Everyone knows it’s windy
When you live in Seattle you must resign yourself to some wacky weather. For example, the first week in April began with snow just north of the city and ended with a record-breaking 80-degree heat wave (which only lasted a day). “Partly sunny, chance of showers” is the most common weather report. But when the sun does shine, I don’t think there’s a more breath-taking place than my fair city.
Anyhoo, we had some glorious weather last week but as usual, things started to turn come the weekend. I had a 14-mile run on the docket, and a quick check of Wunderground confirmed Saturday would be a better choice than today. Although they predicted a chance of showers for yesterday, it wouldn’t be until late afternoon. Today? We woke up to showers and it’s now a full-on downpour.
As is typical for me, I lollygagged on the couch for several hours before putting on my running shoes. My darling is once again injured (his middle toe on his right foot is either broken or severely bruised), so he had to sit this one out. (He SWEARS his recent injuries aren’t simply tactics to get out of running the marathon). Because he wouldn’t be joining me I decided to just start off from our house rather than drive to a trail. Besides, it’s a lot of fun to run through the neighborhood.
By the time I was ready to roll I noticed gusts of wind blowing the tree branches around. *sigh* Fortunately it was rather warm, and since this would be a long, SLOW run, I figured the wind wouldn’t pose much of a problem (I hate having a head wind when I’m trying to run fast). I strapped on my iPod and Garmin and headed out the door.
I immediately felt the effects of setting new personal bests. The pain in my left buttock by now had migrated down to my IT band, and my right knee was barking at me as well. But neither was bad enough to stop my run; in fact, after the first mile things loosened up quite nicely. I figured out the programming glitch in my Garmin, so it was set for a 7-minute run at 10:25-10:40 minute/mile with a 1-minute walk break at 15:30-16:00 min/mile (thus averaging 11 minute miles for the entire run). Because of my lingering soreness I gladly slowed down when the Garmin told me I needed to.
I wound through the ‘hood and made my way down to Golden Gardens. Because of the wind there weren’t as many picnickers, but the sailboats were out in full force. I faced a major headwind as I ran south along Shilshole Avenue, but by then I was pretty sweaty so it not only cooled me down, it also slowed me.
My hamstrings and calf muscles started talking to me at their normal spot (a little over an hour in), but a half a Balance bar, three bottles of water and a Clif Shot provided enough energy to shut ’em up somewhat. Still, I was thankful for the “ding ding ding” of my Garmin announcing each 1-minute walk break. By the time I hit the Stone Way hill I was 9 miles in; although a got a walk break half-way through I still had to run most of it. My pace had slowed considerably and I found myself swearing at Garmin each time it told me to “Speed Up!”
I had hoped to avoid going around Greenlake (I thought the run would be long enough without it), but I was only at 11 miles by the time I hit the lake. *sigh*
Must. Soldier. On.
(The fact I had Flamin’ Hot Cheetos waiting at home for me spurred me on).
A half-mile down the trail I spotted our dear friends Mary and Jeff with their son Giacomo coming toward me. I decided to turn around and run with them, despite their warnings that they’d be running at a snail’s pace (that actually sounded REALLY good by then). It really threw Garmin into a twitter; it kept telling me to speed up during the run portion, then admonished me to slow down during my walk break. I was already pissed at it for its lack of sympathy during my Stone Way hill slog, so I completely ignored it. HAH!
A little over a mile later Mary wanted to take a walk break, and since I was so close to the end I decided to say my goodbyes. I lumbered down our street, staggered up our stairs and collapsed on the couch, a spot at which I stayed for most of the afternoon (although I did muster up the strength for a taco & posole lunch at Gorditos).
Overall it was a terrific run, and I’m happy to say I managed to keep it at an 11 minute/mile pace. But dang if my left quad isn’t sore today!
May 21st, 2007 at 9:27 am
I’m admiring your tenacity lately, Betsy! You are one tough broad. Congrats on a great run! Baby that leg for awhile.
On other note, I’m thinking I’m going to steal your idea of having a guilt-free reward in the form of a favorite snack always waiting for me at the end of a long run. Hard part’s deciding which one. So many good snacks, so few long runs…
May 21st, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Thanks Angie! The leg definitely needs some babying; in fact, I may not even run at all this week. However, I’m thinking of dusting off my swimsuit and heading to the pool for some nice low impact work.
As for snacks, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos are definitely our favorites, but Fritos or salt & vinegar potato chips are also mighty tasty! However, our rule is we have to run at least 8 miles before we can imbibe (and yes, we’ve broken that rule often)
🙂