Start time: 3/18/10, 6:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:42min/mile
Total Miles For March: 47 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 166 miles

One last 4-miler before Sunday’s race; it was an awfully gorgeous day this afternoon.

(8:35, 8:54, 8:55, 8:25)

Start time: 3/16/10, 8:00am
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 5 miles
Average pace: 8:34min/mile
Total Miles For March: 43 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 162 miles

I ended up not running over the weekend due to weather, and I paid for it this morning. Or at least I’m assuming that was part of it; the other part was still being slightly off kilter due to the time shift over the weekend. I actually set my alarm for a little before 6am, thinking I’d be out there by 7am. I hadn’t counted on it now being dark at 7am, which made it verrrrry difficult to get out of bed.

Anyway, not a bad pace at all, but I felt nothing short of wiped out.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3548545

Start time: 3/11/10, 7:15am
Location: Wilson Boulevard, Bluemont Junction Trail, W&OD Trail, Washington Boulevard
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 8:58min/mile
Total Miles For March: 38 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 157 miles

It’s supposed to rain a lot on Saturday, so I decided discretion was the better part of valor and ran the 8-mile loop I came up with back in December. It’s funny, I ran it twice in December and then on New Year’s Day, but since then this route has been neglected. (Partially due to the route being clogged with snow for quite a while, partially for not running 8 miles on my own.) It meant I’d forgotten where the hills were, if nothing else.

Now, my watch says I ran this in 1:11:48. But here’s the thing. If it looks like I’m going to be stuck at an intersection waiting to cross for more than two or three seconds, I usually stop the watch, then start it again once I’m good. I am slightly not-convinced that I started it back up once. I probably did do it at this speed, which actually is just a fraction different than two of the three other times I ran it. But I also was seriously huffing and puffing around the midpoint when the hills began to show up in full strength, and twice I walked for about 10 seconds to catch my breath and rally for the rest of the hill. So… that was my time. Allegedly.

(On the bright side, I did look at my watch with about a mile and a half to go and remembered that time stamp, so I measured out that part of the course and checked the pace for that final portion and it was a 9:06. I know I was going much faster early on (since I do know the first two mile markers on this course) so signs actually do point to me having gotten this right.)

I also learned a very important lesson, if you think you need to use the bathroom one final time as you’re walking across the parking lot to get started, just go back inside. At least there’s a gas station not too far down the route that came to the rescue.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3370757

Start time: 3/9/10, 6:15pm
Location: Clarendon/Courthouse
Distance: 3 miles
Average pace: 8:34min/mile
Total Miles For March: 30 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 149 miles

I’d gone swimming in the morning, but it was such a beautiful evening that I wanted to squeeze in a quick run in-between work and dinner plans. Not really time for more than 3 miles, but better than nothing. And now… off to those earlier mentioned dinner plans!

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3531973

Start time: 3/8/10, 6:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 5 miles
Average pace: 8:51min/mile
Total Miles For March: 27 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 146 miles

Wow, it was a beautiful day in the DC area today—almost 60 degrees! After work I went for a quick run on the W&OD Trail, which was mostly nice… well, except for the nasty, algae smell coming from Four Mile Run. Bleah. That water smells rather horrendous today. None the less, it was nice to just get out and knock out a few miles.

(8:38, 8:56, 9:09, 9:05, 8:25)

Start time: 3/6/10, 7:30am & 10:30am
Location: Hains Point, West Potomac Park, National Mall; North Arlington
Distance: 10 miles & 4 miles
Average pace: 9:59min/mile & 9:14min/mile
Total Miles For March: 22 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 141 miles

Went running with my group today for 10 miles, which is always a real pleasure. Even with walk breaks we picked up the pace a bit the last four or so miles, which was a nice feeling. I’d originally planned on running 12 miles (and tacking on two more at the end) but everyone else was heading to Starbucks and I decided that sounded like much more fun. (My old Garmin GPS is continuing to glitch, but fortunately Michael was leading the pack and his much newer one seemed to be hitting the right marks. Mine slid about a tenth of a mile halfway through and it was rather obvious; suddenly we’d magically tacked on an extra minute for no good reason according to mine, but Michael’s had us at the usual pace and was beeping at the .9 mile points. Argh. Time to replace it soon.)

Except afterwards I felt guilty from my chai latte and piece of coffee cake, so when I got home I changed my shirt and then ran my old 4-mile loop, which aside from two small sections is now finally snow-free. (I just have to run on the opposite side of the street for the start and end of the loop.) I had a stitch in my side for that (probably from the coffee cake) but I pushed through anyway. Mission accomplished!

(for the 4-miler: 9:17, 9:06, 9:18, 9:13)