lakefront marathon playlist

the below is just under 4 hours of fast paced hilarious music.  i was turned on to this website called steady130 by someone on one of my fb running groups and man... i am so stoked! turned out to be really an awesome thing!  all of these are supposed to be paced at a 130 heart rate and you can choose from other mixes that are faster than that.  i chose these based on the song selections.  the first time i ran with one of these playlists i ran pretty fast and it felt effortless.  just goes to show that music can make all the difference.  at least for me.  we'll see how i do with this race...

1. Led Zeppelin vs. Jay-Z – Rock n’ Roll Dirt (DJ Topcat Mashup)

2. The Police vs. Eminem vs. Bloc Party – Like Eating Moon (DJ Moule Mashup)

3. The Doors vs. Goose – Heartbreaker Woman (DJ Moule Mashup)

4. The Killers vs. Hyper – Somebody Told Me To Push It (DJ Schmolli Mashup)

5. Van Halen vs. Michael Jackson – Panama Beat (Wax Audio Mashup)

6. Ozzy Osbourne vs. A-Ha – Take Me On The Crazy Train (MadMixMustang Mashup)

7. Faith No More vs. Soggy Bottom Boys – Epic (DJ Pozsi Mashup)

8. Iron Maiden vs. Run DMC – Running Adidas (The Illuminoids Mashup)

9. Led Zeppelin vs. The Funk Hunters & SkiiTour – Whole Lotta Bass (Colatron Mashup)

10. Airbourne vs. Pharrell Williams – Running Happy (Chocomang Mashup)

1. Marky Mark vs. Eminem – Good Vibrations Without Me (Sex Ray Vision Mashup)

2. Madonna vs. Duck Sauce – Barbra Vogue (Robin Skouteris Mashup)

3. EMF vs. Icona Pop – Unbelievable Love (Stelmix Mashup)

4. Deee-Lite vs. The Prodigy – Groove Is In The Girls (Dunproofin’ Mashup)

5. Notorious B.I.G. vs. A-Trak & Dillon Francis – Mo’ Money Makin’ Mo’ Problems (914 Hit Squad Mashup)

6. Tag Team vs. TJR – Whoomp! There’s The Funky Vodka (House Hunters Mashup)

7. The Bucketheads vs. Pitbull – I Know You Want The Bomb (DJ Dain Mashup)

8. Robin S vs. Avicii – Show The Levels Love (Jyvhouse Bootleg)

9. Montell Jordan vs. LMFAO – This Is How We Party Rock (Stelmix Mashup)

10. Reel 2 Real vs. Dev – Move It In The Dark (DJ Kirillich Mashup)

11. Cathy Dennis vs. Todd Terje – Touch Me (Dave Wrangler “Spiral” Mashup)

12. No Doubt vs. Rihanna – Just a Girl (In The World) (MadMixMustang Mashup)

13. CeCe Peniston vs. Childish Gambino – Finally Got This Money (Dannahan Mashup)

14. Daft Punk vs. Stardust – Music Around The World (DJ HP Mashup)

1. Skee-Lo – I Wish (Soulwax Remix) [3:00 Warm-up]

2. House of Pain – Jump Around (Loconyan Edit)

3. Sir Mix-a-Lot – Baby Got Back (Bingo Players Bootleg)

4. Digital Underground – The Humpty Dance (Michael Carrera Re-Boot)

5. Coolio – Fantastic Voyage (DJ FLO Bootleg)

6. Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby (DJ Keith Marshall Bootleg)

7. Wreckx-n-Effect – Rump Shaker (Thick James Remix)

8. Young MC – Bust a Move (DJ Atwill Redrum

9. LL Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out (DANK Remix)

10. Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock – It Takes Two (DJ Atwill Redrum)

11. Tone Loc – Funky Cold Medina (DJ Atwill Redrum)

12. Will Smith – Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It (Albina Mango Remix)

13. Ini Kamoze – Here Comes The Hotstepper (DJ Atwill Redrum)

14. Kris Kross – Jump (Gramo Edit)

15. Bel Biv Devoe – Poison (INDO Remix)

16. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – Summertime (Warehouse Remix)

17. Ice Cube – It Was a Good Day (Matt Nice Remix)

1. Salt n’ Pepa – Push It

2. Bel Biv Devoe – Poison (INDO Remix)

3. Bobby Brown – Every Little Step (Superfine! Remix)

4. LL Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out (DANK Remix)

5. Keith Sweat – I Want Her (DJ Ekho Remix)

6. Heavy D & The Boyz – Now That We Found Love (Base Music & Trojan Project Remix)

7. Wreckx-n-Effect – Rump Shaker (Thick James Remix)

8. LL Cool J – Around The Way Girl (DJ Ekho Remix)

9. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – Summertime (Warehouse Remix)

10. Zhane – Hey Mr. DJ (Richie Jamz Edit)

1. Nelly vs. The Bee Gees – Stayin’ Hot (DJ Lobsterdust Mashup)

2. Justin Timberlake vs. Chic – Good Suit & Tie Times (White Panda Mashup)

3. Fun. vs. The Village People – It’s Fun to Be Young At The YMCA (DJ Lobsterdust Mashup)

4. Usher vs. Donna Summer – DJ Got Us Falling in Hot Stuff (DJs From Mars Bootleg)

5. Ciara & Justin Timberlake vs. Kool & The Gang – Let’s Groove The Magic Bass (DeeM Mashup)

6. Kelly Clarkson vs. Michael Jackson – Stronger Enough (DJ Lobsterdust Mashup)

7. Britney Spears vs. Supermen Lovers – Toxic Starlight (Bobby Martini Mashup)

8. Taio Cruz vs. Cerrone – Dynamite Love (GonZo Mashup)

9. Sean Paul vs. Kool & The Gang – Kool Temperature (DJ Mashup)

10. Martin Solveig vs. The Bee Gees – Dancing The Night Out (DJ Lobsterdust Mashup)

11. Ellie Goulding vs. Donna Summer – She Works Hard For The Lights (DJ Shy Boy Mashup)

12. Chris Brown vs. Eastside Connection – You’re So Yeah 3X (GonZo Mashup)
13. Bruno Mars vs. Michael Jackson – Gem (Treasure/Rock With You) (Flipboitamidles Mashup)

left hip and the lakefront marathon

so... ever since i ran northface i've been having this hip thing happening.  well, that's not entirely accurate.  ever since i ran at lapham AFTER i ran northface i've been having this hip thing happening.

what it seems to be is this:  by about mile 7 or so something in my left hip feels like it isn't where it is suppose to be.  two wednesdays ago at the LPTR group run someone mentioned that when i got adjusted by the free chiropractor at the northface race he may have messed things up.  the more i've thought about that the more i'm wondering if that might be the case because i was perfectly fine before he touched me and then after is when this all started.

at first i thought it was because i had run on pavement during the race but really that was only 1.5 miles so it shouldn't have had any effect at all.  i feel like something is out of place and it hurts so incredibly bad that i am in tears.  today when i ran i was fine until about mile 7.  mile 7 is when i noticed i was getting a bit fatigued and i think my form starts to suffer.  i think then my gait changes and that's when whatever is off in my hip begins to shift.

i noticed today that when i put pressure on it with my hand that the pain goes away but if i apply pressure while running in the wrong spot that the pain is magnified in intensity.  i then adjusted my form and stiffened my back and the pain was manageable in the sense that it still existed but whatever i was doing with my back was mitigating the intensity.  i was able to hold my pace at a really decent clip.

if you look at my splits you can see that i ran through the pain with minimal difference in pace.

mile 7 was a tiny bit slower but that's when i was holding my water bottle nozzle into my hip to try and figure out if that would stave off the pain but i must have pushed on the wrong thing and hit a nerve or something... there was a sharp pain.  i think i ran pretty strong throughout.  mile 6 was a weird fluke of my garmin.  i stopped to pee and failed to restart it right away.  it glitched somehow and gave me that 11min mile... such a bummer.  when i saw it i couldn't believe it. lol!

anyhow... i'm really worried now about lakefront because i'm not sure how i'm going to make it through the race if this keeps up.  i'm going to call the chiropractor (my REAL and AWESOME one) on monday and try to get in to see him ASAP... i am going to hope to all the powers that be that he can fix me this week so that i can run relatively pain free during the race.  i just need to make it through the race.

i'm also seeing my new primary care physician on friday and plan to ask him about pain management.  it's an issue because i am unable to successfully take NSAIDs because they wreak havoc on my GI tract.  i may be mildly allergic (or have abused them so much over the years) that they've caused me to have a leaky gut, and the end result is that i have intestinal bleeding and diarrhea whenever i take them.  not a good outcome when one is attempting their first marathon.

i've got a food and imodium plan for the marathon and the days leading up to it so hopefully the pooping won't be an issue, but this hip thing... i don't know what to do about that.  it's really becoming terrifying.

i guess only time will tell... it has all come down to one week left.  end of race season.  this is what i've been training for all year.  sink or swim time.

North Face Endurance Challenge - 5K

North Face Endurance Challenge - 5K - September 14, 2014

time = 23:19
pace = 7:31
(there is no age group placing because i placed overall)
placed 2 in women out of 64
placed 6 overall out of 107

finished with my finisher medal

i entered this race at a lower distance because i was going to be coming off of the lapham race and (originally) was supposed to be running a 10K next weekend.  i thought it would be in bad form to run 2 big races in a row and then follow that up with a 10K.  now, the 10K is really no big deal, but running 2 halfs or a half and then longer 2 weekends in a row?  yeah... not such a good idea so i didn't do it.

i really wanted to run this race tho' so i opted for the 5K.  5Ks are no joke tho'... it seems like they should be easy peasy lemon squeezy since they're ONLY 3.1 miles, but DAMN... 3.1 miles of balls to the walls running is a damn challenge!

today was cold!  woke up to about 39 degrees so i wasn't sure how to dress as the weather said it would be up to 50 by the time i ran.  50's i can deal with and i know how to dress for but what to do about the pre-race dressing?  ugh... i hate being cold!  so i first opted for shorts and a tank.  i figured i could throw a fleece over it and be done.  yeah... not so much.  SO.COLD!  so i threw a long sleeve on and then the fleece and took off for ottawa.  when i arrived i saw so many LPTR friends.  it was great!  chatted for awhile and watched the other runners mill around then it was time for the 10K runners to take off.  thankfully, the race had provided nice little fire pits to keep warm around.  without those i would have been totally frozen!

stood around for another 15 minutes and sized up the competition... then it was time.

i decided to start at the front because this race goes along the shoulder of the road and i didn't want to get stuck behind anyone so i figured starting too fast would be ok since i'd rather get passed than get frustrated trying to pass.  proved to be good and bad as usual.

the front of the pack was 4 men and i pulled up on the 4th almost immediately and had to try to get around him.  it took maybe a quarter of a mile and then i got around.  i was right on the heels of the 3rd guy, feeling pretty good, and then i glanced at my watch.

i was running a SIX MINUTE MILE!  WHAT?!?  after i glanced at my garmin i didn't feel so good anymore.  what's that they say about ignorance being bliss?  so, i slowed my roll as there's absolutely no way on this earth that i could maintain that pace and come out alive.  mile one turned out to be 3/4 on the road and i'm a bit disappointed about that.  i sort of think that this can't actually be called a "trail race" because so much of it was on the road.  sort of 1/2 and 1/2 actually.  *sigh*

me and angelena - 2nd and 1st place respectively

my first mile i was the lead woman, and then at about a mile and a quarter or a mile and a half i glanced behind me... that was mistake number 2.  i saw who would be the eventual winner right behind me.  right after i caught her in my rearview she started gaining on me, and then passed me just before the turn around.  i stayed on her heels for the next half mile or so, but she hit a downhill at a great time and got away from me.  at that point i must have slowed down with all the little hills because she just kept getting further and further away from me.  after the turn around i got the opportunity to see everyone who was behind me and just how much leeway i had between me and the 3rd place woman.  it seemed like a 30 second lead is what i had but the finish put her at around a minute slower which is awesome.

all the goodies

i'd like to also add that the 3rd place finisher was 33 years old... this is notable because i'm freaking old compared to these 2 women!  yay!  i blew away everyone in my age group with a time gap of almost 7 minutes between me and the 1st place finisher in the 40-44 age group!  that's crazy!  the first place winner overall who beat me is 32 and she gapped me with just over a minute!  such a bummer, but it couldn't be helped.  i was running my hardest and doing my best.  my best wasn't enough to catch her or stay ahead of her... she did amazing!  competitive much? yeah... sorry.

back to the race... that's about it.  the course was not notable.

the blue is the first mile and as you can see where it veers off of 67
that's where it begins on the trail

it was an out and back with half of it being on the road.  the trail was what looked like a mowed down section of grassy trail with huge tire divots the whole way through.  sort of rocky in spots and i really had to watch my footing the whole way because the footing was very uneven and a rolled ankle was totally possible.  there was nothing all that exciting about the trail part of the race and i won't be doing this distance for this race again.  especially if they have it at the same place.  i suppose for someone who's never run a trail race before this would be a good way to get your feet wet because it wasn't totally trail.  however, i run trails all the time so this was pretty disappointing.  i expected a better trail (and total trail) experience.

next year i'm running a longer distance to make sure i get an actual trail run.

everything else was awesome.  i got a chiropractic adjustment and a (sort of) massage.  the food looked good (although i didn't have any).  the awards were awesome and the support was fantastic!  the volunteers were amazing and probably the best part.  the vendors were cool but i don't really care about that stuff so i didn't really spend a lot of time on that.  getting the results was really easy and they had a PODIUM!  that was really cool.  this is the first race i've been in that had one... i'm easy to impress... obviously.  i came in 6th overall and honestly i have no idea where the 4th man came from since after i passed the initial 4th man so there were only 3 in front of me i'm pretty sure that no one else passed me... i'm guessing that maybe one passed me  on the way back out of the woods or maybe there was a man in front that i never saw because he was so damn fast.  the lead winner finished in 19:36!  so very fast!  impressive to say the least.

i'm not sure i enjoy 5Ks anymore.  i like them to measure my speed but they're so hard and not very fun.  i feel like i'm going to die the whole time i'm running this distance.  i wonder how i'll feel at the marathon distance?  now that'll be interesting...

top 10 finishers overall

pre-race lookin' fresh

  

on my tail and so close!

crossing the finish with a smile

migraines

so... this past week has been something.  i started a new job on the 3rd and the 8:30am - 5pm work hours have been taking their toll and some considerable adjusting to.  honestly, i'm having a challenging time adjusting.  mainly because my son also started school at the same time and has to be on the bus at 6:30am so we get up at 5am.  i haven't figured out how to run in the morning yet so i've been trying to do it when i get home at night and frankly... i'm slacking.

this week was different tho'... i came off my 1/2 flying high and not much worse for wear.  i ran a sore but fairly easy black loop on sunday and then life took over.  monday my older son came over so i didn't run and then tuesday everything went to shit.

i suffer from migraines.  generally speaking they are under control.  i take daily medication to mollify (or beat them into submission), and then a different medication when one does rear it's ugly head.  unfortunately, i started to feel the tendrils of a headache reaching across the left side of my face and wrapping around the back of my eye.  by the time i left work the whole front of my face was pained and threatening to get worse.  to compound matters the barometric changes in the weather effects my head as do hormonal changes, and of course stress.  all of these things on tuesday created a perfect storm as they say.

tuesday the weather had changed dramatically from warm, humid, and in the 70's to cold, drier, and raining, the new job is causing new stressors, and as i was leaving work i got my period.  as i said... the perfect storm.

when i got home i took a 10mg maxalt and went to bed.  woke up at 2am and took another 10mg maxalt and then at 5am wednesday morning when it was time to get up i had a full blown head in a vice migraine.  i got to it too late on tuesday.  i'm a trooper tho' with a very high tolerance for pain and i went to work.  as the day droned on my head just felt worse and worse.  the vice got tighter and tighter.  before long i couldn't blink or turn my head without pain.  by 2pm i was experiencing muscle spasms in my back which has never happened before.  it was all i could do to keep my composure and not cry.  by 2:45pm i decided i couldn't stick it out until 4pm... i needed to go home.

i went into my manager's office and told her that i was experiencing a migraine and that i needed to go home.  as soon as i got outside of the building i burst into tears which was all that more awful.  the pressure of my sobs just made the searing pain in my head worse.  as i tried to stop the tears i began to hyper-ventilate.  i was a mess.

i made it to my car and took a few minutes to calm down before i drove away but the whole time i was driving i was alternately sobbing and hyper-ventilating.  it would have been comical if it weren't so painfully awful.  as i was driving home i decided to call my new doctor to see if they could fit me in.  unfortunately, i have not been established as a new patient yet so they told me to go to urgent care.  i drove straight to urgent care.

the doctor at urgent care was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  she was kind, generous, and caring.  she was eager to find a solution and willing to help me.  she was wonderful.  she gave me a shot of 30mg of toradol for the migraine and 4mg of zofran for the nausea.  my pain (in 15 minutes) went from a 10 to a 5 or 6.  it was life saving... dramatic i know but if you've ever experienced a migraine you know what i'm sayin'.

i went home, took another 10mg of maxalt, and went to bed.  the next morning i woke up in the same predicament i was in when i went to bed so i called my original primary care clinic, and begged to get in.  i got in with one of the physicians whom i had seen in the past when my doc wasn't available.  when i saw her the care was again phenomenal.  again i received the toradol, but this time 60mg to really try and kick it out.  she then refilled my maxalt script and we were on our way.  i suppose it's needless to say that i didn't go to work on thursday...

when i got home i took yet another 10mg maxalt and went back to bed.  i took my last maxalt at midnight last night and woke this morning with just the ghost of the migraine.  i've walked around all day today precariously turning my head and blinking my eyes.  i have so much medication in my system that it bums me out but really... what else can you do?

the last time my head hurt this bad was probably 10 years ago.  i honestly cannot even remember the last time.  i wouldn't wish this on anyone.  it is really the worst feeling.  all i can say is i'm so glad that i feel better today.  unfortunately, all that medication has screwed up my other bodily functions.  let's just say i need to drink a TON more water in the next few days to try and get things straightened out.

north face is on sunday.  i'm only running the 5K so it should be fast, fun, and easy.  i'm looking forward to it.

InStep Trail Races - 1/2 Marathon

InStep Trail Races - 1/2 Marathon - September 6, 2014

time = 2:03:58
pace = 9:27
placed 1 in my age group (40-44) out of 8
placed 6 in women out of 49
placed 24 overall out of 103

THIS.IS.AN.AWESOME.RACE! if you read my blog at all you know how much i LOVE LOVE LOVE lapham peak.

the start/finish BEFORE we start/finish

it's my back yard and an easy go to when i need to get in some beautiful miles without thinking about them.  this race was a no-brainer so i signed up.  admittedly i was very intimidated because i run this so often and i KNOW how challenging the course can be.  it can take a lot out of a person so i was a bit concerned that i wouldn't do well on the second loop or after running the tower.

i woke up to a perfect day.  58 degrees and the humidity had dropped considerably.  it was sunny and cool... absolutely wonderful.  i pulled into lapham and got perfect parking in evergreen grove as i had hoped.  great timing too because it filled up right after i arrived.  once i parked i looked up and saw that i was parked directly behind my friend nic!  how awesome!  so i got out and introduced myself.  we chatted (me, his mother, and myself) and then she and i headed to the bathrooms.  once that task was completed i ran into a couple of other LPTR runners and since the marathoners were about to take off we headed over there to cheer them on. nic was running the marathon (FOUR of the black loop) and i wasn't the least bit surprised to see him in the lead.

the marathon started a 1/2 hour before the half so we chatted a bit and milled around near the start for a little while.  i was looking for my friend jim but didn't see him.  once everyone started lining up there was a pretty good group of LPTR runners and i cannot explain how wonderful it is to start a race with a bunch of friends.  no nervous jitters at all!  jim showed up and we discussed our goal finish which was the same so we planned to run together.

we took off and i pressed the wrong button on my garmin!  good thing i noticed right away because i had turned it off!  i got it started again and all was well with the world.  we took off hella fast, but since that part of the course is mostly flat it felt ok.  we ran all the hills and killed it on the downhills. the first loop went by pretty quickly.  we kept pace with a pack of about 4-5 people in front of us, but once we had to climb the tower we totally lost them.  i have no idea what happened to them.  the tower climb wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be.  it was tough but mostly just the going up part.  the coming down was easy peasy.

throughout the entire race we were jackrabbiting this one guy in a blue shirt.  he was so good on the up hills!  it was crazy effortless.  he passed us every time and then we smoked him on the straightaways and downhills.  i honestly expected him to pass us at the end, but it never happened which was surprising.

we came through the start for the second loop feeling really good.  nic's mom told me at the end that she saw us but nic was coming through directly behind us and needed gear support so she couldn't say anything to us.  i had no idea he was right behind us!  so weird... the course isn't that big so we thought it was strange that we weren't really seeing anyone from the other race while we were running.

we started the second climb up "gut buster" and surprisingly were only a little bit slower.  11:50 min/mi pace compared to 11:08 min/mi pace the first go around.  this hill is crazy!  it's a half mile long (not counting a smaller part of the hill before it really starts to go up), and this is the fastest two times i've ever run it.



we kept trying to haul ass and we did really well.  there are only two splits that were not so fast.

mile 5 - which looks like the hills leading up to the tower, the climb at the tower, as well as the downhill after the tower so i guess that part was S-L-O-W...

mile 5

mile 8 - which looks like the little hills before "gut buster", "gut buster" itself, and then some of the hills after that.

mile 8

all of the splits

during the second loop we passed one girl on "gut buster" who was a marathoner, and the jackrabbit dude was with us.  after that we saw no one.  no one behind us and no one in front of us save for a couple of marathoners and a couple 7 milers that we passed.  for our race tho'... no one. jim and i decided that was a good thing because there was no way we were going to catch the people ahead of us and the people behind us we gapped big enough that they weren't going to catch us... all that was left was the damn guy in the blue shirt.  we decided he wasn't in jim's age group so not an issue. hahah!

eventually, we passed him up near the end on the "magic carpet ride" down hill and lost him.  i expected him to catch us here but he never came.  on this downhill we finally saw people ahead of us.  tim... one of the LPTR group was directly in front of us but we never did catch him.  much too fast for us.

at the very finish i put it in over drive and ran as fast as i could and got in just before jim.  funnily enough our finish times have him finishing seconds ahead of me.  we decided that he paid a higher entrance fee to get that done.  hahah!  actually, he probably crossed the start before i did and i just made up a little bit of time at the end because i think i was lagging a lot during that first loop compared to him.  he really is why i kept up that awesome pace.  if it weren't for him i would have probably had a much slower finish time and not gotten nearly so close to my goal!  i am so thankful for his encouragement and camaraderie today!  running something this challenging with friends makes it so much more enjoyable and endurable.  we had a magnificent time!  the gap between me and the second place finisher was 19:20 which i think is a significant lead.  i could have totally ran slower! hahah!  the gap between me and the third place finisher was 21:53.  (i'm talking age group placing here... just so that's clear.)  jim came in second in his age group.  the gap between him and the first place finisher was 11:24.  that's a pretty big gap.  then between jim and the third place finisher was a mere 2:03.  so close!  he ran such a great race! man, we killed it!  i'm pretty proud of that.

jim, maggie, and me right after we finished the race
photo by kristine hinrichs

my one complaint is that they didn't have any port-o-pottys right on the course.  i mean... i know where the bathrooms are all along this route but if you're running a race the last thing you want to do is go a few minutes off course to go.  there should have been a port-o-potty right on the sidelines of the start/finish so that all one would have to do is pull over, go, and start running again.  that would be my suggestion for next year.  other than that... aces.






if you get a chance to get out to lapham for a run, race, or hike... you will not be disappointed.  i will be doing this race again for sure!

all the bling with all the sweat and tireds

shows my 19 second time difference from starting my garmin a bit late

me and nic - finishers!

best news ever... right now.

since i refused to believe that i wasn't going to be able to run the instep 1/2 this weekend (due to the allegedly broken toe) i decided to go on a test run at lapham this morning.  i figured if it was TRULY broken i'd take a couple of steps and be in enough pain to know.

i got to the park to run the black loop at just after 7am.  there were quite a few cars there already which was surprising, but i guess not since it is labor day.  as i headed out i was acutely aware of all aches and pains.  notably there was nothing from my right foot aside from my second toe which was feeling a little irritated.  no pain whatsoever from my pinkie toe!  AWESOME SAUCE!

i was feeling a bit sluggish so i thought i'd just take it as it came and try to maintain and also run all the hills.  i simply wanted to see if i could do it at an even pace the whole way through.  i really felt like i was running pretty slow so i thought doing the little bounce jog up all the hills would be helpful in maintaining a decent finish time.  i figured i was fatigued from saturday's run even tho' i rested yesterday...

is that even possible?

so trying to keep an even pace and run all the hills it is!  it was actually quite manageable so i just kept it up.  i skipped the bathroom break and kept right on puttering along. nothing felt too out of whack except for the back of my right knee which i THINK might be my IT band, but the jurys still out on that.  i'm not entirely clear on what the problem is with my right leg.  i'm just hoping that after my race season is over that it heals up and goes away.

the weather was 95% humidity, wet from the rain the days before, and about 68 degrees.  the humidity is so awful that as soon as you start sweating it just drips off your skin and stays on your skin... there's no evaporation of any sort happening.  it's really quite disgusting.

when all was said and done i am happy to report that my foot was no worse for wear, and (barring any more injuries between now and saturday) i should be good to go for the race.  i am so relieved!  i was so upset saturday night i thought i was going to break down and cry.  i'm going through some personal things and this is just not something i need right now.  i need my running to be going right.

i really hope that i can get my speed up and my time down on saturday... not a lot but i'd like to get both loops down to 60min each if i could.  i know that's a lot to shave off but i think in a race setting it might be manageable since this is what i'm doing when i'm not REALLY pushing myself that hard.  i mean... i'm trying but i'm not TRYING if you catch my drift...   when i race i tend to push much harder than i do when i'm alone or running with friends.  when i'm alone i push myself harder than i do with most friend groups and then when i run with friends that are faster than me i push myself to stick with them so i'm pretty sure that i can run this faster than i have at my PR of 1:02 and some change.

i am interested to see what my body and mind can do on saturday... so cross your fingers and wish me luck!  here's to hoping i keep myself injury free between now and then.  ha!