start to me. Not too fast, not too slow. The first few miles went by quickly. Amy estimated that we were about two minutes behind the race clock (meaning we didn't actually cross the 'start' line until 2 minutes after the gun went off).

By mile four, I was still feeling pretty good. I felt like those first four miles were pretty quick, so I figured that I would try to reign it in for at least the next four miles so as to not tire myself out. Without a watch, it was difficult to know how I was doing in terms of mile splits. This was further complicated by the fact that three (or four) mile markers were sans functioning timers, so, really, I had no idea how fast I was going. I actually think this helped me because I was (naturally) worried that I was going too slow. Ideally, I wanted to try to maintain around an 8:45 pace - which would give me about a 1:55 finish time. Like I said, I was just hoping for under 2 hours... 1:55 was, in my mind, a best case scenario.

Of course Amy and I were looking ever so cute in our skorts.. trouble with that was that I did not have any pockets for my Gu. I thought about going without since I don't use Gu during my training runs, but at the last moment decided I would stow it in my cleavage...hey, why not, right? Wasn't sure how that would work out, but it worked perfectly.. that is until it was time to retrieve said Gu somewhere just after mile eight. Guess I'm not the smooth character I sometimes like to think I am because I dropped it in the midst of a water stop. Water stops are mass hysteria anyway with people travelling at all different speeds, some carrying water or sticky, nasty Accelerade. I had to make the split second decision whether I should stop and go back for it or just keep going. I decided to go get it - hoping no one had trampled and popped it. I found it intact and managed to squeeze most of it down with some water. In general, I find gels to be pretty nasty, but the Vanilla Gu one is at least somewhat palatable. It kind of tastes like vanilla pudding.

The last five miles went pretty well. Knowing my typical habit of hitting the wall around mile 11, I tried to make sure that I held back a little bit before getting to those two final miles. Even without the watch, I knew I was having a very good race and the last thing I wanted was to fall apart in the last two miles. When mile marker 12 came into view, I felt very relieved because I still felt like I had something left in the tank and I knew I could hold on for that last 1.1 miles. One of the cruelties (I think) of the PDR is that the last mile is a bit uphill and in full blast sun. There is no shade. No where to hide. I remember this doing me in during the two prior years when I ran this dang thing. Thankfully, the weather was cool enough this year whereas this was much less of a factor for me.

They moved the finish line this year.... for reasons (so I heard) related to photo-ops. Looking at the finish of the course on the map, it looked dumb to me... a hairpin turn merely a few hundred yards before the finish line. But when I rounded that final corner, I liked that the finish line was right there - close enough to reel it in with a good kick and far enough away that I felt like I could get a good kick in.... don't know if that makes sense... but anyway, I liked it. Rounding that bend, I could see that I'd finish under 1:53, clock time, and that made me very, very happy. Checking the results page after the race, looks like Amy and I were more like three minutes behind the clock time, which put my finish time at under 1:50 - much to my surprise and making me one happy girl.

So all in all, a great race day. Seebo had a good day as well and so we'll celebrate tonight with a nice dinner at Amada. Wasn't in the cards for Amy today, but I know she'll kick butt next year and in the rest of the races this fall. And she looked F-I-N-E in her skort... and, really, isn't that the most important part?

Chip time 1:49:38.... a PR for me by over 6 minutes!... and a PR for me for this race by over 10 minutes.

As happy as I am with this... almost immediately I started thinking, "Oh crap... now I'm going to have to try to beat that next year?"

Running the Numbers
Anyone can tell you what place they came in overall (3,386th out of 11,629) or for their gender (857th woman out of 5,651).... but it takes a special kind of procrastination from doing other work to figger out that I was the 8th fastest Rebecca (out of 37)... and that of the eight people from Prospect Park that ran the race... I beat five of them... including the only other woman.

Survival of the fittest

Last run before PDR. Didn't sleep well last night... had a VERY disturbing dream where there was a mouse infestation in my apartment. There were hundreds of them... everywhere... of all sizes and colors. It was horrible. In real life, I have seen a mouse or two in the last month. Supposedly my landlord addressed the issue. I have not seen one (or evidence of any) in several weeks, but obviously I'm haunted by the ghost of vermin past. This has nothing to do with my run, so I'll stop writing about it.

I decided to do the initial Tinicum loop. I wanted to try to run at the pace I'll try to keep at PDR. Obviously there are no mile markers on the trail in Tinicum. I know where 1 mile is from my apartment into Tinicum, but the rest of the way... I'm kind of just estimating. So I was trying to rely on my body to tell me how fast or slow I was going. This is something I have to learn to do better. I often don't feel like I have a good sense of my pace. The first mile went down in just shy of nine minutes, which is what I was looking for. I wanted my first mile to be a little slower. One of my big concerns for Sunday is that I will go out too fast. That has not been much of a problem for me in the past with other races, but I'm really hoping to do well for myself in PDR this year - to exorcise the demons of last year (and the year before - which was my first ever half marathon).

Not knowing the mileage exactly at Tinicum, I can't say what my other splits were, but overall, my pace was right around where I want it to be for PDR. I'll be optimistic and say that it felt doable for 13.1 miles. I guess we shall see what happens on Sunday.

As I was running the 'interesting' part of the initial loop, I noticed one bright red leaf in the trail - an early bloomer it seems, but I took it as a welcome sign of autumn's impending arrival. I had a breakfast of cobwebs as I ran through that part of the loop. No wildlife to speak of. As I made my way down the boring part, I noted the absence of bunnies. Strange, I thought. Just a few weeks ago, the place was teeming with them. Where have they gone? I did not spy a single bunny. Just as I started to feel a little disappointed at the paucity of wildlife, a fawn darted onto the trail and scampered ahead about a hundred yards before stopping and looking back at me. Eventually, I caught up and, of course, the fawn took off again... for another hundred yards. We did this dance several times and, much to my delight, the fawn allowed me to get as close as about fifteen or twenty feet on a few occasions before bounding ahead again. Really, this went on for over a quarter mile. I started to feel badly for the stupid thing. Eventually, I chased her over the first bridge. She then rounded the bend, I followed and chased her some more before she turned right down the first trail that leads to the parking lot (whereas, I continued on straight). I have no idea how to judge the age of a fawn, nor do I know anything about at what age they are independent, but I worried that I had separated her from her family. I'm sure she will find her way.




4.57 in 40:33