Wednesday

19 laps, 2:3 minute run/walk ratio, 32:55 minutes

It was a bit of a slow run today, but I felt good and just took it easy. I feel good after my 23-mile run. My back was sore all day Monday (not good for driving home), but was fine yesterday. And today I'm completely ready to go again! Now I've got two weeks to recuperate with 8 or 10 mile runs, before the 26-miler. The marathon is getting closer!

Week 20: Twenty-three miles

6:45 hours, 1:3 minute run/walk ratio

What a fabulous run! Man, I miss being able to run in Golden Gate Park, or, in fact, any park. The run just zoomed by. The running paths are smooth and easy, and the scenery is gorgeous, with trees and bushes and flowers and lots of wildlife. I even saw a coyote! Possibly two coyotes, or else the same one twice. There were water fountains and bathrooms all along the way. The weather was perfect, sunny but with a cool breeze. Probably no more than 70 F all day. I'd forgotten to bring my hoodie for the morning, but turns out I didn't need it. It was a bit brisk when I started at about 7:50 am, but I warmed up almost immediately and wasn't ever cold.

I never got really tired. My legs were somewhat sore by the end, and I'm sure I wasn't going as fast as I was when I started, but I didn't slow down too much. Kept up my run/walk intervals the whole way.

I started out at JFK Dr and Great Highway, by the windmill, and ran down JFK to the cutoff that goes diagonally across to MLK Jr Dr, then went up MLK to the other end, and back up JFK, with one loop around Stow Lake. I think that was about 8.5 miles. Then I ran down Great Highway to Sloat and back, which I think was about 5 miles. Finally, I repeated the MLK – JFK loop around the park, with two times around Stow Lake for a total of about 9.5 miles. If I estimated correctly, that made 23 miles altogether. That would be an average of about 17.6 minutes/mile, which is about right, considering all the many bathroom stops I made. I also stopped at the refreshment stand at Stow Lake after I'd finished my final laps around the lake for an ice cream sandwich. Very tasty and good for a final boost for my last few miles. Too bad you can't bring ice cream along with you on a marathon!

The only slight bummer is that I dropped my handkerchief when I was getting into the truck, so I lost it. It was one of my new ones, too. I hope someone finds it and uses it, rather than having it be ground into the pavement by tires. Oh well, it was only about a dollar.

I'd been wondering if I might run with the AIDS Marathon group this weekend, but they weren't even there. I now vaguely recall that they aren't doing a Sunday group this time, only Saturday. So it was never a possibility. But I had a good run on my own.

I wish I could run in the park for my 26-miler! It makes such a huge difference to have a nice place to run.

Friday

Treadmill, 35 minutes, 2:3 minute run/walk ratio

I didn't log my run yesterday, but I did do it, here in the hotel fitness room, on one of their treadmills. I didn't go by mileage, just ran at about 3.8 mph and walked at about 3.5 mph for about 30 minutes (even my time is inexact, because I ran for about 4.5 minutes, then I had to stop to use the rest room, and then I did 25 minutes and a five minute cool-down).

It was kind of fun and different to be using a hotel's treadmill. They had TVs in the room, mostly on morning news, but the one in front of me was showing a grade school scrabble championship (without sound), which was fun to watch. It was either that or watch myself run in the mirror wall in front of me. Bleah! I don't want to watch myself run!

In all the times I've gone to hotels thinking I'd use the fitness room to keep up on my exercise, I think this is the first time I've actually done it!

Tomorrow, Golden Gate Park, and 23 miles!

Tuesday

19 laps, 2:3 minute run/walk ratio, 32:50 minutes

I'm going on memory for the time, because my watch is out in the truck and I don't want to go get it.

I did my morning run yesterday, but didn't take time to log it, because I wanted to hit the road. It was an okay run, pretty unmotivated, but I made myself do it even though I was already behind in getting ready to leave on my trip. The weather was pleasant and I had a pleasant, if somewhat slow, run.

Week 19: Eight miles

75 laps, 1:3 minute run/walk ratio, 2:16 hours

I missed both of my midweek runs this week, due to having to take the cat to the vet and myself to the doctor, and various other interruptions, and I'm still feeling a bit off, so I took it easy today with a 1:3 run/walk ratio and just ran around the house. I got off to a very late start—it was after 11:30 am by the time I got out there—and felt very unmotivated, but I got my run done, and my time wasn't even too bad. It was very cold this morning, but by the time I got out there, the sun had warmed things up a bit. The wind was biting, though. I wore long running pants and my hoodie, but I wrapped the hoodie around my waist after I got warmed up.

I'm going to have to be firm with myself about getting my midweek runs in this week, since I'll be heading out on vacation on Tuesday. I figured I'd do the first run Tuesday morning before I leave, and the second one on Friday in San Mateo. Then Sunday, I'll drive into San Francisco and do my 23-mile run at the park! That should be fun. I haven't figured out my route yet, I may just wing it.

Week 18: Four miles

38 laps, 1:3 minute run/walk ratio, 1:12 hours

My stomach has been crampy and icky all day, so I got off to a late start, and decided to just run around the house, in case I decided to stop early. Which I did. Even at 1:3, I ran out of steam by lap 32. I was so tired I could barely run, and my walking laps were up around two minutes. So I decided to walk to 38 laps, or just over four miles, and call it a day.

Still. It's only three days after surgery, and I'm glad I was able to get at least half my miles in.

Friday

19 laps, 2:3 minute run/walk ratio, 31:55 minutes

Surgery doesn't seem to have phased me a bit—I felt fine this morning, no pain, so I went ahead and did my run. I felt as though I was taking it easy, but my time wasn't any slower than usual—in fact, I did better than my Wednesday run! So I think I'll be fine for my eight-mile run this Sunday. I am a little bit sore, so I'll definitely take it easy on Sunday, probably just do 1:3. But I'm glad I won't have to miss any more runs!

Wednesday

19 laps, 2:3 minute run/walk ratio, 32:10 minutes

Not a terribly fast run this morning, but a good one. My right leg is fine now, after being very sore after the 20-miler on Sunday. I think it got sore because I'd skipped my midweek runs, so I must make more effort to do them every week.

Surgery tomorrow, so I might not be able to run on Friday, or do my 8-mile run on Sunday. I will at least try to get out and walk for half an hour or so each of those days. But we'll see. Maybe I'll jump right up after the surgery and be able to run just fine!

Week 17: Twenty miles

5:39 hours, 1:3 minute run/walk ratio

I had a really good run today, despite having missed both my midweek runs this week—one due to domestic disasters and the other to inclement weather. The 1:3 minute run/walk ratio really worked well—I felt good the whole way, and didn't start to get really tired until the last few miles. My right leg got pretty stiff and sore, but not enough to interfere with my pace. I stopped to stretch it out a few times, which helped a little.

I got up early this morning, at 5 am. I woke up and had to go to the bathroom, so I decided I might as well just stay up. I was on the road by 6:50 am. It was pretty cold out when I started, maybe high 40s, low 50s, but I wore my long pants and hoodie and stayed reasonably warm till the sun came up. It was cool and breezy all day today, which I'm sure made the run easier.

I ran and walked from Highline down Dennison to Valley, then Valley to Golden Hills Blvd, down Golden Hills to Westwood to Meadowbrook Park for my first five miles. I took a short bathroom break, then ran loops around the field for my next ten miles. So I'm not sure how close to ten miles it was, but I think it must have been within a half-mile either way. I was calling a loop and a half = one mile, and it was taking me around 16.5–17 minutes for each "mile," so I think it was pretty close.

Mile 15 ended at the other end of the loop, so I called the half-loop plus the .8 mile up Red Apple Mile 16, even though it must have been a bit more than a mile. Then, I ran up Tehachapi Blvd to Snyder, then up Snyder to Jacobsen's track for Miles 17 and 18. I did one lap around the track, then the rest of the way up Snyder to Valley and Valley to Dennison for Mile 19, then back up Dennison to my truck for Mile 20. I think I may have ended up doing a bit more than five miles on the way back from the park, but I might have done a bit less than ten miles at the park, so I hope it all works out. Average pace was just about 17 minutes per mile.

This week on Thursday, I'm having the surgery I was supposed to have a couple of weeks ago, but didn't because I ended up in the hospital with cellulitis instead. I hope it doesn't interfere with my training too much, but I probably won't be able to do my eight miles next Sunday. Maybe I'll go out for a long walk, if I'm not too wiped out. But I should be able to miss one eight-miler without doing too much damage to my training.