Start time: 2/12/11, 8:00am
Location: Mount Vernon Trail, West Potomac Park, Rosslyn
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 9:37min/mile
Total Miles For February: 19 miles
Total Miles For 2011: 70 miles

Ok, so since Monday’s run, I got a bunch of workouts in. Tuesday was an hour of rowing and elliptical, Wednesday was spinning class, Friday was a mile of lap swimming. Of course, the one I missed was Thursday’s run (due to work). Ah well.

Anyway, it was just me, Jim, and Michael today, so we started from their house in Rosslyn, took Custis Trail to Mount Vernon Trail, and then ran over the 14th Street Bridge and up West Potomac Park until we got to Memorial Bridge. Then it was back over the bridge, down onto the Mount Vernon Trail, and back home.

First seven miles were fine, but I started feeling like crap during that seventh one and ended up letting them pull off ahead while I slowed down a bit. Even with the extra walk breaks I was only about a minute slower than before, so I’ll take that as a mild victory, at least.

(9:30, 9:30, 9:25, 9:27, 9:22, 9:35, 9:29, 10:36)

Start time: 1/29/11, 7:30am
Location: National Mall
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 10:52min/mile
Total Miles For January: 51 miles
Total Miles For 2011: 51 miles

Yeesh, what a week. Missed my running on Tuesday due to stomach issues, Wednesday spin class due to snow cancellation, Thursday & Friday due to not feeling well. A week of “hmph” in regards to all that.

Fortunately I got out this morning and ran 2 miles with Steve, then we came back and pcked up Ben, Mark, and Stephen for another six with them. It was some slow moving at times due to ice hazards and some people not feeling too up to the run, but it was a nice time overall. And it felt good to just get out there for a bit. (But oh, the difference in the splits between last Saturday and this Saturday.)

Current goal is to try and work hard on this upcoming Tuesday and Thursday runs. It’ll probably have to be at the gym’s indoor track, alas, but we shall see.

(9:45, 9:58, 10:34, 11:18, 12:01, 11:27, 11:02, 10:57)

Start time: 1/8/11, 8:40am
Location: National Mall area
Distance: 8.48 miles
Average pace: 10:17min/mile
Total Miles For January: 16 miles
Total Miles For 2011: 16 miles

Well, the plan was to run during the week… except Tuesday morning I came down with a cold and ended up leaving work early on Tuesday and staying home on Wednesday sick as well. Aside from my Monday workout I ended up grounded for the week, but yesterday I decided I was feeling well enough to give a run a whirl. Met Steve for 2 miles, then picked up John and Ben for another 6. It snowed a little bit this morning, but nothing too bad; just enough to have to be careful. (It started around 8am, began letting up right as Steve and I began at 8:40, and by 9am it was gone.) Ended up running a little extra due to some detours (including a requested bathroom break) and it’s all good.

Determined to get out there this upcoming week though and get back on schedule!

(9:31, 10:14, 9:52, 10:14, 10:34, 11:03, 10:32, 10:25, 4:47)

Start time: 1/2/11, 8:40am
Location: National Mall area
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 9:58min/mile
Total Miles For January: 8 miles
Total Miles For 2011: 8 miles

It was a little drizzly at first this morning, but it quickly stopped for a pleasant run with the gang. Did the first two by myself, then swung around and picked up Jim, Michael, Ben, and Steve for another 6. (Not entirely sure what happened with the 6th mile, although I suspect it was us losing track of time on the walk break.) Good way to start the morning.

(9:16, 9:21, 9:50, 9:56, 10:05, 10:51, 10:01, 10:17)

Start time: 12/18/10, 7:40am
Location: National Mall, Downtown DC
Distance: ~8.5 miles
Average pace: 10:11min/mile
Total Miles For December: 33 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 618 miles

Started with John again for the first two miles, then we swung back around and picked up Ben and Bill for the rest of the route. Well, what was supposed to be the rest of the route, except with some uncleared sidewalks ahead we veered off Constitution for a while and ran around some parts of downtown and near Federal buildings. Ben had a 10:30 appt so at one point we swung back near the car and he was able to grab his phone and wallet, with the plan to be that we’d then end the run up at the Starbucks instead of near the cars and we could save the extra time from walking there.

Well, except we swung out too far towards the end, and we finished the run not even remotely close to the Starbucks. For reasons unknown to me I turned the GPS off for a while as we continued to jog towards the Starbucks, then finally turned it back on. My best guess is that we ran about an extra half mile or so, but who knows? No bigs. Just a little extra burn, which was nice.

(9:44, 9:50, 9:36, 10:34, 10:36, 10:24, 10:24, 10:13)

Start time: 12/11/10, 7:40am
Location: National Mall
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 10:19min/mile
Total Miles For December: 21 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 606 miles

This morning’s run was a game of addition, really. At 7:40, John and I went and ran two miles together, finishing back where we started to then pick up the rest of the group. Stephanie and Rich were stuck in traffic, so we told them the route and headed back out with Ben and Mark in tow. Around mile 5 we picked up Stephanie and Rich (who crossed over to the second half of the route and caught us that way, so they only missed about a mile) and finished up the run with 6 people. Too funny.

Having run a few miles together with just John these last two weeks, it’s been nice to find that when it’s just us we definitely speed up a bit (just like when it’s just me and Dave). Good to know! John whipped my butt at the Veteran’s Day 10K so getting him to push me is a good thing.

(9:24, 9:44, 9:49, 10:38, 11:06, 10:37, 10:50, 10:20)

Start time: 10/30/10, 8:00am
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 9:06min/mile
Total Miles For October: 45 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 562 miles

Missed Thursday’s run due to a variety of reasons, but mostly what felt like a pulled muscle. Ah well.

With MCM on Sunday, plus the rally on Saturday, no group run this weekend, but at the last minute I decided to knock out a run. Originally it was going to be 8 miles. Then I decided no no, it would just be 5. Then I took a slight wrong turn (headed back too soon), decided that I should go a different way to make up the mileage and maybe push it up to 6 miles, and was feeling well and ended up running 8 after all. That said, mile 8 was slightly brutal. Definitely ran out of gas there and could’ve used a gel or something a few miles earlier to get me to the end. Ah well! I’m still happy with it overall.

(8:47, 9:04, 8:49, 9:06, 9:28, 8:38, 8:55, 9:59)

Start time: 10/2/10, 8:00am
Location: National Mall
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 10:19min/mile
Total Miles For October: 8 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 525 miles

Ended up missing Thursday’s run due to rain rain and more rain… fortunately it stopped for our run on Saturday (although as I type it is now back). It was just me, Ben, and Dave on Saturday. Ben was just going back up to 8 miles for the first time in about half a year after his injury, and Dave hadn’t run since our 12-miler two weeks ago. Oops! It was nice to see them both and spend some good time chatting. They were both definitely feeling it in the second half though, although I felt just fine.

Going to be out of town and probably not running this weekend so I need to make sure to get my running in during the week even if the weather is crappy… fingers crossed!

(9:28, 10:20, 10:32, 10:15, 10:24, 10:50, 10:30, 10:09)

Start time: 8/21/10, 6:00am
Location: National Mall
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 10:31min/mile
Total Miles For August: 47 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 439 miles

I’m not going to lie: that was an unsatisfying run.

The morning seemed to be a perfect storm of bad; John’s chest was bothering him, Bill was not feeling great, and the humidity was so thick you could write your name in it. Just about the only th ing we didn’t have was temperatures heading towards triple digits, and for that I count my lucky stars. It probably didn’t help matters any that we didn’t have Jim, Michael, or Stephanie with us, all of whom are good about getting us going again after the minute walk break. But even then it didn’t go great; John’s chest was bugging him enough that we ended up walking for almost a quarter mile at the start of mile 5, and in general it was a slow and pokey run. I don’t begrudge anyone in the group at all—we all have really bad runs, and I’ve brought my fair share to the group and they’ve been nothing but accomodating when it happens—but this run wass just unpleasant.

It probably didn’t help matters that towards the end I started feeling uncomfortable because I was so sweaty and my shirt was just hanging off of me. I think if I’d been feeling better myself, it might not have been so bad, but I was just desperate for the run to end and to get back to the car more than anything else. So instead I slogged through with the group until we got to the last mile, at which point I freely admit I picked up the pace a bit. It wasn’t to be mean or try to ditch anyone, but when you’re at the final mile you can do whatever you want because the finish is in sight. I actually didn’t realize at first that I’d completely lost the guys until it was time to cross over 15th Street; Steve was actually not far behind me, which was nice. But I really just wanted to get back to my car, change my shirt, and have it all be over. That’s all I ended up having on my mind. And it did feel good to kick it out a bit and just start speeding up.

Anyway, a long story to explain why an 8-miler was unpleasant, and we had some pretty bizarre splits going on in there.

(10:07, 10:22, 11:01, 10:41, 11:55, 10:28, 10:55, 8:35)