Start time: 5/28/09, 7:30am
Location: Clarendon/Courthouse
Distance: 3.1 miles
Average pace: 8:41min/mile
Total Miles For May: 47 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 308 miles

I wanted a short run this morning—my tendon still needs some healing so I really shouldn’t be pushing it too much—so I dug up my old “faux 5K” route, which is two 1.55 mile loops around the neighborhood. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy it; sure, I have to run up Washington Boulevard (which is a slow incline that doesn’t seem like much until you run it a second time) but the closest thing to crossing a major road is going across Pershing where it ends at Arlington Boulevard, which is not bad at all. Only a tiny bit of discomfort afterwards, which is a good sign on the tendon, too. Yesterday was spinning, tomorrow will hopefully be swimming, so it’s also a mini-triathlon three day event, ha ha ha.

More importantly, though, it was ultra-humid this morning. I weighed myself before and after the run and even with drinking water while running, I sweated out 1.5 pounds of water in just under 27 minutes. Yuck. Not my idea of a good time, that’s for certain. Fortunately there’s a storm system coming through that I believe is supposed to help knock out some of the humidity. Let’s hope so, I’m not ready for it to already be summer.

Start time: 5/22/09, 5:30pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:58min/mile
Total Miles For May: 44 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 305 miles

Oops, totally forgot to post this earlier. I had a chance to squeeze in one last run Friday after work before heading out of town, so I picked up 4 miles on the W&OD Trail in Vienna. Very sunny, and and finding parking was a bear because of all the “Viva! Vienna!” setup, but all in all a nice run.

(9:06, 8:50, 9:04, 8:52)

Start time: 5/19/09, 5:30pm
Location: Westmorland Avenue and Washington Boulevard
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 9:19min/mile
Total Miles For May: 40 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 301 miles

I’m going to be out of town for most of Memorial Day weekend, and since the weather was supposed to be cool today, I thought it would be a good opportunity to run home from work. So, I took the bus in, and then hoofed it back home after work. It was a little warmer than originally predicted (low 70s instead of the 60s), but still not bad at all. But ugh, those hills! The last time I did this I’d run a slightly longer route where the second half was the W&OD Trail and Wilson Boulevard; today I cut a mile off by running on Washington Blvd for the second half, but I swear, that meant miles 6 and 7 were straight up. Gah. Still, all things considered, not bad at all. And it sure did feel good, mentally, once I got to the intersection with Glebe in Ballston and everything started looking much more familiar.

Just over 300 miles for the year. Yay!

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2421376

(9:10, 9:15, 9:36, 9:05, 9:05, 9:36, 9:37, 9:08)

Start time: 5/16/09, 10:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 6 miles
Average pace: 9:16min/mile
Total Miles For May: 32 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 293 miles

After taking some time off post-marathon, it was back on the trail on Saturday morning. It was a wet morning; it was raining when I left the house, and did so for about the first mile or so. Then it just got to merely a wet air sensation rather than actual rain, but meanwhile I was stuck with a wet hat for the rest of the run. Ho hum. Was definitely struggling a bit early on mentally after a few weeks off, but it felt good to do so.

(9:04, 8:52, 9:17, 9:37, 9:39, 9:10)

Start time: 4/28/09, 8:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 3.2 miles
Average pace: 8:56min/mile
Total Miles For April: 71 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 261 miles

I was going to run in the morning today but when I woke up, my muscles were slow to warm up; so, instead, I postponed until the evening once the temperature began to drop back down again. (It was in the 90s today, but by waiting until 8pm it was only 78 degrees.) Just a quick 3-miler, nothing terribly special. Well, aside from the horrendous pollen. It’s supposed to rain tonight, hopefully that’ll help matters a bit.

(The running of “3.2” miles instead of just 3 is a little joke that is hard to explain… it’s for Laura’s benefit more than anything else. Although it really was 3.2 miles, I should add.)

8:50, 9:22, 8:47, 1:38

Start time: 4/26/09, 8:15am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 9:31min/mile
Total Miles For April: 68 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 258 miles

Oof! It sure was unseasonably warm this weekend—up into 90s and it’s still April. Being no fool, I decided that I’d get up as early as possible and do my 8-miler before everything began to sizzle and crackle on the pavement. We had plans on Saturday night, though, so it wasn’t until 8:15 that I got out and running. Probably an hour later than I should have, but hey, it wasn’t too bad.

Since it’s part of my taper before next Sunday’s race, I wasn’t too worried about pace, doubly so since it was kind of warm. A mile downhill, four uphill, three more downhill and that was that. Just get the distance and call it a day. I was feeling a little bleah for the first half, but fortunately things righted themselves before too long. Also ran into my old running group, which was working on mile repeats. So glad that wasn’t me in that warm weather!

(9:27, 9:39, 9:51, 9:51, 9:59, 9:25, 9:12, 8:47)

Start time: 4/24/09, 5:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 5 miles
Average pace: 8:47min/mile
Total Miles For April: 60 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 250 miles

I’d hoped to get this run started a little earlier (went to work super-early and everything) but the office conspired against me. Ah well. So, instead of 6 miles, I went with just 5 and that was good enough, right? I’m still getting used to warmer weather; when was the last time I was running in 80 degree conditions??? I deliberately dialed it back a bit on mile 4 because it was uphill and I was feeling like I was going to fade. That worked pretty well since I got to make it up on the next mile and not feel like crud.

As an added bonus, I ran into Alma on the trail! Yay! She’s training for a triathlon in June and is trying to convince me to sign up for it… hmmm…

(8:42, 8:47, 8:35, 9:12, 8:40)

Start time: 4/19/09, 10:45am
Location: SW Waterfront, National Mall, Rock Creek Park
Distance: 12 miles
Average pace: 9:50min/mile
Total Miles For April: 51 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 241 miles

When you can see huge yellow clouds of pollen hovering over the National Mall? And can actually taste it? Something has gone severely wrong. Gah. I’m hoping the severe pollen levels in the area is why I was feeling sick to my stomach the last three miles of the run, because otherwise… complete mystery. Getting back up to speed now, plus Charlie was getting over a cold, so we didn’t worry about pace and just out and ran, although even then it wasn’t quite the pace I’d hoped for. But that wasn’t the point, right? I need to keep that in mind.

A little worried about my marathon in 14 days. This was a rough run.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2742191

(9:51, 9:13, 9:40, 9:35, 9:24, 9:46, 9:52, 9:40, 9:58, 10:00, 10:22, 10:35)