Hot weather walk

It was 90+ degrees last night and super humid so Brian & I decided to walk at VF instead of running. I'm not sure that was the best decision because there was a surprising amount of wind along the trail and we saw more runners than we usually do in that kind of weather.

Either way, I got 5.5 miles under my belt. I hope to get in at least one real run this week but tonight I need to meet the cable guy so I probably can't do it tonight and tomorrow we're supposed to get a ton of serious thunderstorms. I think I might have to actually go to the gym. Yuck!

Sunday - Our first PA hike in years

On Sunday Brian and I went up to Green Lane park to do some easy walking and hiking as the first step in our training for the Megatransect. On a scale of 1-10 in terms of difficult hiking this was like a 1. There was one section that might be called a 2. But it was rocky with roots and uneven terrain so it was a good way to get back into the swing of things without getting too far away from home.

We started the day easy with a casual walk on the Perkiomen and covered about 5 miles. Then we had a picnic before moving to the part of the park with trails. The map called the round trip on the trail 6 miles but I'd be kind of surprised if it was really that far.

Overall, it was a nice day out, we got some good slow miles under our belts and I learned that I absolutely need new trail shoes for this race because I got an icky blister on my heel from my trusty Merrells. I love those shoes and they've taken me to a lot of cool places but they have had it.

I'm frustrated that none of those miles counted towards my Nike challenges. I really wish that you could set it to track walks or runs so a long walk/hike would count but wouldn't totally tank your average pace. Then again, why do I really care about the average pace? It's true considering that I do quite a mix of walking/hiking and running and will continue to have this type of mix through September. I'm really going to have to think about this because I look lame having only a 7 mile weekend when I really did more like 17.

Update on Monday morning:

I can't believe it but that lame hike actually made me sore! The back of my heel -- I guess it's the achellies tendon area. It's not awful but it's new and it's gotta be from the hiking. Very interesting.

Brian is considering doing the Baltimore Marathon 2 weeks after the Mega. Not sure if that's such a good idea but I hope he decides to do it so I can run the half there!

Saturday Run w/PhillyFit

Saturday was just the most perfect day to run. It was cool, there was no humidity, it was just great.

We ran for 7 miles out on the Perkiomen and according to Nike+ we came in at an even 10:00 pace for the day. I think that's off a bit since it gave us credit for 7.33 miles when it probably wasn't quite that far. Still, I think we were at or below 10:30 and for 7 miles that's pretty good for me.

What's perplexing is that my friend and I were running pretty solidly and while we were chatting we weren't going slow enough to have a regular conversation. Still, we were left in the dust by the majority of the red group (10 min pace and slower) and they finished a few minutes ahead of us even though we all started at the same time. The real mystery is that one of the guys running in the lead pack of runners said his Garmin gave a pace of 10:40. There is no way they could have been running slower than us and finished so far ahead of us. And while my Nike+ might not be perfectly accurate it's not a minute off the pace.

I think both of our devices are inaccurate but I'm still puzzled by how things turned out. I don't know why I care. Even if the Nike+ is wrong, it's always rating me against the same calibration scale so if I'm improving on Nike+ I'm improving for real.

Another Virtual Half Marathon!

This one is the Nike+ Women's Half Marathon where they will give a Tiffany & Co. keychain and a tech t-shirt to anybody who registers (and pays an entry fee) and then completes a half-marathon using their Nike+ on October 21, 2007.

I love it! It's called Run Together.


In other news, I walked last night instead of running. Tonight I'll probably do nothing and then I have 7 on the schedule tomorrow morning.

Evening Run

I skipped my run on Tuesday because it was 90 degrees and looking like a thunderstorm. I went out for dinner with my Mom and sisters instead. That was fun but not good for my calorie count -- especially when we added a trip to the ice cream place on after dinner.

Last night I was hoping to hit the trail at Valley Forge and was about 5 minutes from the park when I got a call from my sister (who is staying at my house this week) to tell me that I left my running clothes at home. This was very bad news since the weather was just PERFECT for running last night.

Luckily it was the longest day of the year so we had plenty of time to detour back home, grab some dinner, get changed and still get to the trail for about a 6.5 mile run before dark.

It was a really good run. Easy walking warmup for about a mile, then slowish walking and chatting until I felt good and my legs took me out a little ahead of Brian. I had some fast stretches along the way and kind of lost my edge in the last half of the run but I tried my best to hang in there and keep on running and as you can see from the Nike+ chart I did a pretty good job of staying steady. My average pace for the whole run was 10:48 and considering that I walked more than the first mile I think that's pretty good effort.

I'm at 340 miles for the year according to Nike+. I know I'm really 13 miles more (because of the half marathon I ran when the Nike foot pod didn't work) but I have to go by what the computer says. I'm in a challenge to run 1001 miles in the year. I'm obviously off the pace but it's not as bad as it could be, especially since I hope (and expect) my miles to really increase, especially in the fall when I start to prepare for Goofy. I really want to hit that goal even though it doesn't mean a thing.

Weekend Run

PhillyFit met on Saturday morning for a 6 mile run. Brian & I decided to head out early and we got in a nice warm-up walk of about a mile and a half and then about 3/4 mile running back towards the group meeting spot before we ran into the runner's heading out. I really liked that chance to warm up slowly and it made for a really good outing for me.

Those first two sets wound up at about 8.5 miles long and during the 7 mile segment I averaged a 10:18 pace which is really pretty good for me.

Following that run, after rehydrating and chatting with the group for awhile we decided to head out for a couple more miles with my sister (who is training for Baltimore) and needed a couple extra miles. What started out as a short stroll turned into a 5+ mile pretty decently paced walk.

Overall, it was about a 13 mile day. Really very good overall.

I wore this new skirt in yitro print and it felt great with a pair of cheapo Target compression shorts underneath. The flaw is that my water belt kind of rubbed some spots the wrong way so it kind of screwed up the fabric. I'm surprised, but I still really like the skirt.

Sunday I had great intentions to ride my bike and do a run (my first brick!) but I never got around to it because I was getting my house in order for my houseguests. (Sister and nephew visiting for a week or so.)

Other exciting news is that we made our plans for the Disney marathon and we'll be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge on our trip. I can't wait for January!

Bald Eagle Mountain Megatransect

I did it! I signed us up for this adventure. According to the website the Megatransect is a 25 mile wilderness hike/run that is second to none! It's not a race, it's a personal challenge. According to their website:

"The Megatransect is designed to appeal to the hard-core trail runner, dedicated hiker or those reasonably fit persons out for a real challenge. You will be given 11.5 hours to complete the course. Runners' times will from 3.75 to 6.5 hours. Hikers are likely to take 6 to 9.5 hours. Those that do a bit of jogging in the easy sections should be somewhere in the middle. Although timed, the Megatransect should be considered more of a personal challenge rather than a race."

We're not trail runners so we'll be doing this just as a timed hike. The course is open for 11.5 hours and I think we're going to need most of them. It starts off with an oatmeal breakfast and ends with a pig roast and we even get commemorative coffee mugs.

I love everything I've read about this event except the part where it says to watch out for rattlesnakes. I hope it's chilly day and not a muggy nightmare.

Get a load of those rocks!!

We have until September 29 to get ready for this. That's 15 weeks away. It's going to be interesting getting in my training for New York and getting ready for this -- I think it's going to really help prep me for the back to back days of the Goofy Challenge.

Celebrating Entry with a Day off!

I blew off my first run after getting into New York. We were having thunderstorms and I didn't even think about going to the gym. I'm not sure why I didn't.

Anyway, no run yesterday. I have my stuff with me today, so maybe I'll run tonight as long as the weather cooperates. I have to come up with a training plan. This is one of my favorite parts of the whole marathon experience -- filling in the calendar with all my long runs and figuring out who to arrange my life around them.

It'll be more complicated this time since we're going to have to plan some long hikes too so that we can get ready for the Megatransect. I guess the back to back long workouts will help me get in gear for the Goofy Challenge in January.

Nike+ Thing

I just posted a widget so that you can see my last 5 Nike+ runs.

The graph that shows is my most recent run and if you click on the tiny little gray arrow to the left of the green graph line you can scroll back to the previous run.

Pretty nifty!

New York, New York!

I got into New York again! I am 2 for 2.

My sister got in too -- which is also good news.

The bad news: my husband didn't get in.

I feel just awful about that because I really want him to experience the whole race. It's not fair that we're getting 2nd chances before he even gets his first chance.

I might defer so that we can run a different race together.

This is such a different feeling from last year when I was jumping out of my skin. Now I'm sad about Brian and worried that I won't like it as much as last time if I do run.

Worldwide Half Marathon

I just signed up for this while I'm anxiously awaiting the results of the New York Lottery. It's driving me CRAZY not to have a real marathon goal for the fall. I'll either have a half-marathon training run or I'll sign up to run the half at Baltimore to participate. I think I'm going to e-mail the Phedippidations guy and get the logo so I can have a t-shirt made for myself at Running Banana.

I've been doing a mix of running and walking in the past few weeks. Partly because I was burned out and partly because I've been a little under the weather and running was a little too difficult for a couple of weeks. I think I'm getting back on track now though -- just in time for the high temps and humidity! Lucky me!

We're considering doing the Bald Eagle Mountain Megatransect in September, which will be a fun (maybe) alternative to the kinds of races we typically do. I think I can pull that off and still run Philadelphia or New York in November just as long as I don't get a rattlesnake bite during the hike.

I think I failed to post any comments here about the Broad Street Run back in May. I was in a big snit because my posted time didn't match my watch because of a chip malfunction. They recently updated their site so now my real time shows up! yay! I get credit for my 1:43 run!