Week 2: Four miles

1:03 hours, 30:60 second run/walk ratio

Whoo! Pretty good time, if I do say so myself. I got up early (then futzed around and still got started later than I wanted to) and drove down to the mailboxes, and ran Dennison to Valley, Valley to Curry, and back. I felt good and kept up a good pace the whole time. I think this 30:60 second run/walk ratio is really helping. I don't get as tired as I do running 1:2 minutes. I noticed that there is really no shade to speak of at all on that stretch of road. And not a cloud in the sky, so the sun was pretty hot, even before 9 am. But I didn't get too tired and finished strong.

I really need some new running clothes. Socks and shorts especially. I have shirts I can wear, but only two pairs of shorts. One, the elastic in the undershorts got hard and cracked and I cut it out so now the undies ride up. The other, the elastic in the waistband is all stretched out and they don't stay up as well as they should. So, neither one is in good shape. Now that there's a Big 5 Sporting Goods store in town, maybe I can buy clothes there. And my running socks are all wearing out. I want some more Wright Socks, I'll have to send for those.

I didn't take a water bottle with me, because I didn't feel like wearing my waist pack. It was okay for a four-mile run, but I think I'll need to start carrying it for my long runs from now on.

My new sport watch arrived yesterday, just in time! So I was able to time my mile splits and chime my intervals and all. Very nice. I didn't take the time to prepare a rubber thing to put under the case so it wouldn't short out, so I just wrapped my arm in plastic wrap. Which worked—the watch didn't short out, anyway—but it sure made my wrist sweaty. Need to figure out something for that.

I've sort of decided to do the Las Vegas Half Marathon instead of Long Beach. For one thing, the Long Beach hotels were mostly sold out already and the ones that were left were expensive. And the time—which I figured out was only 10 weeks, not 11—is really too short for decent training. Plus, I'm going to visit a friend in October, so it would be two out of town trips in one month, which I don't like doing. So I think I'll shoot for Las Vegas instead. It's not until December 5, so there's plenty of time. And I was checking the hotels, and I can stay at the Luxor! For not very much money! I love the Luxor.

Anyway, two weeks down! I'm on my way!