Marathon complete!

It took me a few days to get back to blogging because this is the first real internet connection I have had since finishing.  But I did finish!  Here is the proof.

When I woke up on Saturday morning, it was rainy and cold.  That was not really what I was expecting.  Luckily, I had a bunch of other running gear packed because I was driving home, so I went and grabbed leggings and a long-sleeved t-shirt (it was actually the shirt that I got from the Detroit Turkey Trot).  I've often heard that it is a good idea to take as much gear as you can just in case of such an emergency.  Here is proof.  Apart from my Walmart run to get a throw-away hat and mitts, I was then all set.

One piece of advice that I remember reading about marathon running was to make sure that you didn't do anything out of the ordinary or stupid leading up to the race.  For instance, the day before a marathon is maybe not the time to explore new spicy foods.  However, you'd be amazed how easy it is to almost fall into this trap.  For instance, I considered getting some coffee.  Not in a long time have I had coffee soon before a run, so that could have been kind of dumb.  And yet, I came close (mind you, I was up early too, which might have had something to do with it).  I think that part of why it is easy to do something out of the ordinary is that you are out of your routine.  For instance, when I was doing long runs during training, I would basically roll out of bed and go.  Having other factors makes it trickier.

At the start of the run, the conditions were pretty lousy.  The rain kept up and was coming down pretty hard at times.  Did not enjoy.  I am really not a fan of cold rain.  At one point, it was so bad that I had to take my glasses off since I couldn't see anything.  Around mile 13, I went to the bathroom and noticed that my upper thighs were still freezing.  This was many, many miles in to the run.  Blech.  However, eventually the rain cleared and it was merely overcast, which was good.  Kiawah Island had lots of large, shady trees, but I would still rather have cold instead of hot.  In fact, with the big houses and the trees, in some ways it reminded me of where I ran for training.  I have to say that if you are the kind of person who wants crowds to push you along in a marathon, then maybe this is not your event.  If you, like me, prefer quiet running by yourself, then this is a good marathon for you.

You know what Kiawah Island really doesn't have?  Hills.  Yay.

The first half I ran probably faster that I should have in an ideal world.  I definitely had positive splits (which is to say that my mile splits at the start were faster than the ones at the finish).  It is best to have either an even pace or negative splits.  However, I made a decision around a quarter of the way through as I was freezing in the rain and not wearing glasses: I was not going to worry about performance in this marathon.  I could save that instead for the next marathon.  This one was just about finishing.

I had to use some weird motivators to keep going at points in order to reach this goal of finishing.  For instance, every time I completed another 10%, I would remind myself that I was whatever percentage of the way through and that I never, ever had to run such a difficult race again if I didn't want.  Also, I started thinking about the fact that this very well could be the most arduous physical challenge I would ever endure (at one point, I was adding a disclaimer to that about how childbirth would be harder, then remembered that you can get drugs to make childbirth easier).  One of the funnier moments occurred at mile 26.1, when I was counting down to the end and thinking that this was no worse than a 2K erg test -- erg tests take place on the rowing machine when you do rowing and are basically like death.  Then I thought to myself, 'No, this isn't as bad as an erg test.'  Which should really tell you something about erg tests.

My time: I finished in 5:47.  If you look at my official time on the site, it will say 5:49.  I stopped the watch when I went to the bathroom (incidentally, there were bathrooms all over the course and lots of water/Gatorade stops, which was good).  My top-secret time goal that I barely told anyone was 6 hours, so I am very pleased to have made it in under that time.  Considering my training times in Florida, this was better than I expected.  Slow, yes.  But I knew that.  I had set three goals for myself in advance of the event, progressing from 'easiest' to 'hardest':

1) Finish
2) Run the whole way
3) Finish in under 6 hours

And I did all three!  So that was exciting.  Also, had I stopped at the half, I would have set a personal best for that distance.

Other achievements include not hitting the wall.  I was very careful to carb load for the days leading up to the race, including eating basically an entire marzipan Stollen:

Also, I had pasta (white flour pasta!) for dinner the night before.  For the run, I took six sport bean packs.  This may seem extreme, but my thinking was to have one every 4 miles.  The last pack was at mile 24, so there were only 2.2 miles to go at this point, but I figured that probably I could use the extra oomph anyway.  It seemed to work well: I didn't hit the wall and had enough energy to complete the race (also no cramping or anything).  So yay.  Also, I got to eat an entire German Stollen with marzipan.  Life could be worse.

Immediately afterward, my feet were killing me, but other than stiffness, I was okay.  This proves my theory that actually, I am well-built for running, just not for running fast.  No major problems to report in the days following, apart from walking around like Frankenstein for a while.  But that is to be expected.  Also, I did a lot of driving, so that probably didn't speed up the recovery.

Here is a tip: if you run a marathon, make sure to have roomy shoes for afterward since your feet will be swollen and ouchy.

After finishing, I went back to the hotel, ate an entire large Papa John's pizza (because I could!) and watched all three Indiana Jones movies (the fourth one, in my view, just doesn't count).  The Garmin informed me that I burned 2600 calories from the marathon alone.

What's next?  For the next couple of weeks, I plan to do some swimming and skating, with a bit of running thrown in.  I think that my next goal will be to do a 5K sometime in February to try and crack 30 minutes (my best to date was around 31 minutes, so this isn't totally unrealistic).  Then maybe a half-marathon, we will see.  Unlike a lot of people, I don't feel wholly against doing another marathon, but I want to think this decision over carefully.  It is a lot of time and effort, even though I feel like it was worth it in the end.  And I guess this also marks the end of this blog, since it was about me running a freaking marathon and now I have accomplished that goal.

Cursed weather in 2010

I wasn't going to blog about this because I was hoping that by ignoring the issue it just wouldn't happen. But I have to say that 2010 has not been my year, weather-wise. It all started with the Central Park New Year's Run in sleety, rainy, icy and humid weather and for some reason, most of my runs since then feel like they have been in adverse conditions.

I was hoping that the streak had ended with the Detroit Turkey Trot, when it was supposed to rain but didn't.

No such luck.

Marathon conditions: in the 40s and 50s and rainy. Goes without saying that it is also humid.

I stopped by a 24-hour Walmart to get some cheap throw-away mitts and a hat. If my likeness should appear on peopleofwalmart.com in pajama pants and a performance top, don't judge.

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It's less than a day!

The marathon is officially tomorrow AM starting at 8 . If you can imagine. I can't. I'm writing this from South Carolina, where the weather is slightly chilly, but in a good way for running.

I took a picture of the immense pile of stuff that I have managed to assemble for this event, but can't post it right now. This is being written from my phone, so I don't have that capabilty. Knowing me, though, there will probably be some kind of photo essay to follow.

Time to sleep! I'm feeling pretty zonked, so not worried about that. Yes worried about oversleeping...

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T-2 days: Getting Everything Together

So here is the best way not to obsess about your marathon: have FAR too many other tasks that need to get done before it and spend all of your time stressing out about them.  Still have grading to go, along with some other details.  I feel like the minute I get on the highway tomorrow, it will suddenly hit me that I am driving somewhere to run 26.2 miles.  Here's hoping I don't totally freak out.

Anyway, I am getting down to the nitty-gritty here.  First, I printed out the detailed instructions provided by the marathon people.  Kiawah Island has been pretty good so far about keeping everyone informed of stuff, which is greatly appreciated by this anal-retentive planner.  I have a list written on the instructions of the things that need to go.  Everything should be okay.

Today I went to my local charity thrift store and picked up a warm sweater and pajama bottoms for before the race.  Why?  So that I can stay warm before the race starts.  The temperature is anticipated to be in the 40s to start and get to the high 50s by the end, which is super fine with me.  However, it might be less fun waiting around for stuff to start in running gear.  So the charity items are good since I can toss them once we get started.  The Kiawah Island race people are even collecting discarded gear to go to a local charity store there.  The two pieces clash horribly by the way, but that's not the point.

Underneath (for the actual race) I plan to go with shorts and a performance t-shirt, which I think should be just fine.  The t-shirt will be the one I got for running the 5K all those months ago (August!) in Salem.  It should be almost exactly the same experience, except that I will be running for about 8.5 times longer and there is no lobster festival afterward.

Incidentally, finding warmish gear in Florida was no small challenge.

If you're wondering why pajama bottoms, because they will be easy to get off over my running shoes.  I'm smart sometimes.

Three miles is better

The cold front continues.  In fact, the cold front has been amplified and we are now talking about high temperatures in the 50s.  During the day.  Remember when temperatures didn't even get down to 50, even at night?  Because I most certainly do.

This week -- the week leading up to the marathon -- is the most super-easy week ever.  As it should be.  Two three-mile runs and one (wait for it) 2-miler the day before the race.  That one is mostly to ensure that your body hasn't completely forgotten what running is. 

I know why the 5 miles felt long the other day, or at least I can theorize that it was related to tapering.  Today's three miles, on the other hand, was just fine.  Nice, brisk temperature.  Did a loop through Stephanie and David's neighborhood. I feel like I'm hitting up all of the places that I've been along this training journey.

It's funny to me that when I started, 3 miles felt like utter hell during the summer.  Now, not only is it easy to run, but the weather is almost diametrically opposite. 

T-6 Days

I've been a bit surprised that I don't seem to be suffering from many of the 'taper week' symptoms that I have read so much about.  This is not an easy time, despite the fact that mileage has reduced.  You tend to get sick -- check.  You tend to worry that you are going to sustain some stupid injury that makes you unable to run your marathon -- check.  But other than that, I've been okay.  Until today.

One thing that I have read about is the fact that your runs are just not very good runs.  This might seem self-evident: you have been running a lot of miles for a lot of time and your body is tired.  So clearly you will not be running your best.  But until now, I was feeling okay about my runs.  Today, not really.

Five miles was a long five miles.  This was in no way related to the weather (61F right now!) or anything else obvious.  I think that it was more of a point where my body has decided that enough is enough and it doesn't really feel like going on runs any more.  The key thing about this phase of the taper weeks is to not panic, because you won't actually run like this on marathon day.  So say the experts.  Therefore, I shall not panic.  But it was still a surprisingly tricky run in some respects.

(The time, though, was slightly faster than the last 5 mile run I did, so clearly this is not related to performance necessarily).

I've also figured out the reason that I've been so obsessive about finishing the training program.  These taper week runs are kind of freebies: they aren't actually necessary and likely won't help your marathon in any way.  And there have definitely been a few days lately where I didn't really feel like it but went anyway (such as yesterday and for much of today's run).  However, I think that there is something in my head that wants to be able to say that I ran all of the training program, even if I don't do well for the marathon.  At least I can say I put in the time and effort. 

Running later today

Last night, I decided that the time had come for something revolutionary.  I was not going to set the alarm to go running.  Yes.  That's right.  I slept in on a Sunday.  I can count the number of times I have done this since August on one hand.  Actually, I can count the number of times I have done this since August on one finger (the weekend I was in Pittsburgh since I completed my long run on Thursday).  So this is nice.  I plan to go later today.  It's only 5 miles, so I'm not too concerned, plus it's on the nice side for temperature again.

I've started checking the weather for the marathon already.  The forecast right now calls for a high of 61F during the day, with an overnight low in the 40s.  DO NOT CHANGE.  STAY JUST AS YOU ARE.  That would be like a freaking dream.

Yesterday,  I did another one of those 3-mile runs.  Whoo.  I didn't blog because I didn't turn on the computer.  There was much baking and preparing that needed to be done since last night was the Temple Terrace Golf Cart Christmas Parade and that is clearly an event that requires celebrating:

Actual golf cart used in actual golf cart Christmas parade.

One accomplishment from yesterday's run was that I totally beat some other woman who was running too.  This is somewhat petty of me, I realize.  She struck me as maybe not so serious about running because she wore sweatpants, which is also terrible.  I should like that other people are running and applaud their efforts, regardless of what they are wearing.  She was also a walky/runny person (as in, someone who walks for a bit, then runs), and I have great disdain for the walky/runny crowd.  Well, not really .  Not great disdain.  Whatever works for you.  But as someone who is slow enough to sometimes be around walky/runny people in a race, they drive me nuts when they out of nowhere change pace from running to walking.  At least have some awareness while you do that.  Anyway, I beat yesterday's walky/runny person wearing sweatpants.  This might not seem like much of an accomplishment, but for me it was...although I realize that this is completely petty and somewhat dumb.  Meh. 

I have a confession to make

I did do my run today, as mentioned in the previous post.  Today's was 5 miles.  Nothing fancy.  No speedwork or hills, just 5 miles.  Went pretty smoothly, particularly since the cold front is still in place.  In fact, I finally caved and turned on the heat because I don't want to get sick again if I can avoid it.  That's how great this cold front is.

In the small pond during today's run I thought that I saw three ducks standing on an alligator.  Alas, the three ducks were standing on a partially submerged sandbank.  But how awesome would that have been? 

I have something slightly embarrassing to confess.  It's my new motivational song.  Now, I don't actually run with music on because I think that learning how to be bored is an important part of training for a long event.  This may sound weird, but it's something that I observed when coaching rowing.  It's very hard to concentrate sometimes while exercising.  With crew, you need to be completely, 100% focused when you are in the boat.  That can be really hard to do when you start, but I feel that it's part of becoming a better athlete.  There are no distractions.  When I started running, I felt the same way: that you should concentrate on....well.....for lack of a better word, the boringness it.  But getting to a point where long runs are not boring is a good sign of progress.  So I don't run with music (I do distract myself while running, just not with extras).  I mentioned a few weeks ago that every so often, Bob Seger's 'Hollywood Nights' comes flying into my head out of nowhere -- actually that happened again today.  I have no shame in this.  In fact, I basically adore Bob Seger, so that's all good.  My embarrassing song is much worse: Britney Spears 'Gimme More.'  Yes.  I just admitted that publicly.

Cold front, new toy, who could ask for anything more?

Another cold front is here!  Right now it is noon and 54F.  Awesome!  Can't wait to go running later.

Yesterday, I made up the 3M that I didn't do on Tuesday, so all is good there.  I was in Gainesville and ran an relatively uninspiring route around a neighborhood, but it fulfilled the purpose.  The weather was ideal; I went near sunset and it was absolutely great.  Probably in the 50s or maybe even the high 40s.  Also, the new toy worked like a charm (once I figured out that it automatically switched from distance in feet to distance in miles...).  The run itself went very well and I had lots of strength at the end to sprint the finish.

The toy said that I hit an 8:10 mile split near the end.

This is my favorite toy EVER.

Day off....but......

Someone got a new toy:

An AWESOME NEW TOY!!!!  This is the only object I have ever owned for which I want to read the entire owner's manual.

I was supposed to run today and didn't because I wasn't feeling great (and it's hot).  Instead, I will do my run tomorrow. It's three miles.  If you can imagine.

Last of the semi-long runs

This post is the third in a three-part series to get caught up with my running exploits after having been out of town for Thanksgiving weekend.  Although actually it talks about today's run, so technically it is still on time.

Back in Florida, back to the hot runs.  Although luckily, this morning wasn't too bad, from a temperature/humidity standpoint: it was actually in the 50s to start and didn't get over the mid-60s.  I was hoping to get up early and go, but didn't have much oomph to start my day, so I started around 8am.  Today was 10 miles, the last serious distance before the marathon.  Everything is much shorter from here on out and I think that the longest remaining runs are 5 miles.

However, I still have this super-annoying head cold!  So the weather didn't seem quite so great because I was sweaty the whole time anyway.  It was somewhat helpful to have a point of comparison for running while sick since I didn't really in Detroit with the conditions varying so much from normal.  What I learned was that running while you are sick is not fun.  I didn't feel comfortable really at any point, although the run itself went relatively well.  Perhaps it is all in my head (HA!  Get it?)

Today I also experienced my first technical glitch of the entire training period.  I have to say that this isn't too bad considering that I managed to get through about 340 miles without one.*  I'm not sure that today's run was exactly 10 miles, but that's okay.  Around mile 7.8, the distance tracker seemed to freeze.  Either that, or it was the longest 0.1 mile I have ever run.  Flashbacks to the turkey trot with no 5-mile marker.  Then suddenly, I had run 8.3 miles.  Ditto at 8.8.  In other words, there was some weird 'increments of 0.5' thing going on, then things were fine.  However, I'm not sure that it tracked the distance exactly right.  I still ran to what the phone claimed was 10 miles.  And that will just have to do.

*Incidentally, that is an insane number.  I have run over 340 miles training for this thing.  Insane.  That is further than from here to Savannah, GA.

Running in cold > Running in hot

This post is the second in a three-part series to get caught up with my running exploits after having been out of town for Thanksgiving weekend.


Saturday morning another Detroit run remained. I was staying downtown, so the run went around Comerica Park -- which looks super nice by the way, I want to visit in the summer and see a few games.  This time the distance was only 4 miles.  I say 'only' because after the past few weeks, 4 miles feels like a walk around the block. 


Except that this walk took place with a wind chill of 20F.  It really wasn't so bad in the sun -- if you can called Michigan sun 'sun' -- but when those wind gusts hit, it was not pleasant.  That being said, I still preferred it over running in the hot.  And my time was better than most Florida runs as well.


However, it is entirely possible that running in 20F wind chill was not helpful for my cold, since it continued to stick around.  Blech.  Enough!  I know that it's common to get sick during taper time, but still.  Irritating.  And annoying!

Turkey Trot in Detroit

This post is the first in a three-part series to get caught up with my running exploits after having been out of town for Thanksgiving weekend.

Thursday morning was Thanksgiving, an event that I celebrated by flying to Detroit to see the New England Patriots stage a late-game rally and beat the pants off of the Detroit Lions.  Tom Brady's QB rating was perfect.  I realize that this is in no way relevant to this blog, but it's a fact that I will not get sick of anytime soon.

Speaking of sick, I got sick.  I caught a cold last week and ran through it on Tuesday, hoping that it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.  Unfortunately, it continued on Thursday.  Just a head cold, so no reason to stop running (I would if it became a chest cold), yet not ideal.  I was a bit concerned because the weather was supposed to be in the 30s and raining.  Just in the 30s would be manageable, but with rain?  Ick.  Luckily the rain held off for the duration of the race since I would definitely put 'rainy and cold' in the Top Three of my least favorite weather conditions.

The run itself went quite well.  So well that I thought I might have a new PR for 10K time, but in fact did not (boo).  Probably the fact that I didn't really warm up to race pace beforehand combined with the fact that I had a cold did not help.  And I brought 'performance gear' from a Florida race thinking that it was 'performance gear,' when really it just trapped heat (*why* this was distributed for a Florida race, I may never know).  Plus it was a relatively congested start, so I probably didn't get a good pace for a bit.

Also, I totally missed the 5-mile marker.  I was feeling pretty good through mile 4, so my plan was to crank it through mile 5 (I did not take the phone on the grounds that it might rain).  Hard to do when you totally miss mile 5, even though I was pretty sure that mile 4 was awfully long.  Ah well.  My goal right now isn't to PR in a 10K race.....even though it sure would have been nice......

Taper Time Begins with a Challenge

Since I started training, I've noticed that my body sometimes craves weird things.  This goes beyond those times when I find myself hording carbs in my shopping cart, although that is one good example.  What is even weirder is when I find my body 'craving' things that have nothing to do with food.  For instance, after one of my long runs, I was getting ready to go watch my football game at the bar and I realized that my feet craved for me to wear running shoes.  Seriously.  I can't explain it any better than to say it is a craving.

Today, I had a 5-mile run.  It was supposed to be 5 miles with hills, but I didn't feel like running over in the hill neighborhood.  Several factors conspired to make me less motivated: the fact that the sun goes down at 5:30 now; the fact that I did not get home until 5; and the fact that I don't like running in the dark any more for fear of tripping and bashing up my knees (or worse).  I couldn't go running in the morning because I was in Orlando.  Yes.  Again.

I came awfully close to not doing today's run.  Probably closer than I have come before.  For one, I just wasn't in the mood.  Also, I got a massage this afternoon which helped take out all of the running kinks and I was enjoying being able to move my neck freely again (the massage finished at 4:45, hence why I did not get home until 5pm).  And the weather, while not vile, is not ideal for running.  Today's heat index was in the mid-80s.  Ugh.

However, somehow my body craved (?) going for a run around my little condo association neighborhood.  By 'little,' I mean this thing loops at 0.7 miles.  Why I wanted to do this, I don't know.  It required that I circle 7 times around the little loop, then add on a tiny bit.  But for some reason, this made me happy and it really wasn't so bad.  There is decent lighting at night here, which is not true of all neighborhoods.  I ran on the road, so no uneven sidewalks to trip me.  It is a loop, but it isn't a terrible loop as far as scenery goes.  Just chalk this up to another one of my weird 'cravings,' I guess.  And that is another 5 miles that I really did not want to run done!

The Long and Winding Road (mostly long)

[Yesterday I ran 4 miles.  Nothing exciting to report.  Although there is now a 'On Purpose Stephanie Encounter' to go with the 'Random Stephanie Encounter.']

Today was the last long run: 20 miles.  And I finished it.  It was not the most pleasant run I have ever done: it started in the 60s with 85% humidity, enough to push the temperature + humidity number to 150 (which, as you may recall, is too close to 160 for my comfort).  During the course of the run, the conditions did not get much better, exacerbated by the fact that I am a really freaking slow runner so everything took a long, long time.  But no matter.  It is now done.  With any luck, these will be the worst conditions I encounter for such a lengthy distance.

I ran my normal route around the north part of the golf course neighborhood, then went over to the south part to loop miles 7ish-13ish.  Overall, it was a really nice route, particularly because there were convenient water stops: one about 1/4 (or 3/4 on the return) of the way through and another at the halfway point.  Very useful.  Probably would not have done so well without them, particularly since I forgot to pick up some of the healthy Gatorade stuff, so I was stuck with only water (and, naturally, my sports beans).  When I felt my brain wandering, I reminded myself that this was a combination of tired/need sports beans/want hydration and to keep focused.

Completing 20 miles feels like a real accomplishment, even though there is still the long race to go.  I've been thinking a lot about the overall training during the past week and am pleased that I've done a good job at getting out there and running, even when I don't feel like it.  This hasn't always been easy, but on the whole, I think that it's been easier than I expected.  I'm also really thrilled that I have such a wonderful neighborhood at my disposal because that has made everything much more pleasant.  As I ran today, I thought about how fortunate I am to live in and around a neighborhood that offers so many options for routes, while also providing shade, scenery, and very little traffic:

And pretty, colored trees!

And now, on to Taper Time!

Weather gets perfect

Last night I ran another 5 miles with hills (okay, I know, they are not really hills).  Unfortunately, I was whisked away to Orlando as if by magic (no, not really), so I didn't have time to blog about it.  It was fantastic.  I went at sunset because many, many things prevented me from going in the morning, such as being in Gainesville, FL with no running gear.  But it was not a big deal.  The only slight problem I noticed with running at night is that I am now wary about falling again, so I am cautious.  Overall, though, great run.

I still haven't experienced any massive problems or injuries, but I do feel like my body is on the brink of having enough.  No specific symptoms, just a general feeling of 'Don't push this much further.'  Which is fine, because I'm not pushing it much further and next week marks the start of the decreased mileage!

Tomorrow is 4 miles, then the 20-mile megarun on Sunday.   Almost there.

Whoomp here it is

I just mapped my 20-mile run for this Sunday.  You can see it here.

Last week of high mileage

The alarm went off this morning and I felt whatever the diametric opposite of motivation is to go out and run.  However, I reminded myself that this is the last week of big miles.  Next week marks the start of taper time, when your mileage drops so that you are ready for the race.  So I just need to get through this one week.  Eventually, that was what got me out the door, although it was not a quick process by any stretch of the imagination.

Yet again, my schedule is weird this week since I will be traveling to Gainesville tomorrow.  I decided to flip the 10 mile run that was supposed to take place on Thursday and do it instead today (now Thursday will be 5 miles).  This was probably part of why I was somewhat unmotivated this morning: 10 miles is a long way.  In fact, not that long ago I would have called it a long run.  But I had to get it done this morning since there is a chance of showers later and I figured I did not want to risk it.

The run itself wasn't so bad once I just got out there.  Some days the entire battle is just getting out there.  The first part was mostly overcast, which was great.  Then there was more sun than I would have liked, but a somewhat cool breeze came with it.  I say 'somewhat' because it is more humid than normal at this time of year, so it wasn't quite as enjoyable as it could have been.  Not crazy summer hot or anything though, which is good. 

Only 29 more miles to go this week!  <-- this is a remarkably demotivating thought.

Where did I go? Pittsburgh!

It's been a few days since I last posted, but don't worry.  All is well.  The running is still on schedule.  Saturday I did my 5 miles which was supposed to include 8 minutes of hill time.  Yeah, I got that and then some. In case you have never been to the lovely city of Pittsburgh, let me warn  you in advance: it is hilly.  Like, crazy hilly.  Especially when you get off-track and wind up adding a bunch of hill to your run accidentally.  All hills aside, though, it was an extremely pleasant run, when all was said and done, even if a bunch of stuff went wrong along the way.

My plan was to run in Schenley Park, near where I was staying.  The directions were relatively simple: take a right, then take a left, then turn and cross the bridge, then I would be there.  Except that I am directionally challenged a lot of the time.  In this case, I completely missed the bridge.  Adding to the fun was the fact that I had my phone, I started the running app, but forgot to completely turn it on, so I ran probably a good half mile before figuring this out (at least I guesstimated it at about half a mile).  Then I wound up taking a straight downhill path for a bit in the wrong direction, which naturally required a straight uphill to get turned around again.  I think that I probably ran enough hills to make up for all of the slacker Florida hills that I've done so far during training.

Once I actually found the park, though, it was quite pleasant.  There were trails with foliage.  Not Florida foliage.  Actual, honest-to-goodness foliage, with leaves of different colors -- even if they were fringing on past peak.  And I got to run right next to them on a lovely trail.  Plus the weather was great, in the mid-50s....and this was around noon!  Noon!  Can you imagine?  Because it gets hard to imagine being able to run at noon when you live in Florida for a while.

I did slack off a bit at the end and after completing my guesstimated 5 miles (4.5 miles, allowing for the 'Oops, I forgot to turn on the app' error), walked the remainder.  The hills were just....ack.  There is no other word.  If nothing else, running in Pittsburgh gave me an entirely new appreciation for the term, 'Killah hill.'  I just mapped the basic route on Map My Run and discovered that I covered about 450 feet over the course of a 5-mile run.  For reference, the highest point in all of Florida is only 345 feet above sea level and it is nowhere near where I live.

I crossed the street...

For some reason, I used to think that the ABBA song 'I Had a Dream' contained the lyric, 'I crossed the street' in it.  Presumably, the line should be, 'I crossed the stream/I had a dream' since that makes much more sense.  But I still think of my version when I hear this song.  And today, I did just that.  I crossed the street.  Prior to today's run, which was 18 miles, I could find ways of circling around the northern part of the golf course neighborhood, thereby avoiding having to cross a relatively major street.  Today, since I had to add another mile from the last long run, I decided the time had come.  I was rewarded with some pretty good Florida scenery:

You can actually see parts of the Hillsborough River on this side of the street because not everything is built up.  This picture was taken near a public boat launch.

More of the Hillsborough River

If you're curious to know what this part of Florida would look like had northerners not descended and built golf courses, here is an idea:

Vacant lot right next to the river.

The street next to the river in this neighborhood is also called Riverhills Drive, only it's the southern part and the other half -- which had some of the houses featured previously on the blog -- is the northern part.  They have some pretty ritzy homes on the southern part too:

I just wonder about their cooling bills.

You can actually look out on the river from that giant porch.

Overall, though, today's run was not nearly as enjoyable as the last long run.  In part, this was probably because I shouldn't have been doing a long run today after only 5 days' rest from the previous long run and a 9-mile run on Tuesday.  Physically, though, I didn't feel too awful, at least not any more awful than I would expect from a long run.  And good news, body: you only have one more this week, and it's only 5 miles!  The real problem is that the spectacular cold front is going away.  The temperature at the start of the run was a very palatable 58F, but unfortunately the humidity was around 80%.  By the time I finished the run (many, many hours later), the temperature was already 75F; the RealFeel on Accuweather calculates it at 82F.  Let me tell you: it felt closer to 82F than 75F.

I could actually feel when things were starting to go wrong physically because of the weather.  For instance, before I had my last dose of sport beans, I could really feel my mind starting to wander.  I opted to take three packs and had one each 4.5 miles, which I think was fine overall, but the last one was definitely a necessity.  How could I tell?  I would start coming up with alternatives to my route or thinking about changing what I was doing.  Bad idea.  After I had the sport beans, I just continued on and all went well.  Another issue: if I was in the sun for too long, the same kinds of things started to happen.  Luckily, there was a shady version of the route near the end, but at one point, I think that I was in the sun for a bit too long.  My brain definitely got off track there.

I almost fell again today.  It's time to admit that these aren't flukes, but probably fatigue errors.  It happens.  Not much that can be done about them except to hope that I don't actually fall!

Switched-up schedule

I am starting to see a pattern here.  On Tuesdays, I start running and in response, my brain says, 'OH COME ON!  We just ran XX miles!  Isn't that enough?  IS NOTHING EVER ENOUGH FOR YOU?'  Then after about 2 miles or so, it settles, and we go on our merry way.  I'm off to Pittsburgh for the weekend, so I wanted to get my long run out of the way in advance -- see, I learned from my California adventure!  Thursday, then, will be this week's long run.  Instead of 5 miles today, I did 9, so that I can save the shortest distance for when I am in Pittsburgh.  However, today 9 felt looooooooooooooong.

Partially, this was because I ran at Flatwoods, one of the conservation areas around Tampa.  It is actually contained within a super-giant nature preserve and generic suburbia forms its borders:

Image courtesy of generic suburb website that borders park, hence the 'YOU ARE HERE' marker

As you can clearly see from the map, there is a 'paved trail for biking and rollerblading.'  You can also use it for running, but it's better suited for the other sports.  First, it is a 7-mile loop.  If you are coming at it from the west (Bruce B. Downs), there is also a 2-mile trait just to get to the loop.  So you are looking at some relatively hefty mileage right off the bat.  Also, while it is scenic (provided you find pine trees scenic), there are a lot of parts which do not provide very much shade.  Not too bad if you are on a bike, but potentially awful if you are running.  I'm glad I waited for a cold front or else it would have been quite unbearable.  There was a stretch of probably a mile with almost no shade at all.  However, in the shady parts with the wind was quite pleasant.

I have to say, though, that it does get a bit boring after a while, at least in my opinion:

Actually the road as you are leaving, but looks exactly the same as the trail.

Now imagine looking at that for seven miles.

I realize that some people might enjoy this a lot more than I did this morning and I'm pretty sure that part of my boredom with Flatwoods was just fatigue from Sunday.  It is quiet and there were no sidewalks for me to trip on, so that was good.  Also, it is well marked for mileage and, provided that it is cool, not unbearable.  There are water stops at various points as well.  Oh, and as the name suggests, it is flat as can be.  I've been told that I will get my butt kicked by hills in Pittsburgh, so I shall revel in Florida flat until then.

I did see a few interesting things along the way, though.  One was particularly shocking:

WHOA!

Do you see how those leaves are a different hue than green?  That is Florida foliage, people.  Florida foliage.  I don't think that I have ever noticed that before!

16 miles? During a cold front? Not a problem!

Today's long run was the 16-miler.  The cold front continued, which was probably the most fortuitous weather ever.  I was concerned about today's long run because it coincided with the switch to Daylight Savings.  Just because the clock goes back by an hour does not mean that Mr. Florida Sun cooperates.  I wanted to make sure that I got started early enough so that 10am did not feel like 11am.  However, with the cold front, this concern was irrelevant.  I went out a bit later than I had hoped (was planning to go out around 6:30am, and went instead closer to 7am), but it was fine.

Apparently, I have almost lost any skills I once had for how to dress in cooler weather.  The basic rule that I like to follow is to dress for the finish, not the beginning, because of course you do warm up while you run.  But Florida does not really require much thinking in the appropriate dress department.  Generally, I just go in shorts and a performance singlet.  So when the temperature drops, it now confuses me.  I didn't want to overdress, but I also didn't want to freeze at the beginning.  I went with shorts, long-sleeve performance shirt, and an actual ballcap.  Actual ballcaps are too hot normally, so I figured that it would pay off today.  This combo worked pretty well and I didn't feel uncomfortable at any point -- okay, maybe a little cold to start.

The temperature was in the 40s to start, then got into the 60s by the end.  In other words: perfect.  And the dew point was in the 30s.  As much as Florida drives me nuts, the weather during cold fronts is pretty much ideal (how unfortunate that cold fronts are maybe 5% of the year).  You get the cold, Arctic wind from up north, but you don't usually feel cold because the sun is still warm.  It's pretty easy to cope with these conditions.  If you feel cold from the wind, you get the sun to warm you up.  And if you feel too warm, you go in the shade or wait for a gust of wind.

As tends to happen in good weather conditions, I am reminded that I actually do not hate running.  I know, I've been over this before, but I really do sometimes forget.  The weather here is generally very difficult to negotiate for me, no matter what time of day.  So when I actually get to run in reasonable conditions, it is a real treat.  And I realized something else.  I may not be very good at running long distances, but I don't mind running long distances.  Especially in good weather.  I feel like I've reached a good point mentally where long runs don't actually feel so long and I stay strong through the last part.  For instance, I got to 4.5 miles from the end today and felt like the rest was going to be just fine to finish.  This is encouraging and a great feeling.  The last part wasn't even so bad, overall.  Now I just have to remember how those last miles feel when I run the real marathon.

Also, here is hoping for similar weather conditions!

I did have one small freakout today when I checked my time around 6 miles.  For some unknown reason, I convinced myself that 8 miles (the halfway point) was around a quarter of the marathon.  I started freaking out because I thought that I was running significantly slower than I had anticipated.  It took me until somewhere around 12 miles to realize that actually, 8 miles is closer to two-thirds of the way through a marathon.  This makes a pretty big difference, as the following fictional comparison demonstrates (fictional because I do not run this fast):

• 1 hour/8 miles in my erroneous first version would result in a 4-hour marathon;
• 1 hour/8 miles would be closer to a 3-hour marathon.

See how that happened?  It added a whole hour.  Even for this imaginary fast person.

I have one last comment about today's run.  When I train, I don't listen to music, but I do sometimes get music in my head.  For a while, it was various chamber music of the nineteenth century (I know, I'm a geek); for instance, Schumann's string quartet in A major (op. 41/3) would often be my imagined accompaniment.  You don't need to tell me that this is weird, I know already.  There is something about the strings all working together in chamber music that I feel works while running.  Today, though, I suddenly had Bob Seger's 'Hollywood Nights' burst out of nowhere around mile 5.  Random, even though it was on the radio yesterday.

The best moment ever was when I was 2 miles from the end of a long run while training for a half-marathon and Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing' started up as if on cue in my head.  Seemed appropriate.

Lots of weirdness, really

So first, when I asked for a cold front last week, I didn't think that my wish would be granted quite so successfully.  We are in the middle of a real, honest-to-goodness cold front.  In Florida, that means that the high temperature today was 66F.  Yes, that's cold around these parts.  It is supposed to get down to the 30s tonight, which is super cold for here.  Also, the humidity is not higher than 50%.  Rather than call it cold, I prefer to think of it in the following terms, 'WHOO!!!!'

If we're really lucky, some alligators might come out and sun to combat the 'cold.'

It was so temperate, in fact, that I ran in the afternoon today.  Like around 2:30pm.  Which is practically unheard of.  Because the sun is still Mr. Florida Sun.  Cold weather in no way alters that fact.  It just makes it slightly more bearable.  However, when I was in sunny sections with no wind, you could still feel it beating down.  I feel silly writing this because despite this fact, running in the sun in mid-60s weather is one hell of a lot more enjoyable than, say, running in 90% humidity in 70+ degree weather.

There was a slight mishap today.  I was running on campus at USF (I'm actually still at work) and discovered something important: not all of the sidewalks are even.  Some jut upward.  My shoe caught on one of these exact spots and I managed to fall pretty well.  No major damage, just some nasty-looking scrapes.  My favorite part of today's run was after this slight mishap when some random guy on a bike yelled, 'WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR KNEES?'  and I yelled back,' I FELL.'  I mean, what else do you think would have happened to my knees?

Incidentally, I learned something about weather and split times today.  It was a 5-mile run and my split time was a full minute faster than recent similar distances.  Plus this is adding in stop times at lights, so it was probably even better with no more perceivable effort.  So for the umpteeth time, I would like to remind Irrational Me that split times are not relevant in Florida conditions!

Ask and ye shall receive

Probably I should not have said anything about the remarkable no-rain streak.  I woke up this morning to this:

Plus the weather looks like it is going to stay disruptive all day.  Last night thunder woke me up.  Probably best to take a pass.  NASA is delaying their shuttle launch because of these storms.  I feel like if NASA is willing to delay a shuttle launch, maybe I have an excuse not to go for my 5M run.

However, tomorrow is going to be in the 60s as a high (!), so despite the fact that I don't usually like to run on Fridays because I get tired from work, tomorrow I will make an exception.  Should be good!  The two weather channels that I watched this morning both made it seem like weather in the 60s was a bad thing.  Really?

Flipping the schedule

Today was 9 miles, which according to the schedule should have been on Thursday.  However, I have several obligations that day so I figured it was better to get the longer run over with today (Thursday will now be 5M with hills).  Nine miles is the new 8 miles, apparently, because today's run really didn't feel all that bad either.  However, it was probably helped by the fact that it was cooler (around 70F) and overcast the whole time.

The overcast, actually, was a bit concerning because it definitely picked up as I went along.  I checked three different weather forecasts this morning, not because I was worried about rain but because they were somewhat contradictory: AccuWeather put the humidity at 80%, while WeatherBug had it at 98% or something disgusting like that.  But not one of them had mentioned rain around the time I was running.  Luckily, it held off.  There was just a brief shower right now, but it's about two hours later.

I also realized something weird.  In my entire training program, I have not once been caught out in the rain.  It's been close and there were a few times that I thought I would, but it has never actually rained while I was out.  Now we have had a dry fall (there was basically no rain in October), but this seems unusual for Florida.  Here's hoping I can keep that streak going for the rest of training!

Why you only go 20 miles

A friend of mine, who is also training to run a marathon (Philly), sent me this article today.  It is awesome.  It totally explains why you only run 20 miles and why that's okay.  It put my mind somewhat at ease.

(Of course, only somewhat, but I don't think I'll be fully at ease until the thing is done!).

Whoops

Yesterday's 'long' run was so short that I completely forgot to blog about it!  It was only six miles.  Hard to think of that as a long run after the past month, I do have to say.  And I realized that instead of being annoyed that it got hot during Taper Week, I should be grateful.  It would be even worse if it gets hot during a normal week with much longer runs.

Anyway, I've been reflecting quite a bit on how things are going since this is the last Taper Week before the real Taper Weeks that will occur right before the actual marathon.  Crazy!  In response to this, I think that I've started hording.  Yesterday I went to the Running Center and stocked up on 'sport beans,' opting only for the ones with caffeine (apparently, they do not all have caffeine, as I discovered around mile 10 of the 14-mile run.  Boo).  Today at the grocery store, I started hording carbs.  Because I will likely need carbs.  And kept reminding myself to stock up for when I am ridiculously hungry, which will probably start sometime tomorrow after a 9-mile run.  Also, I bought a big container of chocolate milk so that it's just sitting at home and I don't need to detour to the CVS and stand in line for, like, 15 minutes after a long run to get my chocolate milk because someone ahead of me feels that the marked discount on Tampa Bay Rays cowbells does not match what was in the sales flier (why yes, that did actually happen, how did you guess?).  I'm flipping the schedule this week because of work, so it will be 9M tomorrow, 5M with hills on Thursday, and long run Sunday.  The week after will having some flipping as well.  Stay tuned!

I have only 3 actual long runs remaining before the marathon: 16M, 18M, and 20M.  This schedule stops at 20M.  Please don't ask me if I am worried that this will not be enough training or if I think I will make it or if I feel that there should be another longer run.  The answer to all of those questions is that yes, I'm concerned.  But I'm reminding myself that it's not about the actual plan (to some extent) but your belief in the plan.  I mean, I could technically run a marathon tomorrow, regardless of how I trained, it just might not go so well and I might really hate myself the morning after -- and all of this will likely happen no matter what training plan I follow.  So I need to have faith that this plan will work.  Also, I'm already breaking it down in my head that it will be 2M + 2M + 2.2M to finish.  That's it.  Just three groups of two at the end.  This can totally be done.  And will be, dammit.

I also keep trying to do the math for 10% markers (2.6 miles) during the run but keep breaking down after 13.1.  It is a good time waster, though.

I do have to say that as I'm getting into this last stretch of training, I'm not feeling too awful.  No major injuries to report, no serious problems, and as long as I don't bang a shopping cart straight into my shin like I did today, no real pain.  Phew.  I may not be fast, but I think that I am pretty durable.

This post has lots of numbers for my non-quantitative brain.  No idea why.

Challenge Week #2

Back in August -- back when 5 miles was my long run for the week but it was really freaking hot -- I instituted a policy that during challenging weeks, I would acknowledge them as such and take the challenges in stride.  Sure, things might not go as planned.  But it was important to have faith that things would turn out okay.  With that concept in mind, I am hereby declaring this week Challenge Week #2 since three out of this week's four runs have not been fun.  Unlike Challenge Week #1, which was primarily about scheduling runs around meetings, this time around, the challenges are being posed in different ways:

1. The weather.  Tuesday and Thursday were too hot and humid and ick.  Luckily, here we are on Saturday and the weather has cooled to a reasonable degree.  It still got up to 85F today.  But the humidity was much lower (~50%) and the dew point manageable (around 60F) when I went for my run around 6pm.  Side note: As I ran, I was thinking to myself that probably if I ever move from Florida and have to go running in such conditions, I will probably post something as my Facebook status that says, 'How did I ever do this on a regular basis?!??!!!!?!?'
2. My stomach.  Today my stomach was not happy running.  Not one bit.  For about the first mile or so, my stomach hurt on the right side.  Then there was around half a mile that was fine, after which the pain moved to my left side.  Another break, then there was a kind of dull pain that was lower and across my stomach.  By this point, I was around three-quarters of the way through.  Today's run was also 5 miles with three aerobic intervals, so that was just awesome all around.  It did help me keep them at a reasonable pace, though.

I came super close to quitting today, or only running half and adding the remaining miles tomorrow, or adding the sprints tomorrow, or something.  Unfortunately, I couldn't go this morning because I was volunteering for something and had to be there early.  I think that the real problem with my stomach was that I ate too soon before running, but generally this is not a huge problem (and I did leave an hour and a half in between).  Oh well.  It's done now.

One thing that pushed me through was remembering what was probably my absolute worst race to date.  I had food poisoning and still ran (it was a 5k).  Adding insult to injury was the fact that I lived in Worcester, MA -- city of seven hills -- and had to walk over a very big hill (some might say killah) to get to the run.  Which was dumb.  Because you don't want to have to walk over a very big hill to get to a run.  Naturally, I also had to walk back afterward, at which point it started raining.  Once I got home, I went straight to bed, having given up on that day completely.  But what I do remember is somehow finding my way through that run and the fact that I didn't die trying.  One of my exercise rules is that while you might think you are going to die at times, you probably won't.  It's nice to know that however miserable that day (and it was miserable), I can still take something from the experience.

I guess it's good for mental toughness?

It remains hot.  Today it got up to 90F.  That is, in fact, summer weather.  And the humidity this morning was in the ick range of 90%.  I looked at the prediction last night and decided that I would risk running later.  This was a gamble because there were clouds gathering and some of them looked pretty scary -- not quite on par with the photos from a few weeks ago, but still a bit ominous.  As I got started, I heard some distant thunder, but that was the only trace of an actual storm during the run, apart from a few sudden wind gusts.  I decided to run anyway and knock off one of the two 5-milers that need to be done.  One of them has sprints in it.  I saved that one for the weekend.  Here's hoping that the 'cold front' is passing through tonight and getting rid of some of this weather.

I didn't take my phone for a few reasons:

• I feared inclement weather
• There is a really convenient 5M run that doesn't require the phone (you run down some streets, around, up a street, then back.  Trust me, it's easy in practice)
• I didn't want to get going too fast.  Rational Me knows that when it is hot, your body needs to slow down.  Rational Me can look at mile split times when she gets back and understand that she was slow because of weather conditions (Rational Me is also a big fan of AccuWeather).  However, Rational Me is not the one that typically goes running....well, that's obvious, because Rational Me probably thinks that this whole marathon idea is nuts.  Irrational Me, on the other hand, gets frustrated because the mile splits are too slow, weather be damned.  Tonight, I didn't feel like dealing with Irrational Me.  So the timing devices (phone and watch) stayed at home.

I also left my visor at home, but that was more because I figured that I wouldn't need it with the sun setting.

Again, it was not an enjoyable 5M, nowhere near as easy as the ones I was running in previous weeks.  But I did it and that's what matters.  As I was running, I thought to myself that I should probably be grateful that the weather hasn't been like this for all of October and that it was actually reasonable by Florida standards.  I'm sure that, had the weather been summer-hot all month, I would still have run.  But it would have been nasty.  So I'm glad that there was some respite.

Plus this all goes in to the 'mental toughness' category.  It would have been really, really easy to skip tonight's run.  It would have been really, really easy to cut tonight's run short because of a possible storm.  But I didn't.  Truth be told, it wasn't physically so bad -- 5 miles is still a lot less than most recent running days.  However, I am still sweaty and my head hurts, so it could have been much better.

Come on COLD FRONT!

Sometimes I really hate you, Florida

It's official: it got hot again.  Record-breaking heat, in fact.  Today it got up to 91F in Tampa.  That would be summer weather, except that it is very slightly less humid.  But not really.

This is just unfair.  It's a taper week for me, meaning that my mileage is spread out over 4 days of shorter runs.  I was really looking forward to this because shorter runs generally feel much faster than normal.  In fact, today's run was only 4 miles.  Can you imagine?  I ran three times that plus two more miles on Sunday.

Instead, 4 miles turned out to be very painful indeed because it got hot again.  BOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

(I mean, I guess it could be worse since up north it is snowing and everything.  But I don't care because I feel like whining about my weather situation.)

Anyway, unable to bear the thought of running in summer morning conditions, I decided to take a gamble on the weather and go for the nighttime instead.  Of course, this also added the challenge of running before it got dark since the sun now goes down at 5pm or something.  Okay, not really.  The sun never goes down at 5pm here.  I'm thinking back to Boston.  But it does go down much earlier and by the time I was wrapping up the run at 7:30pm-ish, it was definitely dark.

Meh, no alligators crawled out of the darkened sewer and got me, so whatever.

(If you're curious, yes, I was traumatized by Stephen King's It at an impressionable age).

It was still not quite at the 160 threshold of ick.  But again, it was far too close to the 150 threshold of ick, perhaps even surpassing it on the way to 160.  Come on!  It's late October!  This should be over by now.

Oh, the dew point?  Lower 70s.  To cite my favorite Wikipedia page on the topic yet again, 'Very humid, quite uncomfortable.'  And this was at 6pm today. 

It could have been worse, though.  This morning the dew point was 72F, the humidity 90%, and the temperature 75F, which means that yes, we did surpass the threshold of ick.  So at least I made the right decision by waiting.  I guess.  But I'm still too sweaty and tired. 

Blech.  Just blech.

The long runs get long

Today was 14 miles.  I ran 14 miles. 14 miles is the longest distance I have ever run in one go, beating out my previous record of 13.1 miles by 0.9.  Exciting!  This is a training plan with no room for a feel-good, pat yourself on the back, you made it half way 13 mile run, apparently.  Instead, you crank right through the halfway point and on to 14.  Half and then a little bit.

(It seems crazy that this was just short of half, it really felt very long).

It got hot and muggy again today.  Not quite at summer levels, but also not quite what I would ideally want while running.  The combined temperature + humidity was closer to 150 than 160, but 150 is still rather high.  Certainly by the end, the sun felt like it was beating down perhaps a little too much.  Also, I was insanely thirsty as I was nearing the final part.  Water was my friend today.  I took a water bottle of the healthy Gatorade that I usually drink, then refilled the bottle with water around mile 8 (this was, of course, my trusty fanny pack running belt).  This was not quite enough, but I still made it through.

Here's the weird thing: my mile splits were faster than last week's 12-mile run in better conditions.  Not better by much, but still better.  No idea how that happened.

Today I also developed a new strategy with regard to counting down miles.  Usually, I count down every 10%, but today I decided that waiting for 1.4 miles felt too long.  Instead, I focused on 5%, so only 0.7.  I liked this approach and will keep it up for the marathon, I think.  If I run with my phone.  Which is not a given at this point seeing as how I don't think the battery will last.  I did develop a save-battery strategy today, which is to power it down during boring stretches when I don't actually need to know how much distance is left.  I think that this might work well.  12 miles was pushing the upper limit of the battery, apparently.

Another new trick today was taking running jelly beans (technically, they are called sports beans).  I had the chance to stop by my local running store yesterday and picked some packages up.  Two came with me on the run today.  They are awesome.  Not only do you get fuel while running, they also provide a jolt of caffeine.  And they do taste like jelly beans.  Best invention ever (at least it is the best invention for long-distance running that I know about!).

8 miles doesn't seem so bad either...kind of

You've probably noticed that the running distances have fallen into another routine: 5M on Tuesday, 7-8M on Thursday, long run on Sunday.  It's kind of nice, actually (and is one of the Plans of this training guide, to help get you accustomed to what is coming up ahead).  Next week is different because it's a taper week, then on to the last crunch of building mileage.  The marathon is less than two months away, if you can imagine!  I can't.

Today's run felt pretty good while I was running.  Now that I'm done, I can definitely feel that it was, indeed, 8 miles.  It was a little more humid than I might have wanted in a perfect world, but overall not too bad.  I chose to circle around Stephanie and David's neighborhood, then loop back toward mine.  There was not a lot of repetition with this route.

It seems weird, but encouraging, that 8 miles doesn't feel that long right now.  Here's hoping that's what 12 miles feels like in a month.

They do go fast, these 5 miles

Today was yet another 5-mile Tuesday, except instead of hills, it was a run with 'aerobic intensity' parts.  This time around, it was 3 intervals of 3:00 each.  I was much better this time with staying at a reasonable pace and didn't feel like I was almost going to die at any point in the run.  This is progress.  Starting yesterday, I kept reminding myself that it was important to stay in control of intervals.  Yeah, I'm a bit eccentric that way, but hey, it worked.

The nice thing about having a 5-mile run after a long Sunday run is that the 5 miles feels like it takes no time at all.  Today, I was already at the 2.5 mile mark, then realized, 'Wow, this thing is half-way over.'  Also, I have apparently developed the ability to deceive myself with the weather.  I thought that it was nice out.  Then I got home and realized I was drenched in sweat.  They call this adjusting, I guess.

Something weird that I've been noticing over the past few runs: I keep getting a side stitch in my left, generally around the 1-mile mark.  No idea why.  It could be from knots in my back.  Last summer, I had awful knots that would manifest themselves when I was running, then radiate from the back to my collarbone and front.  It was not pleasant.  Luckily, a series of massages fixed that right up and I haven't had the same problems (also, I was running on a treadmill a lot, so my stride was somewhat compromised because I had to stay in a restricted space).  I'm going in for a massage next week, so if it is the knots, hopefully that will go away.  Alternatively, it's just a plain old side stitch.  Various sources on the internet tell me to breathe deeply.  That seemed to work fine today, but it is kind of annoying.

12-mile redo

Today was the long run and for the second straight week, it was 12 miles.  This repetition was kind of nice seeing as how last week's 12-mile run was not all that much fun.  In some ways, I am really spoiled running here.  The neighborhood is quiet, I don't have to worry about traffic or people, and I can pretty easily find routes that provide enough distance.  These are not opportunities that I enjoyed last week in San Francisco.  As a result, the run was overall more peaceful and I felt pretty good about it overall.  It's weird: two weeks ago, I felt wiped out from a 10-mile run.  This week, 12 miles felt fine (okay, I'm tired now and somewhat stiff, but not as bad as I felt after the 10 mile).  Next week is 14 miles, which technically I did last week in California if you could the 2-mile walk I had to do to get to the ferry.  So that's a good sign!

I caved and bought the 'hydration belt:'

Yes, it is essentially a glorified fanny pack.  But it is awfully convenient for carrying around a water bottle without having to keep it in my hand (like I did with my other one).  Plus I can put my Mini Clif Bars in that pocket, then easily access them during the run.  So yeah.  Form before fashion in this case.

At first, I thought that I would not be able to get it around my hips.  My hips are rather wide and you needed to length the strap by letting out extra part in a way that was not clear.  I was thinking that 'Too Fat for my Running Fanny Pack' would be a great name for a blog, but was more relieved that this was not, in fact, the case.

The actual run was more of the same: circling around the same basic area in the golf course area.  Weather remains remarkably enjoyable for Florida.  Even running in the sun near the end of the run was not all that killer.  This is a very nice change from a month ago!

Halloween Decorations: updated

Today's run was 8 miles and I decided to go through Stephanie and David's neighborhood.  It took a bit of looping around, but I ran around there twice, then back to my neighborhood and added on a teeny bit at the end.  Booyah, 8 miles.  And the weather was not awful.  I was a bit concerned because it is more hot and humid today than it has been a while.  Tonight it should cool off again.  A friend at work said that it might get down to 54F tonight.  Whoa.

The most fun part of my run was meeting a little dog named Chrissy today.  Chrissy was supposed to follow her owner back to the house and didn't, so instead we hung out for a bit.  I figured that being a tiny dog, maybe Chrissy would not want to finish another 2 miles with me.  Then she went back inside.  Also, I saw a dog in a bike basket today.  Only one.  I think that it was a different person.  So apparently taking your dog around in a bike basket is trendy in this neighborhood.

On to the Halloween decorations:

I'm not sure that fake spiderweb on the shrubs is that good a look.

Like I said, this neighborhood is in the Halloween spirit!

This would be a lot of fun if you were a kid, I think.

I'm not sure that I would want a large, fake spider on my porch in Florida.  Too similar to a large, real spider.

This is actually at the house that was featured last time.  A later add.  I wonder if they also put it up for Gasparilla, Tampa's local pirate festival.

These next few photos are all taken from the same place.  Remember the house with the ghost link fence from last time?  They've expanded a bit.

This is *just* the driveway.

The whole yard.

Close-up of the ghosts out front.

For the final picture, I have included a yard that is not in any way decorated for Halloween but would be the perfect setting for some kind of Southern horror story, I think:

That swing is spooky!

5 mile hill course = piece of cake!

Today was another one of the 5 miles with hills (ha!) run and I did the same course that I've run the past few Tuesdays.  I was very tired this morning due to California (still!), so I decided to go later.  It hasn't rained in weeks.  *Weeks*!  Plus it continues to be cooler.  I can't help but think that these two things are related.  Since there was no rain in the forecast, I figured I was safe and yes, there was no scary Florida weather.  Somewhat pleasant, in fact, considering it was still in the 80s, but it was the low 80s with the sun setting.

It's getting dark early.  Already by 7:30pm, the sun had set.  Oh well, that will change in a few weeks with Daylight Savings...which I am not looking forward to, since I will have to get up even earlier to run!

The first half of today was not the most fun run I have ever done.  I felt like I had done a long run one day, then sat on a cramped airplane the next day for an extended amount of time.  Likely, this feeling stemmed from the fact that that is how I spent my Saturday and Sunday.  There were definitely a lot of creaky, weird things to start.  I was reminded of one of my favorite running books, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami.  It is a collection of random musings about running by someone who has been doing it for a quarter of a century (and writing novels when he isn't running).  Also, he spends a lot of time running by the Charles River since he was in Cambridge when he wrote this book.  It made me want to lace up my shoes and go straight back to Boston when I first read it -- I was in Florida at the time.  Anyway, one of my favorite parts concerns an interview that Murakami does with Toshihiko Seko, an Olympic runner.  Murakami asks if there are ever days when a runner 'at your level ever feel[s] like you'd rather not run today?'  Seko looks at him as though he is insane and responds, 'Of course!  All the time!'  [I'm not citing from the actual book here, so I don't have the page number, but an excerpt was in the New Yorker and this was on 77 of the June 9 & 16, 2008 issue].  I had quite a bit of this today at the start of my run since I felt vaguely like I was trudging through mud or something.  My legs were definitely not feeling it.  However, once I settled into it, things went fine.  Very well, in fact.  The final two miles felt very good.

It's funny how 5 miles now seems easy.  Back in August, these were my 'long runs,' after all.  Not sure if longer distances, such as 10 miles, will ever feel like this.  Here is hoping.

I was in the golf course neighborhood.  Looks like Halloween decorations are going up slowly but surely.  However, Stephanie and David's neighborhood still takes the cake.  Don't worry, I haven't forgotten and there will be photos this week.

The Best-Laid Plans

I did my long run today since I am flying back to Florida tomorrow (as a reminder, I am in California).  When I realized that I would have to coordinate a long run in California, I came up with a plan:

1) Wake up in time to leave for 8:30am in order to walk 1.6 miles for 9:10am ferry to San Francisco (I'm staying in Alameda).
1.5) Pick up a water en route to take on my run.
2) Run by the water in San Francisco.  Run 6 miles in one direction, then turn around and return.
3) Eat well-earned dim sum in Chinatown.

Oh wow, did things ever not happen that way.

Surprise #1: I checked the weather and it was 56F out.  That is an absolutely fantastic temperature for running, but I was concerned that it might not be as nice on a ferry.  So I wanted to take a sweater, but could not find a good way of doing this.  I chose a cotton t-shirt and then took my sweater with me, wearing it fashionably wrapped around my waist while running.  Really.  It's a wool sweater.  Not a very good real runner look.

The next surprise occurred when I started walking toward the ferry.  I opted for a leisurely walk pace, leaving what I thought was plenty of time to get from my hotel to the ferry stop.  I grew quite confused when it was 8:55am and I still had a mile to go.  Turns out that the actual distance was not 1.6 miles -- that was just one part of the walk.  The actual distance was 2.2 miles.  I didn't make it for the 9:10am ferry. And trust me, this place is in the middle of nowhere, Alameda.  There weren't even any places on the way to get a water.

Fortunately for me, it is Fleet Week in San Francisco.  Or, as you will soon learn, unfortunately for me, it is Fleet Week in San Francisco.  The good part of Fleet Week is that there are more ferries.  The bad news is that everyone and his/her brother goes to San Francisco for Fleet Week, particularly today since there was also the air show.  So more ferries, but more ferries because of many, many more people.  However, I did not have to wait an hour, so that's good.

By the time I actually got to SF, I was pretty much itching to get running.  I thought that, as per the original plan, I would be there by around 9:30am, but because the ferry did Alameda - Oakland - SF (instead of the normal route Oakland - Alameda - SF), I didn't actually get there until closer to 11.  I just started running, going past Fisherman's Wharf and heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge.  By the way, there were people, but apparently runners near Fisherman's Wharf act like they own the place and run on the road.  It's pretty fun actually.

And so I headed toward the Golden Gate Bride, noticing that there were large people amassing near the shore in preparation for the airshow.  Not good.  I also noticed, around Fort Mason, that there was a hefty hill:

Legit hill.

I was hoping that this would be one of the few hills and I was correct.  So that was a nice surprise.

Around 3.8 miles, I had reached the Warming Hut near the Golden Gate Bridge:

Incidentally, none of these pictures is mine.  I didn't bring my camera.

I looked around for water fountain, didn't find one, and decided the time had come to stop and get a water.  There was a line (because people were amassing!), but I felt that it was worth stopping for a few minutes to prevent something very bad from happening.  I then drank about half of it over the next 5 minutes.  Definitely I could have developed a better game plan.  Why I did not just bring my water bottle from home, I have no idea.

I ran toward the Golden Gate Bridge, when I learned something interesting: you can't keep running in that direction beyond that point.  It's closed due to security issues.  So I had reached only around 4 miles, and had to turn around.  This was not a good sign because I had really wanted to go the straight 6, then turn back.  While I was running, I got thinking about one of my favorite books from when I was younger, Anastasia On Her Own by Lois Lowry.  The basic premise is that the protagonist, Anastasia Krupnik, is apparently a nascent control freak who wants to 'help' her mother organize her life.  She makes up these extensive lists to sort out the various chores that need to be done around the house.  Then her mother is called away to California, so Anastasia actually gets left in charge.  At this point, she realizes that the housekeeping schedule requires the addition of Unexpected Events, since there are unpredictable interruptions that take her off schedule.  I love this Unexpected Events idea.  That's basically how I felt about my whole damn run today.

The major flaw in my plan was that more and more people were in San Francisco as the air show was about to begin and I was heading right into this whole mess.  I tried to add on some distance by looping around places, such as near Crissy Field and the Marina District, but it still wasn't enough to make up the extra 4 miles that needed to be added.  As a result, I wound up in lots of crowds (boo), stopped at lights (double boo), and overall irritated with much of the run.  To give you a sense of just how irritating this got, at the 11.9 mile mark, I ran into a crowd of people and almost had to walk.  That is not the time you want to walk.  Instead, I hung a left and ran around the outside landscaped section of one of the buildings (I know this sounds weird, but I can't think of a better way of describing it).  Also, apparently I looked at my phone right when I started 11.9 because I can't think of another 0.1 of a mile that felt like it took so long.  Did I mention that my phone kept going into camera mode and ate a whole bunch of its battery?

It is worth noting that despite all of this, I still didn't give up.  And that was a good thing!  Even though it was by no means an ideal run.  I don't even know what the time was because everything was messed up from all of that starting and stopping.

Also, I had to run the Fort Mason hill again, but I noticed something.  In a way, the hill was great because it distracted me from anything else happening.  All I was thinking about was getting up the hill and finishing it, then keeping form while running back down.  This kind of focus was exactly what was needed right around the 9 mile mark.

A less nice surprise was the fact that because I started late, and because I was still running late, I wound up with a pretty decent sunburn on the bottom half of my face and neck.  Classy!

After all of this, I decided that it wasn't worth going to Chinatown since it would be crowded and it was far away (comparatively).  Instead, I opted to find a place to eat near Fisherman's Wharf.  I wanted to go to Boudin and have a chowder in a sourdough bowl:

However, I couldn't because they would not let me use my credit card without showing an ID.  Of course, I had no ID because I had only taken the basic necessities (by which I mean a credit card and my hotel key card).  The manager would not give me an exception.  My reaction is likely best described as Massachusetts. But come on: you've just run 12 irritating miles, you haven't eaten in almost 6 hours apart from the Mini ClifBar you had on your run, and some guy is not letting you get a chowder in a sourdough bowl because you don't have an ID?  Dude.

Instead, I went to Salty's and got a fishwich:

Yes!

This is exactly the kind of thing that I wanted after my run.  I also got a side of fries.  In hindsight, I wish I had ordered the garlic fries because they smelled insanely good.

The final pleasant surprise had to do with my trip home.  I got on the ferry only to learn that I was on the SF - Angel Island - Alameda - Oakland ferry.  So that added a good hour to the trip.  Seriously.  This time I decided to disembark in Oakland and get a taxi back to the hotel since I still needed to go back to my conference for 6pm.  However, there was not a cab to be seen in this part of Oakland.  A very large Bed, Bath and Beyond, but no cabs.  Remember, my phone was dead, so I couldn't just call.  Finally I located a hotel, got them to call me a cab, and made it back.  It was now 4:30pm, giving me just enough time to shower, throw on different shoes, get another cab, and get back to the conference.  Phew.  Made it around 5:57pm.  I had a very classy red sunburn to go with the purple top that I was wearing.  Super classy!

There was one last, nice surprise.  Seeing the air show over the bay from the ferry was pretty much sublime.  And might have made this whole, entire, convoluted adventure worth it.