A beautiful night for a run

The weather here in Reno has been amazing this past week. Today the temperature was in the high 80's which made it way too hot for me to want to run. Instead, I got my hair done and went out for sushi with the family. I was still suffering from 'sushi bloat' when Don asked me if I felt like running. Did I feel like running?? Of course I didn't feel like running!! I never feel like running.

But I got up and put on my running gear anyways. I laced up my shoes and clipped on the little red safety light. We grabbed our trusty reflector vests and bright yellow wristbands and were out the door. Did I forget to mention that it was nearly 10 PM? We got outside and the weather was better than we could have hoped. It was 72 degrees and no breeze, just a nice calm night.

We ran through the neighborhood for a slow 2-mile loop. We're planning on doing a longer run tomorrow and just wanted to get in a nice, easy run tonight to loosen up our legs a bit. It felt good but the sushi burps that I kept having were getting annoying. As an added treat, our youngest son, Jonas, joined us on his bike. He doesn't usually like to do stuff with us (teenager and all that) so it was nice to have his company.

I'm hoping that our run tomorrow will be as nice. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Another run down, so many more to go

What a beautiful day in Reno! The weather was absolutely gorgeous today. I mean really, you couldn't ask for a better day for a run. The temperature was fantastic and there was a slight breeze that kept us from getting too warm

We decided that today was the day to amp up the mileage a little bit. We convinced our oldest son to come with us (on his bike) while we ran to Mira Loma Park and throughout the surrounding neighborhoods. I was trying out my new shoes, a pair of Nike Free v3.0. I thought that since they felt so nice I would try them without socks today. Bad move. About halfway through my run I got a hotspot on my foot in a different place than I normally do. It's terribly distracting to run while thinking about how big the blister on your foot is going to be when you finally take your shoe off.

All in all, it was a great run. We went 3.64 miles in 35:13; average pace of 9:41 minute per mile. Booyah.

Hotspot or not, I kicked that run's ass today!

Fartlek? You betcha!

Honey felt inclined to do a little speed training today because we've both been a little sore on our off days. I agreed to go under the condition that it wouldn't be too far since my calves and guts were not feeling up to par. We decided to take a nice mile run (remember, this is our off day) and turn it into a Fartlek workout.

I have a nice mile run in the neighborhood and there are enough straightaways to make it decent for this point in our training. Lead feet were everywhere and by the time we hit the school and prepared for our first pick-up in pace I felt like I'd already run 2 miles....we hadn't even got a half mile. :( Our sprint lasted for about 100 yards and we continued on our run.

For our mile run we managed to get in 3 sprints. It wasn't great, but I just keep telling myself, "You ran on an off day! No complaining allowed."

Bring on the RTO!

Another run down, so many more to go!

Tuesday meant another day for running and it didn't matter how sore I was, I went running with honey anyways. Since our RunKeeper failed us last time we decided to try the same route again to get a more accurate feel for where we stand. We left our house with the sun burning on our backs and the wind hitting us in the face. It wasn't good. I bitched throughout the majority of the run, couldn't muster any spit in my mouth, and had a chest cramp the whole time.

But you know what? I did it anyways. I ran despite my feet feeling like I was wearing lead boots. I ran despite my chest feeling like it was going to burst. I ran despite my mouth feeling more parched than the Sahara. And you know what? I'm going to do it again today. Not for as far today, but just a quick little run to remind myself that I can't get by on winging it. I have eleven teammates that are depending on me to suck ass.

RTO training, Part II

With less than two months until the big race we've decided to begin training again. Last year we sort of eased ourselves into it because we were a teensy bit afraid. This year, we know what to expect and we know that mean we can't pussyfoot our way around training.

Today was Easter Sunday and what a beautiful day in the Truckee Meadows. I think the temperature hit 72 degrees. After having a pretty relaxing day, thanks to a great breakfast by Peg's Glorified Ham n' Eggs, we realized we could no longer delay the inevitable. Run we must, and run we did.

We started out around 7 pm, with the sun securely hidden behind clouds and a nice breeze to keep us from overheating. Rather than just hitting our neighborhood we ventured out towards Mira Loma Park. Neither of us were gagging, and we had figured out a nice cadence to our spit cycles. Oh yes, training has definitely started.

Not a bad run...just under 3 miles (2.73 miles) in 27:27.....just around 10:04/mile.* Not too shabby for our first day out. Here's hoping I can walk tomorrow. ;)

*RunKeeper GPS was all wonky and didn't correctly measure the mileage. The time has since been corrected to a more realistic pace. ;)