One last run before Portland

Wearing last year's Half Marathon finishers' shirt and a hat from Boston...


And carrying my Starbucks Americano and a $2 spinach, feta and egg white wrap (hopefully the whole wheat tortilla satisfies my breakfast carb needs).

I'm not sure why I felt that wearing the Portland and Boston gear was apropos today...neither of those races turned out quite how I wanted. I certainly don't want a repeat of last year's Portland weather (downpour), and I'd prefer a little faster time than I got in Boston. But still, memories.

This week's mileage has been just shy of the 18 miles I expected. Mostly due to my complete inability to get out of bed in a timely fashion! I have compensated by just running as much as I can squeeze in before I absolutely, positively have to get to work.

Monday - 6.2 slow miles. Average pace 10:02. This was the first time in months that I haven't averaged under ten-minute pace running on the roads. If I'd had time for seven miles, I would have pulled it off. My legs were so heavy, and the first two miles pulled my average way down.

Wednesday - 6.56 miles, with 4.3 warm-up, four quarter mile repeats at the track, plus another mile at too-fast-for-marathon pace. My 400s started out as slow as I've ever done them, I'm afraid. The first one was 7:59 pace, the second 8:00 pace (ouch). But then my legs woke up and the two others were 7:37 and 7:38 pace. I intended to do the last full mile at around 9:00 pace, but apparently slowing by a minute per mile was enough for me, and that mile was 8:35 (oops).

Finally today, Thursday. Getting up today was the hardest of all. I didn't even start running until 7:02 a.m. I couldn't just blow it off, though...for obvious reasons but also because this morning was the test run for my new Garmin. I finally got it charged up and set up, but wanted to make sure everything was a go.

Good thing, because the one thing I hadn't changed was the lap speed display. It was set to show average speed or pace for the lap, as opposed to the current pace. That might be good in some cases but I'm used to seeing the dramatic changes when I speed up or slow down. It was too stressful not knowing what I was doing when I pushed myself, only seeing the pace change by a second or two.

I ended up doing 5.03 miles and I probably wouldn't even have been late to work if I hadn't fooled around on the porch taking pictures. My laps were 10:12, 9:44, 9:21, 9:10, and 9:26. I think I probably pushed too hard because of the uncertainty with the Garmin. (I've changed that setting now.)

My primary anxiety about Sunday is relating to the weather and what I should wear. The forecast persists in showing rain (40% chance). I'm afraid of dressing either too warmly or not enough. I guess I'll have to see what develops.

I am ready to run! (After two days of rest on Friday and Saturday, of course.)

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