A morning cup of running...

This morning while most folks were still snuggled into the warm folds of their beds, my buddy Kristen and I were greating the rising sun in an early morning six miles to get the adrenaline pumping.  No crazy hills or turning down the wrong street type of adventure like last time, just a nice paced out and back on the B&A trail.

I'm not a great morning runner, I think I've mentioned that a gazillion times, but there is always something about having someone making the effort beside you to make it all bearable.  In Kristen's case, our kids are roughly the same age, so that provides endless amusement, but I think this time we spent a good half of the run talking about food.

Yes, food.  While running.  After all, running all those miles means you can eat food.  We talked about the best brunches, the best lunches and the best dinners to be had across Annapolis.  Her favorites, my favorites, new ones to try.  What prompted this line of conversation seemingly incompatible with an activity like running?  We both had plans today that revolved around food - mine was brunch with a group of good friends and hers was dinner with her husband.

Talk of food makes the time go by fast and soon enough we were back at the start.  I wish I could have joined Kristen and her friends for the next ten miles of their morning run, but alas, that brunch at Metropolitan was calling my name. 

Because it was yet another fine day, I'm excited to say that I spent the day with my family down at our house in southern Maryland.  We've recently turned it over from a recent set of renters and were taking inventory and deciding how to spend our summer down there.  We introduced the diva to the neighborhood - the beaches, the private airfield, the stables - before coming home.  An exhausting, but thoroughly fulfilling day.  Happy trails!!!

Stats -
Miles:  6.0
Time:   54:45 (average pace of 9:07 per mile)
Feeling:  Good day, but ended the run with a minor sprain to my right ankle...


 

Racing the falling dusk...

Today I had every intention of running in the morning...before spending the day in appointments at Johns Hopkins for the diva.  Out the door by 6:45am and I could have clocked 10 miles.  That would have helped big time in pushing toward my mini-goal for the week.  Alas, the diva was awake and the spouse wasn't, so no morning run for me.

Instead, I wasn't able to lace up my shoes until about 3:30pm, hitting the B&A Trail by about 3:45pm.  Is it just me or is night coming earlier and earlier?  Yeah, the sun was already well below the trees at 3:45, so I knew I needed to run like the dickens just to clock sevenish miles before 4:45pm (or roughly when it becomes too dark to be out on a trail alone). 

So I did just that...took off at a high speed (high at least for a training run...initially I was hitting 8:10 miles or so) heading north on the trail from the Arnold Station shopping center, determined to go out 3.5 miles and get back before the witching hour.  It was a lonely night on the trail, compared to normal.  Few bikers and even fewer runners taking advantage of the opportunity to get in some exercise just before night.

I'm glad everything felt good and that I had just charged my ipod.  A run with no distraction and something nagging would have made for super boredom....except running past the horse farms.  Those always provide a needed distraction and I still love watching horses do just about anything.

Just as I was coming to the 3.5 mile mark up in Severna Park, I passed a boy pushing his girlfriend on a skateboard and thought to myself, girlfriend, motor yourself.  But I'm too polite to make such comments.

The 3.5 miles back was a bit slower (and I started feeling the hard push on the way out) but was still as strong as the opening miles.  When I returned to my starting point I still had a bit of light left in the air, so grabbed an extra mile before calling it quits and heading to McDonald's for an ice cream cone (I deserved that, right?).

So it wasn't 10 miles, but it wasn't the effort of a slacker either.  With the schedule this week it's going to be tough to hit my mini-goal (hitting 1000 a month early), but I'll find a way to do it, come hell or high water.  Happy trails!!!

Stats -
Miles:  8.12
Time:   1:09:09 (average pace of 8:30 per mile)
Location:  B&A Trail north from Arnold Station
Feeling:  physically good, mentally wish I could have logged 10 miles today

Multitasking mama...

Today I woke up feeling the need for an early run. The temps were going to be good and I know a route that is relayy.tively cool i the morning if the temps are reasonable, even if the humidity isn't...like today (76%).  So after breakfast and a little tricycle practice, the diva and I headed over to the B&A Trail for a few miles...that was the plan.

I refuse, well almost refuse, to run the B&A trail when its hot and humid.  The trail is set between two banks of trees.  When the temperature is semi-okay, the humidity makes its cool under the trees.  When the temp is atrocious, the trees seem to hold in heat that could only be generated in hell...hence my lack of enthusiasm in running the trail on hot days.  Thankfully the temp at 9:15 am today was only about 80 degrees.  Lovely.  Especially since I still have the dreaded Baby Trend jogging stroller instead of the new one.  Thank goodness the B&A trail is straight as a pin.

I started out the run emailing back and forth between my office and another interested party about whether or not we should hold a conference call at 9:45 am or 1:00 pm.  Mind you, while this is all going on I'm jogging and pushing the jogging stroller.  We finally settled on 9:45 and so I kept one eye on the watch and another on the trail. 

Because of the nature of the trail, this would be an out and back run.  The trail was busy on the way out and the little diva got a lot of waves to respond to.  She enjoyed it for about 10-15 minutes before she zonked out so hard I don't think a freight train could have woken her in the stroller.  This was a good thing since I had the call coming up shortly.

The run itself was relatively uneventful...aside from the fact that for the first time I wasn't cursing the stroller the entire way (remember I said the trail was straight, so no worrying about maneuverability), and my hamstrings were sore from the hard run last night.  The call, was pretty good and during an easy enough section of the trail so as not to slow the pace at all...oh yeah, I kept on going during that conference call. And as soon as the call ended, we turned around and headed back toward the car. 

All in all, I would say this was the most successful outing I've had with the old jogging stroller (and thankfully the last beause the new one comes in tomorrow).  Perhaps my weekday runs will have to switch over to the B&A trail....only if mother nature and the weather cooperates. And yeah, while running, and pushing the jogging stroller, and participating on a conference call, I ran about 3/4 of a mile more than I set out to.  Happy trails!!! 

Stats -
Miles:  4.52
Time:   43:15 (average pace of 9:34 per mile)
Location:  B&A Trail
Feeling:  Really sore hamstrings, but otherwise fantastic

Let there be light...

Late Friday night mother nature visited our area and left an unforgettable calling card...winds gusting to 95mph, tons of lightning and ultimately no power.  When I woke up to head out for my run on Saturday morning I thought little of the fact that the power was not yet back on, afterall electricity on the Broadneck Peninsula can be very tempermental.  I figured it would just be a few more hours and then back to normal.  Boy was I wrong and that is why this entry will cover my runs for both Saturday and Sunday (a non-fantastic weekend of running).

As I was saying, Saturday morning the lights were still out but the sun was rising steadily and it was full light out at 6:00am.  I had every intention of putting in some extra miles since I had nothing pressing on the schedule for the day.  Well, I ignored my best running buddy's wise advice...particularly when running first thing in the morning...never head out on a run without reliable access to a restroom or port-o-john within a mile-ish of where you are.  Minus those things, you should have an easy place to jump off the path for a break.  Neither of those are along my typical 5-8 mile running route near home.  It makes for a long, slow run.  Lesson learned.  That less than pleasant experience aside, I'm sure I did amuse several cars that passed as I did my "OMG that was so gross, disgusting and I hate snakes more than a root canal with no novocaine" dance as I trotted passed a recently beheaded snake on the side of the road.  Man I hate those things dead or alive.  The run, however bad, also gave me the opportunity to assess the storm damage in the local area.  And no, the lights did not come back on at any time during Saturday.  Lights aren't bad to lose once in a while, but air conditioning is during 100 degree days.  It was steaming in the house as we cleaned like fiends before our upcoming  trip.

Sunday was a bit of a different experience.  After more than three weeks I finally got my weekend running partner back.  We met up at 6:00am at the B&A trail to head out for about an hour.  Brie is still having some IT band issues (only aggravated by our showing at North Face at the beginning of June) so the goal was to get in some miles without injury.  We went for a jog 5 minutes, walk 1 pace to keep from over stressing Brie's leg (she's got a triathlon coming up and we want her in tip top shape!)  It was a nice steady jog that was VERY conducive to catching up on personal gossip and all the important happenings.  We got turned around a little earlier than planned, though, when a tree blocked the whole path.  The tree we would have climbed around if there hadn't also been wires tangled up in  the tree.  Why tempt fate?  So we turned it around, jogged back to the cars and headed into town for coffee at City Dock.  I've missed my mornings with Brie.

The weekend continued with super hot temps throughout Sunday, but thankfully our power came back on late Sunday morning.  I love air conditioning almost as much as I love running.  All other things aside, I did hit 550 miles by the end of the weekend (not quite the end of the month...missed it by one day but still).  Now let's bring these temps back to normal (or at least remotely tolerable) so that I can get in another 15-20 miles before jumping on an airplane on Friday afternoon for a great two week journey.  Happy trails!!!

Stats -
Miles:  11.95
Time:   1:58:12 (the average was around 9:50ish, but don't know for certain)
Location:  Broadneck Peninsula (Saturday) & B&A Trail (Sunday)
Feeling:  I've definitely had better, but all the running related muscles were working alright