SHMT, Day N-2

Aw, hell. I need to find a better way to quickly dash off an update.

The training's almost done. We've got two more "easy" runs on Thursday and Saturday, and then the half-marathon.

We've got two ten mile runs under our belt, and they were good runs - yes, we felt like we ran ten miles, but weren't whipped at the end either time. We ran together two Saturdays ago from my house over to Green Lake, around Woodland Park Zoo, and back home. I was in New Orleans this past weekend, so plotted a route from the hotel west to Audubon Park and with Gmaps Pedometer that ended up being a bit over ten miles in length.

We did drive the last half of the half-marathon route recently; there are a couple of decent climbs, but nothing we can't handle. It's a very picturesque route, running through downtown Seattle, north along Lake Washington, through the Arboretum, along the north edge of Capitol Hill, and through the South Lake Union district.

It will be nice, but odd, not to be waking up at 5am next week to go run. I'll miss it... a little. If I'm going to train for a full marathon, I'll need to get back into that mode. We'll see how the half-marathon goes. (And maybe, just maybe, I'll blog about other topics.)

SHMT, Day 22

A same-day post - how 'bout that!

Careful scrutiny of the weather forecast yesterday afternoon produced the following scenario: it's likely to be raining lightly this morning, but even more likely to be raining harder tomorrow morning, so we decided to run this morning rather than have a rest day today and run tomorrow, before this weekend's pair of runs.

Not too many other runners out this morning at Green Lake when we started, but the parking lot and the path were considerably more populated by the time we finished our two laps. ("Wimps," says Shar, "sleeping in until 6am.") The rain tapered off a little on our drive over, and during the first lap; it really wasn't that bad once we were warmed up.

Funny, she thinks, as I do, that we're running slowly, only to find that we're setting a 9:30 pace. We're not looking for speed, but a little improvement can't be a bad thing.

So yes, a day off tomorrow, a solo four miles on Saturday, and then 10K on Sunday with Shar.

And a great musical opportunity tomorrow night; we're seeing an old favorite, Peter Mulvey, at a house concert over on Capitol Hill. He's someone we have known and enjoyed listening to since we lived in Ohio, and try to see every time he's in town (I think I've only missed him twice in the eight years we've lived in Seattle).

SHMT, Day 21

Today's run should have been yesterday's run but it was pouring at 5:00am and we postponed until this morning. Lots to talk about during the run, what with the elections yesterday. Our longest yet, at nearly 7 3/4 miles. We'll decide later today about running tomorrow or on Friday, based on the weather (which is nice now but is expected to take a turn to the rainy and windy soon).

There's definitely a change in the reading list; my nightstand now has copies of "Runner's World" on it, as well as the new book about the New York City Marathon ("A Race Like No Other") and Dean Karnazes' new "50/50" book about running fifty marathons in fifty days.

Oh, and the change from a cotton undershirt to a polyester undershirt for the run this morning made a noticeable improvement. Definitely better to wick moisture away than to have it sit there and chafe. (Oow...)

SHMT, Days 17 - 20

Work's been a real time sink lately and I haven't been able to relax enough to think about posting... much less post. I have kept up with the running schedule, however.

• Day 14: This was a Thursday run and with Shar out of town, I wanted to minimize the counting I did, so headed to Green Lake and did two laps. That way, the distance was obvious - 2 laps - and I could concentrate on the number of AIs and GPs I needed to do. Saw a guy with rollerblades, a full-face BMX helmet with headlight on top, and a bulb horn from a bicycle on the path (it was early in the morning).
  
• Day 15: Pumpkin Push! A 5K around Seward Park with the family. Nathan ran with me the entire way, moving ahead near the finish. Sophie and Kristina ran and walked the 5K distance. We saw 'em in the 'uphill' portion of the course. It was a gorgeous morning.
  
• Day 16: Shar's out of town and I ran from home to Green Lake, a lap around GL, and back home. Farthest I've run in one go, and farthest I've ever run solo, and it felt great. No issues whatsoever, and the hill near the end was no problem at all.
  
• Day 17: miles around the track with AIs, solo. A beautiful morning.
• Day 18: Shar's back and we run at 5:00am. I'll give her huge credit for doing that the morning after returning from vacation.
• Day 19 (yesterday): an easy four miles around the neighborhood. (Solo again, sadly.)
• Day 20 (today): I thought I'd have a different running partner this morning, but she bailed; it was raining steadily at 6:00am and she wasn't feeling up to it. I waited until about 7:15; the rain abated, and I headed out. The rain was only sprinkles on my way over to Green Lake from home, and stopped on my way back. (Of course, the sun came out later in the morning.) It felt slow, as did my run yesterday, but the time wasn't slow.

Just a few more weeks - the Seattle Half is at the end of the month. I've an opportunity to do a half-marathon the Sunday before the Seattle Half when I'm in New Orleans and I'm leaning towards doing it. It'll be a flat half (and no, there are no freeway overpasses or stairs!).

I'm going to try and post things that aren't running-related; I've been reading some interesting books lately and would like to provide some feedback (to my many readers).