A Wonderful Morning for a Run

I am off on one of June trips. Here outside of Boston, the weather forecast for today was thunder storms. But, when I got up, it was sunny and the hotel front desk offered me a map for running that showed a reservoir nearby. I would guess the temperature was high 50s to low 60s. I found myself running along a lightly traveled and heavily wooded road along the reservoir. What a treat!

I immediately decided that my programmed 30 minutes, 4 cadence, 4 acceleration run needed to be extended into an hour long run. I am sending home my running shoes with Jerry tomorrow morning as I fly to San Diego, work non-stop for Monday and Tuesday and then fly home on a red-eye Tuesday night. Without my running things, I have no need to check my bags and that is a big asset these days.

Back to today...my run was beautiful. I realize how often I am fitting in my runs around a crazy schedule. Today there was time to enjoy and running for an hour was sheer bliss. Having passed two days since my long run, it felt fine to run for an hour. I managed plenty of walk breaks so Jeff G. will be satisfied, but also got in some accelerations so I felt I was maintaining my speed capability. Not over-doing prevailed and I expect on Wednesday, when I find the time in the afternoon, I will be ready for another acceleration/cadence run.

15 miler

Today was a good day. Life is pretty hectic right now. I am traveling three of the next four weekends, not to mention last weekend as well. I have had to rearrange my training days to fit everything in.

So, despite the fact today was Wednesday, I ran my 15 long run. It took 3 hours, using Jeff Galloway's 1 minute run, 1 minute walk. But, I did it just fine and now as I look at all I have to accomplish tomorrow, I am so glad it is done.

Guess I am committed to this training!

The Bracelet

Every day I wear a bracelet that my daughter Jaye gave me. She told me that she was ‘passing it down’ to me. It is a simple silver bracelet with a small span of silver engraved with the word ‘Boston”.

About a year ago, Jaye decided she wanted to try and qualify for the Boston Marathon. Qualifying for Boston for most runners is a significant undertaking. Just training for a marathon means logging in many miles of running a week. It requires considerable discipline. To qualify for Boston, the pressure of finishing a marathon in an age and sex specific time gets added to ‘simple’ feat of running 26.2 miles.

Jaye had the ‘Boston’ bracelet made and wore it every day to remind her of her goal. When she thought she was too busy to run, she would look at the bracelet and go for a run. When the weather was cold and rainy, she would look at the bracelet and go for a run. When she doubted her abilities, she would look at the bracelet and go for a run. About five months later, Jaye ran the Portland Marathon and qualified for Boston. A few weeks ago, she ran the actual Boston Marathon and savored every minute of it.

Now, she is encouraging me to follow in her footsteps.

Tuesday was hill day. My training plan said run two hills. I have a pretty extreme hill on the street below me that fits the bill. As I ran, I chanted 'Boston, Boston' and looked at the bracelet. I made it up both times.

Re-energizing

Yesterday I was back on the roads, or rather the trail. An easy 30 minutes told me my legs were a bit tired. I have been e-coaching with Jeff Galloway and he suggested I should have run 4/1 on Sunday. So, Tuesday I experimented and discovered that if I ran 4/1 at a 10 minute pace, I would hit the half miles on the five minute mark - something I could easily deal with absorbing during a marathon and a pace that would comfortably qualify me for Boston I believe.

The idea of keeping time throughout a marathon does not thrill me but I have managed to do 1/1 on two 15-16 mile runs so I guess it is possible.

For now, I am happy to have no major after effects from Sunday and am looking forward to the rest of my training runs towards Minneapolis.

A New Chapter

Today I ran my first half-marathon in about four years. My time was 2:05:50 or something like that. I was disappointed that I had to walk a bit of the last mile or so due to some steeper than appreciated inclines but, all in all, it was a good run.

If I continue to train, it is feasilble to qualify for Boston - a goal my daughter has set out for me.

Hope you will join me on this saga - I will fill in the details over the coming weeks.

Judy