Nostalgia

Remember that time that I ran in the Germantown 5K? Want to see what it looked like? Here are the long-awaited photos!






In other news, I completed my scheduled 12 miles yesterday. Guess what? It's hard to run 12 miles. It went okay, not as well as I had hoped, but only 3 minutes over my goal time. 16 days until the half!

Miss Lynn vs. The Weather

I'm scheduled to do my last long run (12 mi.) before the Nashville Half Marathon this coming Wednesday. Unfortunately, this is the current weather forecast for Wednesday:


Now, I'm not scared of getting a little wet--but thunderstorms are another matter. Which leads me to the classic training dilemma: Do I risk the 30% chance and stick with my training plan, which calls for 4 miles tomorrow and 12 on Wednesday? Or do I switch the days, knowing that the weather will be better tomorrow, but only two rest days after my last seven decreases the chances of my reaching my goal (which is to finish the 12 in 2:45).

I can see the pros and cons of both choices. What would you do if it were you?

7 Up

What a different six weeks make. On September 10, I did my first really legit training run for next month's Nashville Half. It was seven miles. In a burst of ambition, I planned a route that I had not run before, which in hindsight was probably a mistake. On the way out, the mile between 2.5 and 3.5 is a steady uphill. According to Minnie (if I'm reading her correctly, which is by no means a certainty), the rise is about 200 feet. Add to this the fact that the weather was 85° and sunny that day, and the result was a pretty miserable and discouraging outing.

With the race now only three weeks (!) away, yesterday was time for me to run seven again--this time as an "easy" week, between last week's 10 and next's 12 (last long run before the race). The temp was about 25° cooler (still sunny), which made a huge difference. The six intervening weeks of training may also have helped. In any case, I finished eight minutes faster than in September, from 1:42 to 1:38 (13:26 pace). I will confess to cheating a teeny bit on my intervals on the way home, but DANGIT those hills are killer.

Perseverance

Our pastor taught on the topic of perseverance yesterday afternoon, and I was thinking about it during my 4 miles this morning. Which was apropos, because it was not my best short run. I felt fine after Saturday's 5K (and subsequent ambling around the Germantown Street Festival/Oktoberfest/Farmer's Market), and was not really stiff or sore at all yesterday. But for some reason I just wasn't at my best this morning, and the ups-and-downs of my hilly route took it right out of me. After about 3 miles, my knees and leg muscles were getting sore, so I abbreviated a couple of my running intervals (still kept my walking to one minute at a time, though).

It's easy to feel discouraged after a disappointing run like today's. That's part of the territory after you've been running a while, and have progressed to the point where you are setting goals to improve your speed, distance, and endurance. At the beginning, I didn't worry about those things--rather, any run was a counted a success by the mere fact of having completed it! And sometimes, that measure of running success still applies: it's not always fun, it's hardly ever easy, and sometimes it asks more than you can give. But continuing to stick with it in spite of those things is a victory in itself.

5K results

I had a great time this morning with my Team KG teammate, LoJo. We ran/walked the whole 5K together, which I have never done with a partner in any other race before. It was really fun!

But, the big question is, did we meet my goal of finishing the 5K in under 40 minutes?

With LoJo's superior speed beside me, we almost couldn't help it! We *killed* it with an official time of 38:09. Photos coming soon.

Five weeks from today is the Nashville Half Marathon!

3.1 before 40

My goal for the Germantown 5K is to finish under 40 minutes. I came pretty close back in August, and I have since broken this time in training runs. I covered the first 3.1 miles of the 9 I did last Wednesday in 38:59. But race day can bring anything . . . it's possible, but certainly not a sure thing.

My Coach

It is long past time that I should pay homage to my coach, running inspiration and bestie, KG.


One of the main reasons I got back into running after a failed previous attempt was because of her great example. She set her mind on completing the Country Music Half Marathon for the first time in 2008, and she has never looked back.

For the past few years, she has also been running for Team in Training, raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She's pretty much a hero.

AND besides running, we do lots of other fun things together. Many of which involve yummy food. Which in turn, necessitates more running.



And sometimes we do awesome things like getting up early to attend grocery store Grand Openings. Where we are sometimes accosted by giant bottles of dancing chocolate milk.


Sadly, our KG has had a little bit of a medical situation recently, which necessitates her sitting out of tomorrow's 5K. Rather than have her registration fee go to waste, I will be stepping in for her. So if you see me run by, be sure to shout, "Go, KG!"

SURPRISE! Bonus 5K!

More details later, but just a quick update to say that I will now be participating in the Germantown 5K this coming Saturday! Now, off to do 9 miles in preparation for next month's half marathon.