The best intentions...

I had big plans this weekend.  I was in Ohio for a family funeral, with lots of unscheduled time on my hands before the funeral Saturday and Sunday before I planned to return home.  I was going to run 10 or so miles on each day.  Yep, the best of intentions always have a way of turning into the worst executed plans out there.

Saturday I woke up to a light, beautiful snow falling.  If you've read my blog in the past, you know I love running in this type of snow.  I was stoked.  And then I looked at the temperature (much lower than Maryland) and thought to myself - "I can leave earlier Sunday and run super long at home."

Sunday, the diva and I got on the road as planned....which was awesome because I was going to run 15ish miles upon returning home.  All was going well until we hit a little snag at the PA/MD border when the diva got (a) car sick and then (b) played on my sympathies and begged for chocolate milk.  SO...I promised to go to the next McDonald's and buy her a chocolate milk.  Only problem?  The next McDonald's had a big indoor playground and she had been sitting in her carseat quietly for almost 4 hours.  Okay, a few minutes on the playground won't hurt...but 30 minutes later I knew my plans were on the rocks.

Back in the car I cut a deal with the diva.  She could play in her playroom once we got home for as long as it took me to run 10 miles on the treadmill.  She agreed and all was at least sort of on track. 

Then we got home and I told my husband I was running to the commissary and then I'd be back to take Ainsleigh down to the playroom.  Surprise!  He said he would stay with Ainsleigh and play while I shop and then get in a 5 mile run out at Greenbury Point so I only had to do 5 miles on the treadmill.  So I threw on the running clothes and headed out. 

Now, I'm standing at my car, ready to head down to the Greenbury Point trail and the ipod is dead.  Great...can nothing swing in my favor today?  Life goes on.  At least the Garmin wasn't dead...I'm not sure life goes on when that happens.

If you remember this afternoon, you know the temperature was nice (in the upper 30s) and the air was calm.  I basically had the road to myself, well me and a few random die hard golfers out for 18 holes on a brisk winter Sunday who criss crossed the road from hole to hole.  But then it was on my own as I passed the Brigade Sports Complex.  Me, my feet and my thoughts.  A great way to spend an hour.

As I got down near the point and took in the bare masts at the Mill Creek marina, I was hitting my stride.  I know I had a good brainstorm around this time, but for the life of me its gone now.  The best part of the Greenbury Point run, is undoubtedly the bay views.  I love this stretch of landing hugging the shore with the Bay Bridge in the distance.  There's something about it that puts a spring in your step and helps you maintain your pace and motivation when that REALLY nasty head wind hits you on the North heading section of the trail. 

Being a Sunday (with no rain falling from the sky) there were a lot of walkers out on the trail.  I gotta say, the old man with his dog who took the time to say "looking good" as I beared down on the wind and pushed forward, was just the cheering I needed.  It's also great to have a cheering section where you least expect it.

So as I'm headed back toward the car, I look at my watch.  I'm bearing down on about 6 miles if I go straight back, but what the heck?  My legs are good, I've been out for less than an hour and surely the husband and diva can survive another 10-15 minutes without me, so I decide to head up to Providence to put me at a good 7 mile run.  I like the neighborhood.  It's not busy and its got some small hills to stretch and push your legs.  Plus I like the houses. 

Anyway, I hit the 7 mile mark (just over) when I returned to my car and was looking forward to finishing up with only 3 miles to go on the treadmill.  Why do you ask, then, did I not get those last 3 miles in?  Yeah, I was soaked to the bone and could NOT heat back up.  I spent the rest of the night shivering to my skeleton in front of a roaring fire that the diva kept calling "too hot." 

Lesson of the story?  Don't wimp out when the temperature looks uncomfortable and don't stop to wash the salt off your car after you just ran 7 miles in sub-40 degree weather without changing into dry clothes first.  Happy trails!!!

Stats -
Miles:  7.03
Time:   1:02:29 (average pace of 8:53 per mile)
Feeling:  my muscle groups were great, the hamstring insert twinges a bit

Trotting for the turkey...

Ah, the holiday season is upon us.  Eating, drinking, being merry, and eating some more, possibly drinking some more.  Yes, I mark the beginning of this season with the first turkey trot I run and don't look back until ringing in the new year.  Today is that day and I'll be starting the season with the Naval Support Activity Annapolis MWR Turkey Trot 5k...it also marks the first time running with Brie since the end of September.

I headed over to Greenbury Point a little early to get in a couple extra miles (trying to tick away at that goal as much as possible).  Eh, hold on, first I had to turn around (I was only a mile from home) and head back home to grab the tire pump (really just grabbed the whole running stroller) because Brie's was't working.  Then I headed to Greenbury Point.

I was surprised to see the number of runners already gathering when I arrived around 8:20am.  Usually these races are very small so I am happy they are finally getting the word out, though that doesn't help me in my quest to finally win one of their great door prizes.  But I disgress....since I was a little later than intentioned, I decided I would just run a mile and a half or so.  I tend to forget how long the Greenbury Point trail is. 

So, at 8:30ish, I hit the trail at a nice clip...my nicest clip all week, almost back to normal.  And settled in for a pounding warm up against the head winds coming off the bay.  Yowzer, were they something.  As I approached the "short cut" route, I looked at my watch and realized that if I wanted to catch up with Brie before the run, that I couldn't take the whole path.  So I headed back and screeched into the parking lot at about 8:45am in time to see Brie just getting the jogging stroller out of her vehicle. 

We pumped up her tires, with a little help from her little one, made a last trip to the restroom and headed to the starting line.  Sort of.  We actually missed the start, but who cares, its a fun run.  Once we had the jogging stroller situated, we headed out onto the course.  Since we missed the start, we didn't feel compelled to back track that .05 miles to the actual starting line and just began from where we were.

While catching up on the latest and greatest news, we noticed that runners were already doubling back toward the starting line which would mean these guys were super super (like world record) fast unless they changed up the 5k course some.  And yes, they did.  Rather than going all the way up Greenbury Point Road and turning around at Kincaid, we looped back to the trail and finished up there.  The wind was still brisk, but it was a beautiful day out on the bay...and I love the Bay Bridge.  We even passed a few runners. 

All was good until we rounded to the finish line.  Brie's little one wanted to race the last little bit, so we stopped, got him out of the stroller and waited for him to say "go."  Not five feet after the last little burst, the poor guy trip, fell and broke open his lip on the pavement.  He's a tough one though and we were soon eating the turkey sandwiches, waiting to learn that once again we didn't win the random prize drawings.

In all, it was another fun event, with great folks and the opportunity to exercise.  Who can complain about that?  It also meant a great start to a fun filled day of volunteering, tailgating and Navy football.  Happy trails!!!

Stats -
Miles:  4.93
Time:   48:23 (average pace of 9:49)
Location:  NSA Annapolis, Greenbury Point
Feeling:  finally getting back on track

Danger Will Robinson....

Until I get completely caught up, I'm skipping the write ups about treadmill runs.  They can be boring (unless I happen to catch some show like Pregnant and Didn't Know It).  Let's just say, I did one on Wednesday (stats below) and move on.

Today was relatively  mild in the morning, but growing hot by the afternoon, so I was dressed for running when I took the diva to school.  I got a little side tracked and by the time I was set to run it was raining outside.  Too bad, I've got to run.  So I decided to hit the treadmill...blah.

On my way over to the gym I thought to myself "it's not raining hard, and I actually like running in the rain, so what the heck."  I detoured over to Greenbury Point to get in four to five miles.  After parking my car, getting the satellite feed on my Garmin set, and adjusting my cap (don't like rain in my eyes) I set off toward the trail.  I ran into an unfortunate sign at the head of the trail, which caused me to have to change my proposed route for the run.

So, I flipped around and was going to head up through the golf course after the loop down by the Mill Creek marina.  I got as far as the Nature Center when I decided to try the trail behind the center.  I'd never run it and thought it may be interesting.  It was narrow and over run with weeds.  Since I was running alone, I thought it might not be wise to get too far down the trail and risk injury, so headed back. 

I noticed that the Nature Center entrance to the Greenbury Point trail did not have the live fire sign up, and took my chances heading down that path.  At this point my head cold started to catch up with me.  On top of the rain, I was sweaty and my skin was turning red.  I also couldn't catch my breath.  Perhaps the workout was a bad idea when I have such a bad cold going on.  When will I learn my lesson?

Anyway, I finished the trail.  It wasn't pretty but it wasn't ugly.  I didn't get in four to five miles, but I didn't sit on the couch.  Oh yeah, I also crossed the 75% threshold for meeting my goal for the year, so that is awesome!  While my mileage is low for the week so far, I'll get over the head cold and make it up over the weekend.  Happy trails!!!

Stats (for Wednesday)
Miles:  3.53
Time:   30:03 (average pace of 8:30 per mile)
Location:  Gym at Naval Support Activity Annapolis
Feeling:  my legs aren't bothering me, surprise

Stats (for Thursday)
Miles:  3.14
Time:   27:23 (average pace of 8:43 per mile)
Location:  Greenbury Point
Feeling:  everything aches

Good running fun...

I'm skipping over Thursday's run (treadmill...boring...stats below) and skipping straight to today, September 1...much more exciting.  Today was the Labor Day 10K at Naval Support Activity Annapolis, which Brie and I have planned to run for the past few weeks.  We added to the pleasure with a third runner - a midshipman - who has a lot of enthusiasm and is breaking into more of the longer distance running.

So how did Caroline join the intrepid duo?  I work with Caroline in the age 3-6 Sunday School class at the Naval Academy Chapel.  She has been forced to listen to my race recaps for the past year and last week she indicated she was interested in trying out the longer distance (greater than 5k) running.  Perfect opportunity...come run the Labor Day 10K on the Navy base with Brie and I.  She was in.

So we get to race morning, and par for the course, not everything has gone by the books during the morning, but we're all there before the start of the race.  So, bonus.  Oh yeah, us and the other 13 runners for the race.  Yep, 16 total.  Guess what?  Our chances of winning something increase exponentially.  Woohoo!

Downside to a small race field?  Everyone goes out uber fast.  When  the start was given, we al went out at about a 7 minute/mile pace...uh, not happening for long folks.  We pulled back to about a 8:30ish pace.  Now, on the way over, Caroline indicated she wanted to try to keep up with us during the race as long as possible.  I told her she could probably run much faster than our 8:30 - 9:15 pace.  She wasn't so sure.  Kudos to her for keeping up the whole time.  And for listening to our weekly dish the dirt session.  She may never join us again after that :)  But we hope she will.

Anyway, the course wound up through the golf course, up Providence just a bit and then turned around so we could head back and catch the trail around Greenbury Point.  When we hit the 4 mile mark it became very clear that the race was going to be short of 10k, but who cares, we were having fun.  Ultimately we finished 7, 8 and 9 overall.  First in age 35-39, first in age 30-34 and first in 20-24.  How about them apples :)  So we did't actually win any real prizes (the MWR races are so small they only give first place overall male and female) but we can pretend we rocked it.  And of course, we also didn't walk away with any random prizes either.  Maybe next time.  It was fun regardless and Brie and I were able to share our love of running with a new person.

Now on to rest up a bit for tomorrow's Charm City Run 20-miler with Lara.  It promises to be cooler and the course is a slight downgrade, so I feel pretty good about it.  Happy trails!!!

Stats (for Thursday)
Miles:  4.01
Time:  35:37 (average pace of 8:53 per mile)
Location:  Fitness Center at Naval Support Activity Annapolis
Feeling:  Hamstrings are still tight, trying to make them last

Stats (for Saturday)
Miles:  4.83
Time:   41:30 (average pace of 8:35 per mile)
Location:  Greenbury Point
Feeling:  tight in the hamstrings, just need to hold them together through Sunday

Injuries in motion...

What is an injured athlete supposed to do?  Rest?  Uh, not these ladies.  There are degrees of injury in my book...those where you can't even move and all others.  I have one that falls into the "all others" category, though most may put it in the category that should be rested a few days. 

Back up a second though....it felt great to get back on the road with Brie today.  It's been almost a month since we put in a run together, and now things feel like they are returning to something akin to normal.  Now, let me also tell you how I injured myself - specifically how I ended up with a high ankle sprain in my right ankle and a very mild sprain in my left ankle.  This truly takes talent to do something so stupid.  I wouldn't mind this injury if I had a great tale to tell, but alas I merely miss one of the steps in front of my house on Friday.  Add my challenges to Brie still working through the IT band issue and we make quite a pair.

The run this morning was nice.  We got out early to avoid the heat, though there was no escaping the sweat inducing humidity, and headed through one of our favorite routes at Greenbury Point.  The ground was still moist from the storm last night, but that just makes the trail sections more cushioned for our legs.  So through seven miles, Brie and I caught up on the past few weeks and fell back into old patterns (injuries aside, we're still doing a little walking for Brie's IT band...I need her healthy)...including greeting all the other early morning runners and cyclists out there.  I love it!  These are the types of mornings that I live for.

So why do I mention the injury if I'm still running?  It didn't hurt a bit while I was running.  In fact yesterday it didn't hurt unless I touched it, but as I sit here logging the run I realize it's possibly a little more injured than I had thought and will have to rest it a bit if I plan to be in good shape for the Dog Days 8k next weekend and the River Valley Run 10k the following weekend.  We'll see if I can resist taking out the jogging stroller tomorrow.  Happy trails!!!

Stats -
Miles:  7.17 
Time:   1:12:23 (average pace of 10:05 per mile)
Location:  Greenbury Point, Naval Support Activity Annapolis
Feeling:  Good, more normal

Remembering and celebrating...

Today is Memorial Day.  It is a day for remembering those who sacrificed on behalf of each American so that we may experience freedom and liberty.  We remember those who came before and those who currently serve.  We celebrate with cookouts, parades, wreathlayings and concerts.  Today I celebrated with my own Marine, who spent all of last year deployed in the war zone. 

We started the day together adding a few to the running log and enjoying the views that only Annapolitans can find.  I took Jay out to Greenbury Point...a trail I've blogged about before...for his first run along Mill Creek, Carr Creek and the Severn on this particular path.  It was a great morning.  The temps weren't horrible, the paths were deserted and (atypical of us when running together) we chatted throughout the whole run.  I rather enjoyed kicking off the day in this manner.

Post-run Jay and I hit the shower, then headed off for an early lunch and a couple hours at the pool before I had to head off to the airport for a short trip to Tennessee.  It was a day to be grateful for.  Thank you Jay and thanks to all our service members...yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Stats -
Miles:  6.01
Time:   54:49 (average pace of 9:07 per mile)
Location:  Greenbury Point
Feeling:  happy

Fog so thick you can cut it...

No, the St. Patrick's Day celebrations didn't keep me in bed this morning. What could have kept me in bed, however, was the mist and fog. But it didn't. How could it when I was facing the prospect of a 90 minute chat with one of my favorite running partners, Brie?!

On the plan was a nice long jog around Greenbury Point to enjoy the water views and quiet of a little travelled section of the navy base. Check. That said, the fog was so darn thick you could barely see more than 50 feet in front of our noses. Don't get me wrong, this didn't diminish the quality of the run, the quality of the company, or the quality of the quiet. In fact, when we got to the Possum Point fishing area, we stopped for a minute to hear nothing but the water lapping against the bulkhead and the birds chirping somewhere nearby but unseen due to the fog. What I wasn't prepared for was how, all of a sudden out of the fog, the radio towers emerged as if they jumped up from the ground. That's how thick the fog was.

We did run into a few other joggers and walkers along the way. It was nice to see them out on a quiet Sunday morning. Some more energetic than others. I was thoroughly impressed by this one gentleman, probably in his late 50's and nearing retirement from his military career. While Brie and I were cruising along the Nature Center loop out on the point this gentleman passed us not once, not twice, but three times....and we weren't going particularly slow. Everytime he passed us he would say "looking strong ladies." I wanted to say "uh, perhaps, but dude you are smoking us." Anyway, I couldn't think of a better way to get in a great jog. Thanks again to Brie, who not only is a great running partner and friend, but helped me log another 25+ mile week! Happy trails!!!

Stats -
Miles: 9.61
Time: 1:31:10 (average pace of 9:29 per mile...Brie's watch said 1:27, so we may have been going a bit faster because my Garmin didn't stop a couple times when we had to pause)
Location: Greenbury Point, Naval Support Activity Annapolis
Feeling: Loving life