Thank you for all of the thoughtful comments on my last post. They really meant a lot to me and Steven.
The funeral was last night in Kansas City. It was an absolutely beautiful service and it was great to see so many friends and family members.
My next race is the Chicago Marathon on October 10 (I had to skip the Chicago Half Marathon on 9/12 to be in Kansas City).
Running Highlight of the week: Another new slow PDR – 18 miles!
Day 323 | September 6, 2010: 2 m run
I thought this would be my 18-miler, but I got out on the trail and my left knee told me to stop.
Distance: 2.0 | Start Temp: 68° | Time: 22:19 | Avg Pace: 9:53 | 1: 10:40 | 2: 11:37
Day 324 | September 7, 2010: rest
Day 325 | September 8, 2010: 3 m run
Ugh, this is getting so frustrating! I felt fine until the last part of the third mile, then my left knee started to hurt and made me limp, so I quit running. I am going to try running slower.
Angry runner.
I was running by myself in the Rollins Savanna. Well by myself, meaning with all the bugs flying in to my face, and with my shadow. I pretended it was Steven saying “You’re limping! You better stop running!”
If Steven would have been running with me I also probably would not have been pissed off that only one ear in my headset was working (because I wouldn’t have been using them). Hmm. Think someone’s a bit moody…?
At least the temperature was right. I was cold when I had to walk a mile back to my car.
Distance: 3.0 | Start Temp: 65° | Time: 29:31 | Avg Pace: 9:50 | 1: 9:38 | 2: 9:58 | 3: 9:53
Day 326 | September 9, 2010: rest
Day 327 | September 10, 2010: 18 m run
Finally. I was worried I would never get my 18-miler done!
Per my running coach’s suggestion (that would be Coach Erin), I wore a knee brace and walked a minute after each mile. That seemed to do the trick! I was able to make it through with only slight knee pain every now and then.
I ended up starting on the Des Plaines River Trail at Independence Grove and running 9 miles out and back. I got to see “new” parts of the trail (new in the sense that I had never seen those parts before) and I really enjoyed that.
It was a beautiful morning! Can you see the teeny tiny Remax Hot Air Balloon in the picture above?
And despite having a cold and being alone on this run, I still had fun. I just blew lots of snot rockets and listened to a bunch of podcast!
Run stats: I tried two new GU flavors – Orange Burst at 7 and Tri-Berry at 13. I liked them both, but felt hungry at 16 miles. Maybe I should carry a bar or something. I ended up drinking eight 8-ounce containers of water (most of it in the last 1/3 of miles) and one 8-ounce container of Rain Berry Gatorade. I felt like the Gatorade made me more thirsty. Has Gatorade (or any sports drink) ever made you thirstier? I wore the Brooks Adrenaline 10s sans inserts.
I took a quick ice bath when I got home, because my legs felt really sore and stiff right away. I didn’t mention this before, but when I take ice baths, Data comes in to the bathroom and basically freaks out. He gets all worried and does a concerned meow at me. He bats at the ice, gets close to the faucet and this time he even got in to the bath with me (before I put the ice in) – see below:
Distance: 18.0 | Start Temp: 53° | End Temp: 68° | Time: 3:26:35 | Avg Pace: 11:28 | 1: 11:24 | 2: 11:26 | 3: 11:31 | 4: 11:33 | 5: 11:47 | 6: 11:06 | 7: 11:04 | 8: 11:09 | 9: 10:36 | 10: 11:04 | 11: 11:25 | 12: 11:26 | 13: 11:40 | 14: 11:24 | 15: 11:34 | 16: 11:43 | 17: 11:55 | 18: 12:36
Day 328 | September 11, 2010: rest
Day 329 | September 12, 2010: rest
Week Summary: 23.00 miles
This was a rough week for me. I am ready for things to get back to normal… exercise and life-wise.
Good job on the 18 miler!! I hope things get back to normal for you soon as well.
That picture of Data is hilarious. Mine used to peer into the water when I would take baths but they’d NEVER go in. Now they don’t even come near my baths!
Beautiful pictures from your morning run! Data is too cute. I’ve had concerned cats by the bathtub, too, but never one that got in to check on Mom! Glad you got some runs in and took it easy when you need to. Keep moving as you go through this strange period of grieving – it does help.
It does feel good to get out on the run and just zone out!
Aren’t the cats funny? Why does the bath freak them out? Probably because they would NEVER want to get in!
Data is so cute! Shasta has never gotten that concerned, but her fear of the bathtub water is pretty fierce after we may have pretended to be dunking her in and she slipped out of my hands and into the water ;).
And congrats on that run! Really, I don’t think it was that slow – for training you’re supposed to go a good minute per mile slower than you’d want to race it anyway, right?
Nice work on the 18 miler!!!! I have to admit that I am a bit jealous of your garmin.
Wow – your splits on the 18 were really consistent. I really hope your knee plays nice!
Kim,
I’m glad to hear that a little bit of normalcy is returning… Great job on the 18-miler. I’m really bummed that we had to miss ‘our’ half-marathon today. Guess it wasn’t in the cards. You with a funeral and me with a big bag of sickness ravaging my body. Maybe next year…
Glad to read you’re incorporating walk intervals. Sounds like they’re helping. Nice.
Take care of your knee.
*hugs to you, Steven, and Data (funny cat!)…
Wowza!!! 18 miles during such a hard time? I am super impressed. I hope things calm down soon.
Good job on the 18! You did a great job and you should be proud of your time and distance. Especially with the knee issues and life stuff going on. 🙂 We must be on the same training schedule too. We can motivate eachother for the big 20 EEEEK! 🙂
I was behind on my 18 so my 20 is this Saturday!!! Is yours this Saturday or next?
GREAT job getting your 18 in with all that’s going on in your life. I have been doing a run / walk combo since my comback, and so far it’s really keeping my legs happy.
I am TERRIFIED of the 20 miler coming up. Seriously. Maybe because my longest run to date is only 13.3. Ugh.
Oh gosh! You haven’t gotten above 13.3 yet? I bet you can still do the 20! Just take it nice and slow 🙂
You did great getting all that mileage in this week. I’m glad my suggestions helped and I love that you grabbed a photo of Data in the tub. He’s too funny!
That’s so crazy about Data. I’m surprised he jumped on your lap!
Great job on 18 miles! My new PDR is 13.1 that I ran in the half marathon yesterday. Every step past mile 11 I kept thinking about how it was uncharted territory for me.
Isn’t that exciting? That was how I felt on my 18 once I got past 16! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Ha, I’m nervous that Data is going to fall into the ice bath with you. He’d be so miserable! Bodger has recently gotten scared to enter the bathroom when I have the water running because he thinks I’ll snatch him and throw him in the tub for a bath.
I’m glad the interval walking/running helped your knee!
Also, I should probably have figured this out by now–do you drive to all these cool running venues? I’m always so jealous of your pretty runs. How far away are most of these places? I want to come live near you! Maybe I should scout out some places around here too…
How often do you have to give Bodger a bath?
Currently, I do drive to all the forest preserves. The closest one to our house is 2 miles away (we drive between 10-30 mins for the rest), so occasionally I run there. They are actually building a 2.5 mile trail that goes through our back yard right now and should be finished fall 2011! I am excited!
If you look at the map here you can see all the forest preserves around us. We live closest to the one in the left middle called “Nippersink” (we call it “Nipplestink”).
Are there many trails in CU?
Don’t tease me about living out here! That would be too cool! That is one of the reasons I don’t want to move closer to the city – I love all the trails in Lake County. Cook County has trails too, but they are paved.
Just catching up on blogs and am so very sorry to read about your family’s loss. We were actually in KC at that same time (September 2-8) because our 7-year-old nephew was killed. It sounds like both losses were sudden and unexpected, and I will certainly keep you in our thoughts.
Glad to hear you had a relatively pain-free 18-miler. I did mine yesterday to make up for the 19-miler I missed when I was in KC – and my knee is still bugging today. Ugh. I keep telling myself – a few more weeks, a few more weeks…
Megan, I am so sorry to hear about your nephew! Was he in an accident? 🙁 I’ll be thinking of you 🙁
What are you doing about your knee? I have been icing mine when I can, and wearing the brace.
Congratulations on your 18 miler! I can’t wait for it to cool down here so I can try out the longer distances on weekends. It’s a bummer only having about an hour for running every morning. Well, I suppose I could get up at 4:00am. Yeah, that’s going to happen.
I love your new header!!!!!!!!
Thank you!!! 🙂
Your 18 miler sounds awesome! Way faster than my runs 🙂