On one hand, the runs this week have been going very well, save for the end of the 4-mile run yesterday, where I practically sprinted a good portion of it, for no particular reason. It should be good runs up through tomorrow, when we have to run 9-miles. I hope my legs can push forward for that long. Andy has been doing a great job at setting a pace and I”ve been able to kick myself into gear for longer, so it’s been nice. Last night’s run was along the Mississippi River.
On the other hand – the Spice Girls are having a reunion tour, around the world. They’re only hitting up LA and NYC in the United States I think. Not that I’m wanting it go, it just amuses me.
You’re right, those three things don’t go together.
However, they have in my life lately. Monday marked another day of air pollution warnings in the Twin Cities, which meant no running (it was our day off anyway) and no mowing of the lawn for my roommates and I.
I checked the weather several times throughout the day, hoping for rain to magically appear. This wasn’t because I didn’t want to run, it was because the heat index was 98 degrees at one point today, with the real temperature around 94 degrees. Rain would have been such a welcome relief if it lasted more than 5 minutes. Luckily by the time Andy and I ran tonight, a nice breeze and a beautiful sunset seemed to make things okay.
Today was a good run. We figured out that I set ridiculous paces for myself, meaning I push myself hard then tire quickly. Andy set the pace for part of our long run and today’s run, and I must say, it felt better. Score one for Andy!
Wedding invitations… well, Andy and I are in the planning stages, and even though we don’t have a date nailed down, we got a hefty book-o-invitations from someone where Andy works because he gets an equally hefty employee discount on invites. Score one for bargain wedding planners!
The Twins won today in the bottom of the 12th inning – huzzah!
Since the temperature reached 90 degrees today and it was quite humid, Andy and I chose to run at a later time, 9 p.m. to be exact. After work, we went for a walk, exploring and attempting to find the river from my house. Well, we found it and ended up on almost a 3 1/2 mile walk. After eating and catching up on the Minnesota Twins, we got ready to run.
Today’s run was 4 miles, so we decided to run up Lexington Avenue to the beginning of Como Park. I checked the radar before we left, and “sweet, all storms went north and south of us.” We got about 1/4 of a mile to our turnaround point when Andy commented on how dark it had gotten. We decided it wasn’t that much further to the turnaround, so kept truckin’. (by the way, the beginning of the run was somewhat plagued with very tight hamstrings) An eighth of a mile later and we can see it starting to sprinkle ever so lightly. We turn around there.
It sprinkled a little. Lightening, a little. Each quarter of a mile the weather steadily grew worse. I think we both panicked a little because of frequent lightening and heavy rainfall, so by the time we reached University Avenue, we had sprinted a majority of it. Another half mile to Marshall Avenue, and I couldn’t believe it could rain heavier. Within a quarter mile of the end, it started to hail. The rain concluded soon thereafter. Figures.
But hey, you can’t say I didn’t finish this day strong!
On a different note, I seem to be able to maintain a faster pace as the training days go by. Sometimes it wears me out sooner, but I may actually be building strength and stamina.
Yay for making progress!
Yesterday was a 7-mile run, which was very surprisingly well. Andy and I ran at seven in the morning to avoid the sun, and most of the humidity. Como Lake is beautiful in the morning. The run went well and I wasn’t very sore, besides walking up all the steps at the Metrodome the next day.
The air pollution has also cleared up – yay!
Yesterday, I didn’t run until 10 p.m. Now, that might sound really late, but it was still about 80 degrees and humid at that time, I just wasn’t battling the sun as well.
When I got home after that, I saw a beautiful piece of mail sitting on the counter for me. I got my official acceptance into the Twin Cities Marathon! Hurrah!
The last two nights, I’ve been out with a friend or two to get food. At each location, I have drained my water glass within 5 minutes of being seated. Gee, I guess I’m thirsty. That also means I need to drink more throughout the day.
Oh man, today, the heat kicked my butt on the run. I had to run a bit earlier because of an evening Engagement Ladies Soiree (sp?), and it was a whole 90 degrees today, plus humidity. Also, I’ve been lacking on the good hydration lately, so overall, it was not a good run today.
Tomorrow – round two of the match between Stephanie and The Heat.
Posted by Stephanie under
running [2] Comments
Well, it’s been an interesting couple of weeks. The last two weeks of pre-training running didn’t go so well for a myriad of reasons. I probably ran one or two 2-mile runs last week, and then one this past Sunday, and nothing until today, even though our training officially started this week.
Part of that reason is because we got engaged (!) on Wednesday and have been on the phone the last two days telling people about it. (p.s. I apologize if there is anyone reading this that didn’t know that and should have. I haven’t been able to get a hold of everyone I wanted, but felt the need to post)
Today, however, we picked it up again and ran three miles. We’re supposed to run six miles on Saturday, but Andy’s in a wedding that day. It will be an early morning run, I’m sure. Today’s run went much better than I expected! We decided earlier in the week that we didn’t want to run right after work anymore, because it was too exhausting. Tonight we ran at about 8:30ish, and it was fantastic. I felt the best to date about finishing a run. Huzzah!
