Running into June - May 30-June 5

[Crankin]

I did it and I am still here to tell the tale.
I was up all night, stomach a wreck and then when I finally fell asleep, we had a huge thunderstorm around 3 AM. I think, though, I am now back on US time, as opposed to European time.
Ate a good breakfast of scrambled eggs, a roll with olive oil (can you tell I was in Spain), a slice of cheese and an orange. Wasn't sure if I should have coffee, but I had one cup, with no ill effects. I left for the race around 8:30, got there at 8:45 and as I was pulling in, I saw someone I know pulling in next to me. She's been a runner for years, and I know she doesn't run super fast. She lives near my old neighborhood and I often would see her out when I was riding; in fact, I still do. Anyway, that calmed me down, and she told me where to pin my number. It felt so hot and humid, I seriously thought of doing the walk, but put the thoughts out of my head. I walked and ran around the parking lot for about 10 minutes. The start was a bit chaotic, we had to run down a path through the woods, which I liked, but some people tripped on rocks, etc, to get to the street. I was going a bit too fast here, on the downhill, and then there was an up, which got to me. The first mile went quickly and I pushed myself to get to the 1.6, which was the turn around. A lot people passed me, but I noticed the people at my pace were now walking a lot and I kept running. Going back up the wooded path was hard, because we had to run back down to the finish, which was past the start. Even though that was downhill, I was losing it! I wanted to give a big push, but I just couldn't. I thought I might come in at around 33.5, but I came in exactly in 34 minutes, 2 minutes faster than my last run. I was happy with that. My friend (the race organizer) was at the finish and I think I told her I hated her at that moment .
I found the person I knew, who came in around 30 minutes; I think she will be a good person for me to try and run with. She doesn't race anymore, but she did the race with her son who is handicapped (and who beat me by quite a bit) and works at the hospital we were raising money for. There was quite a spread of food, but I ate a banana and a piece of watermelon and headed home. Took a really cold bath for the legs, showered and am now sitting here in my Zoot tights.
It 's a good feeling of accomplishment, but it was painful at points. What keeps me motivated to run is that it seems to keep my weight down in a way that cycling doesn't. DH came home from a hard 30 mile ride right after me and I was jealous, but I need to do this.

[colby]

Way to go, Bike Chick and Crankin!! You did it! Awesome.

Not a fan of running in the hot and humid weather myself, so I'm definitely impressed.

[OakLeaf]

Yay! Way to go Crankin and Bike Chick!

I'm still trying to find my way back into a routine... if the thunderstorms stop long enough for me to run today I WILL.

[rocknrollgirl]

Congrats guys for racing today!!! It is fantastic that you both made it out!

[Crankin]

Thanks for all of the encouragement, everyone. I didn't want to let you all down and that helped me. I also tried to think about my son running in Iraq the past 2 summers, with an 80 lb. pack on his back, in 120 heat. I am so proud that both of my kids are endurance type athletes... and thinking that maybe all those years of seeing me work at the gym when they were little had some influence.

[Jolt]

Way to go, Crankin! Glad your race went well in spite of the heat and humidity. Sounds like you got woken up last night/this morning by the same whopping thunderstorm I did--it hit here around 0230 if I recall correctly. Today's run for me was about an hour on the trails, with a little break in the middle b/c it was hot (and I was being a bum, I'll be honest).

[Bike Chick]

Way to go Crankin'! If we lived closer it sounds like we could be running partners! And thanks everyone for your good thoughts and encouragement. You have no idea how much that means.

I rode 21 miles yesterday morning before work, then did the 5k last night then got up and did a 40 mile group ride this morning. I'm beat!

[colby]

Decided to take advantage of the SUPER NICE WEATHER (more crappy weather resumes tomorrow) and do my brick today - 50 mile ride and 1 hour run. The sun set on me and we didn't quite make it an hour. I'll pick up an extra run tomorrow.

I know I have to ride (and run) a lot farther in a few weeks for Ironman, but today's brick was the first where I truly felt like I could ride at that level of effort and run at that level of effort forever. Heart rates were within range of where they should be. My legs were not firing as well as the usually do on hills on the bike (probably because I left late in the day, which isn't when I usually ride) but were great on the run.

Today's theme song was Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which I sang to my bike (Lucy).

Next weekend I have a 70-80 mile ride day (I'll ride on course) and 10 mile run day, and it's all downhill from there.