VR7-S2: Under the Sea - 6 miles

Braved subaquatic tunnels and reached Tomorrow Island. But the hard part is yet to come...

2.90 miles - 47:49 min - 16:28 min/mile

(5.5 miles - 1:35 hours)

Well, this has been a messed up week. I started to do my five-mile run at the park last week, but was hit with stomach upset and diarrhea before I'd gone half a mile, so turned around to head back to the parking lot and the bathrooms, only to find the bathrooms locked. So I had to just go home. I thought I'd try to come back later in the afternoon to do my run if my stomach felt better, but it never really did, so I didn't do any running on Friday. Saturday I had other plans, and Sunday and Monday I had migraine, so I just ended up not doing the long run last week, or a run on Monday. By Wednesday I felt okay, so I did get to the gym and did 30 minutes on the treadmill before my personal training. I figured I'd go ahead and try to do six miles this week to catch up.

I'd made an appointment to get some work done on my truck this morning, so I decided to drop off the truck, then do a run in town of about six miles while the truck was getting fixed. I planned to run up Curry to Highline, the down Highline to Dennison, Dennison to Valley Blvd, then back up Valley to Curry and back to the repair place, which should be around five and a half to six miles.

The first two miles were fine, but just after I reached Highline, I realized the app had stopped for some reason. I told it to resume, but instead of resuming where it left off, it went back to where I'd stopped the week before, which was quite a bit earlier. But, oh well, I figured I'd have plenty of time to finish the mission and I'd just estimate the rest of the time/distance. Then I pulled out my water bottle for a drink, but I couldn't get the bottle back in the pack properly. The elastic band that holds it in place was tucked under the bottle where I couldn't reach it. I figured it was in there tight enough without the elastic and just kept running.

Then, when I got to Dennison & Valley, about four miles in, I reached for my water bottle—and it wasn't there. It had fallen out somewhere along the way. I thought about going back to look for it, but it could have fallen anywhere in the last two miles, so I figured I'd better just keep going to the repair shop and look for it on the way home. But by then, it was getting hot and the sun was out, and it was not good to be out without water. But I kept going.

Then, my right hip started to hurt. It had been twinging for the last couple of weeks, I think because I'd strained it sliding down the cliff behind the house when I was trying to get some loose branches down. But suddenly it was so painful I couldn't run any more. Walking was bearable, but running was like a knife in my hip every step. I turned off the app because I didn't want my walking to mess up the pace and stuffed my earbuds into my belt pouch.

Anyway, I got back to the repair shop, drank three cups of water from the water cooler, ate a donut, and sat in the waiting room while they finished up the truck. Finally got headed home, and fortunately I did find my water bottle on the shoulder of Highline, not far up from Dennison. I kept telling myself, it's safety green, if it's still there, it should be easy to spot. And it was! So yay for that anyway.

But one of my earbud covers was missing when I got home. I searched all my pouches and pockets and the truck, and it was gone. Oh well. I found a replacement pair on eBay and sent for them. They should be here by next week.

My hip still really hurts. Seems clear I'm not going to be doing a 10K next week. Maybe not even a 5K, although I could probably manage that if I walk it. I feel really discouraged about running, though. I keep missing runs and getting injured and my speed is horrible. Blah.

Season 1, Mission 15: Virtuous Circle

Low morale at Abel Township :( Dodged zombies to bring back toys and games!

1.66 mile - 27.54 min - 16:50 min/mile

Finally got out there for a Monday run again! Really had to push myself to do it, but it was a good run once I got going. It was after 10 AM by the time I got started, but still only around 50 F outside, so no problem with the sun—I was actually grateful for the rays at times.

Pace was decent, under 17 min/miles. I think I will just leave zombie chases turned off—I think it makes me go slower, because I'm saving my energy for chases. I need to push my speed throughout my runs in order to get my pace back up. Splits for today were 16:27 and 16:55. I ran around the house and did one lap running/one lap walking for intervals.

I'll keep trying to get to the gym in time to do about 30 minutes on the treadmill before my personal training appointment, and hope my trainer won't want to start early every week!

VR7: As the Crow Flies

Recovered some vital (and fashionable) assets, despite avian attacks.

4.10 miles - 1:10:13 hours - 17:06 min/mile

On schedule for the Virtual Race 10K, I ran four miles this morning at the park, using the first of two training missions for the Virtual Race. I'll run the second one next week for my five-mile run. And then either go back to the Season 1 story missions or maybe use one of Jeff Galloway's training runs for the six-mile run.

I remembered to bring my watch today, so I could do 1:1 minute run/walk intervals. Slept in a bit late, and didn't get to the park until around 8:20, but the weather was perfect for running—cloudy and breezy, around 60 F. I wore my jacket for the first half mile or so, but took it off after that. I knew I wouldn't need it once I got warmed up, and might as well have just left it in the truck. I dropped it off at the truck after the first mile.

I decided to try to kick up my pace a bit this week, since my ankle is doing fine and had no soreness after last week's run. Managed to average just over 17 minute miles. Still slow, but better than last week. My splits were 16:19, 17:23, 16:50, and 17:32. Hm, slowed down quite a bit on the last mile. But still, overall about a minute/mile faster than last week. We'll see how I can do next week.

I am still struggling to get my midweek runs done. Again, I skipped Monday in favor of working on projects: this week, pulling the swamp cooler out of the window and putting it away. It only took an hour and I could easily have done a quick two miles around the house as well. But I didn't.

Wednesday, I got to the gym early enough to do 30 minutes on the treadmill before my personal training appointment, but this time, my trainer was ready to start 15 minutes early so I only got 15 minutes on the treadmill again. I had considered staying after my session to run on the treadmill some more, but I was so tired I didn't. So. I did get lots of exercise this week, but not running. Will try again next week.

Season 1, Mission 14: Patient 29

3.01 miles - 53:50 minutes - 17:52 min/mile

My first run at the park in a long time! My ankle has been feeling better, so I ran on the treadmill at the gym for about 20 minutes on Wednesday (would have done longer, but I was late getting there and had to stop for my personal training session) and that was fine, so I'm trying to get back on schedule. I checked the dates for the Virtual Race, and I've got from Oct 18 to Nov 5 to run it, so I figured that if I put it off until the last Saturday (November 3), I'd have four weeks to train up to the 10K. So that meant three miles this week, then four, five, and six miles for the next three weeks, and then the 10K the week after that.

It went pretty well, considering how little running I've done lately. I forgot to bring my watch to time intervals, so I just ran until I felt like walking and walked until I felt like running. My pace was pretty slow, but it was steady and I felt good the whole way. Even ran most of the last (downhill) mile. My splits were 17:19, 18:05, and 17:12. I ran with chases turned off, so I didn't have to try to outrun any zombies.

The weather's getting good for running, finally. It was cloudy and in the 50s when I headed for the park at around 8 AM. The sun came out on my last mile but it was still cool. So if this weather holds up, I should be able to get my runs in without having to get up too early in the morning!

Season 1, Mission 13: A Regular Meds Run

Almost cornered in a research facility by massive zombie mob. Only just made it out

1.43 miles - 30:01 minutes - 21:01 min/mile

Been a while since I've done a Zombies, Run! mission. I've been going to the gym at least once a week, and using the treadmill while I'm there, but unfortunately I fell and twisted my ankle a couple of weeks ago and haven't been doing any running since.

But ankle's been getting better, so I decided to go out and just walk a mission and see how it went. No chases, and no running, just a short walk. I wore an ankle brace, which helped, although my ankle did get a little sore along the way. Will wait and see how it feels tomorrow—if it doesn't get worse, I can at least get out and walk three times a week.

I've got the Halloween Virtual Race coming up at the end of October. I'd like to be able to run it, but if nothing else, I should be able to walk the 5K at least.

Season 1, Mission 12: Alternates

Uncovered the story behind the zombie plague - and Patient Zero

37:36 minutes - 2 miles

I have been having a lot of trouble getting up early enough to go out and run. The smoke from all the fires this summer has been making me feel icky and making my nose bleed. So I decided to join a gym, so I could run indoors on a treadmill at any time during the day.

I've actually been to the gym twice, last Friday and Monday, doing about half an hour on the treadmill each time, along with some weights on Friday. So I've only really missed two runs.

Today, I ran a Zombies, Run! mission while I treadmilled. I used the interval program, set for 35 minutes (with a five-minute cooldown). I had to stop and re-start the mission after a couple of minutes because I forgot that I wasn't running outdoors and couldn't use the GPS to track my distance. They have a setting to use step count x average stride but I didn't know what to put for my stride offhand, so I just turned tracking off. The treadmill said I covered a little over two miles. I know these things are not totally accurate but it seemed about right.

The interval program sets interval length based on how long your session is. At 35 minutes, I was doing about 2 minute intervals. I set it to do a 1% incline and 3.7 MPH for the running intervals and 0% incline at 3.1 MPH for the walking intervals. I think that's about a 17.6 min/mile? Not fast but not far off from my usual midweek pace.

After my run, I did a short full-body workout. I feel pretty good now. I plan to do weights three times a week along with a 30–45 minute session on the treadmill. I have one session a week with a personal trainer scheduled, starting next Monday.

Haven't yet decided what to do about long runs, if anything. Maybe just wait till the weather cools down. Or, if I go to the gym Monday-Wednesday-Friday, I could still do a long run at the park on Saturday, as long as I don't do a long session on the treadmill on Friday.

Week 9: Three miles

3.36 miles - 56:20 minutes - 16.8 min/mile

15:28 min Magic Mile

Ran at the park this morning, using Jeff Galloway's 13.1 app. I decided to run the uphill loop first, so the Magic Mile at mile 2 would be downhill instead of uphill. I kind of felt like I was cheating, but I figured that it had to be one or the other—either an advantage running downhill, or a disadvantage running uphill, and I might as well give myself the advantage this time. I suppose the only way to make it even would be to arrange it so I'm running the Magic Mile on the downside loop, so it's half down and half up. Maybe next time.

Anyway, I had set my alarm for 6 AM, but was awake at 5:40 so went ahead and got up. It was nice weather at the park, a few clouds and still hazy from all the smoke, nice breeze and around 70 F. My Magic Mile was a pretty good pace, below 16 min for a change, but my overall pace was about usual. I had one Blok at 2 miles or so. I think I have two or three more packs of Bloks. I should probably think about getting some more soon.

Season 1, Mission 11: Back to School

Ran back to the hospital to investigate the CDC file and source of the zombie plague

1.98 miles - 33:57 minutes - 17:09 min/mile

Got my second run of the week done. Had no trouble getting up at 6 AM — I'd been awake since 5, and got up a minute before the alarm. Pretty good run today. The weather has been a bit cooler. It wasn't as chilly as yesterday, but there was a cool breeze.

One zombie chase at 23 minutes, which I evaded without letting them get within 50 meters. I was beginning to wonder when I'd get another chase! Splits were 17:18 and 16:37. I guess that's what a zombie chase does for my time!

Glad I was able to run two days in a row and get my weekday runs in without any trouble. I was worried that I was going to start losing momentum, but I think I'm good.

Season 1, Mission 10: Tess

Tracked down a traitor fleeing Abel Township with stolen military intel

 

1.65 miles - 28:23 minutes - 17:14 min/mile

Ran Wednesday instead of Tuesday, because I had a long drive planned yesterday and didn't get much sleep, and didn't want to be too tired on the way home. I've been thinking anyway that I should change my running schedule—if I do the 4-hour round trip drive every Tuesday, I would rather not be getting up early to run on that day. So I will try Monday and Wednesday instead of Tuesday and Thursday. Except this week, I already didn't run Monday so I will have to run Wednesday and Thursday. I don't generally like running two days in a row, but every once in a while it's okay. And I've got a short one this weekend.

Today's run went pretty well. Weather was chilly when I got up, so I wore long leggings and a long-sleeved shirt. Didn't really need them once I got going, but it was nice for the first few laps. There's still a lot of smoke in the air from all the fires in California, but it seemed fairly clear this morning. I do wonder if maybe I should be taking it easy while the air's so smokey, but it hasn't seemed to bother me.

Speed was a bit better today. I tried to remember to keep my stride short and quick. No zombie chases again. Splits were 16:56 and 17:02. (Still don't get how my average pace can be slower than either of my mile splits.)

Week 8: Eight miles

8.42 miles - 2:21:23 hours - 16.8 min/mile

Decided to give the 8-mile run a try, since the weather was supposed to be slightly cooler and breezy today, and the smoke seems to have mostly cleared. And it was a good run. There was just enough hazy cloud to keep the sun from burning down, and a nice light breeze, so I felt good the whole way and felt like I was keeping my pace up. I used the 13.1 app, and at the beginning, Jeff Galloway gave advice about keeping your stride short and turnover quick, so I concentrated on that for my whole run, while I was walking as well as running. I do tend to lengthen my stride when I get tired, which I know leads to injury, so I concentrated on keeping it short and quick. I think it helped. I do wish this app kept track of mile splits—it's hard to know if/how much I slowed down over the course of the run. I felt like I was keeping pace, but without splits, I can't be sure.

I brought my water bottle and shot bloks and tried to remember to take a sip of water and eat one blok every two miles. I think that also helped. I happened to grab one of the packs of bloks that had caffeine, so I got a little boost from that, too.

Overall pace was decent. Much better than the almost-18-minute miles I've been doing on my short runs, but still closer to 17 minutes than 16.

I ran today with a piece of moleskin on the bottom of my right big toe. I have a big scar on the pad of that toe, and if I do a lot of barefoot walking on rough ground, the skin tends to peel around it. It was pretty painful yesterday. I cut some loose bits of skin off, but that left it raw in places. The moleskin helped, I didn't even feel it while I was running. I don't think you're supposed to put moleskin over broken skin. I might be sorry when I have to take it off, but meanwhile, it's nice padding on my sore toe.

Season 1, Mission 9: Recovery

Investigated the helo crash site. Had a heart-to-heart with Runner 8.

 

1.86 miles - 33:22 minutes - 17:56 min/mile

Didn't feel like getting up at 6 AM this morning, but I did it anyway and got my run in. I think the smoke from all the fires is getting to me. We've had air quality warnings, although this morning the sky seemed clearer than it has. Anyway, same old, same old. Felt slow and ploddy but got it done.

Splits were 17:50 and 17:38, so I actually increased my pace a bit as I went along. No zombie chases again, which is just fine with me. Not sure whether I'll go to the park Saturday or just stay home and do another short one around the house. Weather is supposed to be windy and a bit cooler, so it might be a good week to try the 8-mile run.

Season 1, Mission 8: The Old Mill

Out collecting medpacks, discovered a lone survivor surrounded by zombies

2.06 miles - 37:00 minutes - 17:59 min/mile

So we start another week. I have to say that, despite my disappointment in my extreme slowness, I am glad that I haven't missed a run since I started this time. Maybe by the time the Zombies, Run! Virtual Race comes around, I'll be able to do the 10k at a decent (for me) speed. I also run better when the weather's cooler—even though I'm getting up and running early, it's been already in the 70s when I run, which is warm for running.

Splits were 17:38 and 17:50. Slowed down a little but not too much. No zombie chases again—that's three missions in a row now. Okay by me! I'm half inclined to turn them off. I remember one time before, I'd gone a streak with no chases, so I turned up the frequency a bit and ended up getting four in one mission the next time. Oops! Not this time. I'll just leave them as is, and if I don't get any chases, that's fine with me.

I'm finding that I'm remembering most of the Season 1 missions now as I do them. I'm eager to get through it and get started on Season 3!

Week 7: Two miles (Season 1, Mission 7: A Voice in the Dark)

Survived a night in the wilderness with no ammo, zombies chasing, and just one voice

2.26 miles - 39:57 minutes - 17:39 min/mile

I was scheduled to do 8 miles this weekend, but for various reasons, I decided to bag it and just stay home and do another Zombies, Run! mission. Mainly because it's supposed to hit 93 F today, and even if I got to the park in time to start at 6 AM, I'd be out there for probably two and a half hours, and it would be scorching even by 8:30. And I'm not training for a race anyway, so the distance doesn't matter, as long as I get a run in. I'd set my alarm for 5:30 AM anyway, thinking I'd see how I felt when I woke up, but I slept badly and felt yucky when the alarm woke me, so I just stayed in bed another half hour and did my run around the house.

And it was just as well—I felt like Ploddy McPlodderface out there, and my time shows it. Splits were 17:00 and 17:36. No zombie chases this time, thankfully—I suspect the zombies would have caught me.

One bit of good news: the Zombies, Run! Halloween Virtual Race has been announced. I'll definitely sign up for that. Maybe instead of going for a half marathon, I'll just work on my speed for a 10k through the rest of the summer, and think about working up to a half once the weather's cooled down.

Season 1, Mission 6: Supply Run

Headed out to New Canton with Janine on comms for a crucial mission

1.84 miles - 32:37 minutes - 17:44 min/mile

Another slow one. No zombie chases today, so it was just me plodding along. Splits were 17:35 and 17:30. At least I didn't slow down.

I'm thinking now that I may just train up to 14 miles, then go back and start over without doing any races (except maybe a virtual race) and see if my pace improves on a second run-up. Because it looks like 17 min/mile is just my pace right now. Maybe I should try adjusting my interval. Although, I'm not slowing down, so it's not like I'm getting too tired. I'm just not getting any faster.

Ah well. I'm keeping up my training, anyway, even having to get up at 6 AM to go out and run. Haven't missed a run yet since I started this time!

So, on this mission I picked up a solar charger and a car battery! And I'm thinking, how the heck am I going to get this stuff in my backpack, much less outrun zombies carrying it? Car batteries are heavy! Heh. Sometimes the supply pickup is a bit unrealistic. Like running through buildings and such, picking up sports bras and 9 mm ammo.

Season 1, Mission 5: Paul Revere

Comms down - ran all the way to Brunswick to warn them of a massive horde

2.02 miles - 34:33 minutes - 17:07 min/mile

I ran with my watch this morning, so I could do 1:1 minute run/walk intervals. Don't think it was that much different from just alternating laps. Had a bit of a headache this morning, but it seemed to clear up as I ran. I felt slow, but no slower than usual, I guess. I worked about three hours yesterday building a table for the shed and got pretty tired and made my shoulder sore. So not a lot of energy today.

Splits were 17:04 and 16:50, with one zombie chase at 28 minutes. I had a hard time evading them—they got within 20 meters, but I managed to escape.

Week 6: Three miles

3.36 miles - 56:04 minutes - 16.7 min/mile

A short one this week, just three miles. Got to the park around 6:15 AM and had a good run before the sun got too hot.

There was a Magic Mile today, which I did in 16:46 minutes. Just about the same as my average pace. It was the uphill mile, as usual. At least I didn't slow down much.

My pace is improving slightly, I think. Not as much as I'd like, but I'm on the right track. At least I'm keeping up my exercise and feeling a lot better! I'm even getting used to getting up early. Sometimes I'm tired during the day but I haven't been taking naps lately, like I did at first.

Season 1, Mission 4: A Lost Child

Rescued a lost child in zombie-infested wilderness. Found an important ally.

2.13 miles - 36:50 minutes - 17:16 min/mile

This morning I decided to try to measure how far around the house I should run so that I was running and walking about the same amount of time. I used my phone to time a minute of running, from my start point in front of the house, and then time how long it took to walk the rest of the way back to start. It was about 45 seconds. So I figured I should stop a little short of a minute. Picked a spot that looked about right, and ran to that spot, then walked the rest of the lap. It seemed to work pretty well. (I suppose I should just use my watch, if I want to keep my 1:1 minute ratio going during the week. I could loop it onto my belt if I don't want to wear it on my wrist.)

Anyway, it was a pretty good run. Sun today was hot even before 7 AM, so that probably slowed me down some, but I finished without any trouble. There was one zombie chase at 16 minutes, which I evaded without them getting close. Mile splits were 17:06 and 17:02.

Still going fairly strong, if slow. Still no plans for a particular race. Wonder if I should just keep on training up for a full marathon? I should reach half distance in early October. Could be ready for a full by December. Would be interesting to see how it goes. At this pace, 17 min/mile, a full marathon would take around 7:42 hours. Huh. That's the pace I ran LA and my last Honolulu. I don't like taking that long, but it's not like I haven't done it! Well, we'll see. Just keep running for now and see what happens.

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Season 1, Mission 3: Lay of the Land

Explored area around Abel Township with Head of Runners, retrieved govt supply drop

 

1.62 miles - 27:13 minutes - 16:50 min/mile

A short one today. I wonder how the timing works? It was supposed to be a timed mission of 31 minutes, but I was almost four minutes short. Possibly to do with the music? I think they try to put the mission audio in between songs. Anyway, it was a good run. I got up early, around 5:45 AM, and was finished around 6:30. Pace was a little better today, under 17 min/mile.

One zombie chase at 8 minutes, which I evaded without letting them get within 50 meters. Mile splits were 16:34 and 16:46. (Still wonder how my average pace ends up slower than either of my splits, but oh well.)

Week 5: Six and a half miles

6.89 miles - 1:56:08 hours - 16.8 min/mile

Another long run done, and I'm halfway to a half marathon. Got up early, around 5:15, and was able to make it to the park just before 6 AM. It was a cool 70 F with a slight breeze when I started, close to 80 F by the time I was done. Starting to get hot already, but I was able to finish without any trouble.

I used the 13.1 training app, so I could have Jeff Galloway tell me when to walk and when to run, and when the run was over. Now that I'm using it again, I'm reminded that it doesn't keep track of mile (or km) splits, so I can't tell how much/if I slowed down much over the length of the run. Did manage to average under 17 minute miles, so that's good.

If I keep this schedule, I'll be doing 9 and 11 mile runs in August, nudging up towards 3-hour runs. If the weather stays like this, that's a good two hours or more in 80-degree sun. So far, the sun hasn't bothered me too much. I'm slower, and get more tired, but I can still finish without crashing like I was doing before my surgery. I'll just have to see how it goes when the runs get longer.

Season 1, Mission 2: Distraction

Abel's gates stuck open - helped Runner 8 distract the incoming zombie horde

2.00 miles - 35:07 minutes - 17:35 min/mile

Another run around the house. Weather was overcast, around 70 F, great running weather! Wish it would stay that way all day.

I ran without my watch, starting out trying to estimate a 1:1 minute run/walk ratio, but started getting winded and went back to one lap running, one lap walking. That gives me a bit more walking time than running, but for the uneven, rocky driveway it seems to work best.

No zombie chases today. My splits were 17:42 and 17:02. Hm, again speeding up on the second mile. I guess because I was getting warmed up and in my running groove? I don't know but I'll take it. Blah blah still slow. But I feel like I'm getting a bit better.

Six mile run this weekend! Supposed to be overcast again, which will help, since it's also forecast to be 89 F.

So, this was Runner 5's first meeting with Sarah!

Season 1, Mission 1: Jolly Alpha Five Niner

Survived rocket launcher attack on our helo. Evaded zombies, made it to Abel Township

2.00 miles - 36:20 minutes - 18:12 min/mile

Back to the beginning! Ran the very first mission again. Ran around the house, approximately one lap running/one lap walking.

Mile splits were 18:17 and 17:42, so I actually sped up for my second mile. There was one zombie chase at 30 minutes, which I evaded, but they got within 20 meters just before I escaped. Still very slow, sigh. Wonder if I'll ever get back down to 16 minute miles again?

Week 4: Two and a half miles

 2.87 miles - 47:50 minutes - 16.5 min/mile

I decided to use the 13.1 Half Marathon app to do my long run today, even though it wasn't really very long, so I could listen to Jeff Galloway tell me when to walk and when to run and I wouldn't have to wear my watch.

There was a Magic Mile in today's run, which ended up being 16:42 minutes—slower than my average pace for the run—because it was an uphill mile. But only a little slower. It was a pretty good run. Another day when there was no one at the park when I got there, and only a few cars in the parking lot when I finished. I had the whole trail to myself, except for the bunnies! Just after dawn is the time when all the rabbits come out. There were little cottontails hopping along all over the place.

So, four weeks in and I'm still going strong. Still getting up at 5:30 - 6:00 AM to go out and run three times a week, feeling good and enjoying myself. Sometimes I take a little nap later in the morning to make up for the lost hours of sleep, but sometimes I don't feel like I need it. I have more energy in general and feel a lot stronger. I'm really glad I am finally able to run again.

Zombies, Run! Season 2, Mission 45: Going Underground

2.04 miles - 35:29 minutes - 17:23 min/mile

A shortish one this morning, which was nice for a change. It was over before I knew it! That's it for Season 2. So now I think I'll go back and do Season 1 over, before proceeding to Season 3.

It was actually kind of cold this morning, 53 F when I started out, so I wore my long-sleeved running shirt and long leggings. Pushed my sleeves up by the time I was done, but it was still fairly cool.

Two zombie chases today, at 11 and 30 minutes. The first one I evaded before they even got within 50 meters, but I was getting worn out by the second one and they got within 20 meters before I got away. But I escaped both times! Mile splits were 17:00 and 17:18 (I still wonder how my overall time can be longer than any of my splits). Maintained a steady pace the whole way. Did mostly one lap running, one lap walking, except when zombies intervened.

 

SPOILERS

Zombies, Run! Season 2, Mission 44: Something Good, 08

2.71 miles - 46:42 minutes - 17:12 min/mile

Pretty good run this morning. I ran around the house, and didn't feel like wearing my watch, so I just estimated intervals. The dogs barked at me a couple of times, but not enough to bother me.

There were three zombie chases, at 4, 11, and 23 minutes. For a change, the chase at 4 minutes didn't bother me too much, I evaded just after they'd reached 50 meters. The last chase, at 23 minutes, was hard—they got within 20 meters just before I evaded, but I did manage to escape each time!

My splits were 16:41, 17:03, and 17:30. Quite a bit of slowdown in that last mile, but I think that's mostly because that last zombie chase wore me out. Didn't have any trouble finishing, though.

My "long run" this week, on Jeff Galloway's beginner's half marathon schedule, is supposed to be 2.5 miles, shorter than the run I did today! I'm just going to do three miles at the Park. His schedule has several x.5 mile runs, which is hard to measure out at the park, so I'll probably just round them up or down as they come up. Or, I was thinking about using the Galloway apps to do my long runs, and just use Zombies, Run! on the midweek runs. I guess that depends on if they have any more over 60-min missions! That 75 minute one surprised me, they're usually around 30–40 minutes long. I will just have to adjust as the missions come up.

SPOILERS

Zombies, Run! Season 2, Mission 43: The Final Countdown, 5 Miles

5.06 miles - 1:25:57 hours - 16:58 min/mile

Another long run done! I set the alarm for 5:15 this morning, so I'd have time to get ready and drive to the park and be running by 6 AM. And I did! The sun was already coming up by 5:30—I think for the next long run, I might try getting up at 5 AM and see if I can get to the park before 6. It was nice and cool when I started, but already getting hot when I finished. Not too bad, though, and I felt fine. Drank about half my water bottle and ate one gel. I decided to try eating the gel very slowly, just taking a small bit on each running minute, and stretched it out over most of a mile, to see if that was any easier on my stomach, and it was. Still prefer the blocks, but I think I have one more gel left over from before, so I might as well use it.

Mile splits were 16:32, 16:20, 17:08, 17:18, and 16:59. I ran the uphill loop first, so the first mile was uphill, second downhill, third down and up, fourth uphill, and fifth downhill. Slowed down about a minute between my fastest downhill mile and my slowest uphill. Not too bad. Still, as usual, wish I could get my pace down nearer 16 min/miles, but also, still, running well and feeling good.

I'm planning a schedule that will get me ready to do a half marathon in early October, although I have no plans for specific races yet. I was looking at various races online, and found a couple of likely ones. Bakersfield has a marathon and half marathon on November 18. Advantage is it's close, and the half has the same time limit as the full, 7.5 hours, so I could easily do the half.

Another possibility is the Death Valley full and half marathon in December, which I just went to check the date and found is already sold out. Oh well, maybe next year! I love Death Valley, haven't been in years, so that's one to keep in mind for later. There were a couple of other trail races that looked interesting—one in Griffith Park, and one in Joshua Tree. And there are the old standbys, Long Beach (although I may have other plans that weekend), Honolulu (they have a half marathon on April 14 if I don't feel up to the full in December), and the other SoCal races, if I can get my pace down to a 3.5 hour time limit. Well, early days yet.

As for today's mission, spoilers below!

SPOILERS

Thursday

2.13 miles - 36:20 minutes - 17:00 min/mile

I decided not to use Zombies, Run! today, because the next mission says it's 75 minutes long! That will be perfect for my five-mile run this weekend, but it's way too long for a midweek run.  I thought about using Radio Abel or one of the other training runs, but I decided to go back to Jeff Galloway's training apps, which fortunately I'd already re-downloaded, and use one of those midweek runs. Then I could get a nice timed run with run/walk intervals included. And Jeff Galloway's encouragement!

Still running pathetically slowly. Surely, in the past, my speed has gotten better by now? Must go back and check previous training courses. Of course, the important thing is that I'm doing it, and feeling so much better—stronger, more energy, better mood. But I'm going to be disappointed if I can't get my pace back under 16 min/mile at some point.

The dogs only barked at me a couple of times today. (And I was playing Pink Floyd's Animals while I ran, so had the dogs in "Dogs" bark at me, too, heh.) I've gone through all the albums on my iPhone and made them into playlists, so I'll be able to use them for Zombies, Run!, which can only use playlists from within the app. I used to use the external music player, but I like having the app control the music so it can pause it during the mission broadcasts. If you use the external player, the app turns the music down, but doesn't pause it altogether, and if you're playing a really loud album, like Green Day or Rage Against the Machine, it's still hard to hear the mission. I had some longer playlists made up for long runs, but I wanted to be able to play individual albums on the shorter missions.

Zombies, Run! Season 2, Mission 42: Road to Nowhere

2.10 miles - 37:16 minutes - 17:45 min/mile

Finally, I got to run around the house! I decided to try again, because I don't like having to drive somewhere to do my midweek runs, and I don't always want to run up and down that steep road, so I headed 'round the house, and I guess the dogs have gotten used to me, more or less, because there was not a lot of barking. It was just the white one (I never even saw the two other dogs), who just barked a little as I came around the corner closest to their place, so it didn't bother me too much.

I ran with a one lap running, one lap walking interval. It takes me roughly 1:45 min to run a lap and 2:00 to walk it, so it wasn't quite even, but good enough for a midweek run. There was one zombie chase, at 33 minutes, which luckily came during a walking lap, so I managed to speed up and evade the mob.

Mile splits were 17:31 and 17:33. I'm still pretty slow, but able to keep up a steady pace the whole time, so at least that's good. Looks like I'm going to have to find a half that runs concurrently with a whole marathon so I can have a huge long time limit! Unless my speed gets a lot better in the coming months, which it still may do.

Anyway, I'm into week three and still going strong! Very encouraging. I'm already getting a lot stronger.

SPOILERS

Zombies, Run! Season 2, Mission 41: You Know My Name

4.07 miles - 1:09:18 hours - 17:01 min/mile

Week 2 finished! Got up at 5:30 AM this morning, to try to get to the park by 6 AM, but it was 6:20 AM by the time I hit the trail. I am going to have to start getting up at 5 AM if I really want to hit the park by 6 AM. And I should—it was already pretty hot by 7:30 when I finished my run. It was 60 F when I got up this morning and it's 76 F now. It's only going to get worse over the next months, and my weekend runs get longer. I felt fine, though, and finished my run with no trouble.

Turned zombie chases off so I could just run whatever speed felt comfortable and not worry about saving energy in case I had to outrun zombies. My splits were 16:32, 17:14, 16:36, and 17:16. A good, steady pace, not slowing down too much on the uphill portions. Would still like to be faster, but it's early days.

SPOILERS

Zombies, Run! Season 2, Mission 40: Little Lies

2.04 miles - 38:27 minutes - 18:51 min/mile

All right, got that mission completed! I decided I didn't want to drive anywhere to run my midweek missions, and I was going to run around my house whether the dogs barked at me or not! That lasted one lap around the house, when the dogs set up a commotion, and I headed down the road. Argh. I suppose running down the road and back isn't so bad—I hate the run back up the hill, but it's good training. Maybe if I do a lap or two around the house each time, the dogs will eventually get used to me being out there at 6 AM and stop barking at me? Or maybe I will just decide heck with it, and turn up my headphones and run anyway.

Two zombie chases this time, at 4 and 10, exactly the same as the first two on my last time run. At first, I was thinking, well, maybe the zombie chases are already calculated for this mission, since I've already run half of it, and I'll get the same three as before. But when the third chase didn't happen, it seemed that wasn't the case. So that made me think that in some missions, if there's a zombie chase happening in the story, and you have Zombie Chases turned on, it's set to give you one.

Anyway, I'm very glad I didn't get any more chases this time, because the uphill mile is hard enough. Mile splits were 16:31 and 20:39, which is... very slow uphill. Oh well, the important thing is the run got done. Maybe if I keep doing that hill, I'll get better at it.

As for the story, all I can say is:

SPOILERS

Zombies, Run! Season 2, Mission 40: Little Lies

2.39 miles - 40:58 minutes - 17:09 min/mile

Pretty good run this morning. Got up around quarter to 6 AM, got ready and drove to the mailboxes to run down Dennison and back. It was a bit chilly and I wore my running jacket, although I wouldn't really have needed it. Wore it for the first mile, then took it off.

 

I used my watch to do 1:1 minute run/walk intervals, more or less. I ended up getting three zombie chases, all in the first mile, at 4, 10, and 17 minutes! Managed to evade them all, although they got within 50 meters each time. So those interrupted my intervals—running through the chases, then walking afterwards till the next interval came around.

I messed up my app in the middle of the second mile by trying to use the headphone control to turn the sound down a little—I was having a hard time hearing my watch chime the intervals. But I accidentally hit the middle button instead of the lower button and somehow turned the sound off? I guess that's the button to answer phone calls, it also turns the music off so you can hear the phone call. The Zombies, Run! app was still running, but I couldn't hear anything. I kept futzing with it and finally got it going again (I thought) but the music seemed to have been turned off. And it never seemed to want to end! It was supposed to be a 37-minute mission, but after running for 40 minutes I still hadn't gotten the "Mission Completed" message, so I finally gave up and stopped it. I see on the run log that it still thinks it was at 20 minutes into the mission when I quit. So all that pausing and stuff messed up the mission timing, although the sum up has it right. Argh! I will probably do this mission over on Thursday, just to get it logged properly.

My mile splits were 15:52, 17:21 and 17:19. Not bad for week 2.

I'm feeling so much better! I've been investigating possible half marathons to run this fall, if all goes well. Will take a month or two to get in shape before deciding.

As for the mission, I have Thoughts, but I think I'll hold them until I get the chance to do the whole mission.

Zombies, Run! Season 2, Mission 39: Psycho Killer

2.98 miles - 50:33 minutes - 16:59 min/mile

Went to the park to run today, and did the three-mile loop. I got up at 5:30 AM, hoping to be at the park by 6 AM, but ended up wasting 10–15 minutes searching for my waist pack with the pocket for a water bottle. Don't really need water/food for a three-mile run, but I wanted to have it along anyway. But when I couldn't find it quickly, I figured I'd better just take my smaller waist pack for the phone & keys and hunt for the bigger one later.

I ended up heading out just before 6 AM and got to the park around 6:15 AM. There were only two other vehicles in the lot, which felt a bit strange. Usually there are already a lot of walkers/runners/dog walkers there when I get there, but I guess I don't usually get there quite so early. I didn't see another person on the trail until I was nearly back to the parking lot on my last mile! But the parking lot was finally starting to fill up when I got there.

 

Anyway, it was still cool and pleasant when I started, and it felt good to be back in the park after so long away. I wore my watch so I could do 1:1 minute run/walk intervals, and tried to just take it easy, since it's still only my first week, and my first three-mile run, after not exercising for so long. I felt fine, though, and kept up my pace the whole way. My mile splits were 16:15, 17:49 (the all-uphill mile in the middle), and 16:16. So my final mile was just as fast as my first, which usually doesn't happen. Helps that I had my one-and-only zombie chase right at the end of the run, at 50 minutes, when I was nicely warmed up and going downhill—evaded without any trouble, the zombies didn't even get within 50 meters.

 

I find myself deliberately running slow so that I'll have some energy to speed up if I get chased by zombies. At some point I will have to either turn off the chases or  just hope for the best and live with the fact that I might not always be able to evade them if the chases come at a bad time. Maybe I will turn them off for longer Saturday runs.

I seem to be already planning my runs as though I'm training for a race, although it's pretty early days to be thinking about that. At this point, if I keep up my running, I could do the Long Beach half, or Las Vegas (I always think about it but have never managed to do it), or even Honolulu, if I can work my way up to a full marathon. I've got the time for it, we'll just have to see how the running goes. I would want to get my pace down under 16 min/miles if I'm going to do another full. Don't want to be out there all day.

One week done! And feeling good and enthused about it. Yay!

Zombies, Run! Season 2 Mission 38: Jailbreak

3.35 km - 37:37 minutes - 11:14 min/km

Got my Zombies back! They've made changes—it looks like all my old run logs are now being stored in the cloud, except it only goes back through Season 2 and none of the Season 1 missions are there. (I must have deleted them from my phone before the logs started being saved.) Also, for some reason, it never logged the last mission I did, so I decided to run it again—it's not like I remembered it all that well from last September anyway! I thought I'd set all the preferences again, but obviously I didn't remember to change from km to miles, so that's what I've got this time.

I'm half-inclined to go back and run Season 1 again, just to get it logged. Maybe I'll finish Season 2 first, then go back and do Season 1 before moving on to Season 3.

Anyway. For today's run, I drove down to the mailboxes and ran along Dennison to Valley and back. I've measured that and know it's a mile each way, so I did about two miles today. Pretty slow, but felt good and got it done. I got up at around 5:40 AM (because I was already awake, and wanted to get on the road as soon as possible) and got started running a few minutes after 6 AM. The sun was already up, but it was still reasonably cool and shady. Since I was running a mission, I didn't use my watch for intervals, but just started out running very slowly, planning to just run and walk as I felt like it.

Had zombie chases turned on, and there were two: one at 4 minutes and one at 12 minutes. The first one was really hard, coming so early in the mission, but I managed to evade. The second was a bit easier, both because I was more warmed up and probably because I'd walked a while after the first one to catch my breath, so the speed I had to increase by 10% was slower.

 

Feels good to be out on the road again.

Tuesday

About 30 minutes, 1.7 miles, 1:1 minute run/walk ratio

So, here I am again, finally making a real attempt to get back into running. I see my last attempt was in September of last year, so about nine months ago. I haven't done any regular exercise at all since then. I've gone out for a walk a few times, but without any plan or schedule, so without any real expectation of keeping it up. As I wrote in my last entry, I was just feeling worse and worse when I tried to exercise, instead of better, so I just gave it up entirely.

I started seeing a new doctor earlier this year, trying once again to figure out why I feel so weak and exhausted most of the time. I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea, and started using a CPAP, which seemed to help a little but not really enough. So my doctor sent me to a surgeon who found a huge nasal polyp that was blocking my breathing on the left side. I had surgery to remove it in April and it has made a huge difference in my breathing! I can actually get air in without a struggle. It has taken quite a while for my nose to completely recover, though. I was very congested and bleeding a lot for over a month, but finally it seems to be settling in. I've been using a humidifier in my room at night to keep my nasal passages from drying out, and saline rinse several times a day, and my nose has almost completely stopped bleeding. So I decided it was time to try getting in shape again.

Of course, this came right when the weather is starting to get really hot again, and my improved breathing doesn't seem to have had any effect on the way direct sunlight saps my energy, so I decided to start setting the alarm for 6 AM again and getting in a half hour's run before the sun got too high.

This morning the weather was perfect—mid-50s, with a light breeze. I got up ten minutes before the alarm and was ready to go right around 6 AM. The first frustration with this morning's run was that when I went to re-download my Zombies Run app last night, which I'd deleted to save room when I wasn't using it, my phone refused to download it using cell data because it's over 150 MB in size. It wanted me to use WiFi. But I don't have WiFi right now, so I couldn't download it. I will be having new satellite internet installed tomorrow, so I'll be able to download it then, if I don't go into town today and use Starbucks or something. Oh well, I figured I'd just play music and use my watch to mark intervals.

Second frustration was the neighbor's dogs barking their heads off when I went outside at 6 AM in my running clothes. They've sort of gotten used to me being outside during the day, but I guess this was too weird for them, so they set up a commotion. I didn't want to run with them barking at me the whole time, so I decided to run down the road and back instead of around the house.

(Another minor frustration was getting my music set up right. I don't use my phone's music app very often so it took a bit of fiddling to get it playing. I listened to Alan Parsons Project "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" while I ran.)

After all that, I had a pretty good run. Tried to just take it easy. Did about 12 minutes down the road and then turned around. By then I was almost to the mile mark. By the time I got back, I'd just hit 30 minutes. Plus I futzed around for nearly five minutes at the house before setting off down the road. So I don't really know my actual time and distance, but whatever. I got out there and did it and felt pretty good. I am going to do my best to keep it up this time.