A close call

Let me start by saying that I am usually very cautious when I run. I try to keep my eye out for cars coming down side roads and even those coming toward me knowing that drivers don't always see runners. Today I found out what happens when you let your guard down in a busy area......

I was on my way home from a 14 mile medium-long run today and was about 0.75 miles away from my house. By most accounts the run had gone fine....my asthma and allergies were bothering me some, but overall the run was going well. I got stuck at a couple lights right in a row and I was anxious to finish up and get home. I was running along an island that separated the lanes of traffic watching for an opportunity to cross the street. The cars coming at me had a red light and a car stopped and motioned to me to cross. I started across the street not realizing there was a second lane of cars coming toward me that did not know of my presences or that I had been motioned to cross. I looked up to see a green mini van coming at me with no intention to stop and I had no where to go. He slammed on his brakes and I tried to jump out of the way. Luckily he stopped just in time as my hands hit the hood of his car and his bumper lightly tapped my right knee. I think we both were in shock knowing that we were seconds away from full impact and me going flying. I apologized though his open window and quickly got out of the street. Ironically enough this happened right in front of a hospital so I would have been in good hands if in fact I had gotten hit hard! Physically I was fine, but I was so shaken up by the incident that I ran home almost hyperventilating. I kept thinking "how did this happen? I am usually so careful about cars!" I walked in the house and burst into tears when telling Bryan what happened.

Again....I am 100% fine. I'm thankful that God was watching out for me today because it could have been so much worse. I am lucky that I just had a close call today and learned that I can't let my guard down even when I am close to home and just want to finish. Don't they always say the majority of car crashes happen within 1 mile of your house?? Maybe they are right!

Be careful out there people!

All about flexability

Now that the Olympics are over I am no longer a slave to my TV, watching as much coverage as I could (don't get me started on how NBC snubbed many of my favorite track and field events to show every quarterfinal and semifinal round of the 100m). So I figured I would take some time to update you on my training.

If I had to sum up my training so far into one word it would be flexibility. You see, this winter I was pretty anal about my training schedule....ok so I was very anal. If my schedule said to do a certain run on a certain day then I did it....no excuses. This summer has been quite different. In fact I don't know if I've followed one single week of my training exactly as I had written. Don't get me wrong, I'm still hitting my key workouts and getting most of my planned miles in. It seems that my schedule this summer has been so busy (didn't think I was that popular did you??) that I've needed to relax a bit on my training. I think that's a good thing......sometimes we need a little flexibility in our lives.

Three weeks ago I ran my first 20 miler. I ran with Janette, John, and Paul around the river on a cooler than usual Saturday morning. It was a great run because, for the first time this training cycle, this long run felt fairly easy. Yes, I was pushing hard towards the end, but it was one of those runs that everything clicked and I was my normal, chatty self. Total weekly miles = 50

Two weeks ago I had my first marathon specific long run....15 miles total with 12 at planned marathon pace. I did this run at my in-laws house in upstate NY on a hilly bike path. I was pretty anxious about this run, being out of my usual setting, and having to hit paces faster than my typical long run pace. But the run went well.....I was a little slow at the start and you can see where I hit some major hills, but I finished with an average pace of 8:21 for the marathon pace miles. Perfect!! This week also included a 15 mile medium-long run on Wednesday.....ouch! Total weekly miles = 48

Last week was a recovery week and I think my body needed it. I did have a great track workout on Wednesday where I did 7 miles total with 5 x 600m repeats with 90 seconds recovery between each. My 600m splits were: 2:32, 2:32, 2:30, 2:33, 2:33....pretty consistent! Later in the week my left calf and right glut were a little tight. I got a massage and did a couple easy runs and it seemed to work itself out. I cut my long run for the week (14 miles) short because I just wasn't feeling it......rather than beating myself up about it, I just kept saying "tomorrow is another day." Total weekly miles = 24

As you can see I am getting lots of miles in (although never as many as I would like!) even though I'm not always doing them on the days my schedule says. I am learning to turn off my type A personality and inject a little flexibility. After all......its just running :)

28 on 08/18/08

If I was Chinese I would be the most popular kid right now. That's right.....today is my birthday and I am turning 28 on 08/18/08! To make it even more interesting, I was born on 08/18/80 and weighed 8lb 8oz......talk about some 8's! Maybe I should play the lottery tonight because 8 in Chinese means wealth.....with all these 8's I should be a millionaire :)

So another year older and wiser (ha ha!). Since my last birthday I have run 2 more marathons and bettered my time by 19 minutes. I have run over 1500 miles since my last birthday. I have had good races and bad, but I've learned something from each of these. I look forward to what 28 will bring in both running and life. Hopefully the good races will out number the bad as with all things in life. But having those bad races and bad days makes me appreciate the good ones that much more.

Now I just have to wait for all that wealth my lucky birthday numbers should bring me!

2 weddings, 4 different beds, and 42 miles

I apologize for not writing in a while....life sometimes gets in the way! Last week I was on vacation so I've been busy preparing for that and then was away from my computer while we were gone.

Vacation was nice.....busy, but nice. We were all over PA, DE, and NJ for various events.

Bed # 1: We got to my parents house at 1:30am on Saturday after driving down after work on Friday.

Bed # 2: That night we had a college friend's wedding in DE (wedding #1). We got to see many of our friends that we hadn't seen in a while which is always fun. It was like we were back at Bucknell but just 10 years older....can't party like we used to though :)

Back to bed # 1 for one night where we visited with my Grandma and then had dinner at my other grandparent's house. Note that I haven't mentioned any running up until this point!

Bed # 3: On Monday, Bryan and I headed down to Cape May in NJ for a relaxing couple days at a bed and breakfast. The weather was nice so we just relaxed on the beach and enjoyed having time off together. We ate at some good restaurants (ok.....so cheese fries at the Wildwood board walk aren't exactly health food, but we had to experience true "Jersey" while we were there!) Here is where I finally got some runs in:

• Monday: 5 recovery miles with Bryan after sitting at the beach all afternoon.
• Tuesday: I got up early to get this run in so I wouldn't have to worry about it later in the day. I did 10 miles with a 3 mile warm up, 5 mile at LT pace, and a 2 mile cool down. The great thing about the beach is that its very flat which is great for tempo runs. It was still pretty humid even at 7:30am but I was pleased with my LT paces (8:15, 8:17, 8:09, 8:06, 8:03). That afternoon we also went on an easy bike ride to check out the Cape May lighthouse and Sunset Beach.
• Wednesday: 10 mile medium-long run after a day at the beach. My legs were definitely feeling the tempo run from the day before!
• Thursday: We drove to Avalon, NJ where my family used to rent a house every summer and biked around there for a while. It was fun to see our old house and remember the fun times we had with all my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. I even found a little army parachute guy on the beach......my family will understand the significance!

Back to bed #1: Thursday we drove back to my parent's house to get ready for wedding #2....my brother!!! I got up early Friday morning to get my long run over with. My parents live in a nice area, but there aren't really any local places to run and I didn't have time to drive to a park so I ran loops around my parent's house. They also live in a very hilly area so that added to the challenge. I'm surprised I didn't die of boredom running 17 miles within a 1 mile radius! I swung past my house a few times to refill water and Bryan joined me for 4 miles which was a nice break in the monotony of the run. Overall, I got it done and was so glad it was over!

No time to relax though.....I was off to the nail salon for a mani/pedi with my mom and then home to change before the rehearsal and dinner.

Bed #4: Saturday was the big day......I couldn't believe my little brother was getting married. Bryan dropped me off with the bride and other bridesmaids so we could get beautiful. After some minor issues with the limo, we all arrived and were ready to go. It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony and I was proud of myself for only tearing up a little (my lower lip was quivering as I walked down the aisle seeing my brother standing there). We all had a great time at the reception and my brother and his new wife never looked so happy before. I hope they are having a fantastic time on their honeymoon right now!

So there you have it: 2 weddings, 4 beds, and 42 miles of running.....not bad for a vacation!