Start time: 7/24/10, 6:00am
Location: Washington DC
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 10:31min/mile
Total Miles For July: 46 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 378 miles

Sole goal today was survival.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3904861

Start time: 6/26/10, 6:05am
Location: North Arlington, Mt Vernon Trail
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 10:14min/mile
Total Miles For June: 43 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 323 miles

Ran 8 with the group this morning — now dashing out the door so will update this later but if I didn’t write it down now I’d forget. 🙂

Start time: 5/29/10, 7:00am
Location: Downtown DC
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 9:52min/mile
Total Miles For May: 41 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 280 miles

After my race on Sunday, I ended up taking Monday through Friday off. It wasn’t my plan to do so—I figured just a couple of days—but a slightly sore knee and other things going on meant that it just didn’t come back together. Today was an 8-miler with the group, which worked out well as always. We were a little variable in spots (oops) but on the whole it was a nice time. Good way to start the morning.

Afterwards, I stopped by the local running store and ordered a new pair of shoes (I can feel that these are on their last legs, and sure enough they’re around the 375 mile mark, plus added abuse from the tri and Disney), and also got a new bicycle seat to prevent some soreness problems I had at the tri. Phew.

(8:47, 9:57, 10:18, 9:03, 11:02, 10:19, 9:29, 9:58)

Start time: 5/8/10, 7:15am
Location: Rock Creek Park
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 10:37min/mile
Total Miles For May: 8 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 247 miles

Took a little unexpected time off; been having some slight stiffness in one of my calves so I want to make sure I don’t make it any worse. Ran 8 with the group today and no one was feeling it and then some. Thick humidity this morning signalling a storm that never actually showed up, and we felt like we were swimming rather than running. Just a big ol “eh” from everyone this morning, and I was ok with that.

Start time: 3/11/10, 7:15am
Location: Wilson Boulevard, Bluemont Junction Trail, W&OD Trail, Washington Boulevard
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 8:58min/mile
Total Miles For March: 38 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 157 miles

It’s supposed to rain a lot on Saturday, so I decided discretion was the better part of valor and ran the 8-mile loop I came up with back in December. It’s funny, I ran it twice in December and then on New Year’s Day, but since then this route has been neglected. (Partially due to the route being clogged with snow for quite a while, partially for not running 8 miles on my own.) It meant I’d forgotten where the hills were, if nothing else.

Now, my watch says I ran this in 1:11:48. But here’s the thing. If it looks like I’m going to be stuck at an intersection waiting to cross for more than two or three seconds, I usually stop the watch, then start it again once I’m good. I am slightly not-convinced that I started it back up once. I probably did do it at this speed, which actually is just a fraction different than two of the three other times I ran it. But I also was seriously huffing and puffing around the midpoint when the hills began to show up in full strength, and twice I walked for about 10 seconds to catch my breath and rally for the rest of the hill. So… that was my time. Allegedly.

(On the bright side, I did look at my watch with about a mile and a half to go and remembered that time stamp, so I measured out that part of the course and checked the pace for that final portion and it was a 9:06. I know I was going much faster early on (since I do know the first two mile markers on this course) so signs actually do point to me having gotten this right.)

I also learned a very important lesson, if you think you need to use the bathroom one final time as you’re walking across the parking lot to get started, just go back inside. At least there’s a gas station not too far down the route that came to the rescue.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3370757

Start time: 1/16/10, 8:00am
Location: Downtown DC
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 10:28min/mile
Total Miles For January: 58 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 58 miles

First day of exercise after the Disney races last weekend. My group from last year was running an 8-miler, so I decided to go head out with them. It was nice to do so; Ben, John, Stephanie, and Steve were all there and we just headed out at an easy pace, chatting as we did so. (I’ve noticed that if Jim and Michael aren’t there, it’s slightly more laid back in terms of pace. Sometimes I want a faster pace, but today easing back in is just what the doctor ordered.) Time to start shedding my November/December pounds!

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3415259

Start time: 1/1/10, 4:30pm
Location: Wilson Boulevard, Bluemont Junction Trail, W&OD Trail, Washington Boulevard
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 9:34min/mile
Total Miles For January: 8 miles
Total Miles For 2010: 8 miles

Went out for an 8-miler with Charlie today, but we were both dragging—and that’s despite not partying it up or drinking on New Year’s Eve. Apparently we have both transformed into sloths. But we dragged ourselves through the course as best we could, and while it was a little bit slower than how I normally run it, I did it and I’m considering that a victory of sorts.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3370757

Start time: 12/27/09, 1:00pm
Location: Wilson Boulevard, Bluemont Junction Trail, W&OD Trail, Washington Boulevard
Distance: 8 miles
Average pace: 9:02min/mile
Total Miles For December: 85 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 863 miles

I headed out for another run on my new 8-mile loop, only this time I didn’t get lost. Hurrah!

There’s definitely still snow out there, but for the most part it’s not too bad. Like yesterday, hitting intersections were the worst, both on Wilson Boulevard and especially on Washington Boulevard; big piles of snow on occasion that just haven’t melted yet. There were a couple of points on Washington where I also had to step onto the road and run for half a block or so, where shade had kept any of the snow from really melting on the sidewalk. Fortunately it’s a pretty low-traffic kind of day.

On both the Bluemont Junction Trail and the W&OD Trail, it was clear that someone from Arlington County had plowed those stretches of trail. In-between where the two passes of the shovel/plow/whatever had hit, there was a small ridge of snow that snaked along the trail, mostly in the center but occasionally weaving back and forth along the pavement. It looked almost like a spine, poking up out of the asphalt and revealing itself, and it was a nice visual break from an otherwise pretty uneventful run.

Definitely need to lose some Christmas poundage, though. Oof!

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3370757

Start time: 12/18/09, 7:20am
Location: North Arlington
Distance: 8.3 miles
Average pace: 9:00min/mile
Total Miles For December: 68 miles
Total Miles For 2009: 846 miles

Originally I was going to run two 8-milers this weekend, but with the prediction of 953 inches of snow starting Friday night, I decided the smarter move would be to run 8 miles this morning and then play it by ear on the weekend. I mapped out a new route yesterday, bundled up heavily this morning, and headed out for the run. Three things about this morning’s run:

1) I’d forgotten how hilly Washington Boulevard is. Heck, aside from the Bluemont Junction Trail, it was a lot of uphill running today.
2) I listened to the first of Paul Magrs’s five “Doctor Who: Hornets’ Nest” audios while running, which made me snicker every time the name “Percy Noggins” was used. I have found my new pen name.
3) It also helps if you look at the map before you leave, because otherwise you will accidentally turn on Ohio Drive instead of Washington Boulevard, and run an extra three tenths of a mile in some strange neighborhood while trying to find an exit that didn’t involve backtracking.

The funny thing was in the last part of the run, every block in Clarendon I hit my lap timer because I figured one of those intersections was the real 8 mile point. Once I got home and looked on a map, I found out that I’d hit 8 miles and 8.3 miles at the following times:

8.0 miles: 1:12:00, a 9:00min/mile average
8.3 miles: 1:14:49, a 9:00min/mile average

At least I’m consistent! Also, I’ve decided my planned route looks sort of like a country. Maybe The Gambia?

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3370757 (planned)
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3371442 (actual)