13 Tough Ones

Who ever heard of running a half marathon before work on a Tuesday? That's what I had to do this morning with eight of the miles on the track at tempo pace. 32 "glorious" monotonous laps. I guess it was better than a treadmill. There was a cyclist in Lane 1 throughout my running which helped me stay awake so not to get run over. I averaged about 9:04 miles in four 2-mile repeats.
On either side of the track workout I did two miles and three miles of marathon race pace (9:30). I took Gatorade and Gu to help me through but my left ankle and right calf got nasty on me. I am counting on the taper in three weeks to give me relief. That and a massage next week.
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In honor of my first anniversary on the RBF blog I bring you excerpts from many of my favorite people and what they were doing a year ago. I would not be here if not for Susie who has constantly enlightened me in the ways of the world she knows better than I.

Susie 12.19.04
I'm lying here balancing my laptop in my lap with a bag of frozen peas on my ankle/shin. Uh huh. Where the heck did this pain come from?
I'm trying to analyze this. This morning, there was a slight twinge when I woke up. Ok, think--yesterday I ran four miles on new ground...some hills...not too long, though. Did I stretch? No. Was I running faster? A little, to keep up with Jennifer. Hmmm. Then, because it was just a little twinge, I walked 4 miles with Nancy today. Now it really hurts. Both legs hurt!!

Dianna 12.18.04
Somewhere around mile 6 my knee started to get that familiar pain that occurs when I run without a brace. I grit my teeth and just kept going, promising myself that if it got really bad, I would walk and ask Michelle to come pick me up when she got back to her car. Fortunately, the pain lessened and became a dull ache, enough to be bearable. About a mile later it all but disappeared.

Lara 12.17.04
I started to imagine what I would do if I came across a bear (or it came across me) during one of my runs. From what I understand, the last thing you’re supposed to do if you meet a bear is run away - you can’t out run them, you can’t out climb them, and you probably can’t out swim them (well maybe Annalisa could). If I remember right (not something I’ve read up on recently) you firstly have to be sure you are not facing the bear directly but rather in a side standing position, and do not look the bear directly in the eye.

Bill 12.28.04
The upside is that I haven’t completely taken off from running, and I’ve swum basically once a week since I posted last. So progress hasn’t stopped, even though posting has.
In the new year, I’m planning on trying to race a little bit. Race being a relative term for paying money to run with people faster than I am. But my major goal is the Hartford Marathon in October, and the NYC Marathon if I get selected.

Jon 12.21.04
I ran my three stupid miles on the gerbil-o-matic tonight. 9:14 pace. Then I (FINALLY) did my upper body weight training. I think its been months since I did that. Oddly enough, things went ok and I didn’t have to drop the weights by much. Of course, tomorrow (or likely the next day) I will be paying with maximum pectoral pain. It always seems to hit me there. You’ll recognize me because I’ll be the one clutching my chest when I walk down the stairs.

Mia 12.20.04
I've been pleasantly surprised by the fact that I've NOT been unbearably sore today. In fact, except for a wee stiffness when I'm first getting up from inactivity, it's been a perfectly normal day. And with all that stretching, I think I'm in the best place I've ever been for a 4 mile recovery run tomorrow.There was an older guy in class, right behind me. And I mean seventies-ish. And he was farting the whole class, ....

Jeff 12.20.04
we headed out along the san diego river trail, heading toward the beach, the same trail that the oc marathon covered. we set out at a very comfortable 9:30 pace for the first 5 miles out and then dropped down to closer to 9 for the next 5 back. the last 5 miles were down around 8:30 - 8:45 and felt pretty good. my legs were getting tired by mile 13, but i could tell that i could have added another 3 at the end to make it to 18. that was a very re-assuring feeling. i think i'll go ahead with my planned 18 on christmas morning then.

Mark 12.20.04
Well, a lot has been going on lately but not a lot of running has been going on - nope, not much running at all.
I was pretty woozy all the way up to last Wednesday so Thursday’s spin class was a no-go since I’m pretty sure I’d have barfed. Instead I planned on a very light run but that didn’t happen due to a workshop going overschedule. Yup, that’s right - work got in the way of my running. Damn work.

David 12.22.04
I went out for a run in the perfect low 50s conditions. I was surprised to see so many other runners out at 600 because they're either earlier on the roads or running in numbers on running club weekend long runs. I was passed or caught up to no less than 4 other folks this morning and I could feel my race tempo kicking in. Fortunately for me it wasn't a race because I had very little to give and my left foot toes were hurting. I trace the cause of the pain back to walking around so much last night at the bowl game in town. Anyway, it was a sloppy 3 .2 mile jog.