Days Twenty Two & Twenty Four: A Change of Scenery
Headed upstate for the long weekend with my girlfriend to visit with her family. I missed the Team run on Saturday, but through emails and the September schedule I saw that we were scheduled to run between 7 and 9 miles. Ooof. I decided on 8. However, I only really had approximate distances so I'm doing a bit of guesswork with exact numbers in this entry.
Woke up Saturday morning to Ernesto's not so subtle pressence. It was pouring. For some reason I was kind of stoked to run in the rain. Seemed like fun. I opened the back door to let my girlfriend's dog Jake out back to do his business and felt th chill in the air for the first time. Running outside all of a sudden seemed like a very stupid idea. But the alternative was the treadmill and 8 miles in the same place seemed really discouraging to me so I decided to go with the original plan. I was dropped off down at Seneca Lake, which has a very nice running path along the shore. 2.5 miles from one end to the other. I figured back and forth would give me 5 and then a mile back to the house is 6. Didn't know quite how I was going to get to 8 from there, but I was comfortable with the idea of making it up as I went along.
I started down the path and was drenched within a few minutes. The only problem with this was the t-shirt clinging to my belly (which incidentally has grown since I have been running - guess my "I can eat anything seeing as I'm in training for a marathon" strategy may have to be addressed). I spent a few minutes pulling the wet garment away from my skin, but then figured I had a long ways to go and didn't want to get sidetracked with a new hobby, so I just let it cling. There were half mile markers for the first mile and a half of the path and then I either missed them or they went missing. Somewhere around 2 miles I lost the trail. No, I don't really know how. It just sort of ended at this beach area and split into like 4 different foot paths, none of which looked like the one I had been running on. Pissed off as I knew this couldn't be the official end of the path, I turned around and ran back to the start. From there I ran the mile back up the hill towards home, but when I got to my girlfriend's parents's street I kept going. Further up the hill. I kept considering turning around and heading back, but I felt really good and sort of wanted to see how far I could go. I finally took a right after 7 or 8 minutes, then ran down that road until it ended. I took another right, figuring that if I ran in a big square I would end up back on the right street sooner or later. It worked and I ended up back home after an hour and 15 minutes of running. The really crazy thing is that I was smiling for the last 15 minutes realizing how good I felt. I must have looked like a complete moron, running in the rain, soaked to the bone, grinning like an idiot and actually talking to myself about how good this felt.
I think I got about 4 miles in on the lake path, plus the mile back up the hill, and an additional mile and a half around the neighborhood for a grand total of 6 and a half miles. Far short of my 8 mile goal, but still my longest run to date.
On Sunday I was scheduled to run somewhere between 4 and 5 miles, but we slept late and had a busy day planned, so I pushed the run to Monday, which was supposed to be an off day.
Woke up on Monday and had too much for breakfast. I probably should have just had a piece of fruit and then gone to get the run out of the way, but I ended up sitting down with the whole family for breakfast, which is actually a very nice habit that my girlfriend's family has and one that I could see myself getting used to. A half an hour or so later I took off with a stomach way too full of toast and cereal (and a couple of strips of bacon). I ran up the hill where I had ended my run on Saturday. Took a bit of a longer loop and ran back down by the house. Took about 15 - 20 minutes and I figured I had been about a mile and a half. The run was very hard and I just couldn't get into the spirit or find any kind of groove. The thought of repeating the loop 2 more times was an unpleasant one and I decided to run back down to the lake. Once there I did about a quarter mile on the path, then doubled back, then up the hill and back home. A mile and a half in the neighborhood, a mile down the hill, half a mile on the path and a mile back home for a total of the 4 hardest miles I have run since this thing started.
Granted, my totals are not 100% accurate, but I assure you that I am erring on the side of caution and definitely not giving myself credit for miles not covered.
Sort of a mixed bag of training this weekend. I'm glad I kicked out the 10.5, but wish I had done the 12. It was also nice to run in a new place and through the weather, but something felt off about the whole thing. Could have been the simple fact that I couldn't stop stuffing my face all weekend and the mirror set up in the bathroom forced me to confront the fact that...well...I look like someone who is definitely NOT training for a long distance run. Definitely gotta put some attention into my diet and use some of the dedication I have put into training into eating better. Would be nice for this whole endeavor to result in some better physical health and a better feeling about my general appearance.
Want to say a huge thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Roxie, who became the second name on my list of donators right after their daugther. Fundraising letter goes out today and then the fun begins. Looking forward to hearing from lots of folks soon.
Thanks for reading, more later...
DAY 22
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 6.5
TOTAL MILEAGE: 44:14
DAY 24
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 4
TOTAL MILEAGE: 48.14
Woke up Saturday morning to Ernesto's not so subtle pressence. It was pouring. For some reason I was kind of stoked to run in the rain. Seemed like fun. I opened the back door to let my girlfriend's dog Jake out back to do his business and felt th chill in the air for the first time. Running outside all of a sudden seemed like a very stupid idea. But the alternative was the treadmill and 8 miles in the same place seemed really discouraging to me so I decided to go with the original plan. I was dropped off down at Seneca Lake, which has a very nice running path along the shore. 2.5 miles from one end to the other. I figured back and forth would give me 5 and then a mile back to the house is 6. Didn't know quite how I was going to get to 8 from there, but I was comfortable with the idea of making it up as I went along.
I started down the path and was drenched within a few minutes. The only problem with this was the t-shirt clinging to my belly (which incidentally has grown since I have been running - guess my "I can eat anything seeing as I'm in training for a marathon" strategy may have to be addressed). I spent a few minutes pulling the wet garment away from my skin, but then figured I had a long ways to go and didn't want to get sidetracked with a new hobby, so I just let it cling. There were half mile markers for the first mile and a half of the path and then I either missed them or they went missing. Somewhere around 2 miles I lost the trail. No, I don't really know how. It just sort of ended at this beach area and split into like 4 different foot paths, none of which looked like the one I had been running on. Pissed off as I knew this couldn't be the official end of the path, I turned around and ran back to the start. From there I ran the mile back up the hill towards home, but when I got to my girlfriend's parents's street I kept going. Further up the hill. I kept considering turning around and heading back, but I felt really good and sort of wanted to see how far I could go. I finally took a right after 7 or 8 minutes, then ran down that road until it ended. I took another right, figuring that if I ran in a big square I would end up back on the right street sooner or later. It worked and I ended up back home after an hour and 15 minutes of running. The really crazy thing is that I was smiling for the last 15 minutes realizing how good I felt. I must have looked like a complete moron, running in the rain, soaked to the bone, grinning like an idiot and actually talking to myself about how good this felt.
I think I got about 4 miles in on the lake path, plus the mile back up the hill, and an additional mile and a half around the neighborhood for a grand total of 6 and a half miles. Far short of my 8 mile goal, but still my longest run to date.
On Sunday I was scheduled to run somewhere between 4 and 5 miles, but we slept late and had a busy day planned, so I pushed the run to Monday, which was supposed to be an off day.
Woke up on Monday and had too much for breakfast. I probably should have just had a piece of fruit and then gone to get the run out of the way, but I ended up sitting down with the whole family for breakfast, which is actually a very nice habit that my girlfriend's family has and one that I could see myself getting used to. A half an hour or so later I took off with a stomach way too full of toast and cereal (and a couple of strips of bacon). I ran up the hill where I had ended my run on Saturday. Took a bit of a longer loop and ran back down by the house. Took about 15 - 20 minutes and I figured I had been about a mile and a half. The run was very hard and I just couldn't get into the spirit or find any kind of groove. The thought of repeating the loop 2 more times was an unpleasant one and I decided to run back down to the lake. Once there I did about a quarter mile on the path, then doubled back, then up the hill and back home. A mile and a half in the neighborhood, a mile down the hill, half a mile on the path and a mile back home for a total of the 4 hardest miles I have run since this thing started.
Granted, my totals are not 100% accurate, but I assure you that I am erring on the side of caution and definitely not giving myself credit for miles not covered.
Sort of a mixed bag of training this weekend. I'm glad I kicked out the 10.5, but wish I had done the 12. It was also nice to run in a new place and through the weather, but something felt off about the whole thing. Could have been the simple fact that I couldn't stop stuffing my face all weekend and the mirror set up in the bathroom forced me to confront the fact that...well...I look like someone who is definitely NOT training for a long distance run. Definitely gotta put some attention into my diet and use some of the dedication I have put into training into eating better. Would be nice for this whole endeavor to result in some better physical health and a better feeling about my general appearance.
Want to say a huge thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Roxie, who became the second name on my list of donators right after their daugther. Fundraising letter goes out today and then the fun begins. Looking forward to hearing from lots of folks soon.
Thanks for reading, more later...
DAY 22
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 6.5
TOTAL MILEAGE: 44:14
DAY 24
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 4
TOTAL MILEAGE: 48.14
posted by Demps at 8:59 AM
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