Sunday June 28, 2009
Sunday morning, 70 degrees, sunny and just beautiful. Ran 28 miles this morning. Plan was for 30 but it got hot and I was losing my zest for it so I let the last two go.
Started with 11 miles at 7:20 a.m., running a bit late, and hoping to get them in before Team in Training member Kimberly and friend Kathy arrived for their long run. Forgot my gel packs. Not good. I like having those handy but we’ll just have to do without…
Passed a deer on the side of the trail at the outset as I was walking to the starting point. She just looked at me, didn’t move except she turned her head to watch me as I watched her. She was a bit nervous but she stayed still as I passed by and just kept turning her head and neck, must have been bent around about 240 degrees. It made me think of an owl as I watched her. I kept going and she relaxed and went back to foraging for food. She was a pretty girl to see and that just made me feel even better about being out early in the morning.
Met up with Frank in the last mile or so and we stopped in for water and to meet up with the others, 8:40 pace so far. Definitely tired from Saturday’s tempo runs which was part of the plan. Learning to run on tired legs is a necessity, not much fun but necessary. Ran a lap with everyone at about 10:30 pace which was a good time for Kimberly. Frank and Kathy paced each other just a bit faster. It was a good lap.
Everyone took off and I continued my long run. Put the headphones on and tried to enjoy some tunes. Didn’t really work. Should have went without. I think I needed to just run and listen to nature some more and stay relaxed and run easy. Then Jim arrived near the end of that lap, and he paced me through another short lap, 25 miles now. Getting tired and it’s getting hot so I walked/jogged one more short lap, 28 miles total. Jim ran a long lap and met me back at the end. Might have stopped at 25 if Jim hadn’t been there. Makes me wonder about my mojo. Am I going to have it or enough of it at Oil Creek? I think I need to work on the Honoree list…good miles and good friends. Can’t beat that.
Wanted to do 30 miles but I said to Jim, “28 miles is enough for today.” I felt spent. He laughed and said he was writing that down to quote me back to myself at Oil Creek when I’m trying to figure out how to do 100 miles. He’s a funny man… absolutely correct. My goodness …is kind of how I feel when I think about what’s to come.
Finished the day with a 5 mile walk/run with Rachel. Her knee is getting better and today she discovered how to change her stride a bit to take the pressure off of it, seemed to work well, pain went away for the most part. She did good being self-aware enough to adjust her stride like that. Now she just needs to continue to build her leg strength. She’ll be ready for Akron, that’s for sure. She’s a runner.
Saturday June 27, 2009
Met up with TNT’ers this morning, Obenga, Don, and Jenny and alumni Frank and David. Ty showed up to drop off stuff for our fundraisers and run a few miles with us. Going to miss Tracy, who just recently left the TNT staff. It sure won’t be the same without her. Jenny rode her bike in for 15 miles one way and then her run and then a ride back. That’s a good workout! Monica, Rachel and Dayna and Kimberly all out of town or busy. Dayna doing a tri today!
I ran with David for 11 miles. We did basically 2 tempo runs with a 2.5 minute break in between, and a couple walk breaks. Overall average pace was 7:30, near race pace. I think we hit a few 7:00 and 7:15 miles in there. Felt good and very tiring.
Passed Frank and Don in the last half mile. Started to hear footsteps and wondered who was catching us as we were starting to kick it in. It was Frank’s footsteps I was hearing! Couldn’t believe it, he was catching us and trying to pass us. I had to turn it on to stay in front of him for the last quarter. We must have hit a 6:00 minute pace at least. It was David that took it to the line though and zoomed past both of us. He can fly! It was a great finish, lots of fun!!
Been a good week of running, speed work for Dayton but otherwise light miles to get ready for Sunday’s long run, 39 miles total for the week through today. Sunday should be interesting.