Monthly Archives: March 2003

Running: 5 miles

05mi

Start time: 3/22/03, 9:30am
Location: W&OD Trail
Activity: Running
Distance: 5 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 3:2
Average pace: 14:30min/mile (sorta)

I met up with the girls (Julie, Kimberly, Lisa, Martha) this morning for a 5-mile spin, which worked out pretty well for some, not so well for others. Lisa’s foot kept cramping up, and Martha might be coming down with a cold—I felt really bad for them! We ended up walking a lot of mile 4 to see if that would help, but finally they told us to go on ahead and they were going to just walk the rest in, so Kimberly and Julie and I cruised through the last mile at a nice clip. There was a guy out by a bloodbank who whenever we ran by would encourage people to donate blood. “It’s just a pint!” he’d cry out. I’m still peeved at the American Red Cross’s blood donation policies (I’m not allowed to unless I lie) but I liked him a great deal. If it wasn’t for the fact that by the time I’d have gotten home and showered they would be closed, I might have gone back over and donated. Ah well.

Running: 10K (6.2 miles)

10k, pr, race

Start time: 3/15/03, 9:30am

Location: Downtown Washington DC

Activity: Running

Distance: 10K (6.2 miles)

Run:Walk ratio: 3:2

Finishing time: 1:24:18

Average pace: 13:35min/mile

In my only nod to Monday’s holiday, I ran in the St. Patrick’s Day 10K earlier this morning, along with Julie, Martha, and Kimberly. (And about 4000 other people.) It was a lot of fun—none of us had ever run a race that was under 26.2 miles before!—and for very little preparations, we did quite well. Our speed was good (for us at any rate; we were totally at the back of the crowd with all those super-fast runners), and we were really happy with our finishing time (1:24:18). Three not-so-good things, though:

  1. We never were able to find Lisa, who we were also supposed to run with (and it was her idea, no less); we aren’t sure if she didn’t make it or somehow managed to elude us the entire time.
  2. There were supposed to be water stops at miles 2 and 4. Instead, the water stops were at miles 4 and 4.75. Yeesh.
  3. About 200 feet from the finish line, some asshole in his car decided that he had to get across the street immediately and nearly ran us over. We yelled at him to stop (I honestly don’t think he would have otherwise) and then he had the nerve to roll down his window and tell us to calm down. Gah! To top it off, there was a DC police officer not ten feet away who didn’t do a thing. (I would have appreciated him to at least tell the guy to be careful.) Glad to see he’s doing his job.

Oh well. We still had a blast and we’re all the more excited now for the Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon at the end of August!

Running: 4 miles

04mi

Start time: 3/8/03, 10:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Activity: Running
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 3:2
Average pace: 14:30min/mile

We had an AIDS Marathon Reunion Run this morning—a chance for everyone to get back together. Almost no one from my pace group showed up, unfortunately; Madelyn wasn’t feeling well, Debbie had anniversary plans, and the others were simply MIA. Fortunately, Martha, Kimberly, and Lisa were there and we ran with them (and a few others) and afterwards went out for breakfast. It was a great run, between warm weather and a generally good pace. Even better, it turns out that Martha and Kimberly are signed up for the Rock ‘n Roll 1/2 Marathon (hurrah!) and Lisa’s contemplating it (hurrah!), so we’re going to train together.

Oh, and it turns out there’s a 10K downtown next week that we will probably all do. Should be fun!

Running: 1.5 miles

01mi

Start time: 3/2/03, 7:30pm
Location: Treadmill
Activity: Running
Distance: 1.5 miles?
Run:Walk ratio: 3:2
Average pace: 14:30min/mile

Well, February was a disaster. Snow, snow, more snow, and still more snow helped a laziness that extended through an entire month. Yeesh. So today I promised myself that I’d start up again. By the time I’d gotten everything done that I needed to during the day, though, it was already getting cooler, so I figured I’d use my parents’s treadmill.

Ugh.

I hate the treadmill under the best of circumstances, but this was an absolute nightmare. A mile into the run (I’d planned on doing three), my lower back started hurting. And hurting. And hurting. Half a mile of that was all I could take; it wasn’t going away and all enjoyment had gone out of the proverbial window. I’m not proud of calling it quits, but I think it was the right thing to do.

It’s going to be an uphill battle to get back to where I was, though, that’s for certain.