8/30/04 - Monday

Monday - Sunny. Warm 70's. Humid. 8:15am. 3 miles. Very un-eventful short run around the neighborhood today. Nothing much to report.. no pains, nada! Was a warm but not too warm to run in morning. 9:35 pace. Saturday marked the end of my sixth week of training.. I am both proud and surprised that with the exception of one short 2 mile run.. I have been right on point with the training.

8/28/04 - Saturday

Saturday - Sunny. 70's. Humid. 8:00am. 8 miles. Going to today's run I knew my little bout with knee pain from Thursday was in the back of my mind. So off I headed fro Lake Hill farms. I did not eat breakfast.. drank some water and GU20O sucked down a GU pack and went out. 3 miles in I started to get hungry and started worrying about light headedness whci usually accompanies the grumbly in my tumbly. At the 45 minute mark I had another GU pack.. can't tell you how good that tasted. It did the trick though as I started feeling better and it took me thru the rest of the the run. Overall it went well and my new personal distance record of 8 miles was over with in 1h 18m. Next weekend another PB of 10 miles!

8/26/04 - Thursday

Thursday - Overcast. 70's. Humid. 5:00 pm. 6 miles. For the first time I skipped a run day. It was a scheduled short 2 mile run. I knew running the 2 miles would do more harm than good. Running 4 days in a row is not good for me and my legs. So I headed out today for 6 miles. I procrastinated a bit but finally got my ass out the door. For 5.85 miles of the run everything was fine, suddenly I got an increasingly painful feeling behind my left knee.. I went from running to run limping to limping to dead stop. Obviously I was worried, thankfully I was home and at the end of the run when it happened. I iced it and iced it some more, by the end of the evening I hardly knew I had been hurting. We'll see what tomorrow and Saturday brings. Keep fingers crossed.

8/24/04 - Tuesday

Tuesday - Sunny. Cool. 60's. Dry. 7:55 am. 5 miles. What a difference a night makes. Wasn't a great 5 miles but it wasn't bad at all. I kept a pace average of 9:19. Stopped and stretched out my quads a couple of times to loosen up my tightening knees. Ran around Windridge again.. getting a little boring, but it was a beautiful morning nice and cool!

8/23/04 - Monday

Monday - Sunny. Dry. 79 degrees. 4:30 pm. 3 miles. Taught class at work today... that does not bode well for running. having a 5 mile run planned for tomorrow morning and a 3 miler today, my plan was to switch them and run the 5 today. that plan was scratched when I was struggling after the first mile. Nothing hurt but my breathing was labored so a brutal 3 miles was done and over.. had more fun running 7 on Saturday who'da thunk it.

8/21/04 - Saturday

Saturday - Raining, pouring, lightning, thundering, drizzling. 70's. Humid. 12:00pm and 3:30pm. 7 Miles. Interesting day of running and not running and running again. Heading out into my longest run of this training and the longest run of my life to date, I hit some weather problems. Dropped of by the pond in Monroe, I headed into the heart of town it started to rain a bit which was not a big deal, then it started raining harder... I ran into Smith Clove park to see how many miles I can cover in there.. then the skies opened up and hell was unleashed.. lots of lightening and thunder and torrential down pour. I found shelter underneath an awning with picnic tables. I though I would be set back 10-20 minutes, it ended up being an hour. Luckily a stranger with a cell phone wandered into my hut and I was able to call Karen so that she could come pick me up. Determined to run I had Karen drop me off on 9W an our way to her folks place and I ran the rest of the way! All in all it wasn't too bad..Drizzled along the way but it was a cooling rain.. didn't get hit by any cars so it was a bonus! 2 notes..running down steep hills sucks.. running up steep hills sucks.

8/19/04 - Thursday

Thursday - Partly sunny. Humid. 80. 3:45 pm. 4 miles. Windridge. One word MISERABLE!. After 4.5 weeks of training this is the first negative entry I have. I didn't want to run, I did not feel good running, everything was a complete struggle. The positive side is: I did it! I thought about not doing it, I thought about shortening it.. but in the end I struggled thru all crappy 4 miles of it. I am happy though that I am getting thru the mental part of the training. This was just another hurdle that i managed to get over. My legs and knees did not feel great this being the fourth day straight of running. Four days just seems excessive for me and my creaky knees. After the run I iced down both knees. Hoping to keep them from being sore tomorrow. Ahh a rest day I look very forward to it!

8/18/04 - Wednesday

Wednesday - Sunny. Humid. High 70's. 4:00pm. 3 miles. As good as I felt yesterday.. today wasn't the opposite but it was more difficult. Yesterday's pace made my legs and ass achy. I kept the pace at 10:00/mile today... second half was funner than the first! One more day of running and I get an off day! Followed by the longest run to date. Stayed around Windridge today... nothing much to report in this now dis-jointed blog update.

8/17/04 - Tuesday

Tuesday - Sunny. Cool. Upper 50's. 7:00am. 5 miles. Well another hurdle leapt, had to be at work 2 hours early today ( 10:00 not noon) I knew I had 5 miles scheduled to run. I happy to say I got up early and got the mileage in. Was a spectacular morning to run, especially compared to yesterday. Stayed in Windridge and managed to go 5 miles with only going past the house twice. I felt great today and my pace really kicked up. I ended up running a 8:45/mile pace well a head of my planned pace, but since I felt good and sorta in a rush so I went with it. Back has been bothering me since I was adjusted yesterday, but did not bother me at all during the run. I should be pretty pooped by the end of today.

8/16/04 - Monday

Monday – Raining. Humid. 60’s. 8:00am. 3 miles. There is a first for everything and today’s first was that it was raining. I was up fairly early today and too care of Opus, it was not raining at the time. By the time I was ready to get out the door it was drizzling. I put on a waterproof windbreaker and out I went. Running about Windridge, as the run went on the rain came down harder.. I really would not have minded, but being an eyeglass wearer, running in the rain and humidity is like having cataracts. I hope and pray that November 7th it DOES NoT rain. Felt a lot looser today and the run went well. Miles are about to increase, this week is 7 more than last and there is a 7 mile run on Saturday.

8/14/04 - Saturday

Saturday - Cloudy. High 60's. Humid. 9:30am. 3 miles. This is the end of a down week in miles (although up in days). With the exception of yesterday's treadmill run, all have been done around Windridge. I have been zig-zagging all over the neighborhood. I ran a little out onto Lakes rd today just to change it up, so I don't get bored. Didn't have a great amount of energy today, still did around a 10:00/mile pace. As always I was happy when I completed the run.. I love the good sweat and the feeling of accomplishing something even if it was only 3 miles.

8/13/04 - Friday

Friday - A/C. Dry. Fluorescent lighting. 4:15. 3 miles. Woke up this morning, with eyes still closed I debated for at least a 1/2 hour about getting up and running. Suddenly I heard a noise thinking it could just be the a/c I asked Karen what it was. She replied that it was pouring.. Decision made! Now it was a matter how guilty during the day was I going to feel about not running on a scheduled day. I felt bad.. So I did what I knew was going to suck...On the treadmill I went.. 3 awful miles and 30 minutes later it was all over. I don't know how people run 6 or 7 miles on that thing. The scenery never changes.. It's constant.. I run directly at the very hansome man and he runs at me yet the distance between us never changes. Oh well its over and I am happy I did it!

8/12/04 - Thursday

Thursday - Sunny. Warm. Upper 70's. 5:00. 3 miles. I taught class today, so this was going to be an interesting experiment running. As I expected, I was quite lethargic everything felt heavy. After 1.5 miles of the 3 I loosened up and started feeling a little better. It was arduous none the less. I was thinking about skipping the run altogether and do the next run in the morning. The more I thought about it the more I realized I was going to feel achy in the morning and I would be better off running this afternoon and possibly skipping the morning run. I of course was happy yet exhausted after the run.. I burned approximately 1000 calories between class and the run. Kept the pace down to about 10:10/mile.

8/10/04 - Tuesday

Tuesday – Sunny. Low 70’s warm. 8:40am 3 miles. Same course as yesterday around the hood. First mile my back was a little stiff and achy. I kept my pace down a little, figuring since I am only running 15 miles this week I might as well rest my body as the increase is to 22 miles next week. The little bastard had his first victory today, I did not feel good about it… he got me by only a few feet and a couple of seconds. He only beat me cause I walked a portion trying to figure out how the shuffle mode was put on my iRiver. It really isn’t too bad running b4 work, but I know I will have to switch up my longer runs on Tuesday mornings to another day.

8/9/04 - Monday

Monday – Sunny. 81 degrees, warm. 4:30pm. 3 miles. Woke up Sunday with no more back pain than I have had over the last month so I was happy with that, however I developed a blister during the run Saturday. A little painful but I drained it and it felt better. I put some New Skin on it and headed out to the neighborhood, felt fine until I sprinted a bit then I kinda felt it. Pretty un eventful 3 mile run, I ran a 9:58 pace beating out my little pal by about 30 seconds. Still I was aware of my back during the run. Overall I felt great after.

8/7/04 - Saturday

Saturday - Cloudy. Upper 50's. 9:14am. 6 miles. The longest of my runs thus far. Headed down to the pond with both families (Prieto's) in tow. Real nice cool morning to run. Wiggled my way around the ponds and down route 208. Still keeping my pace up. Ran all 6 miles averaging 9:23.. I have decided to bring the pace down for the 10+ miles runs. Feeling it a little in my back today, worries me a little. We'll see what it feels like tomorrow. An easy 15 mile week coming up. Over all feeling real good. 6 miles in 56:25. Was nice having people around waiting for me it's nice having support.. I really appreciate it!

8/5/04 - Thursday

Thursday – 75 cloudy. Dry. 4 miles. 4:00pm. New and different feeling: after a round inside Windridge I headed right onto Lakes. My legs felt fine, cardio wise I felt very winded keeping up a 10:30 pace was difficult, with that said I had my best pace (9:34/mile) for 4 miles… can’t explain it. I put my orthotic in my right shoe since I have been having slight arch pain. Happy to report… no arch pain! Was real pleasant to run in low humidity, much easier to breathe. Did a quick full body circuit when I got back, for some reason I felt like lifting... I guess I have a fear of losing what little muscle I have on me! And I haven’t been lifting much since this training has begun. Felt good to pump the iron! The little bastard is hardly a challenge for these shorter runs.. I think he might take me on the 7 miler in the coming weeks.

8/3/04 – Tuesday

Tuesday – Low 70’s Sunny. Humid. 3 miles. 8:20am. I got up and out of bed b4 8:00am. Took care of the pooch and was out the door by 8:20am. I stayed in Windridge today so that I would save the 20-25 minute round trip down to the pond in town. Zig zagged about the neighborhood so I would have to make 3 revolutions around the block. Felt stiff today. I am starting to feel the effects of the extra days and mileage, next week the mileage goes down and there will be nothing more than 3 milers. The worst part about staying in Windridge is going back into the A/C shortly after finishing and cooling down too quickly. Beat the little bastard again by 2 seconds per mile (9:58 pace).

8/2/04 – Monday

Monday – Mid 80’s. Sunny. Humid. 5 miles.6:00pm. I was scheduled to run 3 miles today and 5 miles tomorrow. I chose to switch it up due to having to run 5 miles b4 work tomorrow was going to be more difficult. Headed down to the pond ran different routes to increase mileage and decrease repetitive laps around the ponds. It was hot but not unbearable. Notice stiffness in my right hammy as well as the right arch of my foot. Ran with the virtual trainer on my watch for the first time… the little bastard really motivates you to catch up. I did beat him keeping up a sub 10:00/mile pace.