Start time: 09/17/06, 12:45pm
Location: W&OD Trail, markers 3.5 to 7.5 (and back)
Distance: 8 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:44min/mile

I knew I was missing this morning’s group run (if the word “group” really applies!) because on Saturday I had a 6:15am start-time for our MCM runners, followed by a 1pm birthday lunch for a friend and then a 5pm birthday evening celebration for another friend. Since the last one would no doubt run late (and there would be lots of food and alcohol between the two different events), waking up for a 7am run just wasn’t happening. So I promised myself that I’d get out there in the afternoon and make up the 8-miler.

Well, I’m glad I finished the run; I was definitely dragging a tiny bit here and there. Ultimately it was just me and the iPod shuffle hoofing it up and down the W&OD Trail (which I decided to run for old time’s sake). Kind of a quiet run, really. A little warm in places—I do wish I’d been able to get out there a little earlier, but ah well! I should be glad I got there at all, really. And as an added bonus, I was wearing new sporty-looking shorts that grok had passed on to me. Yay!

Start time: 09/10/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 16 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 10:00min/mile

Today was our 16-miler, which means that starting at this point our “long runs” are slowed down to help prevent injury. For the 16- and 18-milers, this means that I’m supposed to run them at a 10:30 instead of a 9:30min/mile. Well… um… oops! We were just zipping along, and it was around mile 10 that I looked down at my GPS and said, “Um… Sorry about that.” (That one was a 9:17.) We had a really good set of splits though. (12:16, 9:28, 10:20, 10:35, 9:53, 10:18, 9:23, 9:51, 9:47, 9:17, 10:18, 10:38, 10:29, 10:17, 9:53, and… um… 9:01.) Ok, I can explain that last one. Chris had decided to run a little less so he cut across the mall to head directly back. As we were heading back the full route ourselves, we saw Chris about a quarter mile ahead of us. We were definitely gaining on him, but he was still about a tenth of a mile ahead of us when he crossed M Street and so… um… I decided to try and catch him. Ok, I know! Very stupid! Bad Greg! (And I didn’t even catch him. That’ll learn me.) I’m not supposed to do that sort of behavior.

Oh, the “Ow” of the subject line? Well… er… guess what I discovered on the front of my shirt 2.5 miles from the end of the course?

Ack! I put on Bodyglide and everything. (Chris took a picture of me with my cell phone camera but I was in a slight daze and didn’t realize I had to hit “save” on the picture of me with my bloody-nipple-stained shirt. Oh well.) Guess from now on, 16 miles is not only the time when the slowdown hits but when I need to switch from Bodyglide to NipGuards.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=364973

Start time: 09/03/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 7 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:20min/mile

Well, after Tuesday’s “maybe I’ll skip this weekend’s recovery run” comment, did I? Well, obviously, no. It was just me again (booo) but it also wasn’t raining (yay!) like the Saturday runners got. I headed out by myself at a nice clip, though; after the first warm-up mile we’re talking about miles 2-4 being 9:08, 9:07, and 9:09. Part of the return trip was a little slower when I picked up Coach Karen at two different spots; we ran together for part of mile 5 (9:56) before she took care of another runner, then she cut across the mall and we did part of mile 7 together as well. (Meanwhile, mile 6? 9:11. It seems that I am very consistent once more.)

It was interesting contrasting the streets in Southwest DC versus up by the monuments and museums. There, you could tell that there had been the remnants of a tropical storm coming through; lots of branches and leaves carpeting the sidewalks as far as the eye could see. The water in the Washington Channel was just as high as the humidity, but the temperature was still low (mid-60s!) and it was a nice way to center and focus once more after last week’s not so great 14-miler.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=299537

Start time: 08/27/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 14 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:48min/mile

We started off the run today with a whopping five runners; myself, Stephanie, Emma, Chris S., and Rick. Or, as we joked at one point, “four staff members and a participant.” We lost Chris four mies in, but that was actually to be expected because he’d only planned on running eight miles. Up through this point we were all going pretty strong, despite it being a muggy, humid sort of morning once we’d left the waterfront area. We began to lose a bit of momentum after that, though. The weather was dragging us down, but it seemed like something more as well. Just one of those runs where partway through you realize that (unlike my 12-miler two weeks ago) you aren’t going to be able to just power through it like there’s no tomorrow.

About six and a half miles in (on the Capital Crescent Trail) Stephanie started to slow down a bit and offered to wait for the next group to come back. She’s coming off of a bad cold and all things considered was being a real trooper when she wasn’t really back up to her full capacity. Since Emma and I were going to mark the turn-around on the trail, we zipped up the last half mile, chalked all over the place, and let Rick and Stephanie catch us there. From there we headed back, but Stephanie soon decided (wisely) that she really just needed to drop back a bit. She and Rick decided to run together until a slower group caught us, so Emma and I continued onwards.

Except, of course, we were starting to fade as well. We pushed each other through as best we could, and I knew I was starting to warm up when I first welcomed a water volunteer pouring water on my head, and then ended up taking my shirt off for the last mile and a half. These are the End Times, people. Once we finished up, though, we got word that a runner needed locating on the Capital Crescent Trail, so after grabbing half a banana we threw Emma’s bike into my car and headed up to Thompson’s Boathouse so she could start biking in from there. Naturally, no sooner did we get there than the runner resurfaced… phew! That was a real relief.

So, a tough run for everyone involved. I don’t think anyone (except for maybe Rick, super-runner-extraordinaire) in our group had a “great” run by any stretch of the imagination. But we all finished, and we all made the right choices, and I’m quite pleased with that.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=364978

Start time: 08/20/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 6 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:18min/mile

It was another recovery run this weekend, which was fine by me; I’d had a long day yesterday between our MCM participants’s 20-miler and the margaritas-and-Snakes on a Plane expedition. No Stephanie again (I think she may have dropped out at this point, but am hoping not!) but Chris S. had mentioned on Thursday that he wanted a 6-miler this weekend so I talked him into showing up. It was a good run; a little warm and humid, but we kept to a good pace and knocked the miles out pretty quickly (9:30, 9:20, 9:15, 9:43, 9:05, 8:59). Then it was time for a banana, an orange slice… and going back home where I took a shower and climbed back into bed. Ahhhhhh.

Start time: 08/13/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 12 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:30min/mile

What a beautiful, beautiful day to run. Nice cool temperatures (in August? In DC???) and the hint of a breeze. Ahhhhhhh. There was no Stephanie again today, but I ran with our AIDS Marathon site rep Emma, which was a lot of fun. We kept each other very much on pace, and a lot of our miles were actually in the 9-to-9:15 range. Once you add in three water stops and stopping to talk to poufsouffle (and her two adorable dogs!), our average was a 9:30 for the day, but we were actually moving at quite a clip. It was great to get to just talk with Emma and get to know her.

Even better, hitting the 12-mile part of the route meant that I finally got to bridge the gap in my knowledge of the course; I know it all the way up to Thompson’s Boathouse, and from Key Bridge on up the Capital Crescent Trail, but not in-between. Running along the Georgetown Waterfront was just beautiful, a real way to rouse one’s spirits. (Although running under the Whitehurst Freeway stinks a tiny bit only because it’s hard to get a GPS signal with all the concrete above us and all. At least it’s just a small stretch.) I’d had a long day on Saturday and then not gotten nearly enough sleep, so it felt great to not only really hit the course moving good, but our last four miles were 9:27, 9:47 (with a water stop), 9:12, and 9:10. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Excellent.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=361201

EDITED TO ADD: I almost forgot… the last couple times I went running I ended up with a slight stitch in my side. When this cropped up back in 2005, I found that eating a little more oatmeal for breakfast (two packets instead of one) solved the problem. This morning, I only had one packet because I’d forgotten to add it to the grocery list and that was all that remained. And while running… no stitch! Hmmmm. Maybe now I need less food in the tummy instead of more? Or should I just stick with my original plan of starting back up crunches to strengthen those muscles? (Well, I should do that anyway.) Maybe it was the magical power of eating some Sports Beans (from Jelly Belly, they taste like crystalized Gatorade and are delicious) instead? Clearly this requires more research.

Start time: 08/06/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 5 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:20min/mile

Easiest “recovery run” ever—it was just me today (no Stephanie! I hope she and/or Katie are back next week…) but it was such a short run I didn’t care. I’d like to say I thought a lot of deep thoughts and such but instead it was one of those runs where you just leave everything behind and go. And, I have to admit—it was a little fun to be the first one out there, all by myself, waving to each group as I came back. It was almost like being a signal for everyone else that the turn-around was just down the street and they were almost there, because I was already coming back through. It’s nice to spread the good word. 🙂

Start time: 07/29/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 10 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 7:1, then 6:1
Average pace: 9:30min/mile

I ran with the Saturday group this morning and… phew! Apparently there really is no place like home. One big problem was that the 9:00 group is really small, so the two groups apparently merge on a regular basis. The problem was, in the words of the coach at the site, “That group really runs between an 8:30 and 9:00 pace.” Turns out there’s someone else normally there that sort of takes the 9:30 part of the group under her wing, but wasn’t there. Yay. The good news is that Katie (from last Sunday) was there so the two of us ran together. The group was fast out of the gate and about two-and-a-half miles in we gave up on keeping up with them. So we had a perfectly good run together, although by the end I felt a little queasy and dehydrated; a combination of a Paula-Radcliffe-esque need for a bathroom break (thankfully unlike everyone’s favorite winner of the London Marathon, I hung onto my decorum for the last mile) and perhaps eating a little too much cookie dough while baking last night. Oops.

On the bright side, we’d been zooming enough at the beginning that even with slowing down a tiny bit for the end stretch, still a solid 9:30 pace. (And ultimately it was just an extra two minutes of walking at one point, and another brief walk break when I sucked down water into my windpipe. Whoops.) Very, very, very nice people at the Saturday site, but I think despite Sundays being just me and Stephanie most of the time I’ll take that. Definitely.

Start time: 07/23/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 9 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:30min/mile

What a nice run it was today! Yesterday was uncomfortably humid when I was out helping with the Marine Corps Marathon training program, so this was a real study in contrast; nice cool breezes, and while humid nowhere near as bad as yesterday. Stephanie couldn’t be there because of work, but Katie from the Saturday run group was there so I had someone else to run the 9:30s with. Additionally, the two members of the 10:00 group (Scott and Pary) decided to join us, which was nice for added company—especially because on Sundays when Stephanie can’t be there and no one else from the Saturday site shows up, I’ll be running with them anyway.

Anyway, it was a really good run. Katie was fun to talk to, the mileage just sort of whipped on by, and before we knew it we were done. Scott and Pary slowed down a little bit towards the end but seemed to still be in good spirits. And, since I’m going to probably run with the Saturday group this next weekend (afterwards I’ll be heading out of town for a mini-vacation) it’s good to know someone from that site. Best of all, we were really on pace for almost the entire thing, and perhaps most importantly towards the end. When I finished at the end, I thought to myself, “Yeah, it should be like that.” So yay!

Start time: 07/16/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 8 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:53min/mile

Dang, it sure was sticky and humid this morning… everyone looked like moving puddles of sweat.

Stephanie was back so I ended up running with her. We were on pace for a lot, then definitely slowed down a bit at the end. No splits, alas, so I’ve got to go entirely based on my total time. Not quite up to par but considering the conditions and that last week at this time I was at an 11min/mile, I’m more than satisfied. Next week I might have to run with the 10min group since Stephanie may have to work, mind you, so we’ll see how that goes!