July (L)egg fry running

I didn't want to head out yesterday morning until DH had figured out his plans, and by the time he did, the nice morning weather was finished. Between being ticked off about that, sad about him being gone again, and not having run the day before, I really needed a run. The storm hadn't hit my house by the time I got my shoes on, but it was coming - first time I'd run in the rain on purpose in a very long time.

Round about halfway I'm starting to think that maybe wasn't such a great idea. It stayed warm enough to be comfortable getting drenched, the wind gusts never got strong enough to take me off my feet, the water wasn't all the way across the road in the low points, and I never saw hail, but there was a LOT of lightning. One bolt came so close that I instinctively covered my head in my hands. That would've done a lot of good, I'm sure. Nothing to do at that point but run the other half of the loop, exult in the power of the weather and the feeling of my body in it, and think that being struck by lightning is as good a way to go as any.

It really was a glorious run. Wound up doing the 8.5 mile loop eight minutes faster than I'd done it recently, even with my shoes and socks so soaked and heavy that they were throwing off my stride, probably mostly because of the cooling effect of the rain. The sun was back out by the time I got home. And, I found out that my newest shoes dry super quick. Yay.

Yay, Yellow. Well done.

Yellow and Oak, you both did great! Yellow, you were dealing with so much and you stuck with it!

Oak, that would be scary! I've noticed that the thought of running rather than riding in the rain is less scary to me. Unsure I need to hit the trails in the rain though...even if they aren't single-track there are things to fall on my noggin.

Started my 3 day weekend with a run. 3.4 miles today (I've only been running 3), still slow pace and boy it's hot. Not a bit of movement in the air, not even the tiniest of breezes! I used to like summer!:(

This morning it was 58F with low humidity at dawn-- perfect running weather! I was going to take a rest day today but no way was I missing this. Lots of other runners out on the streets too, all looking happy. Went 7.3 miles in just over an hour and it was delightful.

And we just might hit a record low of 53 or so on Monday. This cool weather is such a treat.

We are having great temps as well! I admit that I am torn between a trail run this evening or a ride...but whatever I do it will be fun! It will likely be decided by whether my shoulders are still sore tonight.

I went for a nice mtb ride this morning. I am taking the next couple days off running since I have an 8K on Sunday morning.

Did a very nice 5k race this morning. At the start it was about 65 with a drizzle, and the rain picked up over the next half hour. Never a downpour, just a steady cool rain. Nice. There's a short but very steep bit on the course that we do both going down and up, and on the down hill side I was being very cautious as it was slippery. Hated getting passed by so many, but just as I got to where it leveled out a bit someone behind me fell so I felt justified. And when we went up it on the way back I was able to pass about 6 runners. There were a couple high school CC teams participating again, and it's fun to run with them. After yesterday's overly fast run, I wasn't expecting to manage a great time, but ended up finishing in 25:05. I'll take that just about any day! Walked away with 3rd among masters women, and the race continued the tradition of ridiculously large trophies. Actually, they're huge only for us older folks; the trophies for the under-40s are quite modest.

Congrats skhill! And TrekDianna, good luck!

I need to get out for a little bit of a run. Drizzling and yucky, I feel like cr*p, and I'm supposed to go for a run with my coach in the morning, so I don't want to do too much. For about 50 cents I'd blow off running and just do yoga today...

Nice, skhill. I love running in the rain if it's not super cold :)

TrekDianna, how was it???

We hit a record low this morning-- 55F! Great running conditions. It was just a typical Monday easy run, except for doing an extra lap around a block that includes a steep downhill. I'm trying to get a bit more comfortable running down steep sections-- although having a red light waiting at the bottom probably didn't help. An odd thing: when I was almost home I realized that I'd gone past the locations of 2 of last week's 3 shootings. I live in an interesting neighborhood...

skhill, yikes!!

I need more practice with the downhills, too. The one thing that really threw me at Boston (besides the bombing, obviously :() was the steep descent at the start. We have plenty of steep grades where I live, but they're mostly gravel, or if they're paved they tend to have gravel washed onto them, so I'm pretty ginger with the footing going downhill. Not at all used to trying to race and being confident that one little mistake in weight distribution among my foot bones won't put me on my azz. I've been trying to be more aware of that, and really go for it on the rare occasion I get a clean paved downhill run.


I had a nice run with my (probable future) coach yesterday, a little less than 8 miles at a 9:15 pace. I met him at the bike path so it was mostly flat, although we took a spur that has a couple of overpasses, underpasses and bridges. I'm going to show him my hills next time. He's from the western, glaciated side of my county, so he's got a treat in store. He he.

Yayyy on finding a coach Oak!

The 8K was actually pretty good. I kept my same 5k pace throughout. We were given finisher prizes that were useful - pint glasses with the name of the run on them. I did slow down for a bit on one section -- an osprey was diving for a fish and I just needed to see if it was going to come up with one. Next up - a 10K in mid August.