Two rainy races and marathon training.

Its October, which means that its officially crazy time for both fall races and wedding planning (83 days to go!). So, this post is a catch-all: a long-overdue report on the A10, a recap of this past weekend's Metric Marathon, and a quick update on my fall marathon training.

The A-10.

The night before.

As previously noted in this blog, I've had a bit of a curse going with the Annapolis 10-mile run, better known as the A10. The A10 is an iconic Annapolis event, and something I dreamed of running for about 10 years before I was fit enough to do it. I finally entered for the first time in 2010. Two nights before? Emergency appendectomy. In 2011, I entered again. Three nights before? Race called off due to a hurricane. So, that's about $120 in non-refundable entry fees and two years of buildup with no actual race to show for it.

I might have sworn off the A10, had it not been for Andrew. He and I went on our first date the very night of the cancelled 2011 A10. The next day, I told some friends "I met someone awesome last night. Maybe he'll break my A10 curse!" At that point, my wildest dream was that I would still be dating him when the 2012 A10 rolled around, and that he would cheer for me as I crossed the finish line. I never imagined that I would be engaged to him and he would also run the race!

The morning of this year's A10, it looked like we might be in trouble again. We drove to the start in the middle of a thunderstorm, with lightning and soaking rain. Not again! Fortunately, the storm abated just as the starting gun went off... for about 10 minutes. Just as I spotted the mile 2 marker (and took off my rain jacket), the sky opened up and it started POURING. I didn't mind being cold and wet, but pretty soon, I was having visibility issues. The rain was actually getting under my contacts, knocking my visibility down to about 6 inches. Naturally, I didn't have a hat, but I did have sunglasses. I put them on, and saw an instant improvement. For the record, foggy sunglasses are way better than wet contacts!

The rain lasted probably 20 minutes- just long enough for me to give a grateful thumbs-up to my hearty future brother-in-law, who stood in a poncho at the bottom of Main Street to cheer for us! Ultimately, the rain was probably a blessing. It held off the notorious A10 heat for a good hour. I didn't start to feel uncomfortably hot until about mile 8. By that time, I was already on my second trip over the dreaded Naval Academy bridge and headed for the finish. I crossed the line at 1:50:17. That's a slow 10-mile time for me, but I felt great for the whole race, so I wasn't complaining.

Then came the best part: watching Andrew finish! He had a rough time in training, and was worried that the race would take 2 1/2 hours. I was worried that he would be miserable the whole time. Instead, he finished in 2:09:51 and felt great! In fact, he felt so great that he signed up for his first half-marathon. I was so proud of him that I actually got a little choked up when he crossed the finish line.

Finishers! Next stop: Baltimore Half! 

The Metric Marathon. 

This past Sunday, I ran another rainy race: the Striders' Metric Marathon. This 26.2K/16.3 mile race is the longest of the Striders' Champ Series, and it has not been a great race for me in the past. In 2010, I ran it with a miserable cold and spent the first half trying not to throw up and/or drop out. In 2011, I ran it in miserably cold weather (45 degrees and drizzling) and went out way too fast, making for a very painful finish. Given those two experiences, I was not excited about this year's race, but I knew I had to do it in order to get my 2012 IronMan award.

In true Metric Marathon fashion, I awoke on Sunday to less-than-ideal conditions. The day before: a cool, crisp 65-70 degrees. Race morning? 55 degrees and raining. Not drizzling, but raining. The rain and cold accompanied me for most of the race. Fortunately, so did my friend Mike. I met Mike when he started joining my running buddy Val at Striders events in 2011. That year, we were both feeling pretty fast, but Mike was faster than me. This year, we've both had some training issues and slowed down to about the same pace. We ran pretty much the entire race together. I like having company in any race, but I really appreciate it in the Metric, which is both challenging and so small that you can easily go a couple miles without seeing another runner. My 3:08:54 finish was nothing to write home about, but it was better than 2010 and WAY better than I expected.

As an added bonus, Andrew volunteered at a water stop along the course. It was great to get a little boost and some sympathy about the rain!

Marathon training. 

I haven't written much (or anything really) about my marathon training for this fall. That's mainly because I haven't been training. Between work, wedding prep, and life in general, I somehow got to early September having run no longer than 10 miles all summer. According to my training plan, I should have been doing regular 16-milers by then, with two 20-milers thrown in. Oops.

The deferral deadline for the Marine Corps Marathon was August 31st, and I strongly considered deferring. The only things that kept me from making that decision were sheer stubbornness and our save-the-date cards. What do save-the-date cards have to do with running a marathon? I'll show you:

What was I thinking? 

In case you can't tell, that's Andrew and I holding up New Year's resolution signs, in honor of our New Year's Eve wedding. And what's the second-to-last resolution on mine? Run the Marine Corps Marathon. So, I could have deferred, but then I would have had to face my failure staring back at me from every refrigerator at a close friend or family member's house.

So, I made a plan. I would join the Striders' marathon training group for every long run in September (after IG Rocky Gap) and try to build up to 20 miles before October. If I could complete an 18-20 mile run somewhere in there without collapsing or being in horrible pain, I would run Marine Corps. If not, I would bow out gracefully.

For better or worse, I did it! I ran 14 miles on 9/15, 18 on 9/22, and then 20 on 9/29. They were not fast or easy runs, but I made it! Between those runs and my better-than-expected performance at the Metric Marathon on Sunday, I'm actually feeling okay about Marine Corps. I doubt it will be a fast race, but I believe it will be do-able and maybe even a little fun. (But I'll settle for do-able.)

Have I mentioned...

...that I'm signed up for a marathon on March 17th? This one: http://runrocknroll.competitor.com/usa/usa-splash.

I got peer pressured to sign up for this race through the power of Facebook. Way back in the fall, my high school friend Scott (the Ironman) signed up for this marathon, then posted about it on FB. In his post, he tagged a number of friends (including yours truly) who he thought might want to sign up. It worked; people started signing up almost immediately. Soon, a pattern emerged: all of the friends Scott recruited for the race were graduates of our high school from roughly the same time period. Within a couple of days, this race became much more than a race- it became our unofficial high school reunion! I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that.

This race has a half-marathon option (aka: the sensible choice). Why didn't I sign up for that? Its all a little fuzzy now, but I think I wanted to experiment with training for a spring marathon. I formulated a plan in my head that seemed simple: tack 7 extra miles onto the long runs of the Annapolis Striders' spring half-marathon training. I would achieve that by starting the weekly group long runs at my house, running to the meet-up point with my fellow trainees. Under that plan, I would have started with a 13-mile run on December 31st and culminated with a 19-mile run at the end of February (before tapering).

Unfortunately, my "simple" plan ran into some complications. Week 1 (12/31), I fell less than half a mile into my planned 13-mile run and hurt myself badly enough to need a few days off. The next week (1/7), I planned to ease back in with a 9.5-mile run. Then, I came down with a cold which cancelled that run too. The following week (1/14), I finally made it to the Striders' training, but I didn't feel comfortable attempting more than the scheduled 8 miles for that day. The week after that (1/21), our run got cancelled by an ice storm. I should have made up the mileage, but I didn't. This past Saturday (1/28), I intended to join the Striders for 10 miles. At about mile 4, I realized that I had dropped my Iphone at the mile 2.5 water stop. So, I ran back and (thankfully) found my phone. Then, instead of turning back around, I just ran to my car. By the end of the morning, I had 7 miles done and half-hearted plans to finish the additional 3 at the gym. Instead, I went home and took a nap.

These last couple of minor complications point to a major one: my heart just doesn't seem to be in this race. Maybe I have more energy in the summer. Maybe I'm too overwhelmed with all of the recent changes in my life. For whatever reason, I can't get myself to give this training the attention it needs. Fortunately, I have the option of down-grading to the half-marathon right up until the day of the race. But there's a complication with that plan too: I hate feeling like a quitter. Yes, I understand that nobody who runs 13.1 miles is a quitter. Still, you don't get into schools like Bryn Mawr and Yale by being an underachiever or just a regular achiever. My overachieving self has difficulty saying things like "I need to downgrade from the marathon to the half."

So, I'm giving myself the month of February to figure it out. I'll train as much and as well as I can in February. Then, if March 1 rolls around and I'm not where I need to be, I will silence by inner overachiever and "settle" for the half.

Resolutions and routine.

Hello, readers! It has been far, far too long. I have been mentally drafting a post about my New Year's resolution for nearly 3 weeks now, and the fact that I'm just getting to it now shows just how much that resolution is needed. So, without further ado, my New Year's resolution for 2012 is...

Establish a routine.

I do my best in pretty much every aspect of life when I have routines. When life is semi-predictable, I eat better, exercise more, get more work done, and experience a lot less stress. When my routines get disrupted, or I go a long time without a routine, things start to fall apart. Classic example: In 2002, I took a job as a home-based counselor for children in a very intensive program. I saw clients at home, went to tons of meetings all over a very wide geographic area, and fielded endless crisis calls. For most of my time at that job, I had no set office and worked anywhere I could find space. Whenever I tried to establish a routine, something would change. The result? I gained weight, didn't exercise, and got myself into a string of less-than-healthy relationships.

Toward the end of my time at that job, I started ADHD treatment. In addition to taking medication, I also started working on getting organized and making my life more predictable. Since then, I have gotten better and better at establishing good routines for myself and life has become exponentially more manageable. Last year, I worked some of my best routines ever and a ton of great things happened for me: a marathon, a triathlon, weight loss, graduating from school, finding an amazing boyfriend, and- finally- getting a great new job.

Of course, the problem with all of the great things that happened to me last year is that they completely threw off my routines. Having a boyfriend takes up time that I used to spend on things like the gym and managing my house. It also means eating away from home more, which often results in unhealthier food choices. (I'm much better at just not going to restaurants than I am at going to a restaurant and not ordering a steak!) At my old job, I worked a pretty normal 9-5 schedule. At my new job, I often work until 7 or 8pm and my hours change from week to week. Also, while I really do love my new job, it is way more challenging than my old job. For me, challenging= stress= temptation to eat junk food or drink wine when I get home at 9pm.

I met my boyfriend in late August and I started my job-changing process in October. By the end of December, my average weekly time at the gym had plummeted and my weight had reached a number I haven't seen since 2003. I was also struggling to manage my house, keep up with friends and family, and (obviously) keep up with this blog. Thus, the resolution. January 1, I began work on making a new routine.

I am happy to report that I am making progress. To begin with, I thought seriously about my schedule and figured out when I am able to work out. The answer? Early in the morning and (sometimes) in the middle of the day. Early in the morning means that I have to be diligent about getting to my 6am classes and I also need to mix in some extra running and biking after those classes from time to time. I've been doing great with the first half and I'm still working on the second. Working out in the middle of the day means finding somewhere to exercise near my work. I have a couple of leads to investigate on that front.

I also talked to my boyfriend about my exercise and eating going downhill. He's awesome, so he immediately got with the program and began supporting/encouraging me in my habits. So, we've been eating at home more and he's started going to the gym with me whenever he's around. Yay supportive loved ones- they make such a difference!

Finally, some outside events came together and helped me with my goal:

My office: I spent 6 or 7 weeks of my new job in office limbo- I'm in a new site for my agency and my office was still under construction when I started. Finally, the week of 1/9, the construction ended and I got to move in:

I'm a real therapist now!

Not having to hunt for a spare computer whenever I need to do paperwork? Priceless.

A lovely table for family activities and lunch. Also, after 11 years of higher ed, a home for my diplomas.

A corrallary of my "I need a routine" rule is "I need designated spaces for things." I am way more productive when I have set places for things like work, paying bills, exercise, etc. So, having my office together has really helped me feel settled and more on top of things.

Winter trainings: With the new year came new sessions in both the Annapolis Striders' race training and the Wonder Women tri group. So, now I have at least two tough workouts scheduled each week and two groups of training buddies to motivate me on the days in between. This has been a big boost to my exercise goals.

So, I'm not there yet, but my New Year's resolution is off to a good start. If it continues to go well, you will hear from me more often in the coming weeks!

The right company, pt. 2: more photos!

In my last post, I wrote about how my friends are helping me get through my runs this training season. Since then, I have taken and recieved a few more photos from recent runs.

First, a couple that I took this morning on my weekly run through Quiet Waters park with my friend Jen. Both the scenery and the company make being out at 6am tolerable, and often enjoyable!

This is the dock at Harness Creek, a favorite spot to pause and take in the scenery. In the summer, the birds, crabs, and fish put on a quite-absorbing show.

Another great thing about Quiet Waters is deer! If you run early or late, you almost always see one or two. This sign is clearly well-placed.

Now, a few more photos from my trail-running adventure of last weekend. Enjoy!

Gathering around for the pre-race course talk.

Off I go! Krista should be a race photographer.

Pausing for a photo op by the lake.

Walking through slippery mud. This is not the worst of it.

Shimmying through a narrow gate, which was part of the course.

Another odd part of the course- it went over a guardrail! Several people missed this on the first lap. I can't imagine why.

According to Krista, this is the mud build-up at mile 14. It got worse!

The right company...

...makes everything more pleasant, even your longest long runs! I have been very fortunate to have great company for many of my runs this training season, and I definitely cite this as one of the reasons my training has been going so well. My gym buddy Jen has kept me motivated for my weekday runs (a big change from last year). My Striders friends, especially Val and Noreen, have kept my mind off my long Saturday runs. Then, this weekend, I had the opportunity to travel and do a long run with my good friends Krista and Ray, whom you may remember as the couple who had the triathlon wedding.

A few months ago, Krista contacted me about participating in a 40-mile ultra race/relay put on as a fundraiser for a no-kill animal shelter in Hanover, PA. Her husband, Ray, was planning to run the whole 40 miles (!) and she was looking for a friend or two to join her in a relay team. We are both marathon training, so I suggested that we just split the distance in half, doing 20 miles each. At the last minute, we changed our plans and decided to sign up as individuals so we could run together. We planned to do 16 miles (the race was in 8-mile loops) and then assess whether we could go further.

I was a little apprehensive about this race because it is almost entirely on trails, which makes for a very different (and harder) experience than road runnning. My apprehension was not eased when it rained cats and dogs (no pun intended) the entire day before the race. I kept thinking back to July 2010, when I tripped on a trail run and wound up on crutches. I set out for the race Saturday morning with several changes of shoes, socks, and clothes, fearing both mud and tree roots.

Fortunately, the race turned out to be low-key and fun. The trail was challenging (and full of mud and tree roots), but Krista and I were not worried about time, so we simply walked when things got too treacherous. We were able to laugh it off the few times we got turned around on the crazy race course (Krista commented that it seemed like they let an animal loose on the trail and simply marked where it wandered).  We even stopped to take some pictures:

We ran by this spectacular lake several times.

A little over halfway through lap 1 and still smiling!

This was my first experience participating in an ultra, and I definitely noticed some differences. The field was small, people were friendly, and the aid stations were unbelievable. When you intend to run for hours, you need a lot more in terms of food and gear. The aid stations were stocked with a staggering array of delicious food and supplies, to which we added what we had brought ourselves. Between laps, we made leisurely stops to eat, visit the restroom, and swap out wet shoes and socks:

Shoes and socks #2. Yuck!

Midway through our second lap, Krista and I began talking about how far to go. I was starting to have some aches and pains. I was sure I could go to 20 miles, but less sure that I should. When we finished the second lap (16 miles), we met up with some friends, including my sweet boyfriend Andrew who drove to the middle of nowhere to watch me participate in this craziness. After some discussion, Krista decided to attempt another lap. I still wasn't sure I should go along, and I wanted to show Andrew the park, so I asked if he was up for walking a half-lap of 4 miles. He agreed, and we all set out.

Taking a little break by the lake. Happiness.

At first, my victory lap/hike was a lot of fun. It was great experiencing the park again with Andrew. It was even better that he appreciated the challenge of the hike and, therefore, realized what a badass I am for running 16 miles on those trails. By about 2 miles in, though, the fatigue had set in. We tried some short cuts back to the car which didn't quite go as planned, and I started to worry I would be walking forever. In the end, though, we made it out. The sight of my car was one of the greatest things I have ever seen. Making it even better was the fact that Andrew agreed to drive home and bought me Five Guys for lunch. Krista, who is way more of a badass than I am, got all the way to 24 miles!

All in all, a wonderful way to do a long run!

64582.

Earlier this week, I got a little surprise from the NYC marathon people: my bib number! As of tomorrow, the marathon will be 50 days away. I find this a little hard to believe. Last year at this time, I felt like my MCM training was all-consuming. This time out, I got so caught up preparing for Iron Girl that I almost forgot I'm also running a marathon.

There's another reason that training is not looming as large in my mind, and I'm almost reluctant to say it because I don't want to jinx it... Its going really well. Unlike last year, I've had no injuries, illnesses, or surgeries. I'm also not trying to balance training with a full time job and a full load of grad school classes. Thanks to a little more time and a lack of major hurdles, I've been more consistent in my weekday runs. Thanks to tri-training, I started this training season in much better shape compared to last year. All in all, I think I'm on track to have a much different marathon experience than last year, and I'm very excited about that.

This Saturday, I'm going to attempt my first 20-mile long run of this training season. Then, next weekend, I'm headed to PA to run as many loops as I can manage of an 8-mile course as part of a trail-running event (I'm shooting for 2 1/2). Here's hoping for continued smooth sailing and no tripping over tree roots!

Cramming.

The above photo aptly captures my entire educational and professional life before my ADHD diagnosis. Back then, I simply could not focus on any assignment or task until the night before, or- more often- the night after it was due. Then, I would work in a frantic haze of misery until I collapsed onto my (usually sub-par) product. It was not a fun way to live. I never could have done something as complex and preparation-heavy as a marathon or triathlon in those days because I completely lacked the ability to plan ahead and do the necessary groundwork.

Several years into ADHD treatment, things are much better, but I still do more cramming than I would like. Nowadays, when I sit down the night before a sermon, paper, or work assignment is due, the task before me is not impossible because I have done a good bit of the groundwork. Still, there is a certain level of concentration I'm able to achieve only in the face of a looming deadline. I often think about how much easier life would be if I could summon even a little of that focus before the last minute. 

I've been thinking about this a lot this week, because I'm coming down to the wire on my tri-training (2 weeks to go!) and getting close to it on my marathon training (90 days!). I signed up for Iron Girl on November 1st, and started studying tri training plans almost immediately. I started swimming in January, bought my bike in March, and worked with the Wonder Women from April-June. So, I've had plenty of time and resources, and yet I never achieved the consistency in training I knew I needed... That is, until last week when the Iron Girl dress rehearsal scared the heck out of me (see previous post).

Since struggling through those swim and run courses last weekend, I have attacked my training with a vigor I wish I had found earlier this summer. I've been swimming every other day, doing bike-to-run workouts, and I even got my friend Marie to take me out on the actual bike course. I'm pretty sure I sweated out my whole body weight twice over in the last seven days alone. At this point, I'm sure I'll make it through the event, but I hope that I can summon this concentration a little earlier next year so that I can set a higher goal than mere survival.

My marathon training had gone off course a little in the past few weeks as well, mainly due to some other weekend commitments. This Saturday, I joined the Striders' marathon training group for the first time since early July. We were scheduled to run 16 miles, but I knew I wasn't ready for that, so I did 12 instead. Normally, we meet at a park and run on the B&A trail as a group, but I've been experimenting with a slightly different plan. In order to lessen the boredom of running for so long on the trail, train for the hillier NYC course, and prepare myself for running a marathon on my own, I've started running to the long runs from my house. This knocks 7 miles off my time with the group (3.5 to get there, 3.5 to get home), adds several hills to the route, and means that I do a little more than half of each long run by myself. Thus far, I think this is a good strategy for me, but it is challenging- particularly the final 3.5 miles when I have to motivate myself to get back home!

Let the countdowns begin!

Dispatches from Staycation, #2

Staycation is more than halfway over now, and I am exhausted, impressed with everything that has been done, and overwhelmed by the thought of everything left to be done. I had intended to put up some pictures with this post, but I don't have the energy to get up and take them. So, here's a quick, text-only summary of some of the major accomplishments:

-Donated old glasses.
-Recycled broken TV, computer, and cell phones.
-Disposed of old and broken grill, table, and fan blades in bulk pickup.
-Bought and assembled new shelf for kitchen. Re-arranged stuff in kitchen.
-Replaced some Teflon-coated pans with non-toxic ones and took old pans to Goodwill.
-Took two boxes of books to Goodwill. Moved school books from bedroom shelves to office and put fun books on bedroom shelves (yay!).
-(With help from Mom) rotated mattress and fixed bedframe.
-(With help from Dad) hooked roommate's room up to cable.
-Added new recipes to recipe books.
-Had two years' worth of pictures printed and put them in albums.
-Purged old magazines.
-Went grocery shopping and cooked.
-(With help from my brother) upgraded old computer with new memory.
-Purchased new bedding, a replacement for the broken TV, and a larger food processor. Ran out of money.

I think there's actually more, but I can't think of it all right now. In the midst of all this, I have also managed to work out once or twice a day, see the new Harry Potter movie, and hang out with a friend (though I did meet her at Ikea). So, obviously, the staycation is going well, but there is still so much to do! I have barely started on the biggest project- cleaning out my attic/office. That could easily take up the remainder of my time. I also have to write a sermon for a guest-preaching gig on Sunday, which I am finding hard to do without my office.

Also on my things-to-do list is updating this blog with some recent happenings. So, here is one such update:

Over the past two weekends, I ran two Annapolis Striders' races: The Women's Distance Festival 5K and the John Wall mile. Both of these races happened on Saturdays (aka: long run day), meaning that I had to get creative in order to reach my planned mileage for those days.

On the day of the WDF, I was supposed to run 12 miles. I ran to the race, which wound up being 3 miles. Then, I ran the race as hard as I could manage, coming in at 27:30 (about 15 seconds over my 5K PR). Afteward, I joined my tri-training friend Lauren and did another lap of the 2-loop race course. That got me to 7.5 miles, so I should have kept going, but I was hot and exhausted. At the end of the bonus lap, I met up with a high-school-friend-turned-amazing-triathlete, Scott, and we went for bagels. So, I came in 4.5 miles short that day.

On the day of the Wall Mile, I was scheduled for 14 miles. I went to the track early to get in a few miles before the race. I ran 4 miles before the race, which did not help me much in the race itself. I was good and warmed up, but I was also hot and a little tired. I ran it in 8:11, which is 16 seconds faster than last year, but dissapointing compared to the 7:45 mile I ran during tri-training. After that race, I had to come home and get ready for my niece's birthday party. So, the next morning, I got up and tested a potential new running route. I was unsure of the distance when I set out; it turned out to be 7 miles. So, 4 pre-race miles, 1 race mile, and 7 miles the next day= 12 miles. Still a couple miles short, but better than the previous week.

All in all, I was pleased with these two weeks, running-wise. Even though I came up a little short in terms of mileage, I have been much more consistent than last year already. At this point, I am feeling confident that NYC can be a much better marathon experience than MCM. Of course, the real heat starts this weekend!

Here we go again.

Happy 4th of July! Blogging (along with cleaning) has been on my to-do list throughout this long weekend, but I have been basking in my new non-grad student lifestyle and taking up long forgotten activities like going to movies, meeting up with friends, and attending parties. Good times all around.

Over this long weekend, I also began my second summer of marathon training! Bright and early Saturday morning, I joined the Annapolis Striders back on the B&A trail for our first 10-mile long run. This run turned out to be an excellent opportunity to experience what has changed and what has stayed the same about marathon training compared to last year. I am definitely faster this time around, which means its going to take a few weeks to figure out exactly what my training pace should be. I went out pretty fast this Saturday and felt good for the first 5 miles, but was definitely dragging by the end. So, I may need to slow it down a bit. A side effect of being faster is that I was running by myself for much of the run because my normal traning buddies were a little behind me. It made things a bit lonelier, but I also think I need to spend a good chunk of this traning running on my own, as I plan to run NYC on my own. All in all, it was a good first day back at marathon training.

And now I need to get to bed. Far and away my biggest training mistake last year was skipping too many weekday runs. Thus, I'm trying to be diligent about my weekday schedule this time and that includes a Tuesday AM run. Good night, everyone!

Catching up.

I have been finished with school for 8 days now. People seem to think I should be relaxing, but this past week has actually been a little nuts. I put off a lot of people and things in order to get through my crazy month of April, and those people/things were all waiting for me in May. So, now I am slowly catching up.

As part of my catching up, here are some updates on the things this blog is usually about:

Running: Shockingly, I am now only 3 week away from the Virginia Wine Country Half-Marathon, which my friend Katie and I are running as part of my 32nd birthday celebration. Katie also just finished the Loyola PC program, and this race has snuck up on both of us. We have both been running semi-regularly the past few months, but we have definitely not been training. So, tomorrow morning, we're going to skip ahead to the 10-mile long run portion of half-marathon training and just see how it goes. Wish us luck.

In other running news, I am slowly adjusting to the idea of doing another marathon this fall. When I first got the news about NYC, I was fairly apprehensive. I just did not feel ready for MCM and I do not want to have that experience again. Over the past couple weeks, though, I have thought a lot about where I am now compared to where I was when I started my MCM training last year. I have worked hard on my running ever since MCM, and losing some weight has really made things easier. When I consider the progress I've made, I realize that I will be starting my NYC training in better shape than when I finished my MCM training. That is very encouraging.

Tri Training: Over the past few weeks, I have realized that training for three sports at once is as much a logistical challenge as a physical one. For awhile, I really focused on my swimming. Now, my swimming is way better, but I realized today that I have not been on my bike in 3 weeks. D'oh! I was always amazed by the physical strength of people who manage to complete Ironman events. Now, I am equally amazed at their organizational abilities. I really do not understand how someone completes an Ironman without becoming unemployed and/or divorced in the process.

Weight Watchers: Once again, I am a plateau. In the past four weeks, I have gained and lost the same 2.5 pounds twice. I blame the craziness of last month and my recent travel. This week, I am trying very hard to re-focus and get things moving again. One thing helping my motivation is that I find myself between sizes right now. Fortunately, I held on to some smaller pants and shorts from the first time I lost weight on WW. At the moment, the pants and shorts I wore for the past few years are all too big, but the smaller ones are still a little tight. So, every day I choose between looking frumpy and struggling to breathe. Lately, I've been wearing the smaller pants and hoping they will remind me to stay focused on my goal.

So, those are my updates. This weekend is my long run with Katie and another tri training class, so I'm sure you'll hear from me again soon!

Choose your pun.

There are two options to cover the past few days:

1) Blowin' in the Wind: That about sums up this past Saturday's 12-mile run with the Striders' half-marathon training group. In case you were wondering what its like to run into 50mph winds, the answer is hard and a little frustrating. On the flipside, running with 50mph winds at your back is easy, but a little scary. I was actually worried about being blown over once or twice. Pretty amazing. This run was also challenging because I had not done a long run in a couple weeks. I was very grateful for Sunday afternoon's yoga class, which stretched my legs back to normal after a day and a half of tightness.

2) Pain in the Neck: This morning, I either pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve in my neck. At this point, you are probably expecting me to say that I did this while lifting weights, doing yoga, or engaged in some other strenuous activity. Sadly, that is not the case. I did it... washing my hair. That's right. I was shampooing my hair this morning when I apparently pushed my neck too far in the wrong direction and experienced some kind of pop/snap followed by intense pain. Thanks to my marathon training experience, I own a pharmacy's worth of prescription and non-prescription remedies for muscle problems, so I've been experimenting with them all day. Thus far, Advil + topical gel the doctor gave me for tendonitis + ice= some relief. It definitely feels better than it did this morning. Still, I don't know what my prospects are for the rest of the week's planned activities. Boo.  

So, I'm headed home now to apply some more ice and engage in activities that do not involve looking to the left. Shampoo carefully, friends!

January fatigue.

Greetings from the increasingly desperation-filled land of paper-writing! I have a whole lot due in two days, which has left little time for blogging. It has not, however, cut into my gym time, which I realized when I looked at my January calendar.

As I've mentioned before, I don't keep a lot of statistics about my workouts. I keep a database with basic info from my races, I track my mileage using a combo of Nike+ and DailyMile (which generates the little mileage ticker you see to the right), and I write some notes on my wall calendar every day. Very basic notes: just a checkmark indicating that I exercised, and then something like "run, 6mi, 1:15," or "swimming, 30 mins." I add up the checkmarks every month and it usually ends up showing that I exercised about 5 times per week.

Not this month, though! This month, there are 26 checkmarks for 31 days, and many of those days include two different workouts. Weights in the morning, run in the evening; run in the morning, yoga in the evening- you get the idea. This is more exercise than I did at the height of marathon training. There are two reasons for this: First, I'm in the middle of Striders' half-marathon training 2011 and I'm trying to be more diligent about doing weekday runs in order to improve over last year's time. Second, I added the yoga and the swimming this month without subtracting anything.

I think this is a taste of what serious tri-training will be like, and it is both fun and exhausting. Adding the new activities has really boosted my motivation this month- maybe too much. Last night, I got home around 6, ate dinner, and then sat down to rest for a few minutes before heading to the gym for my weekly "Bachelor" viewing on the treadmill. Somewhere around 6:30pm, I fell asleep. At 8am, I woke up. That's right- I slept for 13 1/2 hours!  Perhaps a sign that I should take it a little easier in February...

Diving In.

How's everyone been? This is the longest I've gone without posting since I started this blog. Its been a crazy couple of weeks. School started up again and work got much busier than usual, (inconveniently) at the same time. Here are some highlights from the past 10 days or so, organized topically and semi-chronologically:

Yoga: As mentioned in my previous post, I finally dragged myself to some full yoga classes. I've been telling myself I should do yoga ever since I joined my gym. I have some muscle pains that happen every time I run over a certain distance, and stretching more might help with that. Some additional/different strength training exercises wouldn't hurt either.  So, yoga makes sense for me, but I have a hard time getting myself there. My lack of flexibility and coordination makes yoga very difficult for me. Also, I've had some bad yoga class experiences in the past, generally involving advanced instructors and classmates who had little patience for my incompetence.

I went to my first real yoga class since 2005 on Friday, Jan. 14th. That class, which was beginner-level, went just fine. I was able to follow along and both the instructor and the other class members were very laid-back. That Sunday, the same instructor held another beginner class, so I went to that too. Then, I went to her classes on Wednesday and this Sunday (I need to make things a habit in order to stick with them). They were all a bit different, and I definitely got lost a few times, but I never felt the combo of intimidation, embarrassment, and panic which I experienced in previous classes. With my yoga anxiety reduced, I signed up for a 6-week "yoga for runners" class at my gym starting in February. Thus far, its shaping up to be pretty small, so I'm looking forward to more specific, individualized instruction. Hopefully, at the end of 6 weeks, I'll feel like I kinda-sorta know what I'm doing. Hopefully.

School: The Spring semester at Loyola started last week. The good news is that this should be my final semester. Over the break, I submitted my registration for my final three classes and my graduation application, and I've been holding my breath ever since. The Loyola Pastoral Counseling department has been experiencing some administrative challenges this year and the way I've moved through my program has been a bit unusual. Thus, I am expecting some complications. So far, though, everything is going smoothly. Fingers crossed!

The bad news is that I have the worst schedule ever. Three classes, which all meet on Thursday: 9:30am-12pm, 4:15pm-6:45pm, and 7pm-9:30pm. For someone with a short attention span who is typically asleep by 9:30pm, this is a nightmare. Also, the three classes I have left are three of the most labor-intensive in the program, and two out of three profs have made everything due super-early in the semester "to make things easier." The week they chose to make everything due? The same week I take my licensure exam! Awesome. So, don't expect to hear much from me in March or April.

Swimming: After a couple of failed attempts coordinating our crazy schedules, my friend Ana and I went to the pool this past Friday for my first attempt at swimming in about 10 years. It was humbling in more ways than one. Friday afternoon, one of my co-workers invited myself and another co-worker out to a happy hour. I thanked her, but said I was meeting someone at the pool. My co-workers (who are about my age) both said "Oh- I've never heard of that? Is that a new bar- Pool?" As I replied "No, I mean the swimming pool," I felt about as old as I did jumping rope a couple weeks ago (see previous post).

Friday night turns out to be a great time to go to the pool, though. There were maybe a dozen people when Ana and I arrived around 7:30, and we were able to get adjacent lanes all to ourselves. This was good, because neither of us could go for more than 1 lap without stopping to rest. Overall, I am in pretty good shape, but this apparently means nothing when it comes to swimming. As I had feared, I have forgotten everything I ever learned about good swim technique. Even worse, I seem to have forgotten how to swim underwater. I felt panicky every time I tried, so I wound up holding my head up the whole time, which definitely made things harder. Overall, my return to the pool was pretty dismal, but two good things did come from it: (1) I am now very afraid of the swim portion of the triathlon, which should get me to the pool on a regular basis, and (2) I had a great time hanging out with Ana.   

Running: As part of Striders' half-marathon training 2011, I was scheduled to run 8 miles this past Saturday. For one of the only times in my history of training with the Striders, I bailed. I had missed a Group Power class earlier in the week and really wanted to make it up on Saturday. Plus, is was bitter cold and I was heading to Ocean City at noon for a youth retreat (see below). I knew I would not get much sleep Saturday night and thought I could use an extra 90 minutes Saturday morning. I felt terribly guilty for most of Saturday, but it turned out to be the right decision.

ROCK Retreat: As part of the United Methodist ordination process, candidates for ministry are assigned a "candidacy mentor," who is a clergy person in their local district but not their pastor. The candidate works through various parts of the ordination process with their mentor and can not proceed without one. To make a very long story very short, my process has been stalled for a long time because my first mentor assignment did not work out and I took forever requesting a new one. I was finally assigned that new mentor around Thanksgiving and I have been waiting eagerly to meet with him.

When I first contacted my new mentor in November, his wife (who handles administrative tasks for him) responded and said he would be in touch after the holidays. I heard from her again early this month, when she called to schedule a meeting at their church. During the call, though, she got very excited and announced that the church had space for one more adult at this year's ROCK, a huge youth retreat held by the UMC in Ocean City every January. I can't say I was thrilled at this suggestion, but I didn't want to make a bad impression by saying no, especially after she agreed to let me come Saturday afternoon so that I wouldn't have to skip my Saturday AM workout.

So, Saturday afternoon, I drove to Ocean City to meet my new mentor and work security at a Christian rock concert for over 6,000 youth. Despite my reservations, it was actually a good experience. I like my new mentor, the youth from his church are terrific, and I came away with a mostly positive view of ROCK itself. (I'll try to write more extensively about that when I have more time.) Best of all, my candidacy process is moving again after being stalled for a long time. This is both exciting and terrifying, but more of the former.

So, there you go. Highlights of a very busy week-and-a-half. I got back from ROCK yesterday around 2:30pm, went to yoga at 4pm, and was in bed by 6:30pm. I don't remember anything after that, but I'm pretty sure I was asleep by 7:30pm. Resting up for another busy week!

Back in the game: the 2010 Cold Turkey 10K

As previously reported, I had a mole removed from my shoulder a little over a week ago and the doctor instructed me to "take it easy for 6 weeks." I interpreted this as "take it easy until the stiches are out and then start pushing it." So, last week was my week of taking it easy, and I took to it a little too well. I was not supposed to lift weights or strain my shoulder in any way. Thus, Group Power and boot camp were both out. Another complication was the fact that I spent Monday afternoon- Wednesday morning on a business trip away from my usual gym. Within these restrictions, I still planned to go to a couple spin classes and use the treadmill at my hotel. I hoped to work out 4-5 times over the course of the week.

What did I actually achieve? One spin class. That's it. I am a creature of habit, and changes to my routine knock me out of whack really easily. When I couldn't do my usual classes, it became all too easy to just sleep in. On Friday, I got the stiches out and everything seemed to be healing fine. Yet, I still spent Friday evening and Saturday just lying around.

Sunday morning, I was registered for the Striders' annual "Cold Turkey" 10K. Given my lack of exercise last week, I was a little wary of this race. Fortunately, it went pretty well. I went into the race hoping to beat my 10K PR of 1:07. For the first 3 miles, I ran every mile faster than the one before. At the 3-mile mark, I was at 31 minutes and realized I had the potential to beat the previous record by several minutes.

Then, during the 4th mile, I started feeling the stiffness in my right knee that hit me during mile 13 of the marathon. This was a very unwelcome surprise, especially since I ran a 5-miler the week after the marathon and had no pain at all. By mid-way through mile 4, I was still keeping up a decent pace, but I was really struggling and worried that the knee would just give out. During mile 5, a first-time 10K runner from the Striders'  training class started chatting with me, which was a pleasant distraction and got me to the 6-mile mark. I had hoped to push it during that last mile, but wound up just focusing on maintaining my pace and finished at 1:04. 

So, all in all, I'm happy with the results of the race, but definitely concerned about the knee. It was a little stiff and sore for the rest of the day, but it feels fine now. The same thing happened after the marathon. I'm going to try running on it later this week and see what happens; I'll make a doctor's appointment if it flares up again. I have two more races left this year: MCRR's "Turkey Burnoff" this weekend and the Striders' Anniversary 15K on December 12th. I'm really looking forward to both of these races, especially the 15K, which will clinch my "Ironman" award for running all of the 2010 Striders' Champ Series races. I really hope the knee cooperates with my plans.

This morning, I intended to resume my usual 6am Group Power class. Then, I stayed out late last night seeing the new "Harry Potter" movie in IMAX and drinking specialty cocktails at the Visionary Arts Museum in Baltimore (fun!). Late night + cocktails= sleeping through the 5:30am alarm. I woke up at 7:30 and resolved that I had to go to the gym, lest I remain off-routine and sleep in for another week. So, I used some personal time to take the 8:30 GP class and go to work a couple hours late. Even at the later hour, it was a bit tough to drag myself back into the gym, but I was happy once I got there. It feels good to be back in the game!

A long weekend's worth of updates.

This long weekend could not have come at a better time. I'm not a big fan of Columbus Day and I don't really understand why my office (which is all about social justice and loving the stranger) celebrates it, but between the recent illness and all the schoolwork, I definitely needed an extra day at home. Here's what I've been up to:

Thursday night, I got a lovely package in the mail from my former roommate Katie, who now lives in Hawaii, containing the shirt pictured above. As much as I don't want to go through marathon training again, I may consider it as part of a future visit to her new home of Honolulu. Especially if I can convince her to run it with me. She doesn't think that will happen, but I can be very persuasive...

Friday, I tried to take it easy and go to bed super-early in order to shake off the last of my cold and gear up for Saturday's 18-miler. When I started out on Saturday, I thought it had worked. My first few miles felt really good, and I was appreciating both the week of rest and the fact that I was moving again. Around mile 7, it started to get tough. At 8, I decided to slow down a lot and try to recover for the second half of the run. That got me to about mile 11. At that point, things really started to fall apart. I just didn't feel like I could run anymore, so I switched almost entirely to walking. By mile 13, even that was difficult. I was exhausted,  pretty much everything hurt, and the 5 miles back to my car felt like a really long way. Fortunately, one of our coaches noticed that I was taking too long to get back to the start and drove to the trailhead to look for me, cutting the last 1 1/2 miles off the end of my return trip.

Not finishng that run was one of the lower points of my training. I didn't cry or panic, but this was one of the only times in the past few months where I actually thought "maybe I can't do this." Oddly enough, someone from my gym made me feel better this morning by asking how I'm feeling and commenting that I looked awful last week. She was right. On my one and only visit to the gym last week, I had to run into a bathroom mid-class and splash water on my face to keep from throwing up. I was really sick, and I obviously needed more time to recover before attempting such a long run. If I continue to take it easy, I will get back to where I was before.

For the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday, I got to really enjoy the extra dose of weekend. Saturday night, I went to Baltimore to celebrate the lovely Katie Cashin's 26th birthday. Yesterday, I spent a few hours making some fall dishes: corn fritter casserole and shepherd's pie:

Yum! Then, I actually went to a movie. I've been to maybe 5 or 6 movies in the past 2 years, which is so sad. Going on a Sunday, which is usually homework and laundry day, felt downright decadent.

Finally, this morning, I went to the launch of the new Group Power release. Earlier this week, I discovered that the company behind GP actually puts up trailers on YouTube, so here you go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkApJe4XQI8. I am grateful that our instructors, Bill and Kelly, are a little more low-key than these guys. They still make it fun, but I think they understand that there's only so much enthusiasm a person can handle at 6am.

Now, its time for deferred laundry and homework day... but maybe a nap first. 
  

Mementos, mantras, and mind games.

Last Saturday, training and fundraising buddy extraordinaire Katie C. turned 26. This was very exciting for me because it gave me an excuse to present a surprise marathon good luck charm several weeks early (see above). As I mentioned previously, "walk it off" has been our favorite mantra throughout this crazy ordeal. I had a feeling we could both use those words right where we could see them throughout the race. Enter the matching engraved ID bracelets!

Running books, magazines, and coaches often suggest that you pick a significant word of phrase to get you through tough moments in training and races. Counselors will often suggest that you do this to get through tough moments in life. Katie and I are both runners and counselors, so we are all over this. When I presented her with the "walk it off" bracelet, we had a conversation about some of our favorite mantras and mind games. We even speculated that we could choose one word or thought to focus on for each mile of the upcoming race. So, here are a few of my favorites. If you have some of your own, please share!

-"Walk it off." (no surprise there)

-Repeating powerful words. For me, these include "strong," "relentless," and my new favorite, "robust." (According to my stats professor, a "robust" psychological test performs well under non-optimal conditions. I think that applies to a lot of my training these past few months!)

-"You got this."

-Reviewing past accomplishments. Counselors love this one. This is where you encourage youself by calling to mind anything and everything you have ever achieved, particularly at times when you had to overcome great odds. On a 4+ hour run, you have a lot of time for this. On a good day,  I can get all the way back to elementary school spelling bees.

-Chapel songs. I never gave it much thought while I was in seminary, but there are a lot of church songs about running, races, and journeys. I definitely catch myself humming them on long runs. "Guide my feet, Lord, while I run this race," "Don't turn around, we've come this far by faith," "I don't believe God brought me this far to leave me," etc.

-Visualizing the end. Sometimes this means hugging and crying at the finish line. Other times, its getting a massage. Many, many times, its hitting the bagel shop on the way home. Mmmm... bagels.

On your marks...

Tomorrow is the first day of October, which means that the fall race season is about to kick into high gear. This Sunday, I'll be running the Annapolis Striders' Metric Marathon (about 16.6 miles), which will be my longest race to date and my longest before the marathon. In two weeks, Val and I (along with many other running buddies) are doing the Baltimore Half-Marathon. I remember watching that on the treadmill last year and thinking "I wonder if I could do that one day." If you had told me then that this year's race would actually be my fourth half-marathon, I would not have believed you! Then, I think we all know what's happening on October 31st (gulp). After that, I have a few short races in November and then my (hopefully) triumphant return to the Striders' Anniversary 15K in December. I did that one last year and it wasn't pretty, but I'll save that story for later.

A few updates:

Earlier this week, I got the above photo in the mail. This is me headed for the finish of the Parks Half-Marathon, 16 days after my surgery. I've never paid for one of these professional race photos before because they are crazy expensive, but I thought this was a memory worth preserving. I think I will put it in a frame with an engraved plaque that says "walk it off."

After I wrote about my awful run last Saturday, I got word from many other running buddies that Saturday was an awful day for them too. Funny how these things can be contagious. The one person for whom it was not a bad day was Val, who placed first in her age group at a 10K! Amazing! Its incredible how much Val has improved since I met her in January, and I know how hard she worked to get where she is now. Inspirational.

Today, I awoke to find that monsoon season has arrived in Annapolis. My alarm went off at 5:30am and I should have gone to boot camp, but it was cold, dark, and pouring. The last thing I wanted to do was go outside, even just to go to my car. So, I turned off the alarm and the next thing I knew it was 8:15am, aka: the exact time that I am supposed to leave for work. D'oh! The moral of this story: don't skip boot camp!

Finally, the current combined donation total is $1670. We have progressed a lot in the past couple of weeks, but we have a long way to go to hit $5000. If you haven't donated yet, please do it now!

Kid triathletes? Awesome. Me? Not so much.

In my experience, there are a few kinds of runs: You have the good and great runs, where you feel amazing and finish feeling like you could keep on going. You have the okay runs, where you make it, but you are definitely ready for it to be over a little while before you finish. You have the pretty bad runs, where you struggle, but you feel great about yourself once you push through. And, finally, you have the truly bad runs, where you can't hack it at all and you finish feeling a little (or a lot) demoralized.

This morning was a truly bad run. By 3 miles in, I felt terrible and it just never got any better. I had intended to do 18-20, but very quickly decided to scale it back to 16, and I probably walked close to 40% of that. I'm really not sure what made it so bad. In part, it was the heat and humidity, which spiked again after several weeks of cooler weather. I've also had a hard time getting back to regular aerobic workouts since my appendix incident and the return to classes. While my strength is back, I'm definitely feeling a decline in my cardio fitness. Finally, I think my newish shoes might not be working so well for me and I may need to consider a switch before the marathon. Despite my extraordinarily tight budget, I just booked myself an hour-long sports massage for tomorrow. Hopefully, that will help exorcise this crappy run and put me in a good place to start the new week on Monday. 

The one bright spot this morning was that, for part of our run, we shared the trail with the bike and run portions of a kids' triathlon. From what I could tell, there were three age groups: under 8, 9-11, and 12 and up. These kids were awesome. They were trying so hard and looked like they were having a great time. I made a point of cheering for every kid that passed me. While a few of them seemed to wonder why a random adult was yelling at them, most of them grinned from ear to ear. After I reached my turnaround, I ran back and saw them all gathered at the finish with their parents and their medals, telling their war stories and looking so proud of themselves. 

I hate to end this on a negative note, but I have to comment on the behavior of some of the other adults on the trail. While most were supportive of the kids, and many clapped and cheered, I definitely saw a few grumbling about sharing the trail. At one point, I even saw two adult bikers refuse to slow down and almost clip a couple of the kids. Seriously? This is Saturday training on the B&A trail; its neither the Boston Marathon nor the Tour de France. Get over yourselves and support kids that are pushing themselves and doing something positive. As Jillian, Katie, and I would say: walk it off!    

Other people's emergencies.

For the past few weeks, it seems like my life has been about running and emergencies. In a slight change of pace, this morning it was other people's emergencies rather than my own:

I met Val at 6am for what was supposed to be a 20-mile run (my first, her second). When we set out, I knew I wanted to attempt the 20-miler, but I wasn't sure I would be able to do it after all my time off. I did pretty well for the first half. By mile 11 or 12, I was having hip and back pain and had to slow down. I made a lot of stretching stops and took some walk breaks. By mile 15, the walk breaks were longer and more frequent. At this point, Val had to go on ahead in order to make it to her grandkids' sports events, so I was on my own for a bit.

Then, at mile 17 1/2, I came up on our last water stop, and saw Val there along with another Striders marathoner and two coaches from a Team in Training group. It turned out that our fellow marathon trainee was having severe leg pain and lightheadedness. Val, always the caretaker, agreed to walk with her back to the cars and of course I agreed to come along. So, we walked with our new friend for about 2 miles, until our coaches (who had heard what happened) drove up and gave our friend a ride. Then, Val and I ran to the finish. So, in the end, it was a 20 mile run/walk, but I think that was probably what I needed to do today anyway.

When I got to my car, I had a message from my mother. It was about my 16 year-old niece, Summer, pictured with me here:



 Ever since Summer was little, I've said that she's the new (and improved) me. She's smart, loves school, is easy-going, has a great sense of humor and a short attention span, likes President Obama, and spent some time as a vegetarian. When my mom called, it sounded like she had taken after me in another way: appendicitis! She had gone to urgent care that morning with severe abdominal pain and nausea and been taken by ambulance to the very same hospital where I was 3 weeks ago. When she got there, she underwent all of the same tests that I had. My mom and I got there a few hours after she arrived and I had the strange experience of re-living part of my hospital stay from a visitor's point of view. Fortunately, it turned out that Summer does not have appendicitis and she should be fully recovered from her illness in a few days. We were all very relieved!

Once Summer was discharged, I went home for a long-awaited nap followed by a big dinner. A peaceful, pleasant end to an eventful day!

20398

That's the bib number I just downloaded from the MCM website. It will be my number on race day. I hope its a lucky one!

I'm in the middle of a pretty crazy week right now. I'm about to enter my busiest time of the year at work, school just started up again, and I'm gradually resuming the training schedule I was on before my surgery. My life is basically gym, work, school, eat, sleep, repeat. I do have a couple updates worth noting:

At this point, I feel pretty much healed. I don't have any pain in my incision sites any more. I am having some shortness of breath, but I think that's more about having missed 2 1/2 weeks than about the surgery. I'm back to my regular weights in Group Power and I even added a bit this week. I went back to boot camp this morning, which was super-hard, but again, I think that was more about the training break. My training group is doing 20 miles this Saturday, and I'm going to get as close to that as possible. Our schedule for the next four Saturdays is 20, 18, 20, 18. I may have to do 18, 20, 20, 18, but I think that's okay.

On Tuesday, I finally got around to uploading the Nike+ data from my race on Sunday, and I was a little surprised. As you may recall, I forgot my watch, so I had no way to gauge how fast I was going throughout the race. I felt like I went slow for miles 1-6, much faster for 7-10, and then slowest for 11-13. According to the Nike+, I ran a pretty consistent pace throughout. Miles 7-10 were about 10 seconds/mile faster than 1-6 and 11-13, which were all about the same. I suppose that this says good things about my ability to stick to a pace, even if my ability to gauge that pace myself is a little weak.  

This may be a good time to say how I feel about the Nike+ system, which I've been using since 2007. Nike+ involves a sensor that you put in your Nike+ shoe (or on the laces of your non-Nike shoe, using an unlicensed adapter). The sensor connects wirelessly to a receiver which is pre-installed in IPod Touch or IPhone. If you don't have an IPod Touch or IPhone (I don't), you can buy a receiver for an IPod Nano or one that comes in a wristwatch. I have both of the latter options. However you set it up, the functions of the Nike+ system are very basic: it tracks time, distance, pace, and calories. If you use it with an IPod, you can choose to have a voice update your progress throughout your run and you can download special workouts and playlists from ITunes. When you upload it, all of your data gets sent to a website, where you can look at graphs and stats from your runs and do some social networking. If you want, you can connect to sites like Facebook, Twitter, and DailyMile (that's how I get the ticker updating my mileage on this blog).

For me, the biggest selling point of Nike+ is the price tag. If you go with the wristband option, it will only cost you $59 plus the cost of the shoes. Even if you have to buy an Ipod and shoes, you'll spend less than you would for some of the mid-priced Garmin models. This is important for people like me who have a tendency to break small electronic gadgets (I'm on Nano #4 and wristband #2). The biggest drawbacks are the limited functions and the accuracy. Nike and IPod claim that the system will be perfectly calibrated for 95% of runners straight out of the box. I do not find that to be true at all. I have calibrated and re-calibrated numerous times and its still not always accurate. If you're just looking for basic data and don't mind a margin of error, Nike+ is probably a good fit for you.   

Okay, back to work and then off to class!