Woke up to thunder this morning, along with pouring rain hitting the back porch door (having major exterior work done, so our glass overhang isn't there to shield the door). I lay around trying to decide what to do and finally checked my email -- no group run. Their rule is that running in the rain is good but running in lightning is bad. Good rule. So I finally got up and decided to go to the gym with hubby, since he was certain he was not going to run outside. I knew I'd planned to do 7 miles this morning, but the schedule said 6-8 and I was going to give myself a pass to go only 6 miles if I had to do it on the dreadmill. I got dressed (in a black running shirt, which I rarely wear for outdoor running so I'm more visible) and kept sticking my head out to see how much it was raining. As he was getting ready to leave, I decided I'd just run the trail alone, leaving off the quarter mile at the bottom of the trail, which would put me at 7.2, so I grabbed a hat and headed out the door.
The trail was deserted. Didn't see a soul until about 2 miles in, and I probably only saw about 15-20 people total in all 6.5 miles on the trail. I actually like running in the rain, and there aren't tons of opportunities to do so here since we usually have nice sunny weather. It was a pretty steady but light rain for about 4.5 miles, just to my southernmost u-turn. I made the turn and started heading home, and less than 3 minutes later it started to really rain. I ended up turning on my ipod (disregarding Adam's questions about i-pods, rain and electrocution) around mile 5, and the rain started easing up by about mile 6. But the damage was done at that point -- my shorts were sticking to my thighs, and my shirt was sticking to my belly. Blech. I made it home and was proud of myself for leaving clean dry clothes right by the front door so I could change (and fortunately because of the rain, I didn't have to worry about being seen changing by the workers).
I was all excited b/c I figured I'd do some great stretching since I was home and wearing dry clothes. But I was really thirsty since I had just used the fountains on the trail, so I hurried to make a smoothie and breakfast, and next thing you know, I was in the shower (after having driven halfway to my husband's work since he had forgotten his shoes AND had forgotten that he had a spare pair that would work in his trunk, which he fortunately remembered before I got all the way there), and I hadn't really stretched at all. Oops.
I was guessing my pace was going to be very easy, and started off around 9:30s for the first mile or so (to the top of the trail, where I started marking my exact mile splits). I stayed pretty slow but steady then: 8:45, 8:54, 8:52 (included quick water), 8:50, and 9:05. My overall pace (including 3 quick water stops) was 9:07. The best part though is that I think I exceeded my 2009 June mileage today (and if I didn't I will tomorrow), so I'm now starting to make a small dent in my 9 mile deficit.
A blog I read (Becca Runs Boston) had a new year's resolution mid-point check, and I thought that was a good idea. I had 2 running-related resolutions, and 2 kind-of-running-related resolutions:
First was to run 1300 or more miles for the year. 2009 tallied up at 1284, and I figured I could easily beat that by not completely slacking for the whole month of October (less than 100 miles in 2009). Last year my April was really light (less than 40 miles), but that was the whole "getting married in Italy and then honeymooning in Europe" thing. So I thought that might be another place to build in a little cushion. But since we took such a big vacation for our first anniversary (furthest point from home was probably St. Pete or Moscow), I ran more miles in April than 2009, but slacked more in May, since we didn't come home until mid-May, and we'd come back from our honeymoon about May 8 last year.
Second was a marathon time goal. So I can't tell yet how I'm doing on that resolution. I'm certainly doing the training so far, but it's so early in the season, and I've learned quite well (Chicago 07!!!!) that even the best training is worthless if they cancel the marathon mid-way through or something. All it takes is one bad day. But hopefully I'll run at least 2 marathons this fall, and hopefully I'll hit my resolution time at one of them.
Third, more tangential, was to lose weight. My goal was 7 pounds from my Jan. 1, 2010 weight. Complete fail so far. I went up about 4 pounds in March and now seem to be hovering about 2 pounds up for 1/1/10. I was actually down 1 from 1/1/10 on Friday, but I think the dinner party and its aftermath destroyed that. My weight has been within the same 5-pound range for a couple years now for the most part (a few freakish times up or down, but mostly steady). If I want to get serious about losing the 7 (now 9) pounds, I could really try, but I don't think it's really a priority. I kind of feel like I'm working out enough right now to maintain, and I eat pretty much whatever I want, so it's not worth it to me to sacrifice that to lose some weight. I think I make healthy food choices most of the time, but a short time in Africa about 10 years ago has also made me kind of neurotic about wasting food. So on the fairly rare occasions that we have dessert in the house (like now, leftovers from the dinner party), I can't bring myself to waste it. My husband doesn't really like sweets, so that whole lemon pound cake is on my shoulders (actually, more on my thighs). I also tend to overeat at things like an antipasto buffet (about once a month) or at my fave vegan Chinese Thanksgiving place (but that's only about 4 times per year). At restaurants I make okay choices and usually eat till I'm full and take the rest home. My husband is lucky we weren't together after I got back from Africa, when I was at the neurotic point where I'd basically pressure friends to either clean their plates at a restaurant, or take their leftovers with them, or give it to me for my box. Even if I give the leftovers away to a homeless person, it's so much better than wasting. Seeing people who really have so little changed my life completely from just hearing about it or seeing pictures. Anyway, the other way I'm lucky in terms of my eating is because I don't grocery shop and my husband doesn't like junk food, so there's pretty much none in the house. I'll get him to buy popcorn and white chocolate chips for me (to add to yogurt), but that's about it for snacks other than things like fruit, veggies and sandwiches. So I should try to at least lose 2 pounds from today, to be back to my 1/1/10 weight, but I would guess that will happen naturally a week or two before the marathon, as it usually does. So maybe this resolution is being kind of abandoned.
My last tangentially related resolution was to improve my posture. That should strengthen my core (and improve my running indirectly), but I pretty much never do it except for about 60 seconds per week when I happen to see the resolution. Even at the beginning of this post, I looked at my list to see how many resolutions related to running, and I sat up straight when I saw that one. But by the time I finished writing about the last resolution and before I started writing this one, I was already back to sitting slouched over. No idea how to make myself do it. At least I've stopped crossing my legs most of the time, which was a resolution last year I think (or it was the beginning of this year and I linked it to posture). Either way, that one needs a lot of work.
Anyway, the calendar today says to buy plane tickets to Minneapolis! That might get delayed until the weekend, but it's exciting to be doing the planning. My husband is going to do the 10 mile race there, but he needs to do his registration this week before they open the lottery for the general public. Tomorrow he can do that, then I'll get the plane tickets. MTCM, here we come! (Or in his case, MTC10-miler, here we come!) I need to remind one of my brothers, my mom and some other family to enter the lottery next week. The more runners, the better!
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