I will probably also post this on my running blog, so for those of you that read both, if you read it here, there’s no need to move over to the other blog.
Anyways, it’s been a week since the half marathon, so I figured all the emotional stuff has passed and now I can recount the half a little more fairly.
First and foremost, Hope and Allison did awesome. despite the questionable choice of Afghan food the night before the race (but it was so delicious!), they both finished in a respectable 2:32, only about two minutes from their goal (2:30). I say only because it’s 13.1 miles and 2 minutes is easy to makeup or lose over the course of that many miles.
My race was OK. I’ve been getting happier with it as the days have passed. I ran 1:55, not a PR, and certainly not as quick as I’d have liked. I’d like to run faster than 1:50 at some point, but considering the amount I’ve been able to run, 1:55 isn’t a bad time. I only got two 10 mile runs in before the race also, and that’s just not enough to PR. At any rate, 1:55 paid off in that I wasn’t so sore.
This week I ran twice and got 11 in this morning for a total of 21 for the week. Certainly a good recovery week with the exception of my running 11 today when it should have been more like 8. What can I say, running is also a stress reliever.
Of course, immediately after the half, I was looking for another race. I’m considering the OC half in april, but we’ll have to see what happens with school/thesis stuff.
It’s been like 4 weeks without much exercise, something I really can’t stand. I’ve been able to sneak in a run here and there, but with this summer job that consists mainly of hiking, and the whole thesis research/writing thing, I’ve been out of my routine. Today I snuck in not one but TWO runs. Both were at a nice relaxed pace, which was good in a few ways. The best thing was that I didn’t feel like I hadn’t worked out at all. I’ve been on my bike trainer a few days and whatnot, but that feeling of being out of shape is really discouraging, so it was nice to gently get back into running without that discouraging I can’t do it feeling. I’ll sleep well tonight, that’s for sure. Oh, and my shin felt pretty much fine. woot woot.
Well, it’s an appropriate day for me to propose my thesis. Today is National Running Day. After my thesis proposal, I’m going for a nice, slow, relaxing run. I deserve it. I have a test tomorrow, but frankly, I need some damn relief from all that stress. You should go out for a jog, run, walk, shuffle, whatever and enjoy the day wherever you are to celebrate. I may have to even throw on a running movie while I study tonight. Enjoy the day everyone!
Ok, I had sort of been holding out, but I have a new blog. Oh don’t get me wrong, this blog will remain active and I will win those two boxes of baked goods made by Hope’s own hands and newly cole slawed finger. My new blog is at Runner’s World. I figured that rather than mix life with running in my posts, I’d divide and conquer. So, if you want to read more about my running conquests (or lack thereof recently) you’ll want to go here from now on. If you want the whole shish kabob (and we all like shish kabob), you can check both sites, which I hope to update at the sameish time everyday. Ok, and now it’s time for this guy to go to sleep since the screen is getting blurry as my eyes begin to force themselves closed.
Hope has patellar tendonitis, which is preventing her from doing just about everything. It sucks hardcore. I’ve actually had issues with my patellar tendon in the past and can corroborate the lack of fun you have while the tendon that holds your kneecap in place is tight and inflamed. For me, it was a huge amount of stretching (3x/day was the minimum) that really got things under control. This is something we all should do, of course none of us do and I even fell back to my non-stretching ways after things felt better. Maybe that should have been a resolution for the new year – more stretching. I’m thinking that I will go 7 miles tomorrow, so wish me luck in light of Hope’s injury that I don’t end up with one myself.
I finally had a good run this morning. Not that I hadn’t had pretty good runs, but today I felt good the entire time. I credit this feeling to the increase in my weekly mileage back up past 20 miles (28.1 last week). It was cold this morning. You east coasters still won’t have sympathy for me considering that you’ve been in sub 20 (and sub 15) degree weather for the past few weeks. Nevertheless, it was 32 this morning at the start of my run. I think no matter where you are 32 is considered cold. That’s Fahrenheit for all you jokesters out there. Anyway, it was so cold I really almost didn’t get out of bed this morning. I was definitely awake, but why would I get up when my bed with down comforter was so warm compared to the air in my 55 degree room (i really need to take advantage of the heat in the house). I did finally get myself up and around. Starting out in shorts, t-shirt, arm warmers, and gloves, by two miles I was down to t-shirt and shorts with gloves stuffed in my shorts and arm warmers rolled in my fists. Bolstered by the fact that most of the fast folks were either getting ready for marathons/half marathons this weekend, or recovering from races last weekend, I was one of the fast ones today. Averaging 7:48/mile, I some how did not collapse when I finished. Now it is time for a little nap, a little heater, a little breakfast and then I’l be ready for school. Have a good day!!
Ok, so Hope tried to throw me a zinger today but then left the door wide open for me to actually write about something. In case you weren’t sure, snow days are few and far between in California. Luckily Hope didn’t ask “how’s your snow day going?” She asked what the weather was like. Thank goodness, although i probably could have finagled my way out of that.
The weather here is, well, not bad compared to what the east is getting hit with. We had a cool day today (high of 52) and will have a chilly night (low 32). Even though I don’t think this is so bad, you should see all the true southern californians. I went for a run today and when I left the temperature was 41. I was wearing shorts a shirt and had gloves on for the first two miles. Everyone else looked like they were snowmen. I haven’t seen this many insulated jackets since I was in Rome and it was snowing in florence. Actually, there weren’t many insulated jackets in Italy. I was tempted to even stop and ask people why they thought it was so cold, but for fear of being slapped on my cold cheeks, I restrained.
The only guy out exercising that was dressed in a similar manner to me was a guy of about 67 years, running slightly hunched (probably from being older and not from running). He was wearing a long sleeve shirt, shorts, and gloves. As I passed him (it was downhill) he turned and said “you’re passing a 2:21 marathoner.” I simply nodded in acknoledgement and kept running, but it did make me feel at least slightly accomplished even though this guy hadn’t run 2:21 for at least 20 years. I also didn’t mention the 2:49 marathoner I’ve run with, well behind, always behind. And that’s how you write about the weather in socal.
Like many people, I have a few things I’d like to get done before 2008 shuts its doors and 2009 is open for business. In the spirit of productivity (something you may note that did not happen yesterday in my case) tonight’s blog-off topic is your list of things, projects, etc. to complete before 2009 opens it’s eyes in a little less than two weeks.
I have quite a bit on my plate, so realistically, I’ve had to adjust some schedules. My biggest task is finding papers and finalizing my thesis project, which most of you should know has changed drastically from the original topic (and eventually PI). I may not have this complete, but I’m gonna try my darndest to get close. I was at school looking for papers today and will be doing the same tomorrow and probably saturday morning. I need to get this done for a lot of reasons including getting the hell out of Cal Poly, but it also applies to my financial situation as I need an approved GS-101 (graduate program contract) to get a tuition waiver as a TA for winter quarter due to the ridiculous budget cuts (Fee waivers for TAs are less than a percent of the total budget, so what do you say we cut something bigger, like the salaries of the presidents?).
On a much less important note, I have a book that Allison gave me and that has been floating around for like a year. I have restarted it and am hellbent on finishing it, maybe even as early as Sunday. Yep, friday book reports may be coming to this blog as well and as a matter of fact, I have a book i will be finishing tomorrow.
Finally, I need to review/study correlations and regressions. I am taking advanced biometrics, and not having taken Cal Poly’s Biometrics class (basically biologically oriented statistics), I need to get myself in gear to play pro ball with a professor that really knows his stats and with students that have a very thorough stats background. This I’ve started too and really I just need to look at regressions that are nonlinear and then probably review the linear stuff one more time.
Aside from those big ticket items above, I’d like to get some sort of training plan set for 2009 as well as plan race dates. This gets especially hairy considering my running has dropped off considerably with the early darkness and my inability to get up at 5AM as of late. Apparently I am part bear and my body really wants to hibernate.
Ok, so what’s on your end of year list?
So I’m working on getting my butt back in gear – I hadn’t done much exercise in the past 2-3 weeks – and because of the air quality my exercise for the next few weeks will likely be done indoors. Last night I managed to get 3.5 miles in on the treadmill, mostly thanks to the fact that there were people next to me that I could (in my mind) compete with. Once those folks left, it was Joe Walsh who helped me finish up my run. His guitar licks, like honey running down cornbread, pulled me through that last half mile. Seriously, I think that if you played Life is Good while watching molasses or honey run down some surface, it would match perfectly. I hadn’t listened to any joe walsh for a while, but it was nice to hear his soothing guitar in my ears while I was trying not to lose concentration on the treadmill.
What’s your power song?
Races | dustin | 
February 28, 2010 8:04 am | 
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