I was so surprised last week. I did 6 miles over at the Waterfront site, after two weeks of running on my own (due to necessity- being in NYC and also just being bummed).
Just because I'd been missing the waterfront/mall/museum mile runs, on Saturday when I arrived, I said I'd do the run with the slowest group (17 minute miles) just to be on the safe side. Plus, and this was my real issue, they were doing the 1/3 ratio that I'm in love with. I did 15 minute miles on the run1walk3, so that's my gig and I'm stickin' with it. Since they try to keep us at about 1 minute behind our actual pace, I was supposed to be running 16 min. miles anyhow.
So, why'd we end up doing 15:30 miles for SIX MILES? And that's the raw split time, not even counting my partner Mickey's potty break, or the fact that we walked a couple laps due to the heat. Seriously? Coach was right- 6 miles was way easier than one! I wanted to keep running when we were through. I actually had a problem at one point- I wasn't sweating. The nicest vendor in front of the National Museum of Natural History gave me a handful of ice, no charge. That was refreshing.
Mickey loved that it felt like we had the city to ourselves. And it did- no tourists for the first time in a while. The mall hasn't been killed by the heat, so everything is green, and we run pretty early. Toward the end we had to slow up to let a HUGE group of 8th graders (said the t-shirts) cross the street in front of the Grant Statue.
My maintenance runs this week were similarly breezy. I just took myself up to the Wal-Mart on Rt 1 (hey, it's an easy landmark) and back home.
Now, I was supposed to be at the Waterfront today to do 7 miles, but I slept in. No, don't frown at me, don't boo me- I was writing, stuffing, and sealing envelopes for my fundraiser! So if you're reading this, know that you probably got your letter at the expense of a group run.
I'm making a treat of going to Huntley Meadows park tomorrow to run under that shady canopy instead. For 7 miles. And I'm going to move up to a 1/2 because if I can clock 15:30 at a slow 1/3, I need to push up the effort a little.
And I'm excited! Who'd've thought I could do 6 miles at one time so easily? Man, if I get the $2100 in time, 13.1 is gonna be a piece of cake!
Well, I certainly hope things improve.
My determination notwithstanding, I haven't run as much as I need to in order to stay on track. And my fun-draising isn't off the ground.
Yet.
See, I lost my job, and though I am sooooo employable, haven't got a new one. I also went to see my grad school to see if I'd go. I'm going, God willing, with a lot of loans.\
So, I did my 4-miler in NYC with my very-good friend and former co-teacher (read: ganger-up on student-er) Maggie, in Thomas Jefferson park. Let me pause here and say that I LOVE the NYC park system and can't WAIT to do my last long run before the marathon there.
If I do the marathon. Got a month to raise $1,000- and no handy co-worker base to work with. I'm working on that.
Now is a good time to head over to that side-bar and donate, before I blitz you with letters and calls and emails! You can fend me off better if you've already helped.
Ah, yes, tonight the half-hour run will be so good….
Filed under: Solo runs and thoughts
You look in a mirror and you don't like what you see.
It's a warm day for December; the new year is coming.
You decide to change-
and run.
Remember that song by Salt'N'Pepa from the 80's? (for those of you who can't remember back that far, it's now popular because of the Nextel/Sprint commercials where the 3 random guys are dancing to it in their office and are interrupted by their boss.)
Yeah, I've been pushin' it. Oooh, baby bay-beh.
I've gone on a couple of the solo runs that I committed to do in order to train. Three, actually. The first was at night, when the moon was almost full. The air was SO sweet! And the stars were kinda hidden, but once in a while one or two would peek through. And imagine, I was running with my Fabolous 'Street Dreams' CD in my walkman. I didn't think that particular music would keep me motivated, but I ran 2 miles (WHEW!! Ran most of it, only walked once, and then cooled off at the end) and it had me pumped. "Fly enough to do better but gifted enough to not give a –"
Ahem. I was saying?
"What, no iPod?", I hear you ask.
Nope. Lemme tell y'all a secret. I'm still running with the walkman my mother gave me for my 21st b-day. (more…)
That letter? The one on the AIDSMarathon site if you follow my links? The one that says my goal is $2,100? It's almost correct. But um…
