A mile short of a 1/2 Marathon

12 miles!!! Nothing like getting up on a Saturday morning and running a mile shy of a 1/2 marathon BEFORE breakfast! Two Braids and Swift Like the Wind hit the trail running in Blacklick, Ohio last weekend with their trusty side-kick "Waterboy." The trail was a nice shaded partial pavement, partial dirt trial that was a convenient 4.1 mile loop. Made running the 12 miles easy to keep track of. After each loop we ran to the car for water, gatorade, and fuel...you know... Pretzels and tootsie rolls! We both seemed to feel better this week after 12 miles than we did last week after 10. The weather was great and not nearly as humid as it usually is in DC.

This week we have a nice short recovery run of only 6 miles! Swift Like the Wind is pounding pavement (and hills) while in Maine on vacation. And I'll be enjoying the grandeur of the Western NC mountains.

Have a fun and safe Fourth of July!

10 miles!!!

Last week we ran 8 miles! It felt great! To pass the time we played the "alphabet" game...You know...I'm going on a marathon and I'm going to bring Apples, Beach Ball, Carrots....It's amazing to let your mind focus on a different task and realize how that can propel you.

Maintainence runs well well but off schedule. Don't think I got enough sleep Monday night and that screwed up my schedule for Tuesday which of course bumped my Thursday run to Friday. At least there was the day in between to recover so I wasn't running back to back days.


This week we jumped up to Double Digits! TEN Miles. Six of us (in our pace group)made it out to College Park for the run. We headed a different way on the path too so we could avoid "Death Valley"-a vast stretch of trail that is wide open with no shade for about 3/4 of a mile. In 90 degree weather with nothing but sunshine it is brutal. The trail we ran this week offered a lot of different scenery, twists and turns, and most important SHADE. We even ran through the back end the FDA experiemental fields where they test different types of organic pest contorl and alternate farming techniques. It was almost like being in rural North Carolina again!

I hit an emotional wall at the end of the run realizing that I have run further than I ever had before and most importantly that I'm still out there running three times a week and not feeling daunted by the milage increase each week.

For the rest of the summer things get a little hectic as Robi and I venture out on a varity of vacations and weekend getaways. We will both miss a handful of our group training runs but are committed to keeping up with them on our own.


Thanks to all of you who have made contributions thus far! Our fundraising deadline is August 1 so keep the donations rolling in.


Also, thanks to Waterboy Will for coming out this week as a water volunteer. It was great to see a familiar face out there on the trail to keep us motivated.

Update

Run Forrest Run...

The maintenance runs seem to be getting easier and less of a mental block. I did have a little soreness two weeks ago so I mostly walked my run. Then I hit a break through and was finally able to run past the 30 minute mark. I felt so good, I just kept on running. The time on the treadmill finally seemed to set me free.

Last Sunday I talked my mom into going to the Y with me so I could run and she could work out. 7 miles on a treadmill is a different creature. Once you stop for a bathroom break the treadmill resets itself and you feel as though you are starting from scratch. It wasn't terrible but certainly not ideal. I kept good pace and did the 7 miles in around 1 hour 45 minutes.

Swift Like the Wind sweet talked her husband into joining her on her run! Nothing like jumping in at the 7 mile mark. She calculated her run at 7.5 or nearly 8 miles because they were running in a residential area it wasn't easy to tell exactly when the 7 mile mark was even with her pedometer calculating the distance.

Tomorrow we are up and at 'em at 7am and will be pounding the pavement for 8 miles. Each week although the runs get longer, seems to be a little easier that the last. My legs don't seem to hurt as much after each run now either!

Small success.