You were right Chuck. I did another run tonight. I felt I just had to do it. So I did the Hoh. And I did it fast (again, by my standards).
Run #35 featured a slower pace but my first venture into "hill work." I ran up and down the slight hill by my house twice and it clearly slowed me down a little. It will be interesting to see if I improve by doing it back and forth more and more. Run #36 tomorrow and I think its going to be the longest so far since I started the streak. Somewhere around 9 miles. We'll see how I hold up.....
I ran slow and steady and I thought a lot about the importance of perseverance in running and life. Mainly because I started this one and was ready to quit after 2 minutes. It was 104 degrees, even at 6:45 pm and I could feel the effects immediately. I haven't been for writing much about the runs lately...I guess I'm just happy I'm getting them done. Tomorrow I need to run a bit further because I'm only at 9 miles so far this week, so I have Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to do a total of 11 miles to get to my 20 per week average. If I'm going to run further, one thing is for sure - I'll be doing it around 9 or 10 at night.
It was good to return to the low 90 degree heat. More on this to come.
I woke up to a drizzly day in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. The drizzle turned into a downpour and I pondered whether or not to run outside. I had the option of a fitness center with a treadmill, but couldn't bring myself to give up running outside. By the time I made my decision to head outdoors, the rain subsided, and it was just wet and dirty. I ran behind the hotel through a wooded area and onto a paved road. Once I felt like I had looped around to the highway again, rather than risk being run over, I just turned around and ran back. I don't know whether I'll run in Wisconsin tomorrow or wait until I get back to AZ. One thing is for sure though - I'm not used to this humidity and I'm fully comfortable with using that as the excuse as to why I'm running slow. Now the wedding. Run # 29 tomorrow.
A bright and early Wisconsin morning when I was still on AZ time. So this was in many ways another early morning run for me. Only the humidity was thick and I ran near cornfields. The map shows you I really had no idea what to do, but BIM was with me on my phone and I made sure I did at least 3 miles running around in circles at times. I did a slight hill, and felt pretty good by mile 3, but wasn't about to go any further. Run # 28 tomorrow morning before I put on a tuxedo to be in a wedding. It will take place near a Holiday Inn Express in Black River Falls, Wisconsin and I'm not sure how safe it will be. We'll find out tomorrow morning.
This is a new favorite run. I've entitled it "The Hoh Run" since I run to Hoh St., Ave, Circle whatever it is and back. Tonight I did it a little faster than the other night (when it was originally titled "The Jordan Run," so I'm glad I have improved. Coincidentally, I also saw two ho's out walking on this run, and ran really fast by them each time in a futile attempt to show off. I paid for it both ways by breathing much heavier right after. I'm going for Run #26 in just 6.5 short hours, before I board a plane to Wisconsin. I'll probably update the blog later tomorrow. Thanks for checking in.
I dedicated this run to Michael Jordan because it was my 23rd consecutive run and I used his jersey number to remember the time I started it. I looked at my watch at it was exactly 9:23. Since I literally had only eaten a Cliff bar, some Cheez Its, a piece of string cheese, a Rockstar Energy drink, and some sunflower seeds the entire day, my goal was to merely run for 10 minutes to keep the streak alive, then try to make it back in 9 or less.
Tonight I'm going to watch Hostel 1 and then go see Hostel 2. So I did two separate runs to keep the streak alive. On the way to workout at Lifetime I thought about what Hostel 1 would be like. And then on the way back I thought about Hostel 2. Now I get to watch each. Apparently I'm running 'faster' these days but I haven't really noticed. It's cool to run by the new Dos Gringos though and watch people drinking and smoking though.
The map is a bit deceptive because I stopped at Lifetime in the middle. The first portion was a 13 minute run and the second half was 20. For the first time ever I think I ran while listening to some classical music. I tried to run really slow, and this was the result. I feel more and more ready to go back to 1-2 hour runs and beyond even. I'll probably either do a half or full marathon this fall. I'm for sure going to go P.F. Chang's Rock N Roll in Phoenix in January 2008.
Not to much to say about tonight's performance. I think (but could be hallucinating) that Chuck commented earlier in the day it might be windy, and I did notice that at first. It was cooler than it has been lately - only 82 degrees. I ran an average of under 8.5 minute miles, but I'm still not venturing outside of the 2-3 mile range. Still gearing up for a longer run this weekend to see my overall pace on a 6-10 miler.
I am quite proud of tonight's run. I had eaten very little all day, and decided to do the exact reverse of what I had done the night before. Only this time I set out to run faster and to feel uncomfortable the entire time, all in an effort to complete this in a time faster than the day before. I had a stressful day at work, and I had a strong desire to run until I could no longer focus on the petty work things that were bothering me. The strategy worked and I'm starting to feel improvements. The runs are seeming to become easier and I actually look forward to the runs each day and im trying to increase mileage each week. I am 4.7 % through this streak and I imagine I would not have done half of these runs had I not set out to do this. I'm heading to Wisconsin next week, it should be interesting to see the courses I find there and dealing with what I know will be significant humidity - not to mention annoying mosquitoes..
Two weeks and two days into the streak. It doesn't feel like a streak anymore. I ran angry today, a lot faster than yesterday. I sprinted at times, then slowed down, only to start sprinting again.
A classic run I've done many times before I started the streak. I always thought it was longer than this but it appears its just short of three miles. I was impressed with the difficulty rating BIM gave it of 3.1. That makes this the most difficult run I've done so far on the streak. It was 100 degrees outside and the elevation change was that steep, it was just quite gradual. It appears the "big" hill we went over was about 30 feet up. This run doesn't actually go through the zoo, just the area around it and onto the canal.
