Sunday, February 8, 2015

Weekly Run-Cap: My Nemesis

Run 31.15: 63 degrees, rain   I had so many things to do. But what I wanted to be sure to squeeze in was a run. I had new bluetooth headphones arrive that I was eager to test, so I had extra motivation. The rain didn't even make me hesitate for a second. Garmin? Check. Hat? Check. Headphones? Check. Shoes? Check. Time to run!!  I was thinking so much about the headphones and trying to form an opinion that before I knew it I was over a mile in and just cruising along. As I neared the house of the asshole dog I saw the old dog wandering around. It was walking toward the house and I figured if I crossed the street just right I'd avoid it. That worked! I continued down the hill and up the next and made the turn around to head home. Or so I thought. Sure enough the little 6 pound asshole dog came flying down its driveway in full attack mode. Dammit!! I could have tried to avoid its attack, or turn around and attack my running nemesis ... THE Hill. It's a monster. I've been slowly building up to sometime tackling it. Here I was, already with sore legs and feeling exhausted, and now scaling the side of a mountain. Baby steps. One object to focus on at a time. Holy cow this thing was No Joke. When I got home I saw I had over 200 feet of elevation climb ... pretty sure the majority of that was just in that one hill.  Damn asshole dog!

I have no photo. I had no other run. It was a very strange week.


Sunday, February 1, 2015

Weekly Run-Cap: It Was a GREAT Week!


Huh. I guess I sucked! I thought I had another run in this strange week of mine, but I don't see one. It's Super Bowl time, maybe while the game is on this will be a good time to check Garmin Connect and see if maybe I DID run another day? Seeing as I'm falling asleep during this game, why not! Phew, I DID run another day! Um.... I don't remember anything fancy about it. Oops..... 


Run 31.12: I remember it!!!  My training plan called for distance at a 5-10K race pace. So it was a fast one. I am kind of freaked out about how I am regaining some speed and how it's not killing me! And on the end of this run I again saw the man with the big white beard that is always riding his bike. We keep crossing paths at the same point every time we see each other. It's nice having a friendly neighborhood - as few houses as we have out here!

Run 31.13:  48 degrees, cloudy I wanted a "new" route, so I went to my mom's house to run my old loop out there. She took her puppy for his walk, so of course I had to be sure to run faster than he was going to try to walk. I heard him talk to me as I flew by at the start and I only looked back once. And then it just got crazy .... I kept going and going and feeling awesome .... I turned around to head back and eventually met back up with my mom and little fur brother for a quick hello. I became Forrest Gump again and kept going .... when I finished that, I was not far off of my 5K race pace ... and I even walked with my mom and dog during my last mile when we met up one last time! WHAT???!!!!? I was on quite a high after that run!

Run 31.14a: 48 degrees, rain/mist Being a Sunday and no plans on our schedule I sweet talked Man Friend into joining me for one loop of my long run. He has "retired" from running, except for any relay races that may present themselves to us, so he hasn't run at all since the Wine & Dine Half Marathon in November. We went out to the farm land loop I did last week, and I loved it. It was my favorite weather, nice company, quiet and peaceful. Having him run with me was a great benefit because I was able to talk a lot .... and force myself to slow my pace down so that I could run longer today. He never complained once and I finished that first loop feeling great and energized, ready for more!

Run 31.14b: 48 degrees, rain/mist We went back home so MF could do whatever he wanted (and recover) and I set out on the second half of my long run in my own neighborhood. It was a nice change of pace to start my run and already be warmed up and starting in the zone. Sure, my mind told me it would be okay if I turned around early -- my ego thought it would feel better to do what I had told myself I would do today. So that's what I did! I must admit since it was my first "long" run in a long time (thank you, stupid Meniere's Disease), I had to do a lot of mental work during my last loop. I kept repeating something I saw on Pinterest. It said to Run the Mile You're In. By the end of this I laughed when I realized I was running the tenth of a mile I was in ... but it got me to the end, and helped me make my last mile of the day my fastest of the day!

All in all, this was a very successful week. I'm feeling more and more confident in my ability to tackle March's half marathon!