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?

… on Sunday was amazing. My birthday was on Saturday, so of course I was just happy the whole weekend, and I had a great run on Sunday with a new friend, Brynn. She ran a 1/2 in February in Florida and is training for her 1st marathon which is in Feb 09 in Florida…

We both needed to run about 2 hours and for both of us that was right around 11 miles… couldn’t have been more kismet: our paces really were almost identical and it was so nice to run with someone!

We ran in Biltmore  Forest, where I’ve run before, and so it was a familiar neighborhood and kind of fun to explore and get lost.

The first part of the run is uphill and we ended the same way, so we ended on a downhill which is SO good for the soul.

Here are my memories/focuses:

• Took water about 1.5 miles into the route and then left it to pick up later, which was nice and I was glad to have it.
• I didn’t over-dress, and was glad for that.
• I ate a goo about 1 hour in so I wouldn’t bonk or crash. That little packet is a real life-saver.
• My heart rate didn’t get very high at all. I was very glad for that: Biltmore Forest is hilly, and I was really trying to just use NO legs on the uphills and exaggerate my arm swing. I think it really worked. Honestly, at the top of the hills, I really had no problem whatsoever and wasn’t out of breath at the top of the hills!
• My knees started to ache about 1.10 hrs into the run: I adjusted and focused on a smaller stride and really exaggerated my heel lift so that I felt like a silly fool with mini little steps, but it worked. Took the pressure off my knees. It was also because of my strange little foot flair that Danny diagnosed from last week… must have contributed some to the knee pain so I focused on a really straight leg all the way to my big toe.
• I was able to carry on a decent conversation with Brynn for most of the run, which indicated to me that we had a good pace, not too fast, but I wasn’t like speaking-easy either.
• Our total mileage was about 11.13 miles, and we did it in 1.58, which worked out to about a 10.30 pace. Not bad at all! I was thrilled with that.

We hope to run again together, and at this point, like I said in my other previous post, at this point I am just keeping a good base and will keep running about 2 hours every Sunday and doing maintenance the rest of the week.

Scale: 9