Keeping up...

There are only so many hours in the day...and by the time I find at least one for myself, I'm just about passed out on my bed.  That's what it's like trying to find time to blog.  Oh well, at least I can get the runs in...I can catch up on the blogging of the runs later.  That's why I'm writing about two runs today - yesterday and today.

Yesterday can be summed up with one word....HOT!  Maryland has been under heat advisories for the last few days, and I can't seem to get up early enough to beat my early riser for a run that doesn't occur at 4am.  After nearly killing myself with the heat on Wednesday's run, I promised to limit to just a couple miles.  That's enough to help get my body back into the groove of running on the pavement every day.  So, prepped to sweat my rear end off, I headed up to run the cloverleaf at Chesapeake Preserve for this one.  I like running through that neighborhood, though admittedly there are no trees to provide shade.  It wasn't bad, but I was dripping for the rest of the day.

Today was equally hot and I needed to put in a good run, so I headed back inside to the dreadmill at the gym over at the Naval Station.  Ahhh, they had the air on just right for a good several miles.  If I hadn't started to get bored looking at the wall, I probably good have run for an hour.  Alas, the wall can only offer so much entertainment and so I called it quits at 4 miles and then rowed for a bit.  On my way back out, my car was streaked by one of the biggest red foxes I've seen in this area.  At any rate, I'm proud of the running I've been able to accomplish with the change in my life. 

So, as I head into our second weekend at home with the little one (and am anxiously looking forward to getting back in the groove with my fave running partner), this will be my last midweek nap time run.  Next week we'll be trying something new.  Happy trails!!!

Thursday Stats -
Miles:  2.52
Time:   21:22 (average pace of 8:28 per mile)
Location:  Bay Head to Chesapeake Preserve
Feeling:  Hot, sweaty, a little tight

Friday Stats -
Miles:  4.01
Time:   33:41 (average pace of 8:24 per mile)
Location:  Fitness Center at Naval Support Activity Annapolis
Feeling:  comfortable...finally

Building a routine...

The last couple weeks has been anything but usual for me.  I'm spending a lot of time playing with my new daughter and less time resting...that makes for one tired mama.  (To all my mom friends out there, I'm sorry if I ever had complained about you being tired.)  So what does all this mean for running?  It means I have to find a new groove, a new routine, that works for me, work, and more importantly my daughter.  In no way does this change my running goals.  They are very important to me and my physical and emotional health.  So 1000 miles...I'm still staring you down and on target to hit the mark a whole month early. 


Today I logged another nap time run.  Almost as soon as my little girl was sound asleep I tied on those running shoes and hit the pavement.  It was a tough one.  I've not done a lot of outdoors running this month (again, the dreadmill was the machine of choice in China) so I've got to get my lungs used to running in the humidity and pollen again.  To that end, I probably went out to hard and fast today for what I had hoped would be a six mile run, but ended up as a five and a half miler.  Oh well, close enough.

I took off in the usual "at home" direction.  I don't normally run at home in the middle of the day, so how was I to know my route is nothing but blazing sun at noon?  It's shady all other times.  Also, the smell of that dead deer from June is back.  Ewwww.  But hopefully this is the start of getting everything back in working order for the road.  August and September are busy racing months for me...October and November also for that matter...so just a couple weeks left to make sure I'm still in fine racing shape.

On another matter, the nap time run will only work as long as I've got Jay home to monitor the house.  That ends Monday.  So, we're going to have to get that jogging stroller in good working order by next week.  Happy trails!!!

Stats:
Miles:  5.4
Time:   47:24 (average pace of 8:46 per mile...slow)
Location:  Bay Head, Log Inn
Feeling:  sluggish and hot

Mom on the run...

Yuexiu Park with the latest family addition.  It was one of
the greatest moments of my life to bring her into the
family.  Perhaps someday she'll be a runner too.

It's been two weeks since my last post, but that does not mean that I've been resting.  No siree.  This has been one super active woman, and though today was the first time since leaving for China that I put hard pavement under my running shoes, I did manage to log more than 35 miles while I was overseas (which is impressive - if I may say so - because I hate jogging on the dreadmill for any length of time).  I'm just now blogging, however, because I did not take a laptop with me and it cost almost $10 to use the hotel computers for twenty minutes.  I quickly decided I would lump all the workouts together once I got home.  So here's a short recap of how things went and I'll finish up with today's run.

Proof that those were treadmill miles.

Two extremely short weeks ago my husband and I boarded a plane to China to adopt our daughter.  We spent the whole two weeks in the city of Guangzhou in Guangdong province, which is very near Hong Kong.  That means tropical, which means SUPER steamy.  In fact, most days we were there the "feels like" temperature exceeded 100.  That is not conducive to running and surviving (though I did see many Chinese who seemed to survive running in it..more power to them) so I relegated myself to the China Hotel fitness center for my two weeks of running.  At least those are the only miles I counted.  We actually walked all over the city and so I probably logged several more actual miles in the blistering heat...but oh well.  I can hardly complain because it was one of the most special times of my life, and, oh yeah I crossed another milestone - 60% of my goal in the books! :)

China Hotel pool

Guangzhou Zoo

So along with logging the treadmill miles (done mostly during nap time or before my husband and daughter were awake), we spent a lot of time at the pool (my daughter loves the pool), walking through Yuexiu and Liuhua Lake Parks, through the zoo and around random neighborhoods.  We exercised ourselves and got to know each other as a family.


Fast forward after two days of rest between the trip and my next run and we come to today.  I wasn't looking to break any land speed records or log a gazillion miles.  I just wanted to feel the pavement, get out of my head and relax for a few minutes during nap time (both my daughter and my husband).  So I tied up my shoes and just headed out to stretch my legs and enjoy.  It felt good and I'm looking forward to my next run...hopefully with the jogging stroller once we get the tires pumped up and ready to go.  Happy trails!!!

Stats (only today's are below...while in China I logged 35.55 miles)
Miles:  4.05
Time:   35:00 (average pace of 8:38 per mile)
Location:  Bay Head to Log Inn
Feeling:  Nice and smooth, a little tight in the knees but that's par for the course after long flights