Start time: 9/23/07, 8:00am
Location: National Mall
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: ???

For today’s run, Fred told everyone that watches and GPS units were a strict no-no; the idea was to listen to your body instead of depending on your watch and to pick your pace accordingly. It was a really nice run; Erika, Laura, Paul, a new woman (Diane?), and I headed out for an easy 8-miler around the Mall. Erika soon took off (being much faster than us) and Diane decided to head off with her. Around the same time we also picked up an extra runner (Audrey) and the four of us stuck together up until around mile 5; Paul dropped back then, and while Audrey went ahead a bit, I soon ended up with her and Laura just a stone’s throw behind us. (It was surprisingly hot today for the end of September. Bleah.)

If I had to guess how fast we were going I’d hazard somewhere around an 8:45min/mile pace. It felt good, and that was the important thing.

Start time: 8/19/07, 8:00am
Location: National Mall
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 8:46min/mile

Today’s run started out well enough; overcast skies, low temperature… in August, no less. Then at the 3.5 mile turn-around, I managed to twist my ankle all the way the heck around as my foot suddenly went perpendicular to my leg. Ouch. Cue Greg swearing loudly several times as he hops up and down on his other foot. Smoooooth.

Then, right as we finished up the run, Paul looks over at me and says, “Hey, you’re bleeding.” Dammit, I put BodyGlide on, but sure enough there was a big smear of blood down the right side of my shirt at nipple height. I washed it off as best as I could, but apparently the other one was feeling left out so it decided to bleed as well. Good god.

(My theory? Once you’ve had the bleeding nipples in a running season, it will take several months for them to truly heal. So, I guess even for short runs it’ll be NipGuards for a while. Yeesh.)

Still, other than all that, a good run, honest!

Start time: 5/31/07, 9:00pm
Location: Arlington Boulevard Trail
Distance: 3 miles
Average pace: 9:15min/mile

Start time: 6/3/07, 8:00am
Location: Capital Crescent Trail and Georgetown
Distance: 8 miles
Run:Walk Ratio: 10:1
Average pace: 11:00min/mile

So! When we last left off over in this journal, I was getting ready to take some time off from running due to an injury. I saw an orthopaedist and he diagnosed the pain as being a “strained achilles mechanism” which consists of the three muscles in my lower calf. He sent me off to physical therapy, which I started on May 30th. There, the physical therapist did a thorough look over and said, “I think I’ve found your problem. Did you know the big toe on your left foot isn’t flexible?”

Yeah, I know. Not the response I was expecting. Apparently while my right toe can move up about 60 degrees, the left toe gets about a 30 degree range of motion. As a result, when I run I lift my left heel much faster than I should be in order to compensate, and that’s putting a strain on those muscles in my left calf. (Which would explain why all three injuries have been in the left calf and never my right one.) She told me to go out running on Thursday and see how it felt, just 3-5 miles. That run went ok, with a little stiffness and soreness around mile 3. Unfortunately, my dinner did not cooperate with me and I had to stop a mile short of my planned 4 miles, in order to keep from heaving my dinner up all over Arlington Boulevard. (Don’t worry, I didn’t.)

I reported back and she gave me some calf stretches (while still working on the toe) and said it was ok to run this Sunday if I took it easy. Well, I’d already planned on running slower until I got that back up again anyway, so it gave me a great opportunity to run with Julie once again, yay! As an added bonus, Doug was running a recovery run with us. So it was a really nice run in a bit of a drizzle, but nothing to complain about. The 11:00 group takes a one-minute walk break at each mile marker, which was a great way to get back into the swing of things (I wholeheartedly approve). Best of all? No pain while running whatsoever. This gives me hope!

Start time: 3/18/07, 11:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles & 4 miles
Run:Walk Ratio: 6:1 & none
Average pace: 10:31min/mile & 9:18min/mile

One last long run before the half marathon on Saturday… I headed out down the W&OD Trail with Carla, MJ, and Randy for a nice four miles. They were pretty consistent, and thanks to running through their last walk break because of a bathroom stop at mile 4, a good final mile. (10:29, 10:49, 10:45, 9:58)

They were going to run 10 miles, so I turned around at that point and dropped the walk breaks for a slightly faster four miles back. It went ok, but I was running right into an amazingly strong headwind (my hat started lifting off several times!) and I started to feel like I was struggling the further I went. Hopefully it was a matter of the wind (or just not feeling the run) and not a bad omen for the race on Saturday. (9:05, 9:20, 9:25, 9:20)

Fingers crossed!

Start time: 1/27/07, 8:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles & 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1 & 1 minute per mile
Average pace: 10:35min/mile & 8:45min/mile

It’s been a while since I’ve been out there running; a combination of being stuck at work the last couple of times my Tues/Thurs night running group has been out, and just feeling tired and not up for it last Saturday. So, reluctantly, I hauled myself out of bed today. I knew the lack of running would make things hard; I’d at least hit the cycling class each Wednesday but that was it. I headed out with Carla, Randy, Chanty, and two of their pace group friends from 2006. It was a nice four miles out, and Carla and I spent most of it chatting. (I was also amused that Carla and Randy last week were apparently plotting for me to coach them this spring. Ha! I can already hear the snorts of derision from the peanut gallery.)

Once we hit the turn-around point, the rest of them decided to use the bathrooms at Barcroft and I headed back. The original plan was just to run straight through on the way home, but after about half a mile I realized it probably wouldn’t happen; that whole “not running in a while” thing catching up with me. Once I hit that first mile a little too fast (8:11, oops) I knew it would end not so well if I didn’t slow myself down. So from that point on I took a one minute walk break at each mile marker, and that worked well, still averaging an 8:45 for the return trip. It sure did feel nice to get back out there, though. Hopefully this upcoming week I can continue to do so!