It's official. I'm running in the 2012 Marine Corps Marathon. I entered an essay contest through Arlington Parks and Recreation, and I was awarded one of ten bibs for the Marine Corps Marathon. I'm so excited to have the opportunity to participate in this race in our nation's capital.
I guess I was sort of wrong about the buddy I ran with a couple times last week. After skipping our Thursday run he called me that night and said, "I ran my 4 miles tonight like I should have done this morning. Can I still run with you next week?" I thought it was a bit comical at how serious he was taking our running. I said, "Of course. I'm doing 6, 6, 4, 12, 8 next week. You're welcome to come along for any runs you want." Sure enough, he was down in the lobby at 5:45am today ready to go. We had a really nice 6-miler today...I set the pace :-) I'm glad he decided to keep running with me. Hopefully I can get him to have a little more fun running rather than turn every workout into a torture session. Here are our mileage times for the Wednesday run which he led last week:
Mile 1: 8:13 (Blazing! What did I get myself into?)
Mile 2: 8:42 (Okay, this feels a little better)
Mile 3: 9:06 (Yeah, now we're talking.)
Mile 4: 9:36 (You alright dude? We still have 2 miles to go.)
Mile 5: 10:08 (Between 4 and 5 is where the "Uh, I think I'm gonna puke." came.)
Mile 6: 9:16 (Strong finish though. It's hard to recover like that during a run. Good job!)
:-P
Overall my runs last week went pretty well considering I was still sort of nursing a calf strain. I still managed to hit my mileage goal of 32 miles last week. I had to cut my Thursday run a bit short due to my calf cramping, and my 12-miler on Saturday was agonizing. It seemed like any time that I gained some momentum in the run and started to feel good my calf started to tighten up and I'd have to slow down. This resulted in an extremely slow time, but I still pushed on and finished the run. It was really hot out (~90 degrees F), and it was my first run with a Camelbak Octane XCT. The pack actually far exceeded my expectations as far as fit, weight, and functionality. I didn't feel like the water sloshed around at all. The hose/bite valve was really easy to get to, and I love the quick-release to detach the hose from the reservoir. Unfortunately, it's just really hot running with a pack. I ran about 8 of the 12 miles without a shirt, and didn't experience any problems with chaffing from the pack. Overall I really like the pack, but it's going to take some getting used to.
Last Week's Workout Summary:
Monday: Off
Tuesday: 4.17 miles; 39:30; avg. pace 9:29/mi
Wednesday: 6.41 miles; 58:40; avg. pace 9:10/mi
Thursday: 3.69 miles; 35:58; avg. pace 9:36/mi
Friday: Off
Saturday: 11.59 miles; 2:11:25; avg. pace 11:20/mi
Sunday: 6.21 miles; 1:00:39; avg. pace 9:46/mi
Total Mileage: 32.07 miles
Total Time: 5:26:19
Avg. Pace: 10:11/mi
Happy Running!
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