Category Archives: pacers arlington

Red-Faced Running at Pacers

0, 05mi, custis, pacers arlington

Start Time: 5/29/08, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon & Custis Trail
Distance: 5 miles
Average Pace: 8:37min/mile
Total Miles For May: 51 miles

Phew! It’s been a couple weeks since I tackled the hills of the Custis Trail; I clearly need to do this a little more often. I ran with a new woman, Stacy, who is from Boston and is super-nice. She definitely pushed me through those hills of death, which is a good thing on the way back! (7:23, 8:25, 8:59, 9:13, 8:50, and 2:53 for the .3 mile) I’d forgotten just how hard those hills are, to be honest, and I’m always relieved when it’s over. What doesn’t kill me really does make me stronger, in this case.

Also, I finally decided what I’m going to do with my MarathonGreg website; I’ll turn it into a WordPress site as well and have a good front page that links to the appropriate races and photos and such. That said, it’s going to take a long while to do so. But at least a decision has been made! Once it’s converted, I’ll add all of these entries into it, but it’ll still echo any new posts over here as well.

Back to Pacers!

0, 05mi, custis, pacers arlington, tempo

Start Time: 5/1/08, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon & Custis Trail
Distance: 5 miles
Average Pace: 8:35min/mile
Total Miles For May: 5 miles

I haven’t run with Pacers in literally a year. So what better time to go back? Katie and Blair wanted to try the Pacers group, and like I said, it had been a while. So we headed on over, and it was a lot of fun. I ran with a woman named Kelsey, and we chatted a great deal for the first half of the 5.4 mile course. (Have I mentioned that for my mile counts this year I’m rounding down to the nearest half-mile? So that’s why it says 5 miles up there.) Of course, the second half is uphill and… ooooooooof. We were both feeling it. We definitely passed a bunch of people on the way back, though, so we weren’t the only ones who were feeling it.

My GPS glitched a bit and claimed that the course was 5.6 miles, so I don’t have quite accurate splits. But here’s what it claimed: 7:30, 7:47, 8:08, 9:01, 8:21, and 5:34 for the last bit. (I’m guessing/hoping mile 4 is the one that had the extra .2 miles. But that was the uphill portion in full blast, so who knows?)

Scavenger Hunt

0, 05mi, custis, pacers arlington

Start time: 5/3/07, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 5.4 miles
Average pace: 8:57min/mile

This was both fun and deadly; a scavenger hunt as part of a running route. It started out like the normal Tuesday Clarendon run from Pacers, but we went the opposite direction on the Custis Trail and ran a little over an extra mile as a result. The course? Also full of hills. Yay, hills.

But hey, I won a $100 gift certificate so I’m not complaining!

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=921565

Up and Down and Up and Down

0, 04mi, new shoes, pacers arlington

Start time: 4/10/07, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 4.25 miles
Average pace: 8:59min/mile

I was really excited a month ago (the last time I was able to make it to the Tuesday Pacers run) to get a 38:48 finish time for this hilly, hilly, hilly course. Tonight? 38:07. That was a very nice surprise. (I should let Chris know we’re doing so well!) Oh, and new shoes starting today. More Brooks Beast, this time the ’07 model. The metallic bright blue better fade soon, it hurts my eyes to look at them.

Whoa

0, 04mi, pacers arlington

Start time: 3/6/07, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 4.25 miles & 0.5 miles
Average pace: 9:08min/mile & 8:00min/mile

Occasionally I run with the Pacers Arlington group on Tuesday nights, which is an extremely hilly course; my pace is always off by at least 30 seconds per mile as a result, because it seriously kicks my butt. With that in mind, here’s the rundown of the last few months of this course:

1/16/07: 41:53
1/2/07: 41:52
12/19:06: 41:57
11/14/06: 42:05
10/10/06: 41:57

Even my fastest from back in August was a 39:44, and that was with Darryl really pushing us. So tonight? 38:48. GOOD LORD. It’s funny, because on the way out I thought I was pushing myself and Chris a little fast, but he wasn’t complaining so I decided that maybe I was just out of shape. Even on the way back I commented that I felt like I was sucking wind, but we kept going… and going… and going… A very nice surprise! It’s good to see what I can do if I really put my mind to it.

Second Verse, Same As The First

0, 04mi, pacers arlington

Start time: 1/16/07, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 4.25 miles & 0.5 miles
Average pace: 9:51min/mile & 8:07min/mile

No joke, the exact same finish times from two weeks ago. Yeesh! (I just realized I forgot to post this on Tuesday.) I didn’t run the new 1.75 mile route home in part because I had a brand-new Nintendo Wii waiting to be set up and played. Priorities, priorities.

New Year, New Addition

0, 04mi, pacers arlington

Start time: 1/2/07, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 4.25 miles & 0.5 miles
Average pace: 9:51min/mile & 8:07min/mile

Another run along the Custis Trail… oh boy! One thing I decided after it was over, though, was that I’m going to add on a little extra distance on the way home in these winter months. I’d rather run home and stay warm than walk home and start shivering because I was sweating earlier. Tonight I just ran straight home, but I mapped out a route for future evenings that’s a 1.75 path, which would knock the distance up to 6 miles. Perfect!

Hillwork

0, 04mi, pacers arlington

Start time: 12/19/06, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 4.25 miles
Average pace: 9:52min/mile

Ok, apparently my lack of regularly running Clarendon means when I do so once a month, it’s about 20-25 seconds off pace. Clearly I need more hill work. Or something. Ugh. (No knee strap again, no problems. Yay!)

Slow again

0, 04mi, pacers arlington

Start time: 11/14/06, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 4.25 miles
Average pace: 9:48min/mile

Ok, we are in taper mode, and the Custis Trail is amazingly hilly. But still, a little disappointing to look at my finishing time here versus ones earlier in the year. Maybe Chris and I just need Darryl to push us up and down the trail a little faster? Not sure. (My thighs were sore from Sunday so I was a little hesitant on the idea of running, but by the halfway point they felt fine. Perhaps they just needed a good run.)