Speedy

5 miles tonight on the treadmill at the gym. This whole going-to-the-gym thing is a weird experience. For one, it's not my old gym and I miss it. For two, there's a lot more youngin's at this new gym. Lots of young pretty men and women. The pretty men grunt at their weights and the pretty women glow on the elliptical thingy. Then there's me, the only one who has sweat enough for it to show on my t-shirt. I figure, if I'm going to be stuck on the treadmill of doom, I'd better make the most of it. Tonight it was 2 x 1600m @ 8:57 pace with 800m recovery jogs in between with a warm up mile and a cool down mile for a total of 5 miles. This all felt pretty good minus a new weird pain in my right foot. It kinda feels like I rolled it but I don't remember ever doing that. I got through my workout with no real problems but I'm going to take it really easy tomorrow and ice it tonight.

So, that's all the exciting news in my little corner of the globe. Hope everyone is staying warm out there and getting some good runs in!

The space between the stars above your bed

You meet, briefly. And that beautiful simple moment you thought was so fleeting would turn out to be one you would come to roll over in your mind again and again each day thereafter, like some fragmented piece of film that has no real beginning or end. Each word and expression dissected smaller and smaller until none of it makes sense to you anymore. None of it ever did.

You think it shouldn't linger like this. Like it should have been an opened and closed case like anyone else, but somehow he keeps popping up in front of you when you least expect it. You don't speak when you see him. You internalize and paralyze. He sees you, but headed in the opposite direction. He smiles, and waves. He looks happy. You know he remembers you but has no knowledge of the space he occupies between the stars above your bed.

Sometimes you wave back, sometimes you don't. You go on with your day wondering what your life would be like if you'd never met him. You don't speak of him to anyone. You run. And run. And run and run until he's all gone and all that's left there is you. You rest your weary head against your pillow only to find he still lingers in the space between the stars above your bed

Tempo

So I'm in week 1 of a 14 week 1/2 marathon training program concocted by Smart Coach. I start out at 16 miles for the week and top out somewhere around 30 by race day. Not huge mileage but I'm doing a lot of speedwork so I'm curious what the outcome will be. I didn't start keeping a training log online until March of last year so I can't really remember how many miles I was running in preparation for the same race a year ago but MAN I feel great. I'm so excited at the possibilities. Today was my first tempo run of the plan so I did a warm up mile and a cool down mile and 3 miles in between at a 9:13 pace. (It was actually supposed to be a 9:31 pace but I didn't realize I had transposed the numbers in my head by mistake until I got home and looked at the schedule. oops) The pace was difficult to hang on to there at the end but I didn't feel like I was running all out either. I know I couldn't have done this a year ago. I felt like I owned that treadmill!

Miscellany

Couple things of note...

1. I joined a gym. I haven't had a gym membership for about 2 years (my old gym went out of business, what does that tell you about this mid-western town?) but after being dragged to one by my BIL, I decided this might be something that could be really good for me. My 1/2 marathon training program starts tomorrow and I'm gonna give speed work a go. Doing this on a TM seems safer than running around my neighborhood in the dark, ice and snow. Plus, there are cute boys there.

2. I signed up for the Flying Pig half marathon, which means I'll have to maintain my training for a few weeks after the Capital City Half Marathon. Capital City is where I'm hoping to PR in a big way so I'm not really too concerned with my time for the Pig, although I think the Pig will be really fun.

3. I've been doing a lot of impulse buying this weekend which is pretty unusual for me. I can't explain the urges, but man, I've got a whole new wardrobe and a fake plant, top that off with race registrations and gym memberships and you'd think I actually had money to burn. Not exactly.

4. I spent Saturday afternoon watching episodes of My So Called Life. This show came out when I was a junior in high school and I was convinced the writers had peeked into my very soul and plastered it on TV. Watching it again (for the first time since it originally aired) made me sentimental for that time in my life but also wondering how anyone ever makes it through high school alive. And all that flannel!

Anyway, that is all. Hope everyone has a wonderful week. It's going to seem like a long one!

Happy New Year!

I tend to think of my running life as being divided into two parts. The first part was way back in high school when I ran cross country, but really only as a way of keeping in shape for my true love (swimming).

My second running life, as you may know, began in the summer of 2004. My first and only goal that summer was to run around the lake one time without stopping, the equivalent of 1.2 miles. It took me about 8 weeks to get that far but I did it and I will never forget how proud of myself I felt that day.

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I shy away from comparing times from my two running lives. After all, I was much younger and thinner in high school. Every PR I keep a record of now only applies to my second running life because never in my wildest dreams could I imagine that I'd ever run close to my high school times ever again.

But something amazing happened on New Years Day. My BIL and I (acting goofy above) ran the Resolution Run 5k. My dad (wearing the goofy hat on the left) came along with sis and my mom as the most supportive cheering section on earth. Despite all the wind and the cold, BIL managed 2nd in his age group with an official time of 20:46 (sick) and I came along in 27:34, which works out to an average pace of 8:53. When I peaked at my garmin at the first mile marker I thought for sure the course was short. There's no way I was running that fast! But at the finish line I knew I had done it. Breaking my previous second running life PR by almost 1:30. I have no idea where that burst of speed came from but I'm riding it all the way.

As soon as I got home, I dug though some old boxes to find my high school PR. I just had to know how far away I was. Finally, I found that flimsy piece of paper given to my by coach after my last race and I knew. In my junior year, I ran a 25:25 and now, believe it or not, my goal is to blow that away.

This is the thing I love about running. Every day is an opportunity for a PR. Before the race, I told my BIL I wanted to run a sub-30 again but I was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen. After all, it was cold and windy and starting to snow and my lack of mileage has been so discouraging. But I reasoned to myself that I'd never run this race before. I'd never run any race on New Year's Day before so whatever happened, I was running a course PR, right? I was going to run a PR for New Year's Day, right? Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine a 27:34.

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And, to be honest, it's not the actual time that I'm happiest about. For most decent runners, this is still pretty slow. But for me, it's knowing that with a little hard work and sweat, I may be able to do something I never dreamed I'd be able to do. Something that seemed out of the question when I was struggling for weeks to get around that lake just once. This (dare I say it), even more so than the marathon, gives me hope...

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Here's to a healthy and happy 2008!

Lull

Hello everyone! I hope everyone made it through another Christmas season without too many bumps and bruises along the way. I, for one, am pretty glad it's all over and am ready to get back into a comfortable routine. That's sad to say, but true nonetheless. I guess when you're in the middle of a particularly bad Christmas, you don't really know it. Not until all the gifts are opened and the food is eaten and everyone goes home and the dust settles around you do you have time to reflect on it all and say "Wow, that pretty much sucked." Without going into too much detail, I will say that for a group of people who all came from the same place, I don't know how my family came to live in such different senses of reality. Hopefully someday we can all work out our differences and be able to get along, but for now we are merely tolerating each other's existence.

Anyway. Enough of that. Aside from the family drama, Christmas was nice. My dad got me some fun running books and gear and my mom got me The Sweetest, Softest Robe on Earth with footies to match. I've pretty much lived in that for the last week. My sister and her husband loved the cross stitch monster I've been working on and hung it up right away. I was just glad to have it finished and framed in time!

So now I'm starting to look ahead to what my goals will be for 2008. I want to do it all! But I find myself in sort of a lull. It's hard to get out and run and my base I had planned to work on during the time between the marathon in October and the half marathon in April has taken a nose dive. I'm lucky to get up over 15 miles a week! I think not having a training program to hold me accountable is really making it easy for me to slide. I'm considering tacking on an extra 4 weeks to my 1/2 marathon training program (16 versus 12) to get me back on track and hopefully salvage some sort of base. I've decided to switch up the training plans for the 1/2 marathon. Last year I stuck pretty much exclusively to the Hal Higdon programs and was happy with the results. Next year, however, I'm going to go with SmartCoach and see what happens. If you've had experience with this training program please drop me a note and tell me your thoughts. I'm also trying to figure out how to add in some hill training (seeing as how the lack of it pretty much killed me during the marathon) but I have no idea how to do that. Is it just as simple as running up a bunch of hills? Do I charge them as fast as I can? Or try and keep my heart rate the same? How often and how many? So many questions for such a simple idea!

The good news? I'm down 20 of the old LB's since October 21st. The fact that I've managed to lose any weight at all during Christmas is extremely encouraging. Now if I could only get out the door every once in a while...

Christmas Reminder

This was me yesterday. Freak out central. Only, cousin Eddie did not kidnap my boss and force him to reinstate the bonuses that were promised. Oh, and no jelly of the month club either. Instead, I drank beers with friends who provided some much needed cheering up and consoled me during my realization that I've got to get out of my current employment situation.

I awoke this morning with a slight hangover and dragged myself through a shower, through breakfast, through scraping off my car and hulling myself through the 45 minute commute to a job I pretty much loathe right now. But somewhere on Polaris Parkway, this song came on the radio and a sense of calm washed over me. I know I'll be ok without the bonus, my situation will work itself out. But this song served as a subtle reminder that this isn't what Christmas, or life, is all about.


The First Noel,
the Angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds
in fields as they lay
In fields where they
lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winter's night
that was so deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

They looked up
and saw a star
Shining in the East
beyond them far
And to the earth
it gave great light
And so it continued
both day and night.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

And by the light
of that same star
Three Wise men came
from country far
To seek for a King
was their intent
And to follow the star
wherever it went.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!


This star drew nigh
to the northwest
O'er Bethlehem it took its rest
And there it did
both Pause and stay
Right o'er the place where Jesus lay.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

Then entered in those
Wise men three Full
reverently upon their knee
And offered there
in His presence
Their gold and myrrh and frankincense.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord
That hath made Heaven
and earth of nought
And with his blood mankind has bought.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!