I hate snow

Sure it starts off pretty, and innocent enough, even cushioning the ground. But that is just day one. By day 4 it has turned into a blocky, slushy, icy brown mess. On day 1 I thought it was fun even as it pelted against my face and gave me frostbite over 30 miles. On day 2 everything was soft and pretty and the cars stayed away. Day 3 it had mostly melted and I ran past a dead body being pulled from Lake Washington. Day 4 it came back and was pretty much a repeat of day 2, except colder, like when you are running on what you think is a road but really turns out to be a gigantic puddle you find out in the middle of it. Day 5 the power was out in my house and we were snowed in, or really I should say iced in. I went out the door, like I always do but then everything was different. I had to cling to the plants in the garden as I walked sideways down the stairs and then slid into the driveway. I could go no further unless I could run 20 miles on my stomach.
Well I am panicked. I mean I have to run everyday, and a lot, no matter what, there's absolutely no excuse I can give that would make it okay otherwise. It is hard and stressful enough having to run 20 miles a day without adding a vast wasteland of frozen rain covered snow on top of it.
My dad managed to bust us out of the house around 1 oclock in the truck and drove me to the gym while he went to work. But he was only going to work for two hours. So I ran 2 hours on the tredmill, trying to get as many miles as I could get in in such a short amount of time. I ended up, because I was so bored, changing the speed every half mile, starting around 7.0 mph and getting up to 8.4 before going back down. So I ran pretty quick since I only did 15 miles, finishing in 1:57, with 3 minutes left over for a shower (I'd forgotten you can sweat while running!) The next morning I had to get up early and go into work with him so I could run again. This time I ran 20 miles in 2 hours and 47 minutes and was not too bored because I brought my notebook and could read it by propping it up on the treadmill while running. This made time fly by because it covers up the mile counter, stopping me from obsessively staring at it as it goes from 0.01 to 0.02, 0.03, all the way to 20.00. I will stare at it if at all possible so best to just cover it up. For some reason reading while running is more distracting than having someone else read to you while running- I don't know why that is. While the treadmill may be insanely boring it is kind to me, unlike mapmyrun which always says I run like 9 minute mile pace, hmph. Maybe I should just stick to the treadmill. I already did 35 miles in less than 24 hours and Joel told me the world record is only like 90 something- that is, the world record for running on a treadmill for 24 hours.
I made it back outdoors on day 7. The snow had melted but only in the middle of the street. Somehow I managed to do my 20 miles without getting run over. Today is day 8 and we have mostly won. The snow is melted in all the street but all the disgusting sludge and every other fowl thing that was once in the street has been pushed onto the shoulder into a huge dirt stick pile because no one actually uses the shoulder of the road do they? And there was still snow putting up a fight along the trail I tried to run on. It had managed to knock down a tree about every quarter mile that I had to crawl under or over, usually on some patch of really slick ice.
Is it sad that when my long run is only 3 and a 1/2 hours I get excited and think of it as a break? I mean less than two hours into it and you're already half way done? Is this my long run or an easy day I can't tell. That might be because I haven't had an easy day since around November.
Even mapmyrun agreed I ran 24 miles ( I had to run a couple extra minutes just to make sure.) It usually only snows once a year so I hope that all traces of it will soon be obliterated. And to all those easter washingtoners and northerners and midwesterners and whereeverelse they're froms that laugh at Seattle and say we don't have "real" snow- you can keep your "real" snow. I'd like to see you run 20 miles a day in it and see how you feel about it.

Procrastination

Sometimes I dread the weekend. Saturday and Sunday are usually the hardest, longest running days of the week and this week was no exception. Work sounds enjoyable compared to 15 mile repeats by yourself in the rain, at least it did to me Saturday morning. On such days I usually spend an hour or two dreading my upcoming run and putting it off for the next couple minutes. This sucks because usually those hours are the worst of the whole day and then by the time I finish it is already time for my second run and then darkness.
This Saturday was the most I have not wanted to run in a long time. I had been feeling pretty motivated since the 30 mile. But not enough to pretend at all that I even wanted to go outside in the pouring drizzle Saturday morning and spend the next 2 and 1/2 hours doing mile repeats on some depressing gray street with only cars for company. As awful as that sounded- doing all that running on top of driving 4 hours round trip to Bellingham to run on a track sounded just as bad. I finally got out the door, wanting to cry as much as the sky was. After doing one mile repeat I felt better because the first one never takes very long and then you are part of the way done already, yipee! maybe this won't be so bad. Then after I do about 4 and it feels like I have done a whole lot it starts to get really depressing when I realize I am only about a 1/4 of the way done. Funny how one can make you feel more done than four but that's just the way it is for me. I still managed to do 15 even though it was the last thing I wanted to do and thought I would die attempting.I was done but still demoralized. I  miss speed workouts. I had to lie on the floor for about an hour on the heating vent because I was too cold to make lunch and by the time I did eat it was almost time for my second run which lets just say went very sickly.
On to Sunday. I finally got new shoes. It had only been about 4 months and 1500+ miles or so. I had forgotten what it felt like to have shoes with sole on the bottom and every pair felt like I was wearing high tops. The running shoe store only had Brooks and New Balance which are not my favorite but oh well. They also didn't offer me a high school discount even though I was with my mom and usually they do. We did however get them for only 14 dollars because of a shoe card we had that says- buy 12 shoes, get one free, or for 14 dollars. My mom had had the card since 06, or as my mom said- "wow, we've had this since you were in high school!" I would correct her but the shoe salesman is watching and he doesn't need to know how old I really am so I say- right. I can be 23, thanks mom. No one needs to know that I graduated high school like 8 and by 8 I mean BILLION years ago! shhh
Then with new shoes I am off to run more miles than I am old. I wonder how many I will be running when I am 30? Better not ask. Well it was snowing. And my run took me four and a half hours. It sounded like something your grandparents were supposed to tell you about, when you complained about walking to the school bus or something. I can picture me as an old person (older than I already am I mean), I used to run 30 miles in the snow, and it was uphill both ways. True story. My grandkids are going to hate me and I will probably still be running 30 miles then.
I have never begun a run a little after noon and finished after dark before and I don't want to again. This is what procrastination gets you, by the time you are done with your work it is almost time to start more work. Well at least I can put it off, for a little while anyway.

I feel like a slacker

I feel like a slacker because I only ran 106 miles last week. I shouldn't feel guilty because it was my easy week after my time trial.
The night of my 30 mile TT I was advised to run more, if I could, but I was pretty positive I wasn't going to be able to. I was very impressed, but also disappointed, to find that I ended up running 25 minutes and walking 35 mixed in. I was impressed because this meant I was in much better shape than I ever have been, happy as this would prove good for me in the 24 hour run, but also a little disappointed because if I could do it it meant I had to. What is wrong with me? Will nothing make me sore anymore?
I was sore but not enough to keep me from running as I had to run 12 miles the next day and that would be my easiest day. It's probably for the best because I felt guilty enough about only 106 miles! I mean there were significant amounts of the day that I wasn't running and I don't normally feel like that! At the 30 mile I finally felt like I can get better and I am. When I don't run a lot I'm slow- it's my natural state. I usually feel like all my training just goes towards fighting that off. But if I have found something that will actually make me better then I will run 160 miles a week. If that's what it takes. I may not want to do it sometimes but I always want to do it in someway. Bring on 2012!

2 PRs- 30 miles and 4015 miles

Today is the last of the year, so I ran 30 mile time trial and finished my goal of running 4015 miles this year. (11/day, 77/week) Considering I was only at 3460 a month ago it was a pretty tough month.
I ran about 3 130 mile weeks, and in the middle of one week ran 160 miles when I had seven hard days in a row. ( 12/17-12/23) This week I had a hard Monday and Tuesday, 28 and 25 miles before three easy days of 10-6-6 before today.
Today I ran my PR for 30 miles in 3:46:08, about 9 minutes faster than last year. I ran pretty consintely too, starting off only one quick mile in about 7:00 and then running 7:20-40 for pretty much the rest of the way. My slowest mile being 7:49, up the big hill in Birch Bay and once after the marathon. The course I ran was the Birch Bay marathon plus 3.8 miles back around the water. I was at 3:17:30 or 40 for the marathon which was only a minute and a half slower than when I raced the marathon last month on a faster course. I could tell the higher mileage was helping me because there was never a point in the race where I died, I could keep running sub 8s even when I was tired and even sub 7:30s, and I didn't even need help climbing up the steps to my house when I got home.
Joel was actually pretty nice to me today, I know that may disappoint you because I can not really say anything too snarky, he even bought me lunch! He did agree that he was only 98% nice though, as in 98% of the things he yelled at me were nice. That is probably a record too, so 3 PR day.
Jessica and her family were nice too, coming by when I was at about 22 miles and cheering the rest of the way. Jessica's sister Cody made me a peanut butter chocolate (high protein) cake for hitting 4000 miles!  I had to wait until I was done to have any even though I hit 4000 in the middle of my run.
A month ago I would have said it was almost impossible for me to get 4000 miles this year but I did it! And then I found I can run faster. I hope this new year will bring lots more impossible things.

24 hour run

On May 5 and 6th I am doing the 24 hour race. In the 24 hour race you see how far you can go in 24 hours and even if that is only a mile you would still have technically finished the race. My goal is more around 120- 145 miles. 120 being the standard for the World team and 145 the American record.
When Joel told me about this I originally thought it sounded just terrible. I already feel like I run all day sometimes when I don't get up until 9:30, don't make it out the door till 10:15 because I am looking for my watch or my keys or my shoes and then don't get back from running until 2 pm, and spend the next few hours eating before running again. Well this would be literally running all day.
But then I thought about it and it actually sounded easier than the 50k. Running 7:24 pace is hard. But running all day, like today, isn't really for me. It's hard because it takes so much time and sometimes I get bored, but it's not hard for me to run 25 miles is the morning and then 4-10 more. It is supposed to be- my schedule this month with all the double runs and tons of mileage is supposed to be quite challenging and it is- because it gets so boring. But I had to chide Joel about why I even had to do it. Isn't this supposed to be hard? Why do I have to do it if it isn't even hard? Not that I want to run more! I ran 160 miles in 7 days! I need time in the day to eat, and write this blog, and well, not work at petsmart anymore (wahoo!)
I'm sure it would get very hard after like 8-12 hours or so but keeping going is something I always do, even if it is not quite 7:24 pace.

my other car is my feet

I'm just going to cut right to the chase. I'm kind of tired, just a little bit. It takes a lot of energy for me to write my blog and the last two weeks I have run 264 miles.
For awhile it was kind of necessary because my car wasn't running, it needs breaks and has broken parts way more often than I do. It wasn't really a big deal for me because I would just run to work, and home, and wherever else I need to go and then some, and then a LOT. And time tends to go by when you're running late to work quite fast unlike some long runs, which shall remain anonymous.
My car is running now but that doesn't mean I'm not. Easy days are now days when you only have to run 15 miles. A day when you get done running and it is still daylight- that's a rarity. I used to think that Bellingham had lots of trails but not anymore, Bellingham is not big enough for me.
One day a week I do hills. Usually whatever day I have to work all daylight hours. Sounds like a good day for a 3 and 1/2 hour run up Galbraith! Since I refuse to run on Galbraith in the dark, because it is creepy!, we had to improvise a route that was close to my work and not creepy. And we got the James St hill which if you want a description of just scroll down to my blog about the 15k Trail Championships in May and you'll get a nice visual too. After running up that 5 or 6 times I am pretty hilled out and run home, the long way home, the very long way, the so far out of your way you might not even be able to call it running home way home.
Last Wednesday I got lost. It was around 4:30 in the afternoon so pitch black and I ended up on some dark shoulderless road that didn't turn into the nice sidewalked, street lamped street near my house as I thought but instead ran into Canada or something. I had my phone since I was running from work so I called Jim and asked him how I should run home but got some unintentional misdirections, which was ok, I figured it out, but Jim didnt know that so he drove around looking for me for an hour trying to save me from running till morning. Something Joel probably wouldn't do, and probably would encourage actually now that I think about it. (Mental note- be mad at Joel about last Wednesday.)
The bright side was I only had to do one "workout" last week. The down side was that since I only did one workout I had to suffer enough for three, or seven. Starting with a 25k on the track at goal 50k pace. Ok, I told myself, this wont be so hard because you are doing the easy part of the 50k- the beginning, before you die! Uh oh, because nothing over a few laps is ever easy for me on the track, how bout 62.5 laps, hello, so I got to suffer a good long time and be reminded every single second just how far I had left to run, and fell off pace a little bit. Still ran 1:57, goal- 1:55. Afterward I got to walk half a lap! Such fun, (but apparently I walk too slow according to someone with a stopwatch who wishes he had a megaphone.)
Then I only had to run 3 mile repeats in 6:58-7 minutes. Ahh, remember when 3 mile repeats was my entire workout? Awww. Sorry, just having nostalgia for Evergreen. Euw, did I really just type that? Well not for the learning obviously, shudder. Anyway it's not all bad now. Like that evening on the day I ran 18.5 miles of workout, I only had to run 55 minutes after work, yay!
The next day's run was 26 miles, or about 3 hours and 45 minutes. My hamstring was tight and I was so tired the whole time, kept having to lie to myself over and over how much I love running ( which gets exhausting. The lying I mean, for 3 hours and 45 minutes!) it was such great practice for the 24 hour run!
Now as I write this I am only 211 miles away from running 4000 miles this year and I have 12 days left. A few weeks ago I wouldn't think I could do it but now it's in the bag!

Girls on the run

We just finished up Girls on the Run this fall with the Girls on the run 5k. I love being around the girls. They are all so full of positive energy that it makes my day better and they have such an innocent, refreshing perspective on all things. I like every one of the girls very much and I would be hard pressed to find 14 adults that I like.
The girls learn more than just about running- they learn about confidence and just being good people and also they learn through running. Like learning to have goals and how to achieve them and believe in yourself and your friends. How to work together and how to get along.
When you are nine years old a 5k probably seems as long as the 50k seems to me now. They run the 5k at the end of the program and they spray paint their hair and wear stickers and get prizes at halfway and finishing. All of our girls had running buddies so I headed up front and found some girls who didn't have anyone and ran with them. They were two best friends and I was surprised by how fast they were running as they were both very short and tiny. They sprinted and walked, but only for a little bit as they were very competitive and as soon as anyone caught up with them they'd be off sprinting again. On the way back one of the girls was feeling better than her friend and would sprint while the other walked, then walk while the other sprinted to catch up with her, usually getting so tired in the process that she'd have to walk again. I tried to suggest that they run a slow pace together but they were too competitive for that! They held hands though and the girl in front encouraged her friend not to walk anymore until they were done. They were tough girls and ran the rest of the way and finished together holding hands, then said to me- we would have been lost without you.
You do a lot for the girls when you volunteer with them but they do a lot for me. If the kids are around I know I have to be in good role model mode. But it is not like a hardship- they make me want to be better. I know what I would say to any of their problems and it is what I should say to myself about my own problems too, and when I'm around them it's so much easier too. You can learn best by teaching and I can learn to be a good role model for myself when I have to be for others.