church of optimism - gerlinda

last week was pretty ho-hum, running-wise. i was supposed to do 3-6-4-13, and instead i did something like 3-3-5-14.

but the 14 (!) was awesome. my friends rama & lauren went with me to the silver comet trail. the leaves are in full color, and they were snowing down around us as we ran. the sun was out, really out, for the first time in a couple weeks. it was so toasty and lovely in the sun and so cool and pine-needle quiet in the shade.

my friend lauren has started her own "church" called the church of optimism. we are the 3 charter members, and we meet occasionally, usually on sunday mornings, to hang out in nature and talk about stuff-that-is-not-so-trivial. lauren called our 14-miler a church of optimism meeting, and indeed, as we passed mile 6, there was a gorgeous, long, peeling-paint bridge drenched in sunshine, overlooking a golf course. lauren was a few yards ahead of me and i saw her reach out her arms like she wanted to hug the world. the whole run felt good like that...there was never a moment where i wanted to quit, even as i took my occasional walk breaks. i finished in 2:21, and so beat my 1/2 marathon time + ran 9 extra 10ths... my legs felt rubbery and well-used for the rest of the day.

12 blazing yellow gold miles - gerlinda

it was overcast, damp and in the 50's when lauren & i headed out on the silver comet trail for our 12 mile run. autumn this far south is a quick, brittle affair - but because of the damp air, the yellow, orange and red trees looked luminous. the silver comet trail crosses several scenic bridges, and i almost felt like i was in the country sometimes - running past peeling white wooden rails, over a carpet of wet and scattered leaves.

lauren & i are so idiotic that we ran off and forgot to carry our water! luckily, some genius has opened a really cool little coffee shop at mile 3.5. we stopped the watch and scurried in for some free water. then we looked like dorks carring our 16-oz coke cups with lids and straws down the trail. but hey - it did the trick. we ran a couple 10ths over 12 miles in 1:59 & change. a respectable pace. even though lauren is way faster than me, she held back and we chatted the whole way. it felt pretty effortless until the last mile, and then i started really feeling it. we talked our way through it by playing word association games. today, my calves are sore - but other than that, i feel great. i might try 14 next weekend... i'd at least like to go 13.5, just so i can feel, again, like i've achieved something i've never done before...

12 in a snowglobe by abby

it was very cold, and it was very snowy, but it really was beautiful. i lost the horizon a few times, which is a dizzying thing, but each time i just plowed through my own sphere of visibility, the pavement black and shiny, giant gauzy snowflakes clobbering me, accumulating on my hair, eyebrows, eyelashes. snow has a way of quieting down the raging world, of cancelling out sounds, of creating the illusion of peace. maybe that's what it's like inside a snowglobe: silent, and kind.

i had measured out this route last weekend with the GPS, which claims to be accurate to within a few feet. my time was 1:50:36 == 55:39 for the first 6 miles and 54:56 for the second 6 miles, or about 9:10s. that seems fast. it makes me question the distance. but then again: how do you argue with satellites? i finished cold and soaking wet but feeling good and strong. i squeegeed off my face with my fingers, shivered my way into the warm car and promptly steamed up all the windows. i'm not sore at all today; i guess i'm getting used to all of this. next week: same route plus one mile.

and, my mid-week - gerlinda

well.
the training schedule is starting to really crank up now. i'm still @ 3mi 2x wk, but then i throw in a 6mi mid-week, and my long run this week is supposed to be 12mi. Yikes!

so...i broke my 5K record again on this weeks 3m run - 27:13 is my new PR. woot.

yesterday, i ran 6 miles from work then looping back to piedmont park where some friends were playing ultimate.

my legs feel sore today, so i'm taking the day off & i'll do an easy 3 miles tomorrow. 12 on sunday...wish me luck! it's funny...this all feels so routine compared to this point in my 1/2 training schedule. i guess because i've done these distances before, so it's slightly less intimidating...

mid-week by abby

i have been slightly *off* all week ... or, as my grandmother would say, "half a bubble off plumb." speaking of my grandmother, it was the cutest/funniest thing ever when she called me to ask me to walk her through sponsoring us on the firstgiving.com site. grandma rosie is ever-so-slightly web literate, which is actually pretty decent for a 76-year-old. she has email and everything. so she called me and i was walking her through and she'd say, "ok, hold on," and put the phone down. and then i could hear her talking to herself going "ok, enter name, okay rose ann edwards, okay there's that, okay address, okay ...." etc etc etc for every blank. then she'd pick up the phone and say "ok. i did that. i'm sorry that took so long sweetie, it's dark in here." me: "well turn on the light." grandma: "oh ... ok. hold on." puts phone down. shuffles to light, talking to herself. then: "ok. well. that's better. i should've done that 15 minutes ago." so it went like that for 20 minutes or so. my grandma is the awesomest :)

as for training, i'm on schedule. yesterday i did a fast 4 on the treadmill and then worked out with a trainer for 45 minutes. he's a distance runner, and he had some good tips. like he said since i'm not doing any real speed work, i should do striders on 6-8 reps during one of my week runs. so i did that today. which is basically fartlek .... i did approx. 100 m (i just pick phone poles) sprints with full walking recovery 6 times during the middle of the run. and i hated those, but whatever, it does break up the run. anyway, i wanted to change up my weight workout for the T-TH short runs, so he helped me come up with some stability ball and medicine ball stuff and weight stuff that will keep things interesting. and there ya have it.

7 and brrrr - gerlinda

it's cold this morning! (laughable since 'cold' down here in atlanta is like 50 degrees, whereas poor abby is already running in truely cold weather...)

anyway, i did my 7 miles yesterday at an easy pace. prob. a bit slower than 10 minute miles... i'm still not quite able to wrap my head around my time for the 10 miles last weekend. had to have been a fluke...

this week is more of the same... a couple short runs, a slightly longer run, and a 12 miler on the weekend... so far so good with the marathon training.

ps - abby send photos of the black hair! :) oh, and i think my inability to view your photo was due to the fact that i was reading the editing page, not viewing the actual profile...my bad!

goth 7 by abby

see, friday i dyed my hair black. and then this morning the only clean running clothes i could find were a pair of black tights and the black long-sleeved shirt we got for the lewis&clark half, which is actually a really nice workout shirt. i hit the cold road around 8am and it took about a mile and a half for me to really warm up. a few cyclists (BURR!!!) in bright clothes passed me and i suddenly felt very goth, dressed all in black and the distillers raging through my headphones. awesome.

anyway, it was a good run. it was a true 7-mile course and my time was 1:05 something. (my regular running watch needs a battery and my heart-rate monitor watch doesn't count seconds.) oh, and i dunno what was wrong with the half photo. i think i fixed it? (yours is great btw -- you look happy and confident and strong. i look like i'm ready for the dang thing to be over!)

i had a decent week -- 4.4-5.4-3.4 for T-W-TH, friday off (much-needed; as much as i say it makes me feel lazy ... that's the wrong word ... maybe more like lethargic, like i *should* have done something. but off days are important and i need to learn to make myself take them as scheduled). i'm kind of nervous about the 12 and 13 coming up the next couple of weeks, but i reckon i'll be okay ... now i gotta find something to eat. something hot; i'm freezing.

step back week - gerlinda

what happened to your photo in that post? i can't see it!

as for me, i have no trouble whatsoever taking days off! maybe it makes me lazy, i dunno. i guess if i had a less hectic life, i would use the extra time to crosstrain. But hey, it's hard being a rockstar marathon runner.

anyway, this is a step back week, so everything's pretty chill... i kinda feel like i need it after last week's crazy fast times, which were a gift from the running gods. i did 5 miles on monday, nothing tuesday or wednesday, 3-4 yesterday. i'm planning to knock out a quick 3 on the treadmill tonight and my long run this weekend is supposed to be 7 miles. i've been feeling ok - but a little beat up. and yesterday, my left knee was hurting a bit, so i walked some of the last mile.

new route, geeky photo -- by abby

i have a hard time taking days off. it makes me feel lazy. so yesterday i did a group cycling class at the gym. i haven't done one of those in a while ... it's a decent workout, that. not like riding on the road, but still, alright. i like that i can sort of go easy. it's dark until like 7 now, so i can't really get my runs in before work. so today i went to the gym at lunch and just ran outside for about 20 minutes and then ran back. i discovered this nice, quiet little road called flanders mill. it follows this little creek and then goes over to a new subdivision off baxter, but the streets are so new that they aren't even on favoriterun.com yet. so i know it was at least 4.2 because that's where the map ends, and i think more like 4.4 miles. my watch said 40:48 or something like that. i have to quit running this fast. i felt pretty good, though it was a bit of an effort.

anyway. and here's my geeky half-mary solo finish photo. i had to wear my number on my leg because it was 25 degrees at the start and 55 degrees at the finish and that meant shedding clothes during ...

My geeky 1/2 mary photo - gerlinda

i keep meaning to post this picture of my crossing the finish line @ the Half Marathon. I'm such a geek! I was going for the whole chariots of fire pose...and the fact that i was thinking about such things probably means i could've been running faster!

10 and Woah! - gerlinda

Abby - it's funny you mention the Atlanta Half b/c i think we've got quite a crew brewing for that one... For one thing, I think PanCan is going to run it, with an "official" running team - which means our entry fees and whatnot (maybe even your travel expenses) would be covered (i think) in exchange for us raising a certain amount of money or something. I'll have to check into that. Plus, I know Gina's thinking about doing it. And I've got several friends contemplating it...

I skipped the 5 miler I was supposed to do on Saturday and plunged forth with the 10 instead. I went up to the silver comet trail. i dunno if it was the beautiful, flat, shady trail...the gorgeous early autumn weather...or maybe the new music on my iPod.... but i ran the 10 miles in 1:33:07, which is a 9:18 pace, which is just CRAZY FAST for me. actually, abby, if your "10 miler" is technically 10.4 - you probably ran the same pace. I'm still thinking there must have been some sort of snafu with the mile markers. I don't see how it's possible for me to suddenly run that fast, when my half marathon pace (a mere month ago) was 10:54. ??? i guess time will tell.

Today's a stretch/strengthen day, but I think I'm going to try to do the 5 miles I skipped. I was too sore yesterday, but I feel good today. :)

10 -- by abby

i meant to run this week's 10 miles yesterday, but yesterday dawned rainy and cold. the old me would've gone out and done the dang run anyway, but the new me said "there's always tomorrow" and went back to sleep. today dawned cold and cloudy but not rainy, so i hit the road and had a swell run. shuffle is an excellent ipod function :)

my 10-mile route is actually more like 10.4, but it's just easier to run to rose's red barn and then turn around and run back than it is to figure out where the 5-mile-mark really is. there were potatoes all over the road at highline, and the kingfisher's back on the bridge. 2 burros and a goat talked at me around mile 3. i love my rural routes!

my time was 1:38, just under 10-minute pace, and i ran every step of it, even the 1/2-mile hill up to rose's. i felt really great the whole time. i think i'm finally recovered from the half-marathon and from the stomach junk that's been plaguing me on and off for the past 10 days or so.

meanwhile, i've been looking at other races ... there's nothing around here except ski racing! i'm trying to talk myself into the pole pedal paddle in jackson, wy, in april, but -- BURRR! and it looks like atlanta has a half marathon in march .... hmmmm? i gotta find the next goal ...

heheh - you said 'saddle' - gerlinda

i am so not even doing the stretching & crosstraining days on my running schedule....is that horrible? it doesn't seem to have effected me; i'm still getting better the more i run...

that said, i've had a good running week so far. my schedule has me doing 2 3-milers and 1 5-miler during the weekday, and 10 miles this weekend. i ran a 5K on tuesday for a PR of 28:26 and i decided i could totally break 28:00 with a little effort...so today i did another 5K for a PR of 27:42. it was definitely an effort; i was completely soaked in sweat afterwards...and i did both on the treadmill; the faster one i did at zero incline - so quite frankly, they don't really "count." But, hey, it's still a PR! tomorrow's 5 miles and then 10 sometime saturday or sunday. the weather here is really helping make for a good running experience. crisp cool mornings and evenings.

back in the saddle again -- by abby

one of the really nice things about running is that you can basically do it from anywhere -- all you need's your shoes. well, and some clothes, i suppose. having said that -- i ran not near enough over the last week. but what can i say?!? gerlinda and i had a fine 9-miler, despite me drowning in all that humidity, and despite us losing her car for awhile.

this morning i got up and ran 5 and it was great -- the kind of run i love best, where the air is cool and the leaves are falling all around and things smell good and it feels like you have wings on your feet and you just get lost in your own thoughts. looking forward to a 10-miler this weekend.

9 Lazy Miles - gerlinda

just documenting that Abby & I actually did our 1 1/2 - hour more-or-less 9 miler together on saturday! it was effortless, another gift from the running gods. :)