speedwork stinks

I did some speedwork on my hometown track today- for about an hour in the rain (seems to be the theme of the summer). After a hike, a swim, and a run yesterday as well- I feel as if I could sleep for about 3 days.

week off

I do still exist! I actually took last week off from training due to a very busy schedule due to the fact I was the chair of the Vegetarian Food Festival planning committee that took place this past Saturday. We had around 350 attendees last year, were hoping for 500 this year, and ended up with 750! It was successful, I am exhausted and content.

So, now with the B to B two weeks away, it is time to get down to business. I would like to shed about 5 pounds and shave off about 5 minutes from a 10K time.

I am at my mom's in northern Maine and ran yesterday. The humidity was pretty brutal and my hour-long jaunt took me up and down some pretty serious hills. It was really nice to reminisce about my childhood years while running around town- past schools, past old friends' houses, past parks. I felt very good and very strong after a full week off. I tend to become obsessive and it becomes detrimental to my self-confidence at a point, so it was good practice to take a week off and feel okay about it!

I also did some canoeing yesterday and am feeling the effects of that in my back. I love the feeling of muscles sore from use. Is that crazy or masochistic?

ouch and sharks

Well, I just did 6 miles of fartleks in the rain which pretty much sucked- but it that good way that it felt like a real workout with real pain towards a goal of real improvement. I ran 1/4 as fast as I could muster up the strength for, then 1/4 mile at an easy pace for 6 entire miles.

On a different note (I can't leave the animal issues part of me out of this blog after all) I just looked at the website for the Downeast Shark Tournament and was disgusted by the event and the pictures! Why as human beings do we have this desire to catch and kill things we are not eating. They claim the sharks are then used for 'scientific research'. What are we- Japanese whaling fleets now?! What in the world does it prove that you happen to have luck and catch the biggest shark? Oohh, what a man! I hate it! I wish I would've read this crap before my run- I think I run faster when angry.

Still Running

It has been while...on July 4th I did an easy 4-miler -IN THE SUN! And on Sunday, July 5 Gav and I did a 9 mile, easy paced run. It was great and he was a great sport for joining me, considering he isn't training for anything. He did keep saying I was trying to kill him. He is great to run with because he is good at pacing himself, which is good for me so I don't take off after people who pass us like a greyhound after a bunny! Yesterday was a day of rest. Rest= housework at this point with my hectic schedule. We are 2 weeks away from the Veg Fest I am the chair for. Yikes!

I need to step it up a bit on speed-work now that I am officially registered for the Beach to Beacon through work and Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Not that I have any delusions of being fast- I am not real runner after all but our goal at work is to beat the L.L. Bean team and I think we can do it!

Today is a 5-6 mile 'quality' run so I think I will do some fartleks- (hee hee fart-lick).

Beach to Beacon

Great news- I think I am going to be given a spot to run in the Beach to Beacon. Some people at work had spots and someone backed out. Quite an honor considering the race filled up in two hours!

A 5.5 mile tempo run today. Man, it is humid out there! At least it isn't raining.

FYI

So, I was wondering about elevation after yesterday's run. North Conway has an elevation of 525 feet according to Wikipedia. This is quite a difference from my usual 62 foot elevation here in Portland!

really?

Is it really necessary that it is raining again? I ran a short 4 miler today and, once again, it started pouring about a quarter of the way in. The humidity makes it harder to breath, the moisture makes your clothes sit like plastic wrap on your skin, the pavement is slippery in some parts and and flooded in other parts. It is giving me some serious runners' rage.

Yesterday, I did 5.2 miles in N Conway where Gav and I were visiting his parents. I could feel the difference in elevation, though I am sure it is not a huge difference. It was beautiful there when the fog lifted for about 2 seconds. And at the end of my run I purchased a giant iced soy latte from the 'bucks' and it might have been the best iced latte I have ever had!

While driving around the area the day before, we saw a couple of mountain runners. Now, there is a serious endeavor! I like hills but I like them to have a peak, then an end and I want them to be around 5 minutes to climb. I imagine that lacing up at the bottom of an entire mountain must feel a bit like a bad nightmare. But getting to the top, calf-muscles burning like they are being squeezed from your flesh like toothpaste from an empty tube, sweat pouring down your body like mountain streams, breath being sipped as if from a narrow straw in a thick soy-shake- that must feel like something amazing. Maybe I will try running up a mountain if this rain ever stops...