Who turned the lights out?

I did my first dark run tonight due to the time change. And you know what, it sucked! I thought I'd be in good shape because I had a full moon but sometime after I started running and before I finished, the entire enormous moon went behind the clouds all spooky like. I was just hoping that the good people of my city were vigilant about sidewalk safety.

I ran to Bloomington Gail's house tonight. Thankfully she lives just off a street that's lit up like an airport runway. But the cool thing happened as I was running towards her house. It turns out I arrived just as she was chatting with a neighbor on her driveway so the last block or so I had 2 ladies cheering me in. Not a bad way to end a run that started out with me thinking, "Nah, I don't need the blinking light tonight."

Becoming a Carnivore

This week was one of milestones. I reached the half-marathon distance in my training runs, I've run out of weeknight daylight hours and I'm pretty sure it's time to switch from capris to full length running tights. Also, I skipped my first run this week. I'm not proud of missing those 3 miles but it was raining AGAIN and I swear I was starting to look like a raisin.

A challenge arose this week too. I tend to have back problems and Thursday morning was greeted with another one. These "episodes" tend to come out of nowhere and this week was no exception. The good news was I had two consecutive rest days on the schedule but the bad news was I needed to be in decent enough shape to run 13 mile by Saturday morning. The next two days included a fair amount of muscle relaxers, pain pills and anti-inflammatories. My friend Jennie (part of the Team Raegan cheering section at Disney) came over Thursday night in the midst of my self-medicating. I heard from her on Friday about my amusing conversation skills the night before. I vaguely remember her being there.

So Saturday morning before I left for my run, I fixed myself a breakfast consisting of a breakfast bar, a glucosomine pill, 2 ibuprofen and a prescription anti-inflammatory - the breakfast of champions. Or at least the breakfast of champions with debilitating back pain. The distance itself wasn't too bad. During the last 4 miles my back gave me problems but I made it. I then went home and spent some quality time with my heating pad.

Another odd thing I noticed this week has been my change in appetite. I generally avoid red meat but since I started logging some serious weekly mileage I found myself craving cheeseburgers (the good kind - McDonald's is still a forbidden zone for me). Before my training, I might have a burger once or twice a month. This week alone I had 2.

The week ahead includes adjusting to daylight savings time and dark runs. It's also the halfway point of my training schedule. At this point I just have to increase my mileage 4 more times - to 15, 16, 18 and 20 miles over the next 9 weeks. Just think how many cheeseburgers are in my future!

Citius, Altius, Fortius

The Olympic motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius. This is Latin for Faster, Higher, Stronger. Apparently the ancient Romans needed pep talks too. I bring this up because that is the phrase that was going through my head as I was running tonight. For the first time in weeks, it actually wasn't raining and the vision of the cheeseburger waiting for me at the Lido Lounge motivated me through what is now considered a short 3-mile run. I was fast. I was strong. I wasn't high, but that's something to consider for my 20-mile run in December.

As I took off over the streets through my neighborhood the only things that slowed me were sidewalk mud puddles (Yes we have those now. I noticed one the other day when I was building my Ark.) and one annoyingly long stoplight. Side note: the stoplight was so long that some woman in a minivan that I'm fairly certain I don't know inadvertently made eye contact with me and felt the need to wave. I waved back in a friendly manner. After all a minivan versus pedestrian situation would not go well for me. But I digress.

I finished my run feeling good and ready to chow. I was runnning late to meet my friend so I just had time to step into the house, wipe my face with a towel and take a few gulps of sports drink before I jumped in my car to go meet my friend. Now I'm not one of those women that can simply throw on a baseball cap after a workout and look cute and work-outy. My friend Jenny is like that. Sometimes I hate Jenny. I, on the other hand, am definitely NOT cute after a workout. This fact, however, did not stop me from heading to the Lounge.

And yes, I enjoyed my cheeseburger in all my spandex lovlieness. Citius, Altius, Cheeseburgerus!

My Mom, My Sherpa

Most people think that my dad is my biggest supporter during my marathon training. After all, he's a runner too and has been a coach for almost 40 years. But actually it's been my mom who's been there more than anyone else. Over the last 8 weeks, whenever I've been visiting my parents, it has been my mom that has been my coach, my ride, my photographer and my sherpa carrying sports drink, towels and discarded layers of running apparel. (Fun fact - sherpas are the local people that escort climbers who attempt crazy things like climb Mt. Everst. They carry the packs, set up tents at base camps and generally help the lunatic climber try not to kill him or herself.)

But back to my personal sherpa. Mom has often woken early with me - sometimes before dawn - and taken me to a drop-off point to watch her first born take off into sweltering humidity, fog or rain hoping that the next time she saw me I'd be a) upright, b) breathing normally and c) preferably smiling, if that wasn't not too much to ask. She's met me at various mile markers with sports drink. She's learned to use my "fancy" camera to document my training. She's sat in her car for hours with a book waiting to pick me up at the finish and then take me to breakfast afterward. This last weekend, she even drove to meet me after miles 4, 5, 6 and 7 because it was raining and offered to pick me up because it was raining.

This week's long run was stepped back to 7 miles but I accidentally did 8 instead. Since it was raining I changed my pre-arranged route which went back on a bike trail after mile 4. I didn't want to get stuck back on the trail that was inaccessible by car should a downpour open up. So I ran to the park and did 3 short loops in the park instead. Turns out, each loop was 1.3 miles and not 1 mile. That .3 adds up fast. Each loop also included this lovely hill.


It all turned out ok though. I felt soggy, but good. And when I got done, my sherpa was there to pick me up and take me for a bagel and some cheesy hashbrowns.

That's Life in the Midwest

My running outfit Saturday morning: capri running tights, long-sleeved moisture wicking t-shirt, jacket, running gloves.

My running outfit Tuesday: shorts and a tank top.

This is why people hate the Midwest.

Another reason to hate early morning runs

For some odd reason I agreed to meet Runner Wendy at the inhuman hour of 7:30 Saturday morning. I think I agreed to this on the precipice that I'd be done that much earlier and free to go about my weekend. While running early is a good idea in say, August, when the average temperature in the Midwestern United States is approximately 112, running early when the high that day is 50 is a less than wise choice.

Needless to say, I was cold. I started out the run with my capri tights, long-sleeved shirt and running gloves. Given that one is supposed to dress for weather approximately 20 degrees warmer than it is, I thought I was good. I ran the first 5 miles and once we circled back to the cars, I put on my jacket and left it on for the remaining 8 miles.

The run itself went fairly well. We breezed through the first 5 miles before stopping for some sports drink. I nibbled on a few bites of PowerBar and Runner Wendy opened her Shot Blocks. We then ran another 3 miles before another drink stop and mapped out the remaining 4 miles, which unfortunately we did incorrectly. Once we circled another loop, we realized that we were a mile short so we had to use Runner Wendy's GPS watch to figure out where to turn around. For the last mile the thoughts that ran through my head were these:
"Only one more mile. Jeeze it's still cold. When can I eat some breakfast? How much further? How can I be sweating when it's stinkin' cold outside? We've only gone 4/10 of a mile. Those runners were smart to start running at 9:45 instead of 7:30. Seriously, how much further?"

The last mile did finally get finished and I did finally treat myself to some breakfast. Oh - and I learned something else on this run. I am not fond of Margarita flavored Shot Blocks. But really - who could be?

7:30 comes pretty early

I'm really nervous for my run tomorrow. I have to do 12 miles. Given that I've had somewhat of a sluggish week and that this run is 2 miles longer than last weekend, I'm experiencing some anxiety about doing well when I meet up with Runner Wendy at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Not to mention, she's a morning person.

There could be blood shed.