7 miles revisited

Lucy and I ran 7 miles this morning after a very nice breakfast of homemade biscuits and gravy!!! My intention was to run at 730 and then have breakfast...but the run got postponed til 1130! I still miss running with the group, but if I can remember to charge my MP3 player, it will help pass the time.  Running for 82 min with no music and no one to talk to but myself gets a little boring! I was happy that upon my finish, I had no pain! No leg pain, blisters, foot pain......nada! I did some serious streching and hopefully this is a new development that will continue.  I am going to try for three more short runs this week before my 8 miler next sat.  We will ride 20 miles tomorrow morning.  We decided (after Casey crashed twice last week) that riding on the road is way safer than riding on paved trails.....there are dogs, kids, stupid people and numerous other hazards along the paved trails and they are usually just around a tight corner! Casey ended up falling on both sides so he has evenly distributed road rash and bruising.  I am pretty sure we will be staying off of the paved paths unless we are on a race route! One more thing that I am happy about is my discovery of chamois butter!!!! For running and for cycling.....keeps the cheeks very happy! Love that stuff! 

Starting over

So I kind of gave up on the group runs. My stupid blister took me out long enough to get too far behind and so I am starting over.  I have time, and Lucy likes running with me. I dug out the Garmin, leashed up Lou and we ran 6 miles this morning.  We are going to add a mile each week and once we hit 11, revisit it several weekends in a row.  I want my first half marathon to be the first time I run 13 miles.  Then I will re evaluate and decide if I'm going for 26.2 or just working on a faster 13.1!  I got a little frustrated because my marathon run leader said that training for a marathon and losing weight do not go well together.  She said if you eat so little that you are losing weight, then you can't be getting enough to recouperate after a run and you will get injured and sick all of the time. So I'm thinking that if my goal is to lose 25 lbs this summer, then I should stick to half marathons.  There is one every month through november so I have plenty to do! Tomorrow we are going on another bike ride.  This weather makes it so nice to hop on the bikes and go! We are getting ready for the bridge pedal and the portland century and shouldn't have any trouble getting up to 40-50 miles by aug. We just have to get up really early to beat the heat on weekends like this! It was 75 by 9am this morning and little black dog had her tongue hanging all the way to the pavement.....I forget how long her tongue is until summer!! HAHAHA! Motivation for my midweek runs is running thin.  I get tired sitting in class all day or on my clinical day getting up at 4 am.  Hard to summon the energy to go run.  Once I do it, I feel great. At least it's not cold and dark out! Couldn't we find somewhere to live that has perpetually nice weather all year!!! A little rain, a little snow, but mostly just blue skies and 75 degrees all year round????

10 mile blister

10 mile run in george rogers park today.  That was a good find....pretty place. The run was a little hilly, but I didn't have any trouble until the last couple miles when I felt the beginings of a blister on my big toe. It didn't hurt, but it looks pretty gnarly!  Going to let it go for a day and hope it starts to drain! Kinda hard to do the rest of my runs with a big fat blister!  Can't believe I ran 10 miles today.....pretty big deal for me.  On top of that I am feeling pretty accomplished for driving to the run sites on my own in portland. That is something I really never thought I would be doing.  The GPS is awesome and really helps, but I am getting to know my way around NW portland, lake oswego, tualitin and downtown portland.   

9 miles

I did it.  Not as hard as I had made it out to be.  Every week I think "the run is going to be hard" and then I go, and it isn't......yet! The hardest part is making sure there is a public bathroom somewhere near the start because my tummy gets freaked out every sat morn!!!! I think I get nervous about the drive to portland by myself and get an upset tummy....every freakin week! So there is always the pre-run emergancy poop.....then I'm good! Today I was thanking the gods that whole foods was open....I did have to buy something to get the bathroom code on the bottom of the receipt.....but it was worth the dollar...lol! I should keep that reciept in case I'm ever in the pearl district and need a bathroom! They probably don't change the code very often?

So next week is 10 miles....that is a milestone for me. One of those numbers that I never thought I would get to. Not that 9 miles isn't a lot....it's just that ten is double digits!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll be running half marathon distance in three weeks! Run Forest, Run!!!!!!

Tomorrow

I have a 9 mile run for tomorrow....problem is I had to skip the 8 mile run last weekend due to stomache issues. I got one 3.5 mile run in this week, so tomorrow may not be as fun as the last couple group runs have been! Hopefully I will run 9 miles like a champ and move on! 

Training run revisited

We ran 7 miles in tualatin this morning.  The rain stayed away, and it was a little warmer than last week.  It really wasn't any harder than the 6 mile run last week.  I spent the afternoon tasting wines and trying out yummy sweets at the beer and wine festival in Portland.  Probably should have drank some more water today...but what fun is that?  I am planning on a short run tomorrow....as long as my joints aren't thinking otherwise! I do owe Lucy a run! 

First run down!!

This morning was the first marathon training run.  Niketown opend up for us at 7:30 to gather before the race.  There were a lot of people, all levels of runners.  The pacers were great and gave us a lot of good info.  I wasn't sure if I was going to run 4 or 6 miles, but after we had run 2 I decided I could do 6.  I did, for the first time ever. It felt so good to accomplish that goal.  I am ready for 7 next week.  I met a cool running buddy, someone to chat with while we plug away.  We have a long way to go, but I am optimistic that I will make it to at least a half marathon!