As readers, you might get bored of how ecstatic I am after running. It’s not always that way, but recently, I have been truly euphoric after each running workout.

Why? Because I love to move my body, to be in control of how my feet touch the ground, where my eyes lead me, how my breath rate increases, how my heart pumps blood so loyally to my extremities.

I wish there was a way I could shout from the rooftops that “There is a way to move pain-free, injury-free and joyfully. Step right this way, and I’ll show you how!”

This morning I headed out around 7am with Oliver to do our normal park loop, about 30 minutes. Before we left, I did a full course of Body Looseners and really paid attention to my core, keeping it engaged the whole time I did the Looseners. I made a decision before I left to go as slowly as I needed to in order to feel GREAT at the end of my run, like I hadn’t even gone running at all.

And I succeeded! While I was running, I was just focusing on staying calm, breathing, and smiling. I let Oliver off the leash and he was absolutely hysterical, causing me to laugh, as he tore around the frosted grass and splashed in shallow frozen water puddles.

I actually didn’t focus on one particular thing, but just let my body be happy, let it move freely and relaxed. I don’t quite know how to explain how I felt; I’ve never felt that way before when running. It was incredible. I really almost felt like I wasn’t running at all. I simply Body Sensed being at peace.

Now I know what people mean when the write to Danny and Katherine about their success with running and say, “I ran for an hour and couldn’t figure out when I was going to get tired! I didn’t feel like I was doing anything at all!”

There really is something to be said about joyful movement. There’s a fine line between feeling like you’re doing nothing and doing nothing; I think that fine line is joy.

Certainly, there are days that are easier than others. Today, I had planned to run 10 miles, but it appears from the map that I cut it a little short. About 9.69 miles in 1:45. Not great, but a little better than last week, I think.

This route is all uphill and then all downhill. I’ve done it in the past, and ran it at lunch (long lunch!) sometime last winter. I remember it going a bit better than today.

The going was steep at the beginning, and so I just took it very easy, really let my legs just get warmed up with small steps. I used my arms as much as possible and really tried to keep my core engaged for the whole run. My heart was pumpin’ pretty good, but I felt really pretty good. I practiced focusing my y’chi and it is amazing how it just simply pulls you in. I felt good until about mile 5.5, when the steady downhill just started to do a number on my knees. I tried to really make my lower legs move in circles, and landed on my heels a bit more on the steeper parts. I think the real problem is the lack of total mileage I have put on my legs in between my long sets of running. The circular heels helped for a little while, but eventually I just had to slow way down and take it easy.

The last part of the route is flat, and I felt better during that part. I was able to really stretch my legs out and right now, my knees don’t hurt too much. I did sit most of the day after my run on the back of a motorcycle, so I got a little stiff, but the sharp pain I felt before in my right knee is no where to be found!

I suppose I am not the best model right now for how to train for a 1/2 marathon! I will say that as much as I do love to run, I love other things (hobbies) as well. Things around the office have been extraordinarily busy and I have been poor at managing my time to get out the door for mid-week runs. I feel very confident about my abilities as a runner now, though signing up for Seattle was probably not the smartest thing I have ever done. I am excited about it anyway, and will have a great time at the expo and with all the fellow ChiRunners out there.

Really looking forward to hearing from those of you who are going to be there. You’ll come by the booth, right?

Imagine that! I went running again in the rain today, again.

Seriously, for almost a month, we’ve been having these crazy days of rain. I think the longest it’s gone without raining here lately has been maybe three days. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining, but literally every time I plan to run, I prepare to go running in the rain!

Took a 9-miler today and did it a little slower than my ususal 10″. I ran this route in Biltmore Forest. It’s a pretty hilly route, and actually matches portions of the Seattle course pretty well in terms of elevation gain.

The first 5.5 miles rocked, and then I hit a wall. Before I hit my wall, my running form felt good, I wasn’t listening to music, and I had a big smile on my face. After the first downhill, my knee started to talk to me a little bit, which I knew to be because my stride was coming too far in front of me. On the next uphill, my knee pain went away immediately. Good lesson for uphills allowing my form to be more or less perfect (or as perfect as it’s going to get!). It’s a lot of uphill for the first half of the run and then a fair amount of downhill at the end.

The last 1.5 miles were okay, but I attribute it to downhills and water (I stashed a water bottle at mile 6).

I imagined writing my blog about my running experience, stating that it was absolutely blissful and amazing and I was so proud of myself… and I think I can do that with about 85% certainty right now, but I was honestly irritated with my (slower) time and sluggish finish.

When I was feeling good, my brain and ChiRunning focuses were all over the place, but mainly concentrated on

• tracking (big toe and pinky toe coming ‘off’ the ground at the same time)
• using my arms appropriately, depending on terrain
• barely using my legs on the uphill
• trying to get my pelvis to rotate on the downhills
• trying to breathe as calmly as possible, but without restriction

It’s so beautiful in Biltmore Forest that it’s hard to complain at all. The rain made the entire neighborhood look like a rain forest, and that was pretty special.

I would say over all, it was a good run. I stretched pretty well when I got home, and also did about a 5 minute leg drain, but I have a feeling I’m going to be a bit sore tomorrow. My knee hasn’t started any painful motions yet (last week by this time it had), so I think that’s a great sign.

I feel like everytime I write a new post, it’s about running in the rain.

So, guess what? I did my LSD run in the rain today… I ran this route, about 7.5 miles. Wasn’t sure when I left to go running this morning how I was going to do. Surprised myself with it, and am glad to say that it went well.

It’s a hilly route, and the hills are pretty steep. As I was running, I was trying to imagine any knee pain that might come about, and really thought about not letting my foot land in front of my hip. I was really working the uphills with my arms, trying to imagine that my legs were very small and not requiring lots of oxygen. When I got to the top of the hills, I kept running, kept leaning: it’s a great little trick to KEEP leaning into the hill as you crest them as you are running. Danny taught me that when we ran together months ago, and I can’t explain it, but it really works to keep your momentum going after finishing an uphill running section of a route.

I didn’t take my watch with me today because I knew the route was about 7 miles and wasn’t concerned with what time it took, I just wanted to make sure that I got the distance running in for the week. Starting last week with 6 miles, each weekend LSD from now until the taper week will be one mile longer than the previous.

Last week was supposed to be 6 miles, but I couldn’t hack it and only ran 5… then this week I managed to run 7.5, and next Sunday is 8 miles. We’ll see how that goes.

I discovered something today: I get bored on flats. Yep, bored. My parents always told me when I was young that “anyone who is bored is boring” so I have always avoided using that term, but I couldn’t think of anything else.

I guess I could play with my Gears more, but on an LSD run, I just want to get through it safely and with enough energy at the end to make it home without walking. I suppose music might make flats are more tolerable… but thankfully the Seattle race is pretty darn hilly. Looking forward to it!

Hope you all are doing well and that your spring training is going well.

so, I ran on Saturday, but it’s taken me 48+ hours to get around to it…. sorry for those of you who are breathlessly waiting for my next entry. ha!

Brynn and I ran together… (just struck me that we should have taken a picture at the end of our run!) we were a good pair: she’s been ‘off’ for the last two weeks of long runs because of cruddy nose/throat issues and I have been more or less lazy, so it was good to have the motivation to run with someone else.

the weather was beautiful and we met at Bent Creek about 12, so it was warm enough to not feel to terribly cold. I wore a lot of clothes, but lately my heart rate hasn’t been skyrocketing so I haven’t been shedding layers as a result. Actually, I didn’t even pull the gloves off for the better part of an hour!

Anyway, the stats are: 1 hr 59 minutes, 9.7 miles. We walked almost 2 miles at the end, to let the lactic acid keep moving and cool down. It was a great thing to do. The route we ran we a bit different than what I have done before, and required that both of us have different maps to decipher where we had ended up… It was fun! We stopped a few times to get food/munchies from our coats/shed coats/look at the maps, so we weren’t actually running the whole time and then we walked a little bit after each stop just to get moving a little bit more, but even with the stops and with the terrain which was probably close to 60% flat, 40% trail hills, we did darn good.

I don’t have any complaints about my body during the run EXCEPT that my right hip muscle is starting to talk to me again. I can’t figure out why it started to ‘flare’ up again, but I think it might be the cold and some pretty shoddy stretching skills. it hasn’t bothered me too much on Sunday or today, which is a good sign, but I’d like to just do away with my lame leg.

On Saturday night, after a good leg drain and mini stretches and a hot shower, my right leg was achy achy achy… almost like growing pains. I think probably from running but I am not sure why, but it could be because my left occipital ‘tendon’ was tight all day Friday and Saturday morning, tender and sensitive, so that may have been why: I was compensating for it somehow. That’s was Brynn’s diagnosis, and I wouldn’t disagree with her on that.

Anyway, the run was a definite 10. The weather was amazing, the trails were beautiful, there weren’t a ton of people, I enjoyed running with Brynn and exploring some new territory. It was really great.

well, i can positively say that mapping/determining my running route the night before a run is a very good idea, especially when it’s 35 degrees F in the morning and the last thing anyone would want to do is go out and run…

today i did two loops out at Bent Creek. it was just under 11 miles, and I did the whole thing in 1 hr 50 minutes. Not a really fast time, but not exactly slow either… that was about 10 minute miles: the first loop was slower than the second.

because it was so cold this am, i really bundled up, but expected to loop by the car at the halfway mark so that I could discard some layers… wore full spandex pants, warm socks, thermal long sleeve, fleece gloves & earwarmer and a light windbreaker (that breaks into a vest, it’s great, you should get one… had it sitting around from my crazy cycling days)…

anyway, in the pockets i stuffed kleenex, chapstick and a coffee flavored hammer gel. i figured that for the longest run of my life i’d probably want some energy.

before i left the house, i had two spoonfuls of honey and a couple sips of water. did my body looseners at the house: the thought of doing looseners in the windy shade didn’t exactly appeal to me.

while mentally preparing for the run this morning, i wasn’t sure how far/how long i was going to go. i knew two loops around bent creek were around 10 miles and i knew that i could walk back to the car if i got done in my time-limit and wasn’t finished with the distance. i also knew it was familiar territory and pretty, so it would be a nice running environment.

i did two full loops of the run, but the last 1/2 mile I walked. That would make it just over 10 mile run… in 110 minutes, i am okay with that!

i focused mostly on the 90 degree armswing and keeping my chin down. I was able to work with breathing a little bit too, even through my nose, because i brought kleenex! …

my knees started to ache at about hour 1 (which is right when i got to my car) and i ditched my windbreaker arms and gloves… i sucked down the hammer gel sort of slowly and sipped a bunch of water (while jogging, i tried to not stop at the car longer than 30 seconds…) and ditched the bottle for my return trip.

i didn’t get cramps after eating the gel, which was a good sign, and something to consider as a regular thing during my longer training runs and on race day, if i need it.

so, like i said, my focuses were: arm swing and chin down.

the arm swing thing is really nutty. my shadow was helpful in keeping me in check, but i realized that when i took the water bottle a couple weeks ago in biltmore forest for my LSD run, i think that’s when i picked up the bad habit of running with hyper-bent elbows… habits are quickly learned, eh?

and with my head: i started thinking of using my head to lead my body, leaning from my for head and letting my forehead lead me. i got away from focusing on my chin because it was just messing me up. obviously, after all this time, if i don’t have my chin right, i need to look at things from a different perspective. I think ‘leading with my forehead’ was a good antidote.

so with my knees being achy at hour 1, i was trying to focus on leaning more and taking smaller strides. i was thinking of gathering chi instead of issuing it (see this article danny wrote about issuing and gathering), especially on the second half of the run.. my hip never hurt, i never got a sideache, i didn’t take music so i basically had a meditation for almost 2 hours. my heart rate was remarkably low: i don’t think it got about 174, and for the 2nd loop of the run, it was at 167-169 for a few miles…

i get a little leery about heart rate drops: when i was on the triathlon team in college, i got overtrained and for the longest time, couldn’t get my heart rate up where it needed to be for effective cardio training. granted, today being an LSD, the high heart rate wasn’t the focus (really does it ever need to be?!) but i wondered briefly if i was having a drop because of overtraining…

Nah, i got around the lake and for the next several miles back to the car, i just picked up the pace. it was crazy, i couldn’t imagine stopping or slowing down, and i didn’t want to! i got into a groove, and while i know i wasn’t going very fast, i was going fast than i had gone previously in the run… i kept going… and going… and going.

like the energizer bunny. even though my knees still ached, i didn’t have any other issues to stop me… i kept thinking of these places along the route where i could imagine stopping and then walking to the car. But then I’d get to that ’stopping’ place and just keep going. So I had planned to run for 1.40 or 1.45 and instead ran 1.55! An hour and 55 minutes? WHAT?!

Well, I just didn’t want to stop, I guess. It just felt so good to keep running… i mean, ChiRunning really is the stuff that runners ought to be made of… injury-free and effortless running?

I had a few times during the run where various parts of my ankles/feet were getting talkative. i think part of it is that the terrain wasn’t concrete. I was running on gravel or wood chips for the whole run today, which is substantially different than running on asphalt, as you know. probably, my ankles and feet took some more twists and turns than they have all week. I kept my feet loose for the whole run, so the pain wasn’t actually pain like i had hurt myself, but more like twingey pain of something that’s been a minutely strained… i was able to body sense and recognize that i had some discomfort in my feet/ankles, but didn’t dwell on it and tried to imagine gathering chi from the ground to help heal those sore spots: facilitated by small stride and high ankles, i got the mid foot back in order and the pain went away.

when i got to the car, i stretched a bit, and had some water with supplements in it… got home and did a leg drain and some more stretching and soaked in Epsom salts in the tub. no sore muscles yet!

tonight, my knees are achey. we took a walk to a neighborhood pub earlier, and they were a little twingy starting off, and after sitting for awhile my knees are stiff… plan to massage some arnica into them later, but part of it might be the weather. do you think it’s possible for a 26 year old to have weather-congizant joints? I thought that was only for the advanced-aged folks.

overall: 10. thank you all for reading this and for being part of my journey to a ‘10′ run. i did it! and i’m sure i’ll do it again!

If any of you has a horse, and you’d like to save some money this year, I would be happy to come hang out in Mr. Ed’s stall so he can lick the salt off me after I run a long time: it would save you buying a salt block and it would save me from taking a shower.

Ugh, gross. Of course I am kidding, but do you know what I mean? I got through running today and even my hands are salty. I sat down after I got home to have a glass of chocolate milk, but I couldn’t drink it till I washed my face, as the salt from my face was getting in the way of a nice milk-drinking experience.

–

My run today was 9 miles in 90 minutes. Plain and simple, low incidence of aches or pains, and I feel good now. It was my LSD run for the week and I figured I was up to about 9 miles. I wanted to run 1 hr 33 minutes, as I did last week, and I know in the grand scheme of things, 3 minutes isn’t huge for a training run, bit it could have made a difference in the quality of my run…

Here is the run. I hadn’t run in Biltmore Forest before, though Ivan and I have test-ridden some road bikes near where I ran. I didn’t realize it would be so hilly. I was looking for flat and paved. I definitely got paved and beautiful, but not flat.

I took music AND water and a computer printout of the route with me, which turned out to be sort of obnoxious, all the things together. I wish that I had a sport belt so I could attach some water to it. And an arm band for my iPod. And a GPS device to direct my run… But alas, I don’t, so I just carried stuff.

My right knee was a little twingy this morning, and I wasn’t sure how that would translate during the run, so when I started off, I was really paying attention to keeping my feet landing forward and letting my lower legs really relax. The first part of the run was uphill, so that kind of got my heart rate up in a jiffy, and I frankly really didn’t take the time to do gear 1 warm up. I saved gear 1 for later in the run around mile 5/6 when there were so many uphills I thought I was just going to have to stop.

I DID have to stop a couple of times to get my bearings and look at the map. If I do a run in an unfamiliar neighborhood again, I’ll drive it first. It’s annoying to stop and check out a map, and it slows me down. I think there is probably some mental breakdown around that too.

I had a great list of music on the iPod, which really was more background than anything. Despite En Vogue and Michael Jackson serenading my ears, I was really able to focus on my form. I wore a hat and sunglasses today, so I was trying to keep my chin down by remembering it keep the bill of my hat almost in my line of sight. That worked.

My main focuses of today’s run were (which I determined AFTER I got going because I wasn’t prepared for the hills):

• Trying not to think about my lower legs except that there were just there and they were loose
• Trying to keep my arm swing as normal as possible (with holding a water bottle and an iPod, not easily done) and really working it UP on the uphills
• Letting my cadence stay as quick as possible. Oh yeah, I took the metronome so I periodically checked my cadence throughout the run and it stayed right around 87, even after 5-6 miles in and a bit tired.
• I was remembering my knee, too, so I was trying this visualization: Every time my right leg swung forward, I imagined my quad ‘leading the way’… Not pulling my leg forward, but just setting up a good straight path for my knee and leg to follow. It’s something that Kathy Griest suggested during the CRCWIT in October, and it really does work. So if you have knee issues or a little twingey ankle, trying to just imagine a straight line under that side of your body, just let your quad/knee/ankle/foot, follow that straight line all the way till your next leg’s turn.

So, the run was good, I was just motoring. I took my time on the uphills, didn’t try to do anything crazy, but did try to keep my legs limp, my arm swing exaggerated. There were a few hills around mile 5/6 where I really was kind of ticked off at myself. I don;t really know why, except that I felt like I was going to slowly and I should have been going faster. I got over that eventually, but it was hard to keep motivating. Thank god for downhills.

On the downhills, I was focusing on trying to keep my core engaged, allowing my head to lead my body, and keeping a good cadence, not opening too much and slowing my cadence. I didn’t honestly think too much about hip rotation, but I just wanted to enjoy the hills and they all felt good.

On the flats, I just used 50% upper 50 % lower and tried to do one-legged posture stances a lot. Right before the two hills around mile 5/6, still on the flats, I decided that my right calf was tight and my foot was starting to tighten up. I tried to really focus on just relaxing and not using my legs at all. I think it really worked, and I also focused on keeping that straight line from quad to kneed to ankle to foot on the uphills so that I wouldn’t do something weird to my foot.

When I was done running, my knees where a little achy but not bad. My foot didn’t hurt, my knee didn’t hurt, and when I got home I noticed a little twinge in my calf, but that can be stretched out.

I didn’t do a leg drain (shame on Liz) so we’ll see how stiff or sore I am tomorrow. I am expecting a little bit because of the hills and because I had a pretty quick pace for that long of a run. Last week I ran  three minutes longer, and only 8.5 miles, so I definitely had a faster pace today.

Scale 8. I just realized that I didn’t have any snotty nose or slobbery dog thing going on today, and only had to blow my nose once. Otherwise I felt pretty good and had smothered my lips in chapstick before starting. Allergies seem to have backed off for the time being. I did notice just now that when I took a deep breath, my body tenses and I cough, which might be allergies, might just be from the run. The weather was awesome during my run, probably somewhere around 65. Lovely!

Today was my first 10 run.

Not ten miles (though close), but 10 on the infamous scale. Really, it was incredible. I think the mapmyrun.com version isn’t quite as much distance as I ran, but it might be my happiness/ego getting in the way. I was supposed to do 1:45 hrs, but only did 1:33 (”only” … ?)

Here is the run. It really was awesome. The weather here today was perfect: cold in the AM and lovely by the afternoon. My Mom is in town visiting, so we decided Bent Creek would be a great place for her to walk/bird and for me to run. I knew that Bent Creek loop didn’t go so well for me the last time we did it (Sept 7th). Actually, the last run there was more or less horrible, but I was excited and ready to tackle today’s run.

Before I get into the details of the run, I want to make a few statements:
1) I didn’t do the Thursday run (which would have been rescheduled for Friday anyway) because I didn’t feel like it and because I was sleepy and achy and because it was pouring rain. I didn’t want to deal with the rain or with running on a treadmill. Really, I wondered if I could write that on this blog, to all of you readers, that I just didn’t want to run… but there it is. I gave myself the permission to take care of myself, to body sense and listen to what my body was asking me to do. Sometimes I get into these funks where I try to tell myself I don’t want to go run or exercise or grocery shop or something just ‘because’, when really I am being lazy. You’d think I’d be able to play reverse mind games and just get out there, but no… Sometimes it’s nice to just be lazy.
2) Ivan and I went to a Hatha Yoga class on Saturday. It was my attempt at some physical activity, it was at a good time of day, it was what we wanted to do with our afternoon before Mom arrived. So we went, and it was lovely. Ivan’s first real experience at a yoga class, and it was wonderful. Aided by a calm teacher and yoga props, the class was 90 minutes and sufficiently exhausted my muscles. I woke up this morning realizing I was kinda sore (isn’t yoga supposed to be Chi anyway? You can’t really do ChiYoga. Can you? Can I ever do an intense and enjoyable yoga class without getting sore?). It was a healthy kind, where I could feel my muscles and remember that I have some.
3) I ate a huge breakfast of coffee, water and pumpkin-bread french toast at Sunny Point Cafe. It’s about a mile from my house, so we decided we’d just walk there this morning, and we bundled up and by the time we arrived, were warmed enough to sit outside in the 55 degree weather, not even in the sunshine. Lovely breakfast and I was wanting some carbohydrates to get my sugar and energy up for the run. I drank a LOT of water.

When I started the run I was excited. I am sure that helped me feel good about the entire thing, but I was really excited — for how beautiful the weather was, that my Mom would get to enjoy the WNC mountains, that I was going to rock my run. I took music again for this run (gasp…). Really, I mean, come on, how was I going to spend that long on a loop/out n back run with just the sound of my own breath? (Smile). I know that might sound silly to some of you crazy long distance runners, but that’s a long time for me to be in my own head.

I left my Mom at our meeting place with iPod in one hand and water bottle in the other. I figured I ought to take some water with me, so I took it about 3/4 mile up the road with me and stashed it in the leaves. When I started the run, I didn’t have any music, and I stayed that way until 50 minutes into the run (I have to congratulate myself, because I didn’t think I’d go that long without music if I had it with me). I started the run basically just smiling and happy. I have been asked to be a little clearer with the focuses of my runs, and perhaps I have been a little vague about my actual brain activity on these runs… so, just to set the record straight, the only things I focused with on this run were:

a) ankles up (the woodchips and pebbly terrain were just begging for me to trip, so I kept my ankles up). I didn’t think about it, I just did it. They just went up. There were only a few times that my feet scuffed, and they were when I was tired and when I was going up hill. I was very clear about that.
b) I thought about maintaining a good cadence. I didn’t bring the metronome. How crazy would it be to have the metronome beeping along and have some music on…? Ha, the thought is funny: I’d be like a crazy person truly beating to the sound of my own drum: 87 beats per minute for a little while and then WHAM 95 … slow, back to 67, then 87… oh, wait now I am at 95!..
No, it wasn’t like that at all. I actually felt that my cadence was good. I wasn’t thinking anything except ‘quick, quick, quick’…
c) breath. I didn’t think too much about it except when I started to get short of it or when i got a little twinge of a side ache. Then I focucsed on breathing OUT.

Sometimes in today’s run, I focused on keeping my arms going from elbow to wrist, elbow to wrist, over and over again and quickly, sometimes later in the run if I felt tired, I used my arms to set my perceived quick cadence.

It seems so long ago, (only like 7 hours) but what I do remember is that there were quite a few people on the trail, and I didn’t ever let that bother me, I kept smiling. I was so excited to be able to run almost 10 miles and enjoy it. It’s like I just told myself (even days ago) that today’s run would be awesome and that I could do it… and I did! Thank god for Michael Jackson. Just when I hit the biggest hill at about mile 6, (not really a hill, but it felt like it) “Beat It” came on and then, blessedly, “Speed Demon” immediately after that. Isn’t that hilarious?

When Danny first gave me the workout schedule, I looked, of course, straight to the last workout to see what I was expected to accomplish. The last run time for the LSD was 1:45. I thought ‘Pashaw, yeah right. Is he crazy?’ I mean, obviously I would have to run at least  that long in the race, but I really didn’t know that I’d be able to get there (only 9 minutes short) within 10 weeks.

[isn't it so appropriate that today's run, my "last" run of the 10 week schedule turned out to be a '10' run?]

Anyway: I am trying to stay focused when I am writing this to really tell you how it was, how great it was.

I tagged this as ‘almost euphoric’ for a reason, and now I am having a hard time chronicling how I made it, or how it just was awesome.

I felt fast, I felt in form, I felt happy, I felt grateful, I felt like I was doing something for myself and I was being a successful do-it-for-yourself-girl. I was so happy to not have speed work or to have a particular ‘agenda’.

I am sore now, which is okay, but I know it’s from the yoga. I had a little bit of knee ache that started around the :45 min mark and lasted through the run, but as soon as I walked it out afterward, it was gone.

I am in disbelief that I ran 1:45 hrs today, without injury, without pain, without tears. I did run 1:45 hrs today, with grace, with happiness and with fun.

Folks, if I can do this, you can do this. I work for this company, for heaven’s sake, and I am just as amazed and grateful as any of you. This is the good stuff. It’s called LSD for a reason.

Since we ran the race in Hickory yesterday, we decided to stay in Morganton instead of going back to Asheville (click here to see the locations of these towns if you wish). I had a hard time deciding if/when I was going to run today, but once I got my clothes on and figured an approximate route, I did much better.

I ran up near Lake James in a neighborhood called Southpointe. It’s a pretty underdeveloped area, so there’s hardly ever traffic, and I saw a family of four deer while I was there (it wasn’t even feeding time, it was more like 12 noon!)

Here is the route. It’s a lot of out and backs which I am generally not crazy about, but it was okay. It was quite hilly, and so my pace was just over 10 min/mile, which is actually pretty good. It wasn’t too hot or too cold, and I didn’t really sweat as much as I normally do. I forgot to wear my heart rate monitor, but did bring my watch and was able to time myself. About 8.3 miles in 1 hr 26 minutes. I am quite happy with the results of my run.

I woke up a little sore from yesterday’s run, and from not properly stretching out. My quads and calves are sore, which indicates to me that at times I was pushing too much up the hills (calves) and probably opened up a little too much on the downhills (pulled quads.)

But today, I took it easy, and (gasp!) ran with music… I know Danny isn’t a fan of using music, but I just didn’t have the brain today to go out by myself and do a bunch of random loops by myself. So the music really did help me, and based on my time, it seems like it actually had little effect on my speed. I listened to techno-style (downtempo) and Latino salsa music, both of which have pretty fast regular beats.

About 1 mile into the run, I made a decision that with every step of today’s run, I was going to do my best to make sure that EVERY step of my run was so good that nothing in my body hurt…

I was actually able to create that, much to my surprise. My right hip flexor is still a little sore from yesterday, and I am due for a good stretch/massage. Other than a little twingy hip flexor, I really didn’t have any major complaints. I just kept going at an easy pace and didn’t force myself or berate myself or congratulate myself. I just kept going until my time was up. It was hilly, and so when the uphills came, I tried to keep my leg stride small and behind my body, and get my armswing really exaggerated, up in the hill and pumping up, relaxing down. I never felt that my heart rate really got too high, and on the downhills, I tried to keep leaning, making sure I kept my core engaged and didn’t collapse.

Wow. I kept marveling at the fact that at 45 minutes I was only halfway finished and that I felt totally fine. My PRE was quite low all the way today, and I think I can contribute it to a) the music, b) the weather, and c) ChiRunning
This was the longest amount of time AND distance I have ever run in my life in one session. (I did an Outward Bound relay race several years ago, but I didnt do any legs longer than 6 miles!)

Totally incredible, I feel like I am really reaching the goal that I will be able to successfully complete the Houston 1/2… Who knows, maybe I can even have fun doing it!

Scale: 9

I was a little leery about my long run with having all the training going on and whatnot, but I just delayed my run for a day and it all worked out okay!

I took today, Monday, off, and obviously didn’t get the run in last night. After the training was over, I decided to have a party at my house with all the candidates/Instructors to come hang without the pressure of performance hanging over our heads. I think we all had a great time. I know I did.

Anyway, I took Monday to ‘recover’ and at the end of the day, I went for my LSD. I did this route, a local’s favorite 7 miler, which is what I figured I could run in 1.15 hrs. Ivan ran with me which was good for the company, good for practicing teaching, and good because I ended up getting done about dusk for which I was glad to have some company.

We started the run around 6, which was fine, and still light out. We parked down in the River Arts District, and there just happens to be a bar very nearby, which Ivan and I both admitted later was a driving force in both of us finished: we were wanting to sit on the porch of The Wedge, a new local brewery, and cheers to a run well enjoyed…

We were extremely successful! The run was quite hilly, and Ivan admitted at the beginning that he wasn’t sure he’d make it the whole way but that he’d meet me back at the start either way… The hills kill him and he’s had a little bit of pain in his leg from it, so we worked together and I made the suggestion to really exaggerate his armswing and not think about moving his legs. I think it worked, and he made it through the whole thing! Here I am, running and training for almost two months, and Ivan just sidles up to the start and says, “Oh, I guess I’ll run 7 miles today….” !

I was a little sore in my hip flexor, and I need to stretch it, apparently. Sarah Young, a Certified Instructor from the Detroit area, was still in town after the Instructor Training, so she came over and stretched me out this morning, which was good. Apprently my hips are wound up super tight. If you live near her, I highly recommend a visit to get yourself stretched. Makes a huge difference.

I felt great until mile 6, when I started to tighten up a bit… which might have coincided with the fact that the sun started to go down and we were running on a fairly busy frontage road for the last mile, and I was a tad worried of getting run over by a car. Not seriously worried, but definitely conscious. The whole run was really great, I tried to just stay RELAXED and that seemed to work. I didn’t have any major aches or pains or complaints. My breathing over the last mile was taxed, dunno why. I was very happy when we finished, and proud of Ivan for finishing it, too. I think the stretching really did help, and I have made a vow to really stretch after each run now so that I can encourage my muscles, esp my hips, to relax. Maybe then I’ll have a better pelvic rotation and be able to cover more ground in the same amount of time!

Other than the fact I consumed about a billion little gnats as I ran, I would say it was about an 8 on scale. No major pains, easy to just focus and stay relaxed, I quite enjoyed the company, too. Sometimes I like to run solo, but it’s definitely nice to have a running partner.