It is funny sometimes what things inspire me to run and how sometimes it just makes sense that certain things would help. Mike ran in the Ragnar Relay race on Friday and Sat. It started in Cumberland, MD and went to DC. That is 183 miles for a team of twelve people to run. Each person runs 3 legs ranging anywhere from 3-9 miles. His team came in 4th place out of 116 teams which is simply amazing. It was a lot of fun to watch and cheer them on and it was nice to see it all work out so well. Andy ran on a team as well and his team came in 19th place which is awesome too! Seeing all those people just run and do what they had to do was inspiring. I went on Sunday for a 5 mile run on the trail in the oddest weather I have seen in a while. It was windy, humid, and cold all throughout the 50 mins I was out there. It was raining at one point while the sun was out. I was struggling at points to keep it together and kept finding things to make me keep going. I passed an older woman, I cant let old people pass me. I saw a girl wearing a sports bra and thought if she can run looking ridiculous like that than I can surely keep going. I saw a squirrel at one point who ran right in front of me and wouldnt move and I figured I wanted to keep going so I could away from the crazy squirrel. So overall I have two weeks down and ten more to go of this training according to Nike running!

running in the dark

I went for 2 miles today on the trail, but it was a little earlier than I usually go. It was pretty dark out and somewhat creepy to be out there when there was little light. A guy said hello to me, a nice thing to do, and I was freaked he was following me. Then another runner came right up behind me and I heard the pounding of his shoes and I thought someone was chasing me. It was odd. I definitely will not be bringing the Ipod the next time I go when its dark out so I can be more alert. I usually get annoyed by all the bikers, but when they go by with the lights on their bikes it is a nice thing to see to remind you that you aren't the only person on the trail at 6:15am.

1st

Today was the first time I successfully ran 3 miles in my neighborhood w/out stopping once. I was impressed with that. Though I did go a different way and got a little lost for a few blocks, but I somehow still made it to work on time so that is a good thing. Running in the mornings is difficult, but this week is so hectic that I have no time after work. I have somewhere to be everyday from now until Sunday! Good things, but busy none the less!

neighborhood vs. trail

I went for 3 miles today in my neighborhood. normally i run on trail and it seems to go rather well. something about seeing a sign every half mile telling me where I'm at, as well as running on a path i know with other people seems to help. today i ran in my neighborhood mostly b/c i was running late and thought it would save me some time. i never seem to do as great doing that for some reason. i don't like that i end up paying more attention to the road and the cars and where i am at that it ends up throwing me off and i need to walk for a little bit to regain some energy. this does not happen on the trail. I'm going back to that.

pic is from Dan's visit last wknd. it was fun to see the city and go to the newseum. it is great to run in a city where it seems that a lot of the people living here like to do the same thing. the trail is always crowded on the wknds and it is almost hard to not bump into people at times on bikes.

day one

12 weeks until the half marathon. started the official training today for 3 miles. didnt feel as great as i had hoped, but i still did it w/out stoppng. this is going to be interesting!

6

Ran 6 miles on the trail last night. First three miles went well and then I had to turn around. Something about turning around always screws me up. I had not walked once, but proceeded to walk 3 miles for the next 1.5 miles. I then decided I wasnt allowed to walk anymore and ran the final 1.5 miles back. All in all I thought it went well and 6 is my number to beat right now.

I am losing motivation today and yesterday and I keep saying that the "official" training starts on Monday so I am taking some days off. Thats stupid though. So I am stealing this entry from Sam's blog to help today:

Live Long. Run.
Yahoo News - Want to live a long life? Run.
"Running reduced the risk not only of heart disease, but of cancer and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, researchers at Stanford University in California found."
"'People who took up exercise when they were older also improved their health,' he [Dr. James Fries] said."
"The study also showed that people cannot use the risk of injury as an excuse not to run -- the runners had fewer injuries of all kinds, including to their knees."
So get out there.

bike

Mike and I went for a 12 mile bike/run yesterday. He ran and I biked. He did rather well and I was pretty impressed. I didnt go too fast on the bike but I was glad that I could consistenly ride for 12 miles. We started on the Cap Crescent Trail and went on the C&O Canal Trail. We went through Georgetown and made it down to the Lincoln Monument, ending up in Chinatown where we grabbed some lunch. It was cool to go through all the different areas, though some were easier to ride/run in than others b/c of all the people. It was a nice way to spend a gorgeous Sunday morning and I look forward to doing it again someday.

10 days

Official half marathon training starts in 10 days. I went running today and felt good for the first 1.5 miles and then didnt do so well. I need to eat better and lose some weight again. I feel so much better when I have eaten well and it makes a huge difference. I have Annette's bike now so hopefully that'll help to be more active on the days that I dont run. It is a little discouraging that I dont feel 100% where I wanted to be at this point. My legs feel good though and have had no injuries of any kind to date thus far. My goal is to follow the training schedule as close to exact as I can. I also fixed my broken pedometer watch last night so that was a positive at least.