Weekly Update

Monday - rest (ran in Iris Festival Half on Sunday)
Tuesday - 3 miles
Wednesday - 3 miles
Thursday - 3 miles
Friday - rest
Saturday - 12 miles
Sunday - rest

I have tried both a soft and hard reset and can't seem to get my Garmin to turn on unless it is sitting in the cradle.  Although this is very frustrating, it is also kind of fun to just run without an concern about the time...  especially since I'm not actively training for anything right now.  My shuffle headphone broke (again) right after Austin and I haven't gotten around to replacing them either yet so I'm running totally free of gadgets!  I'm sure this won't last long - I'm already getting itchy to figure out how to fix my Garmin and get new headphones... 

Running Group!

I LOVE my Saturday running group!  I've been away from them for about two months now for many good reasons but I got back to running with them this morning and it felt SO good!  Sometimes, there's only two to four of us but this morning pulled in six of us.  We ran a familiar loop - starting from OMSI, along the Springwater Trail, across the Sellwood, up the Waterfront to the horse stables, back to the Steel Bridge and across to finish up along the Eastside Esplanade.  It was beautiful and just fun to catch up with that group of girlfriends.  

My advice to anyone training for a half or longer?  Find a great group of girls to start a Saturday morning running group with - the miles go by much faster, you're way less likely to bag or shorten your run and you have someone to get coffee or breakfast with after:).  

Flooding

The last two weeks, the Willamette river has been the highest I've ever seen it.  On today's run, not only did it deluge on me the entire way, but the path was actually covered in water in three places.  Granted, one of these flooded spots floods so regularly that the path splits with one path going close to the river and one going up above so that the upper path is still open.  But the other two spots have never so much have had the water close to them before...  much less covering the entire path.  Makes you wonder what more rain and snow melt will do to the river... 

Naysayers...

We all have naysayers in our lives, whether it's in the realm of running or other aspects of our lives, there are those people who just don't seem to get it or can only make themselves feel good by making others feel bad (or at least trying to).  When it comes to running, it is fairly common for the people in our lives not to share our passion and, therefore, not really understand it. 

Recently, a friend completed her first half marathon and, when talking about it to co-workers, was meet with an overall apethetic response.  SHE'D JUST RUN HER FIRST HALF MARATHON, people!  This is and should be a huge deal to anyone who has done it! 

In my life, I've been told things like 'how many times can I say good job' and 'I'm not going to support you running your first marathon because that would be boring'.  When it has happened to me, I've been incredibly hurt and taken aback...  and wished I'd known what to say in return.  Both of those happened over two years ago, when running was still a relatively new thing in my life and I really needed support. 

The good news is that I now know that I run only for me and that I don't need anyone else's support to enjoy it.  I've run marathons where I've had a handful of supporters with signs cheering me on and one where I had not one friendly face to look for in the crowd.  I can't recall anyone coming out to support me in a shorter event than a marathon.  Yet I've managed to finish them all because I run for me.  That said, the marathon with the most supporters was my fastest time and most enjoyable marathon experience overall. 

But, the point is, I don't run so that others will be impressed or make me signs or fawn over my accomplishments.  Those things are nice and I do value them very much...  but I can't let them interfere with how I feel about myself and how proud I am of my running 'career'.  For me, this has been a huge lesson in running but also one that I desperately needed to apply to my real life too - and since I have, I've been happier and more fulfilled on both fronts! 

If you've been running for any amount of time, I'm sure you've had a similar experience.  What insights can you provide for how you handled the negative emotions that resulted?  Feel free to share your experiences and thoughts in the comments. 

Scheduling

One of the biggest challenges with running and training can be finding the time for it.  I regularly run at 2:00 and have for the last couple of years.  I eat my lunch around 11 and then take my actual lunch break at 2...  by the time I get back, in only have an hour to an hour and a half of work left before I can go home and shower.  Some days, due to recent co-worker scheduling changes, I have to take the deposit to the bank or write up the deposit.  These things happen right around 2 and they, obviously, take priority over running.  Some days, I have meetings or social events after work - which is fine because I do have a shower available at work.  BUT, taking time to shower cuts even more time out of my work day that I need to make up.  Sometimes that means I cut my run a mile or two short so that I don't have to worry about staying late to make up the time. 

I've toyed with running after I get home from work...  but that's been a miserable failure.  Typically, Ty takes Onya out on the two park 3.5 mile loop after work.  But, when it's a family run, 75% of the time, I get lazy and talk him out of his run too.  I'm not sure why or what happens mentally in that 20 minute drive home but I am far too good at talking myself out of running altogehter. 

I'm generally not a morning person but I'm actually considering moving my daily run to BEFORE work...  I could just take one shower at the office a day.  I could still run my favorite path - the Waterfront - but getting up, throwing on workout clothing, heading to the office and running before work.  I could shower at work and be all ready for the day.  I already keep travel size face wash, shampoo, leave-in conditioner and body lotion in my running bag.  I could just add toner, moisterizer and deodorant.  No biggie.  The biggest challenge will be my unending and overriding morning laziness. 

Today, I'm running at 11 so that I can swing by the sandwich place (that's conveniently located a block-ish away and also just happens to mark exactly 3 miles on my regular loop) on my way back.  I have to take the deposit at 2 plus I have a cheese making class tonight so that just seems to make the most sense.  After I eat, I'll take my shower and be ready to face the afternoon at work:). 

And this too shall pass...

I've been struggling mentally with running since Austin.  I'm getting really good at finding little excuses not to run.  I've gained 4 pounds.  My fitness level has definitely declined.  My pants are fitting a little tighter than I prefer.  So, what's up?  

I don't know, exactly, but I really need to work through it and get back on the right track.  At the same time, I need to remember and realize that marathon training doesn't need to be and maybe shouldn't be an all year kind of thing.  That's a pretty high mileage rate - it takes a lot of time and sucks a lot of energy.  But there does have to be a balance and one shouldn't feel like they're always looking for a excuse to drink wine instead of running!  

Sometimes, it's the fear of the next event that keeps me training.  Lately, I've been doing minimal training but the ONLY reason that I think I've been doing any is that I promised a friend that I'd run her first half marathon with her.  And that was today.  We ran those 13.1 in a solid time and had a great time visiting the whole way.  She ran the last 1.1 perfectly - speeding up just a bit at the 12 mile marker and continuing to slowly accelerate until we saw the 13 mile marker.  At that point, we put the pedal to the metal and sprinted it in!  It was a fast finish and it felt amazing.  

Now that I don't have anything on the calendar, I'm going to have to dig deep and find some other motivator.  In fact, this might be the first time in a very, very long time that I'll be running for nothing, so to speak.  I hope I can get back into my five days a week routine...  I'll keep y'all posted!  

Donations??

Last night was my second time of running with women in recovery at DePaul Treatment Centers.  My first time, we had just 2 runners...  but, last night, we had 6!!  Some were runners, some were run/walkers and some were content just to walk.  While these ladies are trying to change their lives for the better, they do not have much in the way of workout clothing and running shoes.  So, that's why I'm turning to YOU!  If you have any workout clothing, running shoes or even workout DVDs that you'd like to donate, please comment to this post or drop me an email at jessengvall at msn dot com.

Thanks for considering donating to these amazing ladies! 

Weekly Summary

Monday - rest
Tuesday - travel home from Bahamas
Wednesday - 3 miles @ 10:39
Thursday - 3 miles @ 10:10.34
Friday - rest
Saturday - 8.25 miles @ 10:46
Sunday - rest

It's been two months since Austin and I'm just finally starting to get back into a good, regular schedule.  Let's hope I can keep it up this month!  I have two races coming up in May - the Hippie Chick Half and the Iris Festival Half.  The good news is that I have someone else to run each with...  which is going to be a life saver since I'm undertrained, undermotivated and not likely to PR.  I can take them both at a slow, comfortable pace and just hope to get through them:).

Unplanned Hiatus

For the past two and a half weeks, I have been on an unplanned hiatus from running.  First, I was feeling burned out and overwhelmed with trying to be ready for another marathon in less than two months.  Then, I got new Fingers which gave me a small cut on the outside of my right foot.  After wearing them anyway during a rainy Shamrock Run, I ended up with a sizable open wound instead.  This is when I should have considered taking a couple of days off...

But I didn't and noticed that my left knee was starting to act up.  Figuring it was nothing, I kept at it until my left IT band flared - likely from compensating for that open wound.  I've never had an IT band issue in the past but I've read a lot about them in Runner's World and I was immediately sure that this was what was wrong.  Which was fine because I was starting to come down with a cold and could use a rest.  A trip to my LMT confirmed my IT band fears but she assured me that I could run on it but should maybe take a couple more days off to let the inflammation go down a bit.  No problem as my cold was getting way, way worse. 

Fast forward another week with no running, for a total of two weeks, and my cold/cough was finally nearly gone when I woke up at 4 am on Saturday for a five hour stint with the stomach flu.  So, there went my Saturday running plans!  I finally got back out yesterday for a short 3 1/2 miler with Ty and Onya.  It felt great and I love that my calves are slightly sore and tender today! 

Because I am rather determined and stubborn, this is what my body has to do sometimes to tell me that it needs a break.  I'm listening and, obviously, not running Vernonia.  I've also decided that 2011 is not the year that I tackle my first ultra marathon.  Which is okay - I just need more miles to boost my endurance and strength first.  The time will come.  Until then, I have several half marathons coming up to plan/train for!! 

Honestly, the time away from running has been good.  I feel recharged and ready to run again.  It helped me realize that I needed to back off from some of this year's goals and make them longer term because I'm just not up to them.  At first, I was feeling badly about this and I'll admit that it is disappointing.  But sometimes part of the journey is realizing that there are things you can and things you can not do.  As this endless winter finally starts to fade, I have decided that outdoor time BBQ'ing with friends will be a higher priority than spending 10 hours every weekend running.   For now and for me, this is the right choice. 

Shamrock Run

Yesterday, I ran the Shamrock 15k for the second time.  It is a challenging course that starts downtown on the Waterfront and heads north to the Burnside bridge.  After running halfway across the bridge, the course does a turn around sending runners back up Burnside.  After turning left at Broadway, the course continues on a slight uphill through the Portland State campus.  After running through campus, the course crosses I-405, turns right and then left to head up Terwilliger.  This is where it gets steep as Terwilliger heads up to OHSU...  then there's a slight reprieve before heading uphill again to the Chart House.  From there, there are a couple more downhill, uphill combos and then the course turns left again to head down the sweet, sweet downhill of Barbur all the way back downtown to the finish line. 

Although it is technically a 15k or 9.3 mile race, it only feels like you're running 5.75 miles because everything past that is a nice, steady, gentle downhill where you can really put it in cruise control and still log some fast miles.  Last year, I averaged 10:21 pace because I was gearing up for Eugene and had run an 18 miler on Friday night.  This year, I'd done a 14 miler on Friday morning but I still knew I'd shatter last year's pace... and I was right.  I clocked in with a 9:46 pace this year. 

Here are my splits according to the good old Garmin:
Mile 1 - 9:49
Mile 2 - 10:12
Mile 3 - 10:13
Mile 4 - 10:05
Mile 5 - 9:59
Mile 6 - 9:13
Mile 7 - 10:02
Mile 8 - 8:37
Mile 9 - 8:34
Mile 9.5 - 6:58 pace

So, according to my Garmin, I actually hit a 9:30 pace.  I'm not sure how the official timing and my Garmin could be off by :16 per mile but who cares.  I'm happy with my time especially considering that I'm only three weeks off of Austin and not feeling quite 100% recovered yet.