Sunshine

Today the sun came out!  I can't remember when we last saw the sun.  I took a  four mile lunchtime run in the subdivision.  I ran a one mile warm up then added some speed into the last three miles.  It felt good.

Willow Time

Another rainy day.  It was a great day because I got to babysit my granddaughter.  I walked her around the house.  She likes movement.  Maybe she will be a runner someday.

One More Gray day

Gray and grey are different spellings of the same word, and both are used throughout the English-speaking world. But gray is more common in American English, while grey is more common in all the other main varieties of English. In the U.K., for instance, grey appears about twenty times for every instance of gray. In the U.S. the ratio is reversed.

Today was another gray day.  However, the rain stopped.  I ran at lunch.  My plan called for a speed workout but my ankle has been bothering me (for no reason) so I decided to do an easy run in the subdivision.

Another Gray Day

Today was another rainy gray day.  I hoped to get out at lunch for a run but it was raining.  Instead I exercised in the house.  I realized I had on gray pants and a gray shirt.  I am ready for sunshine.

Gray Day

It was another raining gray day.  I did stretching and myrtle exercises in the  house.  I am ready for sunshine.

Back to Church

Today was a Sunday morning church run with Kathy.  It's been a while since we had a nice long Sunday morning run together.  It was a gray day outside but it was great to have a slug sister run.  We talked the whole time and caught up with everything has been going on in our lives.  I ran 14 miles and Kathy ran 18. 

When I got home I did my runners yoga to recover.  Jim and I watched NCAA basketball.  I noticed that many of the players wear compression tights.  I put on my compression tights to help recover.

Two weeks until the Go St Louis half marathon.

Walking

Today Jim and I took a walk down the Rock Hollow Trail.  It had been raining so the paved trail is a good option.  It was a gray day.  I am ready for some sunshine.

Aching

I have had aching legs.  I have not run long distance or with great intensity.  I have made sure to get my rest days.  Right now I am blaming it on statins.  I have had high cholesterol forever.  I took statin drugs for a number of years but quit when it was causing muscle aches.  The doctor agreed to let me try going without.  The muscle aches disappeared.  Of course my cholesterol shot up.  I have read a lot about cholesterol and don't know what to believe.  My doctor thinks I need to be on a statin to control the cholesterol.  I don't want to have anything to do with a heart attack or stroke.  So I agreed to start taking a low dose statin again.  I can't prove that the muscle aches are from the statin but I think so.  Need to have a conversation with the doc.

Basketball

Today my plan was to run 4 miles around 4 o'clock.  Jim said he would join me.  At four it was drizzling so we waited for the clouds to pass.  We started around 5.  Jim informed me that basketball games started at 6 so we needed to be home to watch.  I let him set the pace.  He kept us at a pretty good pace because he had a goal - watch basketball.

Catching Up

I have missed a few days blogging.  Here is a recap of the last couple days.

SUNDAY - My quilt guild has a quilt show every other year.  This weekend was our show.  I volunteered to work at the show all day Sunday.  I won an award for Best Machine Quilting.  I only have a couple of quilt awards so this was very special.  I have many running ribbons, trophies and plaques.  I have many more opportunities to win a running award than a quilting award.  I enter a quilt in a show once every other year.  I enter lots of races.

MONDAY - I was planning on running but it rained.  I exercised in the house.

TUESDAY - This was my workout.  I ran five miles and what was supposed to be tempo pace.  I am not very good at hitting any pace.  It felt like a hard workout.

WEDNESDAY - This was another workout in the house day.  I had a long day of work then Jim had dinner ready.  There is enough light to run in the evening but I need my food to settle before I can run or bad things happen with my GI system.

Planning for the future.  I like to run one race a month (sometimes more)

Here is 2018 so far:

January - Jan 1 Commitment Day Run- coldest race I ever ran.
February - Castlewood Cup - Muddiest race I ever ran.
March - Holy Infant Shamrock Shuffle - fun race close to home

Tentative plan for rest of year:

April - Go St. Louis Half Marathon, Wildwood Be Brave Arbor Day 5K
May - Senior Olympics
June - Ballwin Days 5K and 1Mile
July - Get Your Butt Kicked at Rte 66
August - Alpine Shop Trail Run Series at Castlewood
September - Labor Day 5K (part of senior Olympics)
October - Chesterfield Gumbo Flats 5K
November - Skippo (Distance to be determined)
December - Wildwood Trail Marathon

December or Janaury I need to start training for Boston.  I'm sure I will be training with my slug sister.

Different kinds of crazy

Today my slug sister ran a race crazy fast.  I mean really crazy fast.  I am so proud of her.

Today was my day for a long run.  Jim went with me to Sherman Beach.  There was a man getting out of his car just as we were getting out of ours.  Jim said, "Are you a crazy runner too?"   He said he was going to run the Chubb Trail.  Jim told him it was on the other side of the river.  He said yep, you climb up to the railroad track and cross the railroad bridge to the other side then make left and you will find the Chubb Trail.  I said, "Isn't that dangerous if a train comes?"  He replied, "You can hear the train far off and run across the bridge.  It's wider up there than it looks".  There are all kinds of crazy.  I would just drive over to the Chubb Trail.

Jim ran about 8 miles.  I ran 14.  I did the walk run until the last two miles where I ran steady.  My last two miles were my fastest.  My glut/hip issue and hamstring have been mildly bothering me so I am trying not to push the speed too much.

Running

Yesterday I ran 6 miles with negative splits.  None were really fast but I did run faster with each mile.  I did some strides in the last mile.  Strides are feeling good.  Last summer I couldn't do strides without hamstring pain.  Jim did not run because his back hurt.

Today Jim and I took a hike from Sherman Beach to the Cedar Bluff Trail.  It reminded me of the trail marathon.  It was a beautiful day to hike in shorts.

Jim told me that he is not going to sign up for the Go Half Marathon.  He has been running but decided not to sign up for the race.  It will just be the slug sisters.

I asked him if he was interested in the 6 hour Get Your Butt Kicked Race.  He said, "I'm not crazy.  I'm going to drink beer with Jeff."

Love

Yesterday Jim and I photographed a wedding.  The priest talked about love.  In English we have one word for love.  I say I love Jim.  I also say I love chocolate.  Love is love in English.  I love Jim and chocolate.  In Greek there are multiple words for love.  There is a word for romantic love, brotherly love, love of things, love of God.  I love running.  I love my running shoes.  I love running in shorts.  I love my slug sister.  I love Jim.  In Greek I would have to figure out the right word for each of these.

Today I went for a 5.4 mile run on the Al Foster Trail.  I ran easy for 9 minutes then ran faster for one minute.  I repeated this for the run.  My legs felt good.  Jim stayed home because he was mad at his computer.  I told him that running helped clear the mind and computer issue solved themselves.  He stayed home.

I love running.

12 miles

Today I ran a 12 mile long run.  Jim made it through the whole run.  We bumped into Kathy and ran a few miles with her.  I got my slug sister fix.  I felt really good.  I could push the long runs faster but the point of a long run is to put miles on your legs an not kill yourself. 

Running with Jim

Today I had an easy run on the schedule.  Jim wanted to go.  He asked how far.  I said 4 or 5 miles.  He said he could go for four.  We ran four miles with negative splits:  10:00, 9:29, 9:19, 8:43.

The worst thing about the run was that I forgot a handkerchief.  My nose always run especially when the air is cold.  I had to snot rocket which I am not very good at.

After the run I said, "That was great wasn't it?"
Jim said, "That was torture".

Tempo Run

Today was my tempo run.  I started at Sherman Beach.  I did a one mile warm up.  Then I did 4 miles at tempo pace with a two minute rest between.  There was an emergency port a pottie stop partway through. 

I'm not sure what my goal is for the half marathon.  I would like to run a 2 hour half.  This would require average pace of 9:14.  This is what I was trying to hit for my tempo miles.  I am not very good at hitting my pace.  My warm up was 10:28 which was good.  Then my next for miles were 8:37, 8:45, 8:44, 8:43.  This was a little fast but at least I was consistent.  For the cool down I ran 1.2 miles and threw some strides in.  I felt good afterward but felt like I did a workout.

I got started after five.  When I was on my cool down I realized that it was getting dark.  I made it to the car before twilight.  I won't have that problem next week when we have daylight savings time.

Jim did not run.  He was at a friends helping him bottle wine.  There are priorities.

Resting

I ran a 5K race Saturday and a 10 mile long run yesterday.  Today I felt good and felt like running but I decide I should rest.  I stretched and strengthened in the house.

Discussion with Jim yesterday at mile 7:

Me:  How are you feeling
Jim:  I'm not dead yet.

He felt good until mile 8.3 when his knee started hurting.

Ten Miles

Today Jim and I met Kathy.  We walk/ran 5 miles with her then another 5 back to the car.  She continued on for a long run.  The ten miles felt great after yesterday's 5K. 

Shamrock Shuffle

Today was the Shamrock Shuffle 5K.  Yesterday we went to Holy Infant to pick up our packets.  We decided to stay for their fish fry.  The best thing about the fish fry was that I didn't have to eat anything fried.  I don't like fried food very much and it doesn't like me.  I had baked salmon, green beans and mostaccioli. Jim had fried fish and hush puppies with green beans.  My stomach was not feeling well all day yesterday.  I was hoping it would be okay for the race this morning.

It was a nice sunny morning.  The race goes through streets around Holy Infant.  There are no big hills but there are plenty of little ups and down.  I finished in 26:36 which was second in my age group.  Lucy Hey had a birthday and is now in my age group.  I have seen Lucy at many local races over the years.  She is always faster that me.  We always talk and she is very nice.

I have plenty energy in my legs to do a long run tomorrow.

A plan

I signed up for the Go St Louis Half Marathon.  Now I need a plan.  I have been spoiled.  Kathy has put together my marathon plans the last year and I just followed them.  They were genius.  Now I find myself 5 1/2 weeks from the race.  I have been running regularly but I have not been training.

I put together a plan.  I did a search on half marathon training plans and took what I liked from several plans.  My plan includes a long run on the weekend.  A tempo or speed work during the week.  An easy or recovery runs with strides.