Running: May 16-22

[colby]

I did about 18 miles yesterday, it was rough. I had a rough weekend all around. The weather was hard on me (too warm, too dry, too soon) and I just felt "off". I walked more than I have in a really long time and stopped often where I could to cool off with river water on my head/face (I was dreaming of those soaked sponges they give you at Ironman run aid stations). I ran out of water at about mile 13-14, which was 3 miles shorter than last week's run when I didn't run out of water at all. This will probably be my longest long run before Ironman and I have to let it not get me down.

[Crankin]

I ran 5k yesterday to test out my Zoot compression tights after the run (see the apparel thread).
It was a bit painful, but I brought no electronics, since i seem to do better without focusing on that right now. I know I am far below the 9:45 pace I had last summer. Last June I bought new shoes; my bunion was killing me in my shoes. The new ones are great for that, but not enough support for my shins and other places that have hurt in my last few runs. I had no trouble before. When I get back from my cycling trip, new shoes are first on the agenda, because I signed up for a 5k on June 5th! I am sure I will be DFL, but I didn't want to do the walk. It's for the cancer wing of the local hospital; my good friend is a development officer for the hospital (i.e. she's in charge of the event).
What have I done? I am not competitive at all. And the course ends on a hill...

[OakLeaf]

Way to go Grog!!

Yesterday was my first too, we took the long way home today and did a little sightseeing so I'll put together a full report later - but the weather was perfect, I had fun and beat my time goal by 8-1/2 minutes (4:21).

I feel better today than I have any right to, I think - like, better than I've felt the day after a lot of my longer training runs at a much slower pace. Makes me wonder if I just didn't work hard enough yesterday. I guess that's what I get for having a hypothetical Magic 8-Ball as my coach.