October Running Journal

Tu 10/26/04
4 more miles down this morning during a nice slow run through the park. I'll be breaking 100 total miles trained this week!

S 10/23/04
Since I had a birthday party to atttend today and I didn't want a repeat of last week's Saturday group run, I decided to go it alone this morning so I could get home a little early. Instead of heading a half a mile in the opposite direction to where we meet, I jogged straight into the park at 7:20, knowing I'd eventually run into Team in Training members and a water stop. There was no one there when I passed the typical TNT water stop at the 2-mile mark in the park, the 8-mile turnaround point when coming from Final Kick, so I kep running to my turnaround point a mile father down. On the way back I was so happy to see dixie cups on the side of the trail. At that point I'd gone 5.5 miles, so the Gatorade gave me the extra push I needed to finish and complete my scheduled 9 miles.


Th 10/21/04
I woke up this morning bright and early eager to start the day with a 5-mile run, but fate intervened. I had forgotten to charge my iPod, and its battery was dead. This amazing little gizmo doesn't only provide me with musical motivation on my training runs, it also serves as my timepiece, and I would have a hard time running without it. So I decided to get some school work done early and run when I got home.

The weather wasn't pretty in the evening, so I didn't think it would be a good idea to run in the park. Not too many people would be out in the almost rainy weather, and I'd have had to go a mile into the rather desolate trail to complete my scheduled 5 miles. So instead, I decided to hit the boardwalk at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, and it was absolutely beautiful.

The boardwalk's just over 2.5 miles long, so I started at the north end and headed toward 1st street. There were quite a few people out, and most of them were bundled up, but I was well warmed up within the first half mile. I could feel the wind and drizzle on the back of my legs but not enough to bother me. When I turned around halfway through the run, though, I realized I may have made a mistake. For the next 2.5 miles, I fought brutal, gusty winds, and at times I didn't think I'd ever make it back to 40th street. Eventually, with a mile left to go, I got my second wind against the wind and completed the five miles in less than 55 minutes - that's 11 minute miles even running against the wind half the time. Once finished I took a moment to stretch while looking out at the thick, fluffy clouds over the ocean as the sky grew darker, and it was a wonderful feeling.


T 10/19/04
Jenn's Still Running! Sorry for the delay in updating, but I was unable to post from New York, and I've been very busy since I got back! I did run in Central Park last Saturday (Oct. 9) and it was amazing. I woke up early and jogged about two miles from my friend's house to the E. 90th street entrance to the park and met with the Team in Training group there. However, they were planning to run around the park's perimeter and I wanted to see the reservoir track, so after about 10 minutes running with some of the NYC TNTers, I decided to go it alone. I veered off toward the reservoir and did two full loops (about 1.5 miles each) and then jogged the remaining miles meandering through the lower loop of the park. I was jogging/walking at a 3/2 pace for 85 minutes, about 7 miles.

The rest of my weekend was great, and I spent so much time walking (2 hours Friday, 2 hours Saturday, 4 hours Monday, and 5 hours Tuesday!) that I decided not to run Monday morning and instead just did 4 miles each Wednesday and Thursday.

This past Saturday (Oct. 16), I joined my local team again in Virginia Beach but only ran 4 of my scheduled 8 miles. I had a wedding to get ready for that afternoon, so I opted not to wear myself out too much.

Yesterday (Oct. 18), I decided to stay on the Peninsula after work and did my scheduled 4 miles in Colonial Williamsburg. I upped my pace to 4/1 jogging/walking on The Duke of Gloucester street, which is a mile long from the steps of William and Mary's Wren building to the steps of the Capitol at the other end, so I went up and back twice for 4 miles. At this new pace, I completed 4 miles in 42 minutes, less than 11 minutes per mile! I'm getting closer to the level where I was last year, and I've still got eleven weeks to go!

Update: Just wanted to add that I completed a 3-mile run this evening - 35 minutes total, only 6 minutes walking. And I realized tonight that late-evening runs at dusk might not be a good idea in my neighborhood, not because of safety issues but because of froggy issues! There were so many poor little frogs trying to cross the path, some as small as the tip of my finger, and I really hope none were hurt. I didn't harm any of them, but a few times I felt like I was running an obstacle course!

Th 10/07/04
Whew! This has been a busy week! Since I'm leaving for NYC tomorrow morning, I had to tie up a lot of loose ends at school this week, but I'm glad to say that the papers have been handed back and the midterm grades have been submitted. What I'm really proud of, though, is the fact that in the midst of all these viable excuses not to run, I stuck to my schedule and completed all of my mid-week miles this week! Tuesday afternoon I took a break from paperwork and did four miles, and this morning bright and early I went three. The next time I put on my running shoes will be in the Big Apple, and I'll be heading for the park. I'm not sure where the NYC TNT groups do their runs, but I bet I'll be hitting the jogging path around the Reservoir at some point. :-)

M 10/04/04
Three more miles down today. It was a beautiful afternoon, and after grading far too many papers and doing far too much running around after work, I finally got out into the park for my scheduled short mid-week run. I decided to up it to a 3/2 pace, and I had no problems keeping it up. In fact, at the halfway point it had been 18 minutes (12-minute mile), and when I finished it had been 35 minutes total, so I went ahead and jogged the rest of the way to the grocery store to get dinner before heading home. Weird... I'm already looking forward to tomorrow's 4 miles!


S 10/02/04
I started October out right with a 6 mile run this morning. I kept up the 2/2 pace for the entire run, and I finished in 1 hour and 20 minutes (including water stops, a pause to push some dog poop off to the side of the trail with a stick, and TWO rocks in my shoe!), which comes out to little more than 13 minutes per mile! I must say I'm proud of myself, and I feel great today. Now it's off to the showers and to the DMV before I spend an afternoon grading papers and preparing for next week's classes. Next Saturday I'll be in NYC running my scheduled 7 miles in Central Park!

Donate Online Here!