18 Miles!

I ran 18 miles today. I felt good, and ended up running an 8:49 pace . . . right on target with what I needed. In fact, I felt so good that I could've run all the way to Alaska!

Speaking of Alaska, John McCain picked Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Who the hell is Sarah Palin? This is such a transparent maneuver to court Hilary supporters and to appear to be progressive. McCain is dumb.

Sarah Palin is less experienced than Barack Obama so his choice of her as running mate completely undermines his ability to atack Obama on experience. In addition, despite this being an attempt to appear progressive, Palin is likely more conservative than McCain. Also, this is an insult to women everywhere. Essentially McCain is saying to female voters (especially Hilary supporters) that they can't possibly be smart enough to see through this pathetic attempt at politics. Does he honestly believe that Hilary supporters will jump right on over to him despite the fact that Palin & McCain are essentially the antithesis of Hilary?

The other thing that bothers me is that the Republicans are touting this as a historic event. Do we not remember that the Democrats had a woman as the VP nominee in 1984 . . . 24 years ago!?!?! McCain's Pick is neither historic, nor brave. Nor is it bold, interesting, edgy, or wise. It is calculating, manipulative, and idiotic.

Has everyone seen this movie, by the way?



I think that this will come back to bite him in the ass! I hope so anyway.

Running Mate

I ran twelve miles today. This is nothing special . . . I have done this before. I ran fairly quickly, getting an 8:39 pace for the day . . . which is pretty good for me, so I was pleased.

I was woken up this morning at 3:30 am by a text message from Barack Obama. He had selected his running mate, Joe Biden, and was filling all of his supporters in via text. I was one of the first to know. Apparently, CNN knew at 12:30, but I was asleep, so I was notified by the text first.

In any case, I was thinking a lot about Joe Biden today as I ran (when you run slowly like I do, a 12 mile run allows lots of time to think!)

I'm not so sure I'm a big fan of Joe's . . . he is, after all, the one who referred to Barack Obama as "clean, a nice looking guy." The most insidious form of racism comes through in our implicit assumptions. He also voted to authorize the war. I respect Obama for selecting someone with whom he does not fully agree, but I find this choice frustrating. Biden is an old school, white male democrat (nothing really too wrong with that), but I'm not sure I see his place on a ticket of change . . . Obama's message has been all about change, and while I know he feels the need to fill gaps in his own experience, he might have done so with someone like Bill Richardson. Richardson also has enormous foreign policy experience, is a person of color, and has broad appeal. Sure he's a little dull, but we have a long history of dull VPs in this country (Al Gore and Dan Quayle come to mind immediately, but they're dull for different reasons . . . )

In any case, I have enjoyed having a my own running mate this past week (thanks Jenna!) and I am looking forward to seeing what kind of moron John McCain selects . . . I think it's starting to look like the Stormin' Mormon!

When to run?

I haven't posted in a while. I guess that's b/c I haven't had much to say. My blog has been pretty dull lately (I knew this already, but it's been confirmed by a number of independent sources recently), but I'm not sure exactly what would make it more interesting other than beginning to include some topics that are only tangentially related to running (if at all).

Lately the thing that I've been thinking the most about it when is best for me to run. During the summer, I've run mostly whenever I've felt like it, but now that school is starting again, I have been limited to either first thing in the morning or in the afternoon when I get home from work. Each has its own benefits, and I'm having a hard time deciding which would be best.

Running in the morning means that it's cooler out and it means that I'm done with my run for the day early on, leaving me more flexible for the rest of the day. I also find that I think more quickly and clearly during the day when I run in the morning. At the same time, it also means waking up early, running alone (most days), and not having ample time to cool off post run.

Running in the afternoon means that I get to sleep in later, but it's also hotter (though this becomes less of an issue later into the fall). I'm bound by my running schedule if I leave it to later in the day, but then I also get to sleep an hour later (or more). I also find that I enjoy running in NY when there are people out and about, it's much more interesting. Often times, however, I find that running in the afternoon has led to cramps. Anyone with input on what they think is best, I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Speaking of cramps . . . Today was a prime example of why running in the afternoon is tough. I came home from work today, walked into the kitchen, and was instantly reminded of the fact that we had baked chocolate chip cookies last night. This, of course, meant that I ate 4 or 5 of them right away, as I have absolutely no will power (more about my abysmal eating habits later). Then I waited about 20 minutes and went for a run. I don't recommend running with a belly full of cookies. Perhaps the next equation I'll tattoo on myself will be "Run+cookies=sick."

In any case, the cookie problem is just one of a series of eating mistakes that I've been making lately. Since I've been upping my weekly mileage and running more, I've been much hungrier than usual. This has then led me to believe that I can eat pretty much whatever I want and eat it in absurdly huge quantities (hence 5 cookies before dinner . . . sorry mom!) In any case, despite the fact that I am running more, and even though I am getting a bit faster each week (I hope) I think my progress would be much better if I ate better food. That's the goal from now on. Eat as much as I want, but not junk food. One cookie is fine, 5 is not. If I'm still hungry I'll eat 5 apples . . . or something like that . . . you get the picture. I would still like to lose 7-10 pounds before the marathon . . . oy.

One last thought for the day. One thing that I really like about my job (there are many) is that so many of my friends and colleagues at work are also runners, this means that I have the opportunity to talk about running at work and the people I talk to are all very good runners! It's like having a coach and a running buddy all in one! Bonus.

400 miles & 15 miles

Two big milestones today!! First of all I broke the 400 mile mark on the year! But in even bigger news, I broke that mark 1 mile into a 15 mile run.

I did 15 today and I felt really great. It was hard, especially at the end, but I set a decent pace and didn't go crazy and was fine. I ended up running about a 8:59 pace which I'm thrilled with and I have to say that I'm really happy with my longest run yet.

Today I'm off to spend the rest of the day at the beach as a reward for running 15 miles!

Running in Indy

Got back from Indianapolis on Sunday night (late). I ran a bit in Indy. It was incredible weather. Four miles on Thursday, ten on Saturday, and four on Sunday. Each was great. The weather in Indy was so nice . . . about 70-75 degrees and no humidity.

On Saturday I did a great 10 miler. I was able to run with the Indy Runners and they provided water and snacks . . . which was perfect. I don't know if it was the weather or the fact I was running with a group or that I'm in better shape, but I felt great. It was the best long run I've had yet. I ran at about an 8:24 pace (which is good for my longer runs) and I even ran the last mile at 7:35!

Things are feeling good.

Strange New Tuesdays

Today is the first Tuesday since I finished my running class . . . I'm not sure how I feel about this. I really enjoyed my running class and found that it did, in fact, make me faster, more confident, and a stronger runner overall. In addition, it was a nice way to get good, quality miles in early in the week. That said, it was sort of a pain to completely lose each Tuesday night to class, and getting down to the UES was sort of difficult as well.

There is another session of the class starting up again today and I thought about joining it, but I just couldn't do it. If I thought it was not easy to get down to class on Tuesdays during the summer, I'm SURE that I'd struggle even more during the school year (which begins far too soon for my tastes). Also, despite the fact that I enjoyed class while I was there each week, I sort of dreaded going to class in the hours leading up to it . . . I don't know why. Thus I didn't join, figuring I'd keep running as I had been, getting my mileage in and just focusing on the marathon.

Today, however, I'm beginning to wonder whether not taking the class for another session was a mistake. I'm glad that I can be more flexible with my time and I know that getting to the UES each Tuesday after work would have me in fits, but I'm concerned that I'll get slower now that I don't have a group to push me through hill workouts, tempo runs, intervals, etc.

So with that in mind, I decided to try to push myself today for my four miler. I ran something of a tempo run, getting four miles done in 30:43 (or 7:41s). Not too bad, just about 20 seconds/mile slower than my PR for the four mile race. I'm going to continue to try to make Tuesdays my "speed" workout days, maybe getting some intervals in, maybe some hills too. We'll see.

Oh and we're inside 14 weeks!

Lucky 13!

Today I ran further than I ever have before (get used to this . . . it will happen a number of times between now and November 2). Thirteen miles was the goal for today and I decided for this that I would run with the NYRR Long Training run. They set up the park just like they would for a race, give you water, food, a number, and pacing guides, and you can get a long run in with support!

I was really nervous going into today's run b/c the last long run I did was 10 miles and I was hurting on that day. I ran in the middle of the heat wave and I ran during the hottest part of the day that day.

Today, however, was much better. I ended up running 13 easily, and ended up with something left in the tank!! I ran about a 8:50 pace which is just slightly faster than my original goal of running nines, but I felt that I could've gone even faster (or run further). By mile eleven I was feeling great, and even considered going for 16 miles. But the last two miles actually ended up being a bit harder . . . giving me some slight knee and hip pain. I'm ok now, but those last two miles made my legs sore.

I didn't want to push myself too much this early and given my hip pain recently I didn't feel that going for 16 was all that wise, but I really felt great today and I look forward to my next long run of 15 miles! I'm getting there . . .