Start time: 8/3/2013, 6:04am
Location: Custis Trail, Mt. Vernon Trail
Distance: 14 miles + 2.14 miles
Average pace: 11:44min/mile
Total Miles For August: 16 miles
Total Miles For 2013: 458 miles
Current Shoes: 52 miles

The idea was a 16-miler where we ran 6 miles on the Custis Trail, then 10 miles on Mt. Vernon Trail. Unfortunately we made a slight miscalculation on where the water fountains were on the second half and we had to beg for some water to make it all the way back.

At the 14-mile point, Steve was feeling ready to bonk and said he was going to walk the rest in. As I have no fall marathon and also had a blister on the bottom of my foot, I decided to walk that last bit in too. Definitely the right call.

Start time: 11/10/12, 7:10am
Location: National Mall, Capitol Hill, Navy Yard, Georgetown
Distance: 16 miles
Average pace: 10:48min/mile
Total Miles For November: 40 miles
Total Miles For 2012: 529 miles
Current Shoes: 69 miles

Sort of a sluggish run in places, but beautiful weather. Stopped by the car at the halfway point and dropped off a layer of clothes, in fact. Also probably my longest run for the season. With no marathon on the schedule, no reason to go higher.

Start time: 1/8/12, 7:00am
Location: National Mall, Capitol Hill, LeDroit Park, Rock Creek Park
Distance: 16 miles
Average pace: 10:30min/mile
Total Miles For January: 28 miles
Total Miles For 2012: 28 miles
Current Shoes: 61 miles

Well, it’s been a little over two years since I’ve run anything over 14 miles… so all things considered, not too bad. Took it nice and easy with Ben and Steve; we were supposed to meet some others 6 miles in but one cancelled due to sickness and the others were strangely a no-show.

But anyway, nothing out of the ordinary to report. Finished it off and now, in an hour or so (after making sure to move around for a bit longer), time for a nap. Best part so far.

Start time: 12/5/09, 4:00pm
Location: Thomas Circle Gym
Distance: 7 miles
Average pace: 8:40min/mile
Total Miles For December: 11 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 789 miles

Start time: 12/6/09, 1:00pm
Location: North Arlington, Bluemont Park, W&OD Trail
Distance: 16 miles
Average pace: 10:26min/mile
Total Miles For December: 27 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 805 miles

After missing Thursday run (was really not feeling at all well), it was time for another “goofy run” this weekend. When I woke up Saturday morning I could hear the rain coming down; coupled with being a little exhausted, I decided it was wiser to stay in bed for a few more hours. By that point, of course, the rain turned into snow. I ended up running at Charlie’s gym on one of the treadmills, which wasn’t so bad. Unfortunately I should have remembered to take it slow because I had a lot more scheduled for Sunday…

Sunday’s run was supposed to be 14 miles; about four miles in, I started hitting a ton of snow and ice all over the W&OD Trail. UGH. It’s funny, you’d think that having to slow down so much to keep from wiping out would make the run easier, but I think it actually makes it harder. Your muscles tense up, you’ve got to really concentrate hard to stay upright, and it’s an unpleasant experience. Plus, of course, all the cold coming off of all that snow and ice. Brrrr. I was about three miles from home when I got a very stupid idea; I should turn around and run back one mile in the relatively ice-free area, so that I would have 16 under my belt and next week’s 20-miler wouldn’t be so bad. Wow. Stupid move. I felt like I was face-planting on miles 15 and 16. Just glad it’s done. Next week I will be more mindful about taking it easy!

(9:21, 9:05, 9:46, 9:55, 10:47, 10:46, 10:54, 10:29, 10:19, 10:49, 10:17, 10:18, 10:36, 12:14, 11:00, 10:20)

Start time: 8/22/09, 6:00am
Location: Hains Point, Mt. Vernon Trail, Georgetown, Rock Creek Park, National Mall
Distance: 16 miles
Average pace: 10:18min/mile
Total Miles For August: 78 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 537 miles

Ooof. Definitely not as strong as my last 16-miler at the start of the month, but the weather also wasn’t quite as brutal. Still, we pushed through it. We started out five strong, but once we got to Thompson’s Boathouse, Bill, John, and Paul headed back for a 12-mile total route. (Bill had only planned on ten while Paul had hoped for sixteen, so… not quite balancing out between the two, but close.) Dave and I pushed on, though, up and down Rock Creek Park before finally slogging it back home. And I do mean slogging it, there were little squish noises every step I took because I was so soaked. You know things are going wrong when you fill up the water bottle at the boathouse right around mile 9, and then three miles later need to fill it up again because you’re almost out. I just couldn’t rehydrate fast enough, I think.

Still, all things considered, glad it’s done. We managed to wedge it into a window of no rain, which was nice. Dave definitely kept me going those last four miles, though.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3114364

Start time: 8/8/09, 6:00am
Location: National Mall, Hains Point, Mount Vernon Trail, Memorial Bridge
Distance: 16 miles
Average pace: 10:00min/mile
Total Miles For August: 41 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 500 miles

Wow, I couldn’t have timed that better if I tried. 500 miles down for this year, huzzah!

Oh, the run? It actually went really well. For the first seven miles, we just used the old AIDS Marathon route from Waterfront up to the Pegasus Bridge and then back, even running into an old AIDS Marathon coach (Charlie) who is now helping people over at Team in Training. (Psst. Don’t block the sidewalks with your group meetings. Thanks!) The idea was that this way Ben and Stephanie would run 7 miles with us, plus we could refill our water at the cars, but as it turned out Ben and Stephanie turned around a little early and just did 6 miles. Oh well!

After that, we ran over and around Hains Point, then across the 14th Street Bridge and up the Mount Vernon Trail to Memorial Bridge, at which point we hoofed it down Independence Ave and Maine Ave back to our starting point. I have to say, we all did really consistently. Dave and I both finished really strong, and Paul and Aaron were right behind us for the past few miles; Aaron was still a little sore from a bad run earlier, but he made the most of it and really toughed through the run.

Considering last week’s 12-miler made me feel like I’d face-planted the last two miles, it was nice to end up feeling good here. And of course, it’s hard to not note that this week had walk breaks every mile (supposedly just a minute, but sometimes there were requests to stretch them out a wee bit) this week while not last week. I’m thinking I may very well just use the “walk for a minute every mile marker” strategy for NYC. I felt strong and consistent enough (I could’ve knocked the last few out faster if I’d wanted) that I think it may very well help on marathon day itself. We’ll see. Having more of just a “finish strong” goal instead of a time goal does make a big difference, mentally.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3078295

Start time: 7/25/09, 6:45am
Location: Rock Creek Park
Distance: 16 miles
Average pace: 10:25min/mile
Total Miles For July: 68 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 447 miles

It is one hot and humid day here in DC. To try and beat the heat we got up eaaaaaarly, although it was just a small group; me, Michael, Jim, Steve, and (for a few miles) Steve’s partner Mickey. We ran through a lot of Rock Creek on the Maryland side of the border, which was thankfully shady, but still really humid. My poor GPS went utterly berserk, though, not liking all that tree cover one bit. (Seriously nuts.) I’m thinking I might just break down and get the new Forerunner that has the foot pod instead of a GPS and just be done with it. Anyway, a little slower than normal because of the heat, but at the same time I felt much stronger than last week the whole way through. So, not bad.

(And then afterwards Mickey made us breakfast burritos! Delicious!)

Start time: 2/21/09,12:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 16 miles
Average pace: 9:38min/mile
Total Miles For February: 60 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 105 miles

Ok, for this 16-miler I decided to just stick with the W&OD Trail, running from marker 3.5 in Arlington up to marker 11.5 in Vienna, since I knew that there would be water fountains on the trail at several places (near markers 6.0, 7.0, and 11.5) so I wouldn’t have a repeat of the disaster from two weeks ago. As for the run itself, well…

PLUS SIDE:

No calf cramps like last time, yay! I hydrated a bit better this time through, and I also took an extra potassium supplement in the morning. Maybe it was that, maybe it was because most of the second half is at a slight downhill grade (although there are still some uphill portions), but for whatever the reason, no real issues on that front.

I finished the run without needing to stop, save for refilling my water bottle. Also good and makes me feel a lot more confident on that front.

All the ice is finally melted off the trail, and while it was cold out, it wasn’t as frigid as earlier in the week. All this cold weather dodging and such has made me (at this point) vow to not train for any more spring marathons, mind you.

And a faster pace than my 14-miler, which was admittedly the cramp-o-matic run, but still.

MINUS SIDE:

My slowest 16-miler in three years. It was at least faster than the pace for 2005 (12:00) and 2006 (10:00), but not as good as 2007 (8:59!) or 2008 (9:31). I worry that 2007 is when I peaked in terms of running, to be honest.

Crappy last two miles, although since they were new mileage that’s not any particularly large red flag. I’d have been happier with some stronger times for them, but still, not as good as I’d hoped. I’d been hoping to not dip into the 10+ realm on this run.

I really don’t like this winter running, because getting up early and hitting the run then is an exercise in frozenness. Brrrrr. So instead I wait until a little later in the day, but it means by the time I’m done the majority of my Saturday is over.

Maybe I need to rethink my training strategy? It’s hard to say what’s wrong at this point. Just getting older? Not enough speed work? Lack of someone to train with? Honestly, the last one has definitely been on my mind. I saw that Pacers had a 16-miler scheduled for this morning and I’d thought about it, but it was at 8am (and I knew I would need more sleep, plus it was still going to be below freezing at that point in the morning)… and it’s actually really important for me to train for a marathon on my own this time. I’ve never done that before; it was AIDS Marathon in ’01-’06, and then Empowered & Fit in ’07 (plus ’08, despite the actual running of a marathon at the end of the program; stupid bronchitis). So I really need to train for one by myself to know that I can do it. I hope that sounds logical to someone besides me. Afterwards, maybe I’ll train for my fall marathon with E&F, or Pacers, or perhaps still on my own? I’m not sure. But I feel like I can’t buckle yet. This might ultimately be a mistake, but there’s only one way to really find out.

(9:25, 9:28, 9:12, 9:22, 9:46, 9:25, 9:19, 9:08, 9:29, 9:26, 9:44, 9:58, 9:53, 9:48, 10:17, 10:24)

Start Time: 8/2/08, 7:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 16 miles
Average Pace: 9:31min/mile
Total Miles For August: 16 miles

Oops. Totally forgot to log last Saturday’s 16-miler! It was a hot (but not scorching) day, and I set out with Laura and Other Laura (hereby referred to as Laura O., even though I have no idea what her last name really is). The first three miles went good; warmed up, got moving, a-ok with that. Early on in mile 4, Laura made a detour to the bathroom, so rather than just stop (which I hate to do) Laura O. and I slowed down a bit with the idea being that at a slower pace, she’d catch us before we knew it. Sure enough, halfway through mile 5, Laura caught back up with us…

…except we didn’t really pick our pace up again. After mile 9, though, I was itching to start moving a little faster and I ended up pulling away from Laura (who was just not having a good run), and Laura O. stuck with me. It went pretty well, as you can tell by the splits, although we did have one small disaster: while stopping to refill our water on the way back, we saw another runner pass out not even 20 feet away. Eek! Fortunately Laura O. is a nurse, and the passed-out-runner had a friend with her. So we stopped for a little bit, got her some water and some gel, waited until she was doing good, and then headed back out. I felt a little stiff as a result for those last 3.5 miles, but it was absolutely the right thing to do.

9:44, 9:01, 8:54, 10:32, 10:07, 9:55, 10:16, 10:02, 10:04, 9:22, 9:18, 9:08, 9:16, 8:46, 8:53, 9:04

Start time: 7/22/07, 7:00am
Location: National Mall & Cap Crescent Trail
Distance: 16 miles
Average pace: 8:59min/mile

That was pretty nice; a pretty strong 16-miler with Dave, Laura, and Paul. We all stuck together through the first 8 miles, and then Laura began to slow down a bit. (Considering she’d been in a car accident on Friday and I don’t think she should’ve even been running (although I understand why she did), she was doing a rockstar performance.) The three of us stuck together all the way up until right before hitting the end of mile 12, at which point I slowed down a tiny bit to eat a gel and the guys zoomed off. I caught them at mile 14 (having been trailing them by about 20 seconds all the while), but Paul was feeling great and he and Dave zoomed off at that point at an 8min mile pace. Conversely, I was feeling a little crampy in my left quad, so I took a 40-second walk break at the start of both mile 15 and 16, which did wonders for feeling better. A strong, strong run for the most part.

(8:57, 8:03 (oops), 8:53, 8:43, 9:03, 8:20 (oops x2), 8:52, 9:10, 8:55, 9:04, 9:10, 9:13, 9:01, 8:59, 9:43, 9:41.)