Early rising

Got 15 in this morning by running in the wee hours. The moonlight was bright and the lights twinkled off the ocean as I jogged on by. Pace ~ 8:40 per mile.

A beautiful 20 miles

Ran with Mike & Jon this morning for 20 miles of pleasant conversation and easy pace. It was Mike's last long run before Boston. Jon will be running Burlington in May. Me? A sorry excuse for a runner. Just glad to be included in the weekly fun.

Food was the topic of choice from mile 2 on. A relative of Jon's owns the Panadero Bakery in Burlington and the squeeze is on for a sponsorship. We were trying out possible slogans to put on Jon's singlet:

Panadero Bakery - Check out my buns!

Submit your suggestions here and I'll pass them along.



Upcoming events: Marc & I head to Boston to watch the Women's Trials and become "Team Canada" to help Mike with his 9th BAA marathon.


20 miles @ 2:56:xx ~ 8:50 pace. 141 HR.

More Snow

Caught the beginning of another snowfall this morning. Ran 75 minutes @ 150HR and no where near as fast as I used to. Detrained? Starting again. 9.8 miles.

Spring continues with light snow

Just a dusting I am told. Tried to keep the HR low this morning. This was difficult in the strong southerly wind. 62 minutes @ 138 HR. ~7 miles.

Long Alone

Since it's Easter tomorrow I ran my 20 in town today. Four laps of a 5 mile course, I felt pretty good throughout. I tried to keep the pace at or below 8 min/mile for each lap. The hilly nature of the course kept my heart rate pretty high - that and my reduced fitness from weeks of struggle.

The wind was whipping out of the northwest but luckily I wasn't in the headwind for any length of time at once. On the other hand, I wasn't out of the wind for any length of time either.

One of the nice things about running a little faster than I normally would for a long run is it can shorten the time of the run significantly. And being done sooner fit the bill today as it was rather chilly.

I took yesterday off as the lack of sleep caught up with me and I needed a full night's rest. That made today's run that much easier as I felt rested. Not a bad week shaping up considering my recent wallowing. Hopefully this is the corner and I've turned it.

20 miles @ 7:41 pace 159 HR.

Not as bad as I thought it would be

The ice storm was mostly rain last night. In town roads were icy and after 3 miles I chose the highway which was clear for the most part. Driving rain made the run a soaker but I got through it ok.

12 miles @ 8:18 pace. 141 HR.

One good, two bad

Not in that order. Monday and Tuesday were slogs / bonks 12 & 10 miles respectively. Today was fun. 5x800 w/800 jog. All under control. warmup / cooldown. 15.2 miles.

Warding off Zero

I hadn't realized it with the awful week that just passed, but I had not put one mile in the log. Today, I was lucky to get out for 10 miles in the warm Spring-like weather. It took 5 miles to warm up but the 2nd half felt pretty good.

Flu Blues

I don't have the flu, but the kids do and that's a problem.

That leaves me here with the sick children and no way to run or even get to work. I feel like it's all piling up. My turn to be ill is just around the corner, no doubt. What this means for my running, which has been stop and go lately, I don't want to even get into.

But on a positive note, I have just uncovered the best website on the internet ever. Why these things take me so long to find I don't know. But if you haven't checked out LibraryThing, you are missing out! It will take you days and days to navigate the labyrinth of this exciting work. Once you catalog your first book on the site you will be hooked! (At least I was).

A little commiseration goes a long way

The continuous winter storms raging through the area has left very brief periods of clear running and lots of opportunities for staying home. The commute has never been so bad and the roads are now chewed up beyond recognition. I can't take this alone.

So I called Marc.

He's in the same boat. Working hard, running daily, then it just all falls apart like asphalt frozen over for 18th time. We sympathized with each other and took heart that at some point, some day, maybe next week, this will all stop.

The effect was I got up and took advantage of this morning's window of clear skies to run 7 miles. My heart rate tells on me but as long as I can slow the slide and ride out this Winter That Will Not Die.

Tonight: Becoming cloudy with rain
Saturday: Rain and freezing rain
Saturday Night: rain...freezing rain and snow
Sunday: Snow likely

7 miles @ 7:19 pace. 158 HR.

Spring Day

Forty degrees with a stiff southwesterly breeze. The kind of weather melts are made of.

7 miles easy @ 8:23 pace. 143 HR.