Running in the Rain

I think today was the first time we ran in the rain together.  I've ran in a torrential downpour when my kids were little, but not really since then.  Today, Patty, C and I met by my community pool and started our run towards the Helmers switchbacks.  Before we got there, there were scattered showers, but the skies were blue and the sun was out so we thought we were safe.  However, it was pouring by where Patty and C live and that should have been a clue to us.  As we started our run, it started to rain big drops.  By the time we got to the foot of the switchbacks, it was coming down rather hard and so we contemplated just running back to the car and calling it quits.  However, it seemed like such a waste to get all dressed and come that far just to go back and not run.  We finally decided that we were already wet so we should just go ahead and finish our run.  It rained pretty much the whole way to the point when we turn around, but on our way back the rain had stopped and we had a gorgeous view of the valley.  As we came down the switchbacks, we even had enough energy to run the steep hills up to the water tower.  Patty sent me an article on running and this particular "Rules of Running" really rang true for me.


5. You rarely regret the runs you do; you almost always regret the runs you skip.


I'm really glad we got today's run in.  I think the rain was a welcome distraction and it probably kept the snakes away!

ENOUGH with the Snakes!

This afternoon, I met Marathon Mom, Sea and Sun, and C at Central Park for our Monday run. We spent the beginning of our run describing the large snake that crossed our path last week on the paseos behind Helmers. Marathon Mom also told us a story about how she killed a "baby rattler" at Central Park during her boys' running club practice. I don't know if everyone bought her story, or believed it was really a rattler, but sure enough, once we passed the employee parking lot, and started down the dirt, I started screaming my head off. I came very close to stepping on a "baby rattler" which was right in the middle of our path. Of course I am known for stepping on things, (rocks, dog poo, you get the picture) and it is a miracle that I managed to jump over it just in time. From that point on our pace was pretty speedy! I think all of us just wanted to be done, safely. With Marathon Mom in the lead, we managed a pretty good 9.25 pace for 3 miles. I don't think we will run at Central Park again, anytime soon, unless we need to do some speed work.

Spring

Spring is officially here and that might explain why after running 7 miles today with Patty, I still had enough energy to finish my gardening project. Patty and I met for our long run today at Peet's and decided to run to the end of South Fork and back since we hadn't been in that direction for some time now.  It was such a nice day and I'm glad I didn't wear the long sleeve.  I think we were both feeling pretty good today and could have gone 10 miles, but I'm glad we didn't because my knee started to act up right around the 5 mile mark.  Afterwards we sat outside at Peet's for coffee and scone and then went shopping at Homegoods.  What a great way to start the day.  I found so many great things for the garden at Homegoods that I decided to finish my gardening project and install drip irrigation in my yard.  I found a pair of garden Crocs and wasted no time using them today.  Patty was shopping for picture frames.  Today was a very productive day.

Ice Ice Baby

Today is my day off, and a nice chance for me to run with my husband. Unfortunately since we are both getting older, we have to fight with eachother for the ice packs after the run. I have had a sore right hip for a few weeks now, and it hurt during our entire run today. I am also worried about my achy right shin. I have never had shin splints, and don't want to get them now. I am starting to think that I am leaning to one side, since I am sore on my right side only. The husband is a few years older, and abused his body much more in the younger years, so he has a regular date with the ice pack, after every run. I think I am going to have to invest in a couple more, or maybe an ice blanket!

We ran at Central Park this morning and the weather was just perfect, cool and breezy, but not at all windy. I managed to stay close enough behind the husband to keep me running a decent 9.3 pace, so not bad. It feels good to have my run and my grocery shopping done for the day, I do feel bad for my friends that are stuck at work, but I won't be on payday!

Snakes Alive!

Today Marathon Mom and I ran the hills behind Helmers, and were surprised on the way back by a 4 ft snake in the middle of the path. Needless to say we both screamed and stood there for some time, trying to decide if it was safe to run past it. Since it seemed to want to crawl off the path and toward the hill, we figured it would not back up while we ran by. It seems like all kinds of "wildlife" is out with the warmer weather, we complain during every run about the bugs that fly in our mouths, and noses (yuk), and it seems like we are constantly dodging the lizards that seem to like to play chicken and run right in front of us.

Today we started from the pool at Fairview and Grandview, and headed toward Helmers to run the hills and switchbacks in the paseos behind the school. It was a good run for me today, a little slow starting, especially on the first hill, which is a switchback that seems to go on forever. Once I got going however, I felt pretty good, much better than our hill repeats last week. The worst part was the last block going up Grandview, back to the pool. It was a slight uphill and into the wind, and for some reason the legs just gave out. I think we ran 3.95 miles, so I will round up to 4, and I have no idea about pace, but have to take the hills in to account. Glad it is over, glad I did it, not happy about all the critters!

Aches and Pains

I met Patty, Sea-N-Sun, C and her two twin daughters for a run today at Bridgeport.  I thought it would be a fairly easy run since Patty and C ran 8 miles this weekend without me and they would be too sore to push the pace.  Well, I wasn't counting on our speedy Sea-N-Sun or C's daughters joining us.  Ughh, there's just no rest.  Not sure which is worse, running into the sun or into the wind, but it really doesn't matter because we did both.  At one point we were protected from the wind and it got so hot and muggy.  That one hour time change has really made a difference in the heat.  While we were running, we were all complaining about our various aches and pains.  We really do sound like a bunch of old ladies. The topic ranged from bunions, muscle cramps, arthritis, hip pain, to shin splints.  I'm sure if we all keep running, we will eventually suffer from all the above.  I think I was dehydrated and didn't drink enough all day.  I was in a rush this morning and didn't bring my usual bottle of water.  I need to plan better on these running days. 

It's A Beautiful Day!

I was thinking about the U2 song as we were running this morning, because it was just that "beautiful". C and I started from Peet's at 8am this morning and headed toward Lowe's. Marathon Mom is out of town, and in our thoughts as she has a tough day ahead of her! We knew that we wanted to get in a longer run, but the way we had felt this past week, our expectations were very low. We crossed Bouquet and started toward the new housing that runs along the new houses on Newhall Ranch. We made it to the big water pipe, and had to guess how far we had gone, because my GPS ran out of power, just after the 2 mile mark. We both felt like it was over 4 miles to the pipe, so we will say we ran 8 total (probably a bit more). We also felt like we kept a pretty good pace, and when I looked back to see how we had done on the first 2 miles, we figure we may have averaged about 9.4 pace. Like I mentioned before, considering how my legs have been feeling on the shorter runs, I am more than happy with that pace. The hardest part of the run was when we stopped at Starbucks to use the bathroom, and saw all the runners who were done and having coffee. We still had the last 2 miles back to Peet's to finish. We agreed though that it is much easier to run those miles from Lowe's to Peet's and not the other way around, because it is a nice downhill most of the way! We even set our sights on another runner who was quite a ways ahead of us, and made up our minds to catch and pass her in the last half mile. It wasn't too hard since she was running pretty slow, but it kept us on pace at the very end which is always a good thing. We must have looked pretty good, because a man on a bike looked at us quite intently, and I thought he was going to turn around and join us. C thought it was my green shirt, but I am old enough to know it is the blonde hair! It was a Beautiful Day, but we missed our friend, and hope her day goes well!

Short and Sweaty!

Today it was even hotter than our last run together, so we decided we would take the Paseo from Bridgeport School toward Helmers, and do hill repeats. Marathon Mom, Sea and Sun, C and her daughter and I headed out, with the idea, that at least we would have shade with the Paseos. I have to say that the shade from the Paseos was much better than running into the sun on the trail! The hills however were a different story. It seemed cruel and unusual punishment to have to run by the Northbridge pool on our way to the hills behind Helmers, the people splashing around were so annoying! When we got to the switchbacks we started up, but decided that instead of going as far as we usually do, (which would have meant a long steady climb) we would just turn around and do "hill repeats on the water tower road. This of course sounded good to me, because it meant we could then cruise back down, and short spurts of hill running sounded so much better. I freely admit that I am not a good hill runner, Marathon Mom, and Sea and Sun looked really strong, and C passed me like I was standing still! It seems like I have to work really hard to get to a point where I can run as far as my friends on the uphill. We did two sets of repeats which doesn't sound like much, but was a really good workout, and I am sure we will be feeling it tomorrow, in fact I already am. We are going to guess we ran about 3 miles total, but I know we got a good cardio workout. The title is kind of silly, because we never don't get sweaty, even on a short run

Hot Mamas

Yesterday we were really hot mamas, but not in the way one would normally think.  Me, Patty, Sea-N-Sun, and C ran from Bridgeport to the train bridge, crossing the bridge to Peet's and back onto the Lowes trail and we were really hot, literally!  With the new day light savings time and the spike in the daily temps, we were all feeling the effects of the heat.  What made matters worse was the fact that we didn't bring water (still can't bring ourselves to wearing those belts again).  We stopped in Pavillions for some cold water before finishing the rest of our run.  I was happy with our pace of 9.1 overall.  We did 1/2 mile intervals of quicker paces around 8min/mi with rests of about a mile in between.  Our overall pace was probably quicker since I didn't shut off my GPS when we stopped at the lights.  As it turns out, my husband saw us running across McBean and asked why we crossed busy McBean Pkwy when we could have gone on the bridge.  Quite simply, we couldn't be bothered to run that extra 2/10th of a mile.  Our next run is again from Bridgeport, but we're going to be hitting the HELLmers hills again.

Motivation

I couldn't decide whether to give today's blog the title "Blown Away" or "Motivation".  "Blown Away" would have certainly described our run today from Bridgeport into the hills behind Helmers Elementary.  Patty couldn't join us due to "mom" duties she needed to tend to, so it was just C, Sea-N-Sun, and me. We thought we would be somewhat protected from the wind by running in the paseos amongst the trees rather than hitting the bike trail toward the train bridge, but the wind was so strong that it didn't matter where we ran.  It was rather torturous, especially trying to run uphill into the gusts of wind.  It also didn't help since we have all been suffering from a lack of motivation lately.  I chose "Motivation" because I really feel like it is a threat to my running lately.  Not sure what it is, but Patty and I were talking about how little motivation we've been feeling towards running lately.  Maybe it's that time of the year when the weather plays a factor, but I think it might have to do with the fact that we are still not seeing any benefit to running as far as our pant size!  I do think the weather is part of it though.  When I see winds howling like today or when it's gray and dreary out like it has been a lot lately, I find it hard to get myself dressed and out the door.  I just feel like sitting at home on the couch where it's warm.  I think my age is starting to show.  Pretty soon I'm going to take up knitting again.

Double Whammy

It's bad enough when Sea-N-Sun runs with us and pushes the pace, but when C's daughter joins us too, then all hope is lost for the rest of us.  I think tonight we got our high intensity cardio workout.  We ran from Cheese Park to Copperhill down to Decoro and back up to the dirt trail to the park, our usual quick 3 mile run, except there was nothing usual about our pace today.  I noticed as I was trying to keep up with C's daughter heading down to Decoro, we were running an 8 min/mile pace.  No wonder I couldn't breathe.  Then on the way back thank goodness her inserts were bugging her because she finally stopped to fix them.  You would think that would give us a chance to catch our breath, but noooo.  Then Sea-N-Sun decides to keep up the pace on the way up the dirt trail back to the park.  Can't a girl get any rest here?  Oh well, I guess it was good for us and it seemed like we were all in a hurry to get the run over with.  The clouds were threatening rain and none of us wanted to get stuck in it.  All in all, we averaged a 9.2 pace, which doesn't sound so fast, but considering the uphill on the way back, we'll take it. 

Whew!

It looks like Patty and I just missed the storm that is now here.  When we ran from Lowe's this morning, there were still blue skies above with patches of clouds.  In fact, as we made our way back from almost the top of Copperhill, we even stopped to watch a rugby game where Patty gave me a lesson in rugby 101.  I actually enjoyed watching the little bit that we did.  I wonder if they were still playing when the rain started?  I always thought mud and rugby went hand in hand. When we were finishing up our 8.5 miles the wind had really picked up and we noticed how drastically the sky had changed above.  The gloves I had taken off in the middle of our run were back on for the last mile.  We had timed it just right because as soon as we got back to our car, it started to rain.  We were both dragging a bit the whole time (not sure why), but we both agreed that it was much better to have the run out of the way so we can enjoy the rest of the weekend and sleep in tomorrow.

We Finally Hit the Bridle Trail

Today was a welcome day off of work for Marathon Mom and myself, so we met at Albertson's for a short run. We have been talking about running up into Tesoro to a Bridle Trail, and then on to a couple of water towers that are in the hills behind the housing development. Our kids run this route during cross country and track season as training, and we have wanted to see just how bad it was. We crossed Copperhill and started up what we were thinking was going to be a long, slow uphill. The grade was really not bad, and we reached the end of the street pleasantly surprised at how quickly we got up there. We decided that we would take the asphalt road to check out the water towers, and felt the grade immediately! We had agreed that even if we had to walk the uphill, we wanted to see what it was like so, we walked and talked to the second water tower. The road was long, winding, and steep in places, especially at the end. When we started downhill, it was just beautiful, the sun was out, the view was pretty, and there was a nice breeze in our faces. The total run was 3.25 miles, and I am not even going to guess at a pace, with all the walking we did. We decided that it wasn't half as bad as we had thought it was going to be, and that we would add this run to our hill workouts in the future. Mayebe next time we will run farther on the uphill, but for today, it is nice to be done with my run! We will be watching our kids begin their track season at Birmingham High this afternoon, I am hoping they are happy with their run too.

Running Safely

Patty and I met for a quick short run since we are running again tomorrow morning.  We met at Bridgeport and ran toward the train bridge, which is more isolated and it made me think about the disappearance and death of the young girl down in San Diego. Her story hits close to home because we realized that it could have been any one of the many young girls we know who run alone.  In fact, it could have even been one of us or even a boy.  No matter what, it is so important to run with someone else and if you have to run alone, do it in a very populated place. Also, I never liked the idea of running with music because you become unaware of your surroundings and cannot hear what's coming up behind you.  As runners, none of us should take our safety for granted.  It is always better to be overly cautious.

Quick Run, Quick Post

I promised Marathon Mom, that I would post about our run this afternoon. I have to make it quick because I still have Algebra homework to write out for #5 son who has yet another broken arm. We met this afternoon at Cheesepark for a short run, more to sweat off the stress of the day than anything. We headed toward Copperhill and hit the Heritage Trail. It seemed like I couldn't catch my breath tonight, even on the downhill, and my legs were really feeling the 5 miles we ran yesterday. My legs have just felt leaden lately, and I think the 5 pounds I have gained have all settled there, (if my pants weren't so tight around the middle, I would believe it). We managed to get in 3.25 miles at just under 10 min pace. We did run the hill at the end, which always slows our pace quite a bit, but I have to say, that it will not be a run that will stick in my mind. I am glad it is over, and I hope that Wed. finds us well rested, less stressed, and ready to really stretch out our legs. Maybe C will be able to join us!