Another rainy Wednesday

8ish miles, 1:14:45. It was a great night to run after the rain, although a little humid. It's so weird that it's getting dark at 8 pm nowadays.

Still "too fast," whatever that means

...oh yeah, it means if I don't learn to slow myself down I'll wear myself out too soon. Crap. Anyway, 3.85 miles, 33:34.

Awesome

Sixteen miles, 2:39:11. And, to top that, we were fast on the way back. Anyway, that's from my house almost to Museum Campus. Holy crap, so weird to run up toward the Field Museum. The run was so much better than last weekend; everyone was looking good, feeling good.

Awesome.

Getting back in the swing

7.85 miles in 1:13:04. I was about five minutes fast. My pacing is getting better, but is still really a weak point. My friend told me that for every minute you run fast in the beginning, you make up for it with four minutes slower in the end. While the numbers are pretty solidly old-wive's-taley, the idea rings true. Gotta work on pacing.

Oh, this was also the longest I've ever run on my own. Luckily that's not the longest, period, but still kinda cool to think about. Also, my iPod died halfway through, so it kinda a sinking ship.

New shoes good, old pains bad

Four miles, forty minutes. Still not feeling so hot. Man, it's tough getting back into it after two weeks of no running!

In the positive column, the new kicks run pretty smooth. Very few breaking-in pains. Nice.

Vroom-vroom!

It's about that time: New-shoes O'Clock. Who knew Puma made reputable running shoes? They fit like a dream.

Well, okay...

One of my pace leaders sent out an email to all of us today that basically said "yesterday was hot and sucked for everyone". He said he skipped a mile, took a breather, and still finished 10 minutes after everyone, feeling like crap. He reminded us that now is the time to start hydrating days before a run.

Right. Duh. I was pretty dehydrated yesterday. Still, I sucked. I'll be better next Saturday at the 16-miler!

Duh-saster.

Yikes. Is all I can say.

My 15-miler was just awful. In retrospect, I'm not sure why I thought jumping in after two weeks of no running was a great idea. I definitely walked more of the run than I care to admit.

Yikes.

All Downhill From Here

13.4 miles! Today was the longest I've ever run! Also, it was a little more than half a marathon. We finished in 2:16:43, which is pretty darn close to my goal split-time of 2:11.

One of my running mates said that she felt a little unsure after completing the run. I admit, I too was feeling a little sore and certainly didn't want to do another 13, but I gotta tell you: I felt confident. I have 10 weeks of training ahead of me and I feel pretty solid.

Oh, right, except for my darn ankle. I've decided to take 7-12 days off just to give it a solid chance to calm down. I'd hate to have to take that kind of time off in a month from now when my mileage will be half again what it is now.