November Running Journal

T 11/30/04
Welcome friends and neighbors from Cape Story and Old Dominion University! Today I gave out flyers in the neighborhood and in my old stomping grounds of ODU's English Dept. If you're visiting my site for the first time, check out the links on the right for more information about what I'm running for. And please consider a dontion to support me as I train and raise money for Team in Training. Donate Online Here!

Well, after a grueling Saturday (the afternoon's game was as tough as the morning's 14-mile run!), I realized the soreness I started feeling around mile 6 might be something serious. I felt some pain in the back of my left knee when walking throughout the day Sunday, and it stuck around for most of Monday. Today it's more soreness/stiffness than pain, so I decided to walk instead of run, and after about 15 minutes I could barely feel the soreness. After about 45 minutes of walking, though, I turned off of the bike path at one point and twisted it slightly, and the pain came back for short period of time. Now it really only hurts when I get up from sitting and if I climb stairs, so I emailed my coach to see what he thought I should do. Hopefully everything will be back to normal soon! In the meantime, I'll rest and focus on meeting my fundrasing goals instead of this week's running goals. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted, and you'll be the first to know when I get back out there this week. :)

S 11/27/04
GO VIRGINIA! I can barely believe it. I just got back from a 14 mile training run! GO JENN! Yesterday morning, I also got 4 miles in before going to Barnes & Noble to fundraise. Cathi, my mentor, and I were there to wrap gifts in exchange for donations to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, but it wasn't nearly as busy as we had hoped it would be. I guess all the early bird shoppers were pooped by 10:00. The fundraising was a bit disappointing because there weren't too many people getting gifts wrapped, but I'm planning to volunteer there again later in the season. Now I'm gonna go watch UVA whoop up on Virginia Tech. :)

Th 11/25/04
Happy Turkey Day! Just wanted to post a quick update with yesterday's miles: 5 running miles in the neighborhood. I didn't get any more in today because I had far too many pies to make and our dinner was scheduled early in the day, but I'll be out there bright and early tomorrow to get my remaining mid-week miles in before my next fundraising opportunity - wrapping gifts at Barnes & Noble on the busiest shopping day of the year!

T 11/23/04
Got up early this morning and got five miles in (still running full miles every time!) before heading to work. It was a little drizzly, but not too bad. I'm off for the rest of the week, and I'll running another 11-12 miles between now and turkey (tofurkey) dinner!

S 11/20/04
I made it to the group run today and completed 12 miles (!) with the group. I'd never gone that far in the park before - this time I actually left the park and ran to 56th st to turn around! I kept up a 5/2 pace for the first 10 miles, with gatorade at miles 4, 6, and 10, and a power gel at mile 6, but I could really feel my energy level dropping during mile 11, and I switched to 4/1 and then 3/1 for the final mile. I'm feeling quite sore today, but if felt great to finish a run like that!

W 11/17/04
6 miles this evening in the neighborhood. Still runnin' every mile. :)

T 11/16/04
Last week on Thursday I ran 4 miles in my mother's neighborhood after work, and over the weekend I ran 5. Yesterday evening before the fabulous Eagles game I ran 5 miles in the neighborhood, and I'm still keeping up the full-mile runs with 1-2 minute walks inbetween, and I plan to run 6 miles this evening. Just a quick update for now, I plan to post more later this evening after my run.

T 11/9/04
Another beautiful night for a run, except for the two teen boys on bikes who thought it would be funny to play chicken and pretend not to see me as they aimed right in my direction on my side of the bike path. Twice. Anyhoo, I got my 5 miles in, and I am still keeping up full miles at a time for the whole run. I talked to my coach about this recent blast of endurance and he suggests I keep it up and run full miles for all weekly runs 5 miles and under while I work up to 5/1 during my longer runs over the next few weeks. Exactly two months and counting 'til 26.2!

M 11/8/04
Blogger is finally back up and running! I am so sorry for the delay in updating the site, but I could not get in to post for the last week and a half. So here's an overview of what you missed:

On Wednesday, October 27 I decided to complete my five miles in Newport News after work before heading home, and I ran on the Noland Trail. It was a beautiful fall afternoon, and I knew it might be my last chance to run on the trail because of the time change that weekend. The trail itself was very nice, and there were many other people out there enjoying the nice afternoon, but it was much more hilly than I'm used to, and I had to slow my pace (from 4/1 to 3/2) about halfway through. I was exhausted, but I felt great afterwards.

That Friday, October 29, I ran three miles in the neighborhood back up to the 4/1 pace, but I was unable to run in the group run that Saturday because I had a work meeting all afternoon. I didn't run on Halloween either, so I had to make up for the missed miles during the week.

I ran four miles on Monday, November 1 in the park keeping up 4/1 the whole time, and on Tuesday, November 2 (Election Day!) I made up the long run by doing 10 miles - all the way to the 64th St. entrance of the park on the trail! I carried a Gatorade with me for refueling, and I completed the 10 miles in just over 2 hours, which means I kept up about a 12-minute mile pace doing 4/1 the whole time.

It was another busy week, and I didn't run again until Friday, when I jogged around the neighborhood behind the car dealership while getting an oil change. I did three miles that day, but the great thing is that I actually ran all three miles with a 1-2 minute walk between each.

It's Monday now, and I was out of town for the weekend, so I haven't run since Friday, but I'll update later today after the 4-5 miles I've got planned for after work. :)

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Updated Monday at 5:30 PM...
Just got back from 4.5 miles total, four 1-mile runs with 2 minutes walks in between. I'm back in the shape I was in for the half marathon, running miles at a time and keeping it up for multiple miles!