back to back... almost

Woke up Saturday morning with my right knee feeling strangely stiff and painful... which is odd, because during Friday's run it was my left hamstring and left leg that was bothering me. (Though I suppose I was probably favoring the left leg, which then changed the mechanics of my right leg...) Anyway, given that we have the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon coming up, I decided to rest my leg for another day.

So today we got up (later than expected, hooray for blackout blinds!), had a bagel and cheese for breakfast, and then went out for a 6-mile run. Wil had said something after the Friday run about wondering if the hill we start the run at was really hard or if we're just stiff at the start, and wondering if we should do a loop twice. So I plotted out a run that was two 3-mile loops so we could run that hill twice. Whee.

Felt much better during today's run -- it wasn't at the end of the day, and I had eaten something before. Maybe it's just psychological, but it's important to me to fuel up before I head out. So I didn't really struggle until the very last hill, where Wil sprinted up it and I wheezed along behind him. Still, a decent run and a reasonable pace. 6.68 miles in all.

ups and downs

Ran a very difficult 3 miles today -- not sure why, but I just couldn't keep up with Wil and felt winded most of the time. Weird. The weather was kinda muggy, and maybe I was just dehydrated or overheated (I had tights on), but I was miserable. Tomorrow is a 6-miler -- the first of our back-to-back runs.

Wednesday run

So... Monday was the first official day of our Goofy training program... and we decided to skip our run due to baseball. :) Tuesday was meant to be a cross-training day, but we missed that because we spent nearly 2 hours at Costco, finally having "the big shop" that we hadn't done since we got back from our trip.

So yesterday was a "run -- or else!" day. We got home from work around 5, then quickly changed clothes and headed out to the lookout. It was a timed run, rather than a distance run, and we did our usual 5 minutes of walking warmup and cooldown, and 41 minutes of running. I felt really stiff at first, sorta feeling like I wasn't loose and warm until about 30 minutes in. Oh well. But we ran, and it was okay. 4.61 miles (including the walking -- forgot to turn the darn thing off...)

Percy Sutton Harlem 5K Run

Despite a night of thunder, lightning, and torrential rain that sparked flash flood warnings in parts of New York state, I got up and joined the crowd for the Percy Sutton Harlem 5K Run this morning. Took the subway there, which was amusing -- I knew I was in the right place as the car filled up with people in running gear. :) Then out of the subway into a steady drizzle, where I picked up my race number (5400) and "race souvenir" (why not just say t-shirt?) and tried to decide how much of my stuff to stow. I like the way the New York Road Runners manage baggage -- you bring your own bag, pin a small piece of your number to it, and put it in a corral by last digit of your number. It speeds things up because you know where you put it, and you recognize your own bag. Also, it means they aren't giving out a few thousand plastic bags -- everyone brings their own.

There was a bit of standing around trying to stay out of the rain, with limited success. Finally, it was time to get into the starting corrals. Again, I was impressed by the organization -- when you signed up, you told them your estimated pace, which then determined your race number, which then determined your corral. All very orderly, all very nice.

A rousing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, some inspirational words, and we were off. I was trying out the CardioTrainer app, which was okay, but it unfortunately meant that I couldn't seem to back out of the app to start my camera and take pictures of the pretty buildings and historic neighborhood.

I started off nice and slow, settling behind a couple who were running slower than I normally would, but I decided to see if I could run straight through. After about half a mile, however, I was feeling bored, so I sped up a little to pass them. We ran up a hill that made everyone in my area stop, so suddenly it felt as if I was sprinting past them.

The rain had cooled things down a little at the start, but it stopped and suddenly the air was very hot -- and very humid. (Is it really possible to have 98% humidity? Really?!?) They had water stops at 1 mile and just after 2 miles; I stopped at each to drink a cup of water, which meant I had to walk. (I'm very clumsy.) The volunteers had "helpfully" filled the cups full, which meant that I ended up snorting water up my nose each time. Oops .

We ran along a park, past a beautiful convent gate, and then down a steepish hill. I think I'm slower downhill than I am uphill, especially when the streets feel slick under my feet. Then we made the last turn and had 10 blocks to go. I started to speed up, a little, and started to feel a little ooky. A few blocks before the start, a girl running a little ahead of my suddenly turned, ran to the edge of the street, and hurled. Oh...

This set me off a bit. My ookiness became a bit more urgent. I slowed down, trying to calm my stomach, but nothing seemed to help. I had now reached an area where there were spectators cheering. Not the best place to lose it. It occurred to me that there wasn't much I could do to avoid throwing up now, so I might as well sprint to the finish.

Let's just say that I was glad there aren't finisher's photos, as I'm pretty sure I had my hand over my mouth.

I finished the run, ran off to the side, saw a sewer grate, and threw up. Classy. No one said anything. I stood up, wiped my mouth on my shirt, and headed off to get some water, feeling much much better.

Then I picked up a banana, a bag of pretzels, and some more water, and headed back to the subway, riding downtown with other runners.

Not my fastest 5K, but not my slowest either... and of course it was the farthest I have run since the RnR 1/2. Plus it was fun to run a short event in a new neighborhood of a city I don't know well. I didn't make the "highlights video", but it's nicely put together.

Just got home from my first run in nearly two months...

and it wasn't too bad... (although it was only a slow 4 miles, so it really shouldn't have been too bad...)

Soho, so hot

Arrived in NYC this evening (quickie photo shoot tomorrow) and -- because I was with two guys -- there was immediate talk about dinner, no question about appetizers or desserts. Of course we had three courses! None of this "oh, does anyone want to split a salad with me?"

After dinner, we walked through the still 85-degrees-and-90%-humidity night back to the hotel. I felt a little creaky from the plane ride (6 hours of screaming children!) and I knew I needed to try to get a run in. So I went downstairs to the "state-of-the-art" fitness center... if that's the state of the art of fitness, things are pretty sad. But it was empty, had a treadmill, and a tv where I watched mindless programming for 30 minutes while walking 5, running 20, and walking 5 more : 2.89 miles in total.

Two runs in a row? Will I run on Saturday for the trifecta?

back on my feet!

So, okay, we went out of town for 4 weeks on a long long vacation... and didn't run a step. Sure, we climbed mountains, walked 8 hours a day (some days), and got plenty of exercise. But no running.

And then we got home, and I just couldn't get started again. Sure, we've got a half marathon in less than 3 weeks. But it's been hard to get the motivation to get started again. I put on my running shoes when we went for a walk on Saturday and I was horrified to realize that they still had the timing chip attached from the Rock and Roll half. Oops.

So today was the day. I dropped Wil off at his new gig and then drove to the work and ran on the treadmill for 20 minutes (plus a warmup and cooldown). Nothing fast, nothing overly energetic... just something to "break the seal". So I ran 2.82 miles and I feel okay about it. Better than nothing, right?

And when I went to synch my run I discovered that Nike+ has made a lot of changes. Not sure I like all of them, but they're definitely trying something new. We'll see if they work out the kinks.