The Gold Run (Run 50)

Saturday was another team run--this time at Mirabeau in the Valley (to hop on the Centennial Trail)--so it was much, much more flat than last week's team run.* I ran with Heather Butner again, and I must say that although I am certainly stepping up to keep pace with her (she is probably around 8 inches taller than I am), it's really nice to go out for a long run and have someone to talk to and work through the miles. A 60-minute training run* is considerably faster (in terms of the feeling of time passing) when you are having a conversation. Granted, I find myself out of breath and asking Heather very open-ended question so that she has to do more of the talking, but I am contributing.

It's really encouraging to be out at the team runs, particularly when Curtis and Kendra Edlin are out practicing with us. Curtis is in a 5-year remission from Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (after five months of chemo), and he is currently being treated for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Curtis and is wife Kendra are out training with us with Team in Training--and fundraising--even though Curtis is currently being treated for Leukemia. It's pretty amazing to see someone faced with such a serious battle who is out training and fundraising to help himself and others. It certainly makes your feet keep moving once you hit that 6th or 7th mile.

Hill Repeats (Run 47)

Tuesdays are currently hill runs on my training schedule. This week, instead of running a hilly course, I ran hill repeats on the Centennial Trail. Since the trail is right across the street from my office, I headed west on the trail (on the south side of the river) to the bridge over Hamilton Street. From my office to the Hamilton bridge it's just over 1.5 miles, so a good warm-up before I tackled the actual hill.

Once I hit the hill, I was in L.T mode (LaDanian Tomlinson not Lawrence Taylor).* I had seen a few interviews with L.T. over the past few years in which he talked about running the sandy hills behind his home to condition himself for running routes. I know that Tiki Barber, pre-retirement, did the same thing in the Jersey hills. So, my hill wasn't sand, but I am preparing to run a half-marathon, not preparing to run a route while men who are 6'5" and 300lbs. try to pummel me into the earth. With thoughts of L.T. in my mind, I sprinted up one side of the hill and walked down the other, for six repeats. I was out of breath by the time I reached the hill's peak on each sprint, but I felt so strong and accomplished.

I ran the rest of the way back to my office (on the north side of the river) with tired legs and a positive outlook.

*I am fairly certain the original L.T. (Lawrence Taylor) "trained" by cutting back on the amount of cocaine and the number of "escorts" he consumed. I am pretty sure that is not the best training method for me to follow, even though it clearly worked from him.

All I Needed Was a Little Ego Boost (End of Week 9)

Week 9 was an up and down of emotion and ability, which started off with my bad run that ended Week 8.* Week 9 ended with our long team run (Run 45) at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning on the Centennial Trail by SFCC (very, very hilly). I ended up running the first 30 minutes of my supposed-to-be 60** minute run with a girl that I had gone to high school with, Heather Butner, formerly Heather Silvey. Heather was always a star athlete and sprinter in both high school and college. There was no way I could ever have kept pace with her in high school. She and I knew of each other, but never really knew one another during that time. She was always very friendly, and I knew she was one hell of a runner.

So, Saturday morning, bright and early, I find myself running with--and keeping up with--Heather on a very hilly course, very early in the morning on Saturday.*** Now, I understand that sprinting and distance running are two very different creatures (Heather even commented as much), but for me to keep pace with someone I'd always considered a strong, fast runner really changed my bad-attitude that had dominated the end of Week 8 through a good part of week 9. Thanks, Heather!

In addition to be able to keep pace with a good runner, I get a little ego boost every team practice by finishing first. This is not because I am the fastest (far from it--I think that Aileen Laughlin, my friend Meg's little sis may be the fastest out there--and the fastest woman at the least), but because I run with the people who are completing a full marathon. They are running almost twice the distance that I am during our long runs to prepare themselves for the twice-as-long race in October (26.2 miles v. 13.1 miles). During practice we all run out in the same direction and turn around based on what our race distance is (half or full marathon) and what our pace is (over or under the 12-minute-mile mark). The half-marathoners running under a 12-minute-mile (that would be me, and...me) have to run for the least amount of time during out team runs.

So, I get to turn around sooner. Now, I know that many of my team members and coaches realize that I am a "halfer," but I can tell by the looks on some of my teammates faces (mostly the walkers) that not everyone realizes this. The coaches always give us a max turn around point for the runs, as in, even if your reach mile marker x before you are supposed to turn around (based on your time limits), turn around anyway (and add distance to the other end point of your run). I think some of these other teammates assume that I have reached the max turn around point at mile x, and that I have turned around to head back--very quickly. Sometimes I'll say some encouraging words to those teammates that I am passing in the opposite direction and let them know that I am a "halfer," but sometimes I just let them think that this short, 30-year-old girl who claims to be a "new runner" is just a natural.

*See my earlier posting, "Running Just Might be a Pearl Izumi Ad."

** The trail is a bit confusing by SFCC, so on my way back to the parking lot via the trail, I missed a turn and ended up all the way on the other side of SFCC. The team coaches and mentors looked at me strangely as I came running from the other side of the lot to the water station at the end of my run. This confusion added another 10+ minutes and probably close to 1.5 miles to my run.

*** I realize that "very early" is not 6:30 a.m. for many people, but I am NOT a morning person.

Lazy Sundays...(Run #16)

Sunday evening I completed run 16. I have somewhere around 100 runs to go before the big day (October 19). Sundays are easy, "recovery run" days. The runs are around a half-hour, and they are designed to help my muscles recover from the long runs on Saturdays.

I ran with Chad on the Centennial Trail from the fountain downtown out east past Gonzaga and back. It was a nice pace, but I had to stop briefly by WSU-Spokane. There was some kind of landscaping work going on and the smell of gasoline and chemicals made me lightheaded.

I have completed three weeks of training, and I am starting to notice small advances in my pace, endurance, and overall fitness. Being a new runner, it's motivating to see the changes. However, I am still stuck in that competitive mode, and I either work harder than I should or I get a bit disappointed in myself and my performance because I think I should be better.

However, I am starting to fall for running. I subscribe to Runner's World magazine, and I spend time on runnersworld.com every other day or so. I think if I learn more about running, I will be able to use that knowledge to improve.