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Miles for the week: 10 (2/1/2/5)
5 miles LSD: 58:19, average HR 149
Weight: 119
Restiing heart rate: 49
Fitness test: 42

Ran in the rain twice this week: 2 miles Friday (steady drizzle), 5 miles today (varied between nothing & moderately heavy rain). This is good because my one fear about weather on marathon day has been “what if it rains all day?” 5 or 6 years ago it rained for Steamtown and I remember reading how miserable people were. I haven’t gotten soaked to the skin or run with wet feet, or through a real downpour, but the moderate rain wasn’t bad at all, so I feel more sanguine about running no matter what on Oct 10th. (Chances of really heavy rain must be slight, after all).

What a good run today–felt almost effortless, second-best time ever, but also the lowest average HR ever. And yet I stopped at the peak of the first hill to greet the dogs who live there. I decided that I shouldn’t get so time-obsessed that I can’t stop for something like that. The joy of seeing a happy dog running toward me (especially the shepherd cross, whose tail looks like a propellor as he slowly gallops over) culminates in actually petting said dog, so I’m adopting “stop and greet the dogs” as my new running motto (“stop and smell the flowers” is already a principle I like, so this is a natural extension). Lots of new spring things to notice: much more green (more grass, the daylilies sprouts are much taller, the birch, weeping willow, honeysuckle, and lilacs have all greened up). the maples are in full bloom (some of the flowers are already dropping, but it’s not a red carpet yet like it will be next week probably), a few serviceberries starting to bloom white, sprouting horsetails (at 4-6 inches tall, they look like the taiga seen from a plane), and fiddlehead ferns. Maybe I’ll pick some for dinner tonight! What I thought were violet leaves a few weeks ago are now much larger and coarser–I think it’s a woodland plant that has small white flowers, but I can’t remember its name. Lovely spring rain smell, especially mixing with woodsmoke. Factors that made it an easy run, I think: lots of sleep last night, and also the night before; I didn’t run first thing, so I was more warmed up and also had had coffee (caffeine certainly helps!); I’ve been hauling manure all week which is building up my endurance; the rain prevented me from getting overheated.

Miles for the week: 9 (2/2/5)
5 miles LSD: 1:01:09, average HR 153
Weight: 121
Resting heart rate: 51
Fitness test: 42

A very stressful week, burning the candle at both ends & running on adrenaline fumes, so I didn’t get in my intervals. One of the neat things about running (or any focused physical training, presumably) is noticing the immediate impact of amount of sleep, quality of diet, stress level, etc. Normally I run in the mornings, but by Friday afternoon I had only run 2 miles, so I did a 2-miler in the evening and had my best time for that distance (20:01). I’ve heard afternoon/evening is the best time to run for avoiding injuries, because you are the most loosened up. The spring peepers were in full chorus (they are asleep in the morning, I guess), and it was cool to run by the swampy areas and hear them at maximum volume. It’s such a strange experience–they are so loud, the noise is everywhere, and yet there is nothing to see. There must be hundreds of them within a few square yards, but they are so small and well-camouflaged that they are effectively invisible. I wonder if the sound of chorus frogs is one of the origins of classic horror-movie music–the eerie, shrilling violins. When you know what they are, they sound like a triumphant “spring is here!,” but if you were lost in the swamp at night, with this incredibly loud shrill noise coming from everywhere and nowhere, it could feel ominous. It was my first time in shorts this year (more on that later!), and I could feel the river of cold air, about knee-high, pouring down the slopes towards the lowest spot in the valley. That area is swampy but has no peepers–I wonder if it’s too cold.

A perfect spring day for my 5 miles this morning–about 60, sunny but enough humidity that everything looked a little misty, perfectly still. The first mile was tough–I was hauling cartloads of manure for the garden yesterday and I think my legs got tired. It’s hard to balance wanting to go slow and keep my heart rate down with eagerness to see my LSD times improve. Heard mourning doves. The coltsfoot is in full flower now, not just a few but masses of sunny yellow. The catkins have suddenly appeared on the aspens (since they’re at least 3 inches long, it looks like magic–they must expand instantly when the bud opens); gardens are full of daffodils; the pussy willow buds are turning into green pincushions. Spring spring spring! But running in shorts is leading to a problem with chafing. Not a big deal over 5 miles, but could be a very big deal for the marathon. I have new shorts that I thought would be long enough to cover the problem area (thickest part of the thigh), but they ride up (I hate having to tug them down constantly). I’m going to look into tights–there must be some for warm weather as well as cold, I hope. That way I won’t have to worry about sunburn either.

Miles for the week: 10 (2/1/2/5)
5 miles LSD: 58:39, average HR 154
Weight: 121
Resting heart rate: 51
Fitness test: 37

Somewhat chilly, somewhat gray today–the sun visible as a white disc. The coltsfoot is flowering, so spring is officially here in my book. A first: I met ANOTHER PERSON RUNNING!!! This has never happened before, in four years of off-again on-again running. Our neighbors up the hill run, but they are a mile and half away and our paths never intersect except when we actually make a point to run together (Sue and I have driven to the Friendsville post office for that purpose). So I’m heading for the first hill on my run, and here’s this guy coming towards me! I start smiling, and as he gets closer for a minute I think it’s Joey Griffin from across the road, and I’m extra excited because I didn’t know he ran. I shout “Morning!” and then realize it’s not Joey. The guy gives me a brief smile but says nothing as we pass each other. In fact, he sort of looked at me like I was crazy! Then I realize: he must be someone “from away” visiting friends or relatives for Easter, so crossing paths with another runner is no big deal for him…

I stopped at the top of the first hill to greet the tubby black-and-tan mutt who lives there. She used to be accompanied by two asthmatic boxers, but I haven’t seen them in a while. I love how enthusiastic dogs can look as they run over to you. She stood on my foot and whined lovingly as I petted her, but didn’t feel like accompanying me for more than the token few feet. More dogs: yellow Lab, black Lab, and Norwich terrier on the far side of Stanley Lake. I’ve seen them a few times before. The yellow Lab saw me first and barked, but turned around to see where the others were before deciding what to do. The black Lab also hung back, but the terrier, last to catch on that there was something to bark at, immediately scurried towards the road. By then I was far beyond them. I’m lucky there aren’t any aggressive dogs along here. There used to be a Rottweiler who was a little scary, but his family moved away.

Five miles seems more & more routine. This is good! Still no application available for Steamtown, I keep checking.

Miles for the week: 10 (2/1/2/5)
5 miles LSD: 59:22, average HR 153
Weight: 120
Resting heart rate: 60
Fitness test: 37

Heart rate up, fitness down, but I hope again due to lack of sleep. Also what woke me up this morning was getting a hot flash, which I think messes up my HR, and that’s what the fitness test is based on (HR variability over a 5-minute period).

A quiet foggy morning for my long run. Pussy willows are out, and violets (just leaves, no flowers yet). A friendly young black and white dog joined me for a bit. I heard running and panting behind me–“wait for me!”, we introduced ourselves, and then he ranged ahead, circled around, caught up again, in classic dog fashion. I love how a dog running ahead will look back periodically to make sure you’re still following. We parted ways at the residence of a sleepy old yellow Lab who barely notices when I go by, but who greeted my new friend with lots of tail-wagging. I would have like the company a little further, but I worry about dogs straying too far from home (this one had no collar!), so it was just as well.

Miles for the week: 10 (2/1/2/5)
5 miles LSD: 1:01:46, average HR 150
Weight: 120
Resting heart rate: 58
Fitness test: 39

Quite sore Friday and Saturday–I think I overdid it this week. I ran 10 30 second intervals on my one-mile day and also tried to minimize impact on my knees at Curves by doing leg lifts & stretches instead of running in place. We were out very late last night and I only had 5 hours of sleep. The soreness & lack of sleep I hope explain why my resting heart rate went up so much from last week.

Today’s 5-mile was difficult because my legs were hurting. A gorgeous sunny day, though! Last week all the ponds were frozen over and the ground was snow-covered. Today, no snow, all the small ponds are clear of ice, and the lake is 1/4 melted. Birdsong everywhere! I counted 8 different calls (chickadee, starling, Canada goose, bluejay, robin, crow, redwing blackbird, and one I didn’t recognize) plus a woodpecker’s drumming.

The Steamtown website says applications will be ready around 4/1, so maybe next Sunday I’ll be signed up!

I will turn 40 in December. I started running in the fall of 1999, after seeing the list of Steamtown Marathon runners in the Forest City paper. At that time, running a marathon seemed like an impossible feat, but an amazingly cool thing to be able to do: for a person to carry themselves that far, just on their own legs! I had previously fantasized about running the 5K race on the 4th of July in Montrose, PA (where I work), and I decided to aim for that in 2000. At first, even a quarter of a mile was as much as I could do without stopping, and uphill–forget it. I didn’t stick with it very consistently, but I did get better.

The 5K course in Montrose includes some long, steep hills. My first 5K (7/4/00) I walked big chunks of the hills and finished in 36:40. Since my stated goals were a) to finish, and b) to not be dead last (next-to-last would have been fine, just not dead last), I was pleased. The following year I trained a little more seriously, and my time was 32:39 with no walking. I began to realize that I will probably never be very fast–I am not built that way–but that there was lots of room for improvement.

In 2002, I had a hysterectomy in March. I spent lots and lots of time walking to recuperate, set myself a real training schedule including intervals and long runs, and by July I was probably in the best shape I’ve ever been. During my training I ran 8 miles without stopping and finally felt that a marathon was *possible*. I told myself if I beat 30 minutes, I would run Steamtown within the next 2 years. However, it was an extremly hot and humid morning, and my time was 30:07. It was frustrating to get that close and miss my goal…

We were out of town on the 4th in 2003. Instead I ran the Chris Thater 5K (Binghamton, NY) in August, a mostly flat course, and finally broke 30 minutes, if not by much: 29:56. So here I am, preparing for Steamtown. My bible has been The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer (NRMT), which I must have read 3 or 4 times at this point. (I’ve accumulated a pile of other books, of which my next favorite is Marathon Training for Dummies. I also find John “The Penguin” Bingham extremely inspiring, since I AM a penguin (someone who loves to run but is just very, very slow)).

My goals: average 10 miles a week until May, then work up to 15 miles by mid-June, at which point I will start the NRMT 16-week training schedule. It’s a very light schedule, which works for me as a not-very-good, not-a-lot-of-time, my-only-goal-is-to-finish-and-I-don’t-even-care-if-I-AM-last-this-time runner. The only problem is that the Steamtown course closes in 6 hours and I’ll be extremely disappointed if I don’t get the medal for finishing! But all I need is a 13-minute pace, and I should be able to do that…I think…I hope. Steamtown is mostly downhill, with some punishing uphills at the end, and since everything around here is hills, I should be prepared for that. My current long slow distance (LSD) pace is about 12:30 (with very steep hills), and that should get a little better.

I’ve been running about 5 miles on Sunday, and it’s not even a big deal anymore. Getting in another 5 during the week is tougher, especially as it’s still snowing.

My healthy weight is between 110 and 120, but I’d like to be at the lower end when I start serious training–the lighter I am, the easier it will be to run. I’ll need to focus on adequate sleep, a good diet, all that stuff. Self-discipline has always been a problem for me, but I am very goal-oriented. One of the main attractions of training for a marathon, as depicted in NRMT, is developing mental toughness–they keep saying that anyone can run 20 miles, but the last 6.2 (the “second half” of the marathon) is all about focus and determination, mind over body. Yikes! I know I have the ability to do this, but it’s still scary… I have already accomplished 2 things in my life (one relatively trivial, one more important) after which I told myself, “If I can do that, I can do anything.” I look forward to having that feeling even more strongly after running a marathon. I can do this!

Benchmarks as of today:
Weight: 120
Resting heart rate: 51
“Fitness test” (on my Polar heart rate monitor): 39
5 miles LSD: 1:00:24, average HR 161

My “5 mile” course is actually closer to 4.8 miles, but it’s a perfect run: a loop around beautiful Stanley Lake, mostly quiet dirt road, through fields and woods. Includes cows, friendly dogs, lots of birds, sometimes deer, and once, a bear!