September 29 - 5.5 miles

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Some days I barely feel as though I can run 2 miles, yet others I can complete 7, or 9, or 12. Weird. So humid, despite it only being 74 degrees and 92%H this morning. I did a 5 min treadmill warm up then jog/walked on and off for an hour - totaling 5.5 miles. Nothing exciting, felt like I was breathing in a suffocating blanket of warm air. Oh, please winter, get here soon, please.

September 29 - 3 long miles

So, I slept in this morning. Well, more like I reset my alarm six...yes, six...times. So after a crazy (and very busy) day and thinking it was "nice" outside, I ventured out for a jog at 6 p.m. but found it was humid. Weird. Weather.com said it was 81, feels like 83, and 59% humidity. But it was still gross. I ran the first mile well - in under 10 - then did not want to run anymore. I did the three, but was glad it was over. Sometimes it baffles me how I did 12, or 10, but can barely "want" to do 3 on other days. 

September 27 - 7 Miles

I am so glad I got the week's long run - 12 miles - over on Wednesday. We went to a charity event Thursday and I was up late, and then last night I was up until midnight for two events. But I got up around 7:30 today to run and ended up doing 7. We went to dinner @ Chili's last night and shared chips and salsa and then a big meal, and not much water. So I wasn't sure how this morning would go. It was nice out - 68 degrees and 78% humidity and sunny. The first mile or two weren't overly grand, but I started to get into it around mile 3 and went with it. I stopped once, for a minute at 38 minutes. I finished the 7 in 1:07:59, just under 10 minute per mile pace. 

September 24 - 12 MILES - Flying solo for 8!

Terrible photo, I know, but did you run 12 miles before work on a Wednesday? No? I didn't think so. That's me trying to show my watch, which read 2:27:59 and should have read "DONE."

After much deliberation, I decided to join Summer for a 4 mile loop this morning and gauge how I felt after to determine if I'd continue on for 8 more to get the 12 miler out of the way. (We're supposed to run 12 with the group this weekend but it's at least a 45 minute drive and Summer and Laura aren't going, and I really am not up to driving to uncharted territory for 12 miles at 4:30 a.m. on a Saturday if I don't have to) So, Summer and I met, and ran/walked for 4 miles. As we parted ways at mile 4, I felt fine, grabbed my handheld 10 oz water bottle from my car and kept trucking along. I planned in my head to run to my office which is 3 miles and back and then I'd tack on the rest near home. I kept going past the office a bit and then turned around, figuring it'd be closer to 7 round trip from there then 6. I stopped twice at the same gas station and ran in and refilled my water bottle with cold water and ran out. (weird to see a sweaty girl dash in and out during "rush hour" to refuel, but who cares?) I had a few orange Sport Beans around mile 5 and then I tried a Hammer Gel chocolate gel around mile 8 and it was okay, but hard to get open. Around mile 9 my stomach felt weird for a minute or so then was fine, and I knew I could keep going. Just as I was running past home at mile 10, Justice was pulling out to go to the gym. Wow - what timing...2 hours and 20 minutes into my run and we crossed paths. I said "hi," throwing my handheld water bottle in the car, and told him I had one more mile to get to 12. It sounded so good at that point. I then jogged another mile and finished the 12 glorious miles in 2:27:59. Whew. Great weather - pretty windy, but very cloudy and no direct sun. 76 degrees when starting, with 74% humidity. I am beyond happy fall is finally here. (I think it's here to stay?) Got home, tried a quick ice bath after stretching, and then showered and enjoyed a big breakfast of eggs w/ cheese, spinach and salsa, wheat toast w/ cashew butter, and a big glass of orange juice. Off to work now...

September 20 - 63 DEGREE Run in SC

Thumbs up to finishing 5.3 miles in 63 degree weather!

Vic made tasty post-run Cuban coffee.

My first run out of state ever, and a great one at that - did I mention it was 63 degrees and 79% humidity and breezy? Sixty-three degrees = amazing. Thank you South Carolina. We're in Charleston (well, north of Charleston in Goose Creek) for the weekend visiting Justice's best friend Vic, and his wife, Kristen, for Vic's 27th birthday. Vic and I ran a beautiful path that was recently paved with huge trees and lots of shade...and since it was overcast there was no worries about sun being in our eyes. The change in scenery (and temperature) made it so worthwhile! Overall we probably did a 9 to 9:30 minute pace, chatting the whole time, and it took us 52 minutes as we turned around at 26:30. We later mapped it and it was about 5.3 miles. And typically I write what I ate the night before and last night was a feast...lots of pita chips w/ hummus and homemade roasted eggplant dip, olives, homemade challah bread and excellent "west coast" italian fish/shrimp/scallop/calamari/mussel soup. Mmmm. And we did a beer tasting so I tried just a few sips of each. And I still ran well.

September 17 - 6 miles and 50th Post

Blogger tells me this is my 50th post. Hooray - I've been running for 2 1/2 months. This morning, after not enough sleep and no breakfast, I cranked out 6 miles on the treadmill. I approached it with one of those "I do not want to run today" attitudes too, unfortunately. I got to the gym a bit later and "my" treadmill was taken so I tried one that was a few over from it but there was a sweaty guy that smelled less than pleasant (not cool to run next to for 57 minutes) next to me so I slipped off to the next one and then "mine" opened up and I hopped on. 4 minute warm up, then I ran 1 mile in 9:30, walked 1 min, then ran to 2 miles in 19:02, then walked 1 min, then to three miles, walked 1 min, four miles in 37:30, walked 1.5 min, ran to 5, walked 1 min, and then ran to 6 in 56:48. High HR of 189, average HR 168 and average speed of 6.2 mph. Fastest speed - 8.8 mph.

Some like it hot (yoga)

Several of my friends have been trying to get me to try this "hot" yoga. While I do enjoy yoga 1-2 times a week, I've never had the urge to try yoga in a sauna-type environment. Well, until today. After two friends, Laura and Leona, mentioned it on two separate occasions, I decided - heck, why not. Thankfully both were in attendance. The studio was really nice and the yoga room is fairly large with wood floors and two mirrored walls. I was told to bring a beach towel, which I put over my mat. The room is heated to 85-90 degrees and three heat lamps were at the front of the room. Laura and I joked that we felt like we were in an oven. About 10 minutes in there is sweat everywhere and in every down dog the sweat slides down your arms and streams down your face and steadily drip-drip-drips off the tip of your nose. It was pretty intense, with a lot of triceps work and since mine aren't exactly the strongest, we'll see how that feels tomorrow. I was complete soaked afterwards, but it was more enjoyable than the soaked feeling I experienced after the 10 miles on Saturday morning. I'd give it an A+.

September 15 - 4 miles

Out the door at 5:30, on the treadmill and walking at 5:45. Very humid. Ran to 4 miles with walk breaks and a 5 minute warm-up for 4.3 miles total in 45 minutes. Nothing exciting today, felt tired and wasn't very motivated to run or jog. Blah.

September 13 - TEN MILES!!!

You can't tell from this picture really but I can't believe I'm smiling - after my longest, and most humid run ever, I am 100% drenched. Not a dry spot on that dri-fit tank or shorts.

Holy wow. 10 miles. Over and done. A little over 2 hours and my longest run by about 30 minutes (and .7 miles). I figured I should blog before I take a nap or it'll never happen. Started off fine (toast w/ PB for breakfast at 4:55 a.m.), it was very humid, but around mile 4 I was feeling the impact. Thankfully we had about 5 water stops today. Around miles 6 and 7 I had a few Sport Beans. By mile 7 I was lagging, wondering how in the heck Ill ever run the 26.2 miles. The last mile and a half or so were up a bridge, and I was not having it. I resorted to a walk for 2 or 3 minutes then a shuffle downhill. At the end I was so glad to be done and nothing hurt or ached but I was absolutely soaked. My shorts were dripping, and the built in underwear were hanging off, soaked like a diaper. Ugh. It felt disgusting. We were all pretty much soaked. One lady joked that she felt she'd fallen in a pool. Afterwards I had some water and ate a banana on the way home. Once home, and out of the car, my legs were weird and I walked into the front bumper (didn't feel very good) but after a shower and some icing I just feel tired and ready to take a snooze for a bit. So glad that's over with and so eager for winter to get here....

Time to Get Pumped Up - 10 Miles Tomorrow!

In less than 12 hours I'll be completing (hopefully) the longest distance I've ever run - 10 miles. We're dipping into the double digits and I believe that I am ready for action. In a few short months when we're gearing up for 20 miles, I'll probably look back and scoff at the fact that I was worried to run 10...that was pocket change, I'll tell myself. But anyways, I'm anxious and ready to tackle the 10 with the best of them.

September 9 - 5 miles

(Dinner - huge salad w/ black olives, almonds, avocado, tomato, cheese, hard boiled egg, craisins and flax seeds, Kettle dijon chips, muscadine grapes. Also - went to yoga last night since my favorite instructor has finally returned after having her first baby!) No breakfast, on the treadmill at 5:35. Warmed up for 4 minutes. Ran 2 miles (18:48) then walked 1 minute, then ran to 3 miles, then walked 1, then to 4 (37:33), walked 1 and ran to 5 miles to finish in 46:50. Avg. speed and HR - 6.3 mph and 166. Very humid in the gym and outside. Thank goodness for both dri-fit clothing and Lisa today, who joined me at about mile 2.5 for the next 2 miles. So helpful!

September 8 - 6 miles

(Dinner last night: big salad w/ all sorts of stuff in it, some Kashi with peanut butter and honey on top & watermelon.) 6 hours of sleep (stayed up to watch some of the VMAs on MTV - afterall it was the VMAs 25th anniversary!), no toast this morning, two minute warm-up, then on my favorite treadmill at 5:40 a.m. next to Lisa.  Ran two miles in 19:05, walked 1 minute, ran to 3 miles, walked 1, ran to 4 miles, walked 1, ran to 5, walked 2 minutes, then ran to 6 miles in 57:35. Average HR: 167. Average speed: 6.1 mph. Got up to 8 mph. Stayed mostly around 6.3 mph. It was very humid, but legs and lungs were fine. A guy two treadmills over had a loss of balance and began to fall off but thankfully caught himself, which brought me back to that fateful Monday afternoon in May 2006 in which I fell forward on a 8.5 mph treadmill (back when I could run fast) and severely loss skin on both shins and knees. Not fun, and pretty shocking at the time. A visual now, for those who missed seeing these in '06:

An hour or so after it happened

Three days later

Four days later

September 6 - 8 Miles

The group, afterwards, socializing.

My coworker, Audra (she's in the faster group! You go girl!)

My running buddy, Laura

Dinner last night was toast w/ cashew butter and a banana, and some honey dijon Kettle chips (amazing!), watermelon and  few sips of Justice's beer. We went to sleep at 9 but I didn't sleep well/much. Up at 4:50 a.m., piece of peanut butter toast and water, out to Atlantic Beach to meet the group and run 8 miles. We received sad news that "Dr. John," who has been involved in the Galloway program for years, and often comes out to cheer us on, passed away yesterday (Leukemia) - so today we all donned purple ribbons in his honor. The course, which is part of our actual marathon course come February, was really amazing. I've never been back in these neighborhoods - huge houses, gorgeous trees and winding roads! And thankfully Laura was back today and we chatted the whole way, making it go by very quickly. We met Rachel, who is also in Group 3, and pretty much picked her brain since she's run marathons and 1/2's before. She even shared a story of losing four toenails in one race. Yikes. Overall I felt great, no pains, I took water at both water stops, and the weather was great - 77 degrees/75% humidity to start and down to 70% when we finished. Shelby's Coffee House was kind enough to donate water, fruit, coffee and Gatorade for us. Thank you Shelby's.

September 4 - 6 miles & 3 walk breaks

I'm going to include what I ate for dinner as I think there is some sort of weird correlation between certain things I eat and my running performance. (Last night had chicken and sun dried tomato ravioli, salad, frozen vegetables.) Up at 5:35, wolfed down a piece of toast, out the door and off to the treadmill. The one I like was occupied and my friend was on the next one, running. I opted for one on the other end but then saw the one I liked was now available. (I am pretty particular - apparently!) I jumped on, and warmed up for 5. Then as my friend was finishing she chatted with me for the first 8 minutes of my run (made it go by fast!). I ran for 20 minutes, completing 2 miles in 19:03, then took a 1 min walk break. Ran to three miles, then a one minute walk break, then to four miles in 37:57, then a final walk break. Completed 6 miles in 57:05. Walked to 60 min, rounded it out at 6.2 miles for the day. Average heart rate according to the treadmill and my HR monitor was 168. I saw 190 (for the 1st time in a few years!) at the very end, as I sprinted at 8.7 mph for the last minute to so! 

September 2 - Back on the Machine

After attempting to run/jog outside yesterday morning (read: too humid), I needed to get back on board today. No breakfast, headed to the gym. Saw my friend Lisa who wondered why I'd been MIA for a week. That aside, I was back, and hoping to run/walk 4-5 miles. I warmed up walking 5 minutes then alternated running with faster running, then a 1 minute walk break, then more of the same. I felt good overall and really good overall around 40 minutes into the workout. Even stopped midway through to walk for a few. Ended up at 5 miles in 50:50, not bad considering the 5 minute walking warm-up. Did 5.5 miles in 55:35 and then rounded out 60 minutes with 5.9 miles total. Average HR was 157. High HR was 174 I think. Average speed (including the warm-up + cool down walking) was 5.9 mph. Everytime I have sushi for dinner (we tried a new place last night) I do well running the next morning, which makes no sense since all of that sodium from the soy sauce would essentially make me retain water. However my toast w/ cashew butter and three egg omlette w/ spinach, cheese and salsa await me. Ahh the joys of running and refueling!