11.15-11.21 Weekly Total

Since tomorrow is a rest day, I can post my totals today.

Miles: 23.62
Time: 3:12:53
Average Pace: 8:10

My overall pace was slower than last week but I'm glad it is. I still ran hard on the hard days, but ran slow and comfortable on easy days. Last week, I didn't really have any easy days. So far I'm at 723.48 for the year. Easily within reach of 800 miles. We'll see how far over I get. Now its off to get some dinner and then get ready to pick my fiance up from the airport :)

Entering the Final Weeks

The nice thing about being on a quarter system, instead of semesters, is that they are shorter. That being said, I have about 3 weeks of class/finals left in my first quarter of grad school. That means I'm super swamped with homework, journals and (believe it or not being this close to finals) a few midterms.

The up side is my running has been getting better. Sunday went from a rest day to a sub 40 5-miler! Took a RD yesterday and got in a solid 4-miler this morning. It's looking like I'll be able to hit my goal of 800mi for the year. I'm thinking I might change it to 850 or 875. We'll see how the rest of the month goes. A

I'm also at the point where I'm looking for new kicks. My GT's are on there last leg and the WaveRider's are bugging my shins/knees. I'll keep the WaveRider's in rotation till they're done but need two replacements. I've been thinking of the Saucony Hurricane's and/or NB 905's. When I first started running  it was in NB 715 then 764. Since then, its been mostly Nike and Asics. Any thoughts?

11.8-11.14 Weekly Total

Miles: 21.9
Time: 2:57:14
Average Pace: 8:05

For my second week back, I am very happy with this weeks stats. I do need to learn how to run slower on my easy days though. Today's workout consisted of a 3 miler, core work and some lifting.

Now that I'm done with that, its time for some serious studying. I've got a diff eq assignment, analysis assignment and a midterm to study for. Hopefully I can finish one of the assignments today and one tomorrow. As for the midterm, I'll study when I have time. Hopefully that will be sooner than later. I need to do well on this one so I definitely need to study. Thankfully, I only have to take one quarter of that class (analysis). Off to the library!

A Good Week

So far this week has been good. Well, its been good running wise. Classes are loading work on me again and dad is back in the hospital.

Monday's run was awesome(see previous post). Tuesday was an easy 3.5 miler. Took off Wednesday. Managed to drag my ass out of be on Thursday morning for a solid 5.4 miles. Today I didn't get out of bed early so I had to wait for class to be over. I hit the road at 1:00 and man was I movin'! I didn't think I was going as quick as I was. When I flew passed some other runners I glanced at my Garmin...6:35! A little quick for my second week back! Needless to say, I backed off what I thought was quite a bit. Ended up with 3.5 miles @7:19 pace. I'll definitely take it! Tomorrow I'm gonna hit the gym for an easy 3 or 4 on the dreadmill. Maybe I'll go longer, anything to avoid homework :) Actually I should do my homework. I've got two fairly lengthy assignments and a midterm to study for. As for now, its off to the grocery store (my fridge is basically empty).

I Love the Rain

Being as I've lived in the pacific northwest my whole life, I am use to all this rain. Actually, I feel like I run my best in the rain. Over the weekend I had a few good runs back home in Washington. I went back because my dad was in the hospital. He's home now but not 100% better. Still, home is better than the hospital.

Yesterday as a rest day. This meant I got to do homework. I managed to finish my analysis homework. Still need to do my algebra for tomorrow and my differential equations for Friday. As stressful and busy as grad school is, I think things are going well.

Today I was planning on an easy 4 mile run. Well, it was raining a little bit. Not much but it was raining. I took my usual route to the river. When I got to what would have been my turn around point, I just kept going. My legs felt good, the pace was comfortable, I figured why not? I decided to turn around about 25 minutes in. As I did so, I saw another runner going a bit faster than me up ahead. I tried to keep pace with him as long as I could. Eventually I passed him around mile 5. When all was said and done, I had ran 6.5 miles at 8:13 pace. Not exactly the easy run I was going for but it felt amazing! I hope this good running continues!

4 Days

So, its four days into November and I've got three runs in. I'm really glad I got back into this after two months of not running. The rest of my life, i.e. grad school, is still extremely busy. But with my running, I feel like I'm less stressed out than I was before. Hopefully this continues. As far as runs go I managed 4.3 miles yesterday and 3.56 today. Today was going to be a rest day but the weather was warm and sunny, so I had to get out and run!

Thoughts from November

Well, its been some time since I posted. After the RnR marathon, I paced my mom and little brother through their first 5K. After that, I jumped in too quickly and got injured. Then I got caught up with work and school and family medical issues. Things have finally calmed down and I realized that I haven't ran in almost 2 months! That needs to change. Today I went to the gym for an easy 3 on the treadmill. It felt great!

I have already made more running plans. First, this years goals. I wanted to run 800 miles, finish 2 half marathons and run a marathon under 4 hours. I accomplished the last goal and know that I will not be able to accomplish the second. The first is still insight. Counting today's run, I only need another 137 miles. I also added a 5K in December. Nothing serious, just a fun run I'm going to do with my mom.

As for next year...I plan on becoming a member of the Half Fanatics. Its a group similar to the Marathon Maniacs but with, you guessed it, half marathons. I see it as a stepping stone to some day becoming a Maniac. To qualify, I will run the Mercer Island, Whidbey Island and Tacoma City Half marathons starting on March 21 and finishing on May 2. The last half is going to be my mom's first. I plan on pacing her through it. Then if all goes well, I should be able to PR at the Portland Marathon in October.