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

Goin' down the road feelin' bad

What a glorious morning! You can feel fall about to make her entrance... she's waiting in the wings... waiting for the opening band to play one last song. But I know she's there, I can feel her. Now what could make for a better running morning than almost crisp air, blue skies with the sun rising, and not feeling any 'pressure' for a great training run? Only one thing.....



Yeah, baby! New shoes. Now given that I've been wearing the Mizuno Wave Riders for about five years now, the only real thing to get excited about -besides that new shoe smell- is the COLOR... and WAHOO.... I'm loving the plum/lavender combo. It gives me that happy feeling... EEEeeeee! I know, I know... maybe I need a hobby. But maybe you're thinking that because you didn't get a close enough look. Here, take a closer peek, see if your pulse doesn't quicken:



Whew!!! Okay... moving on to the run. Since PDR is Sunday, I've given myself permission to take it a little easy this week. As Seebo says, the hay is in the barn, so it's not like I'm going to gain any additional fitness before Sunday. Given this, my options were open for this morning. I knew I wanted to do around 5, but I didn't know where. Of course, I considered Tinicum, but since this was only my second run in my pretty new shoes, I didn't want to dirty them up just yet, so I settled on a neighborhood route.

Don't tell anyone, but I ran out to the track. I didn't actually settle on this until about a mile into my run. I figured what the heck, why not see how the track is doing these days. I didn't really want to do any speed work, per se, but I did want to at least set (fresh-Mizuno clad) foot on the track since it's been a while. As I made my way there, I decided that I'd do a mile on the track and then head home - that mile, plus the two out and back to and from the track would give me what I was looking for mileage wise. I wasn't setting out to do this mile at an all out pace, but I did want to try to run a good pace (whatever that means) just to see what that would look like. This was my first mile done on a track. It's different when you're on the treddy and it's different than when you're somewhere like the drives - because even though the miles are marked there, I still don't know the lay of the land well enough to know exactly when the mile markers come up. On the track, it's simple - four times around. Of course I glanced at my splits at each lap - first two were about 2:05 so I picked it up for the last two.... don't remember the splits on those laps, but they were progressively faster and final mile time came in just under 8:10. Not bad, I thought, especially since I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard and since this was my first track mile.

Took the run home nice and easy.... feeling like a track star in my snazzy new kicks. To paraphrase Woody Gutherie's version of this song: It takes a Mizuno shoe to fit my feet.

About five in about 43.

Salsa Hangover

It's been ages since Jill and I got our Salsa on on a weekend. We've made Wednesday nights at Rock Lobster our usual haunt, but now that summer is coming to an end, we'll have to take our sexy pinkies elsewhere. This weekend, however, was a special event: Salsa on the Battleship New Jersey.



Okay, so I was a little disappointed that we weren't actually ON the battleship, but, rather, beside the battleship. Still, it made for nice scenery.... and Ohhh... what a lovely time we had. It seemed that every salsero and salsera we had ever encountered had come out for this end of summer event. There was a live band, a good DJ, and a nice breeze was blowing throughout the night. The only downside was that the dance floors were too small to accommodate all the dancers. Next year they promised to have a bigger floor.... looking forward to that. Here's a pic of me and Jill - pre-Salsa:



We could have danced all night - but we didn't... we left around 1am. Jill and I are getting to be old farts and can't hang as late anymore... especially since neither of us had taken a salsa nap earlier in the day. After some girl talk and a late night snack, I made it to bed sometime after 2am. I'm glad we didn't stay any later since I knew I'd have to get my keester out of bed as early as possible to met up with Amy.

I managed to get up, dressed, and over to Ardmore by 8:15... not too bad. The NBC 10 billboard on 76W said that the temperature was already 72 degrees with **gulp** 98% humidity. This was not going to be fun, but I already knew that. Thank God for Amy (yes, again). So... we headed out on our short, long run. (Shorter than most of the long runs we've been doing lately given that PDR is next weekend). I know this route from having run it once before (or, at least, a close variation of it). It's hilly - and not just by my standards. No, I'm sure it's nothing like the hills some crazy people run, but it is hilly.... nuff said.

With this knowledge in mind, I was sincerely doubting my ability to make it through this run. I was tired, my feet still hurt from hours of salsa (and bachata and merengue), and I knew I wasn't well hydrated. But it was important to me to do so since I didn't run Friday (due to a hangover of an altogether different nature). I needed to do this run at least halfway decently in order to restore my confidence for next Sunday. I surprised myself a bit with how well I was able to suck it up and just plow through despite feeling really bad. Because I'll feel like I'm hiding something if I don't report this, I did walk a portion of one of the steepest, longest hills. I don't feel particularly good or bad about it. Amy - stud that she is - did not stop to walk... and, despite this, did not gain too much time on me.

I felt good at the end of the run - always a good sign and felt like, at least temporarily, my salsa hangover had been cured.

7.6 hilly miles in 69:30

Deal or No Deal

Another beautiful morning - I try not to take it for granted. Hot, steamy days are not far behind us and I know that soon enough it will be cold and windy and I'll be using my complaining voice (which I didn't even realize I had until this morning) about that.

Ran a neighborhood loop today with some small to medium hills (at least by my standards). I've grown too accustomed to the pancake flatness of Tinicum and the Drives, so I figured that some hills would be good for me. I guess I could liken it to eating vegetables... but I like vegetables, so the analogy wouldn't really work for me. Anyway... I ran by the track and into part of a neighborhood where Polly and I used to run many moons ago.... past the YMCA where we'd endure torture on the elliptical machine. I always hated that thing.

There is a mile stretch of this loop that I really like - very gently rolling 'hills' if you can even call them that. Of course, then you're dumped abruptly onto 420 for the rest of the run home.

I felt good today and pushed myself a bit harder than I ordinarily would. I made a deal with myself that if I pushed it for most/all of the run today than I could take it easy on my run on Friday. I feel comfortable saying that I did just that. 6.25 miles in 54:30.

Of course now in considering my Friday run, I've got wussy-girl on one shoulder reminding me of the deal I made with myself on the run this morning, and runner-girl on the other shoulder saying, "Hey... you've got all next week to taper and rest up for PDR."

Hu-Bruce (hubris)

I'll tell you right off the bat, this entry has nothing to do with running. I'm taking this opportunity, this forum to vent a little about one of my arch nemeses (nemesi?), Bruce. He is a spin class instructor at my gym.

For the past two plus years, I've been enjoying the 5:45 am spin class taught by a lovely woman named Nancy. She used to teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Given her need to be at work at an early hour (she teaches middle school, I think), she has been tempted to give up teaching this class altogether. Last year, when having such thoughts, we (her loyal 'students') convinced her to keep the Tuesday class. Of course, we wondered who would take her place on Thursday mornings. Then we found out it would be Bruce. Oh no. Not Bruce!

Bruce is a permanent fixture at the gym - you know the type. A bit of a physical description is warranted, I think, in order to paint an accurate picture. Bruce is (I just learned today) in his early 60s, bald, and in reasonable shape (save for a notable widening around the midsection). He has filled in for Nancy's class here and there along the way. Along with death, taxes, and unladylike/embarrassing photos of Britney Spears, you can always count on Bruce to tell you (without anyone asking or mentioning anything even closely related) exactly how many classes he has taught recently and how many he will teach in the near future. Keep in mind, the vast majority of these classes are ones he picks up - where he is covering for the usual instructor. He does not have to pick up these classes. He chooses to do so... and, really, I think, just so he can say he taught X number of classes. You're SO hardcore, Bruce. He also loves to talk about how fit he is for his age and how people often are surprised to learn how old he is. Now, in fairness to Bruce, there is nothing bad about how he does his class. It's just his style that I find irritating.

So when my alarm clock went off around 5 this morning and I rolled out of bed and into the gym (ok... so there was some dressing and driving involved too, but you get the point), I was expecting to see Nancy setting up for the class. And then I saw Bruce. (**explictive**) Well, I figured I'd give him a shot... it had been a while since I had taken one of his classes and I was already there, so I figured why not. Of course he talked about how he had taught over twenty classes last week (no exaggeration - at least on my part) and how he was scheduled to teach four today. Ok, so some things never change.

Five minutes into the class time, he's still futzing around with some woman's bike, making the rounds to make sure everyone has their bikes properly adjusted, etc. The music is on and he's calling out commands:

Increase tension! Climb! Sprint!

Ten minutes, fifteen minutes go by... he's still just hanging out around the room, barking orders. Twenty minutes, twenty five, A HALF HOUR... and still, Bruce Almighty has yet to saddle up. HE DID NOT PEDAL ONE ROTATION FOR THE ENTIRE CLASS. HIS 62 YEAR OLD ASS NEVER GOT ON A BIKE!!! So why the F*** is he bragging about how many classes he's taught when apparently he thinks nothing of not actually leading the class in anything! OY!

As is typical for me, I leave the class post-cardio, pre-cool-down so that I can go downstairs and jump on the treddy for a couple of miles. As I'm putting my running shoes on (changing out of my special-fancy-dancy-clipless-pedal-hard-core-spin-class shoes), Bruce comes over to me, covers his Time-Life operator headset microphone with his hand and says to me, "You bike better than ever."

Thanks Bruce. Ew.

No, I don't think he was being a creepy old man. I think he sincerely meant that he appreciated my effort in his class. And, I will admit (as much as it pains me to do so), I did get a pretty good workout.

On the running.... just a quick 2 miles in 17 minutes.

It's all about our butts

What a difference a week makes. Here it is about two hours after my long run and I still feel great. It's been far too long since I've felt this good during and after a long run. Looking back on last weekend, I could not have been more miserable. I hate to sound like such a wuss, but the weather really does have a profound impact on how well I run (and, more to the point, how good I feel during the run).

This morning I met Amy at Lloyd Hall to do 12 - the last long run before PDR. I was uncharacteristically a few minutes late because I could not find my shoes - very distressing, but I found them in a closet where they were not supposed to be. I blame others (Seebo), though it was likely my own doing. Amy and I were both looking fabulous in our skorts - two redheads in running skorts, how cute are we? I'll get to that in a minute. We set out at an easy pace and easily filled the first few miles with idle running banter. The weather was amazing and we both commented on how nice it was to run and what a contrast it was to what we've been dealing with the last several weeks.

Crossing over the Falls Point brigde I think we were both feeling good. As we approached the 6 mile turnaround point, I suggested that we run until the next quarter mile mark and turn around there so we could get in our 12 miles and have a half mile to walk and cool down. Amy agreed to my brilliant plan, naturally. After the turn around, about half mile from Falls Point bridge, we stopped to sip from the water fountain. As Amy did so, I took the opportunity to admire her new skort (which, thankfully was not chafing her - an ongoing problem for poor Amy)and tell her that her butt looked nice in it - which it does. When it was my turn for a sip at the fountain, Amy checked mine out and confirmed that my butt looked good in a skort too. This was satisfactory news for both of us, so we continued on our run.

Throughout much of the run, we were sustaining nearly perfect 9 minute miles. The pace felt good, not too fast, but not slow. I was tentatively allowing myself to feel excited for how good I continued to feel as the miles passed. I can only pray that I'll feel this good on race day. Sub two hours will be no biggie if I do. Somewhere around mile 10, we passed a couple of guys and Amy wondered aloud, "Do you think they're checking out our butts?" "Of course they are," I assured her and it was then that we agreed that it's all about our butts. Soon after that, I suggested that instead of walking in the last half mile, that we continue on with the run. Amy agreed to this, my second brilliant idea of the day. We cruised the last two miles at around 8:45 pace - feeling a little tired, but good... really good.

I neglected to metion a Seebo sighting around mile 3 of our run this morning. I had mentioned to Amy that we might see him whizzing past. We guessed (hoped) that he would likely be shirtless - since he tends to dress sparsely even through the winter months. We were surprised (disappointed) to see that he was not. Even more disappointing was that he totally dissed me for a passing-by-hand-slap. Totally left me hanging. Yeah, that's right, cute redhead in the skort (2 of 'em actually)... totally left hanging. Not cool. Made me scratch my head - to think, just last week I had a random fellow runner (male, of course) offer me some Vaseline for my chaffed areas and I can't even get a high five from my Seebo. Hmmm.

All in all, a great run... better than I've had in ages. Thank god for Amy - she is a wonderful running partner and friend. Look for us in our cute skorts at the PDR! 12.5 in 1 hr, 52 min, 20 sec.