TC 1 Mile 2008

Today is my one mile race. I’m not going to post this till I actually end up doing the run, but thought I’d at least have something started before I get to it. This will be my first official race this season too. I had a few others I wanted to or contemplated doing but for various reasons didn’t. This race I had a pretty high goal for myself…high school PR…yes, you read that right. I wanted to beat what I haven’t run since I was…oh…14 or 15…yes, I set my PR Freshman year I think…can’t remember for sure. But now, training myself, I thought to better that. Pretty ambitious! Of course that was before my heel issues, which had me take about 2 weeks off in April and now has me just slowly building back up so I have done none of the training that I wanted to. Hence an adjustment to my goal. Right now if I run a 6:30 I’ll probably be feeling pretty happy about that. Last years time was 6:19, good for 9th in my age group, but not as good as I would’ve liked to have had (last year I wanted to break 6, again no speed work due to many things). I’m also debating if I’ll run in the open category, or the smaller, for my age group, that I did last year and signed up for again this year (there is an option of running in any group and I might just run in one of the other age groups to have a smaller group and still not have to wait, it’s all chip timed so doesn’t matter, that’s even stated on the web site). It’s a 30 minute or more time difference between them though and I don’t really want to wait that long. I have things I do need to do tonight to be ready to head to my parents after work tomorrow…and I need to get to sleep early so I can get up and get to the gym to see hottie, I mean to get a workout in and hope that hottie is there!!

So I opted to run my age group wave again...and I have to say I'd like to order up the weather today for Twin Cities...race was around 55 or so degrees and no wind, a little cloudy...perfect. There were over 2600 runners there today. I did some warm up and wandered around and killed time till the race started. I even used 3 different bathrooms! Yeah...Anyway, lined up finally for my race wave and 3 minutes to start I realized I DID NOT want to run this race. Bad timing, I know...anyway, blow horn went off and we were off. This year they changed the course and we had a nice hill early on, but it was short enough and you run this fast enough you don't even notice. There wasn't split times at the quarter like they said, instead as I was dying trying to figure out how I was going to make, oh at least another half, I heard the splits at the half...I was just under 6 minutes there...WTF?? Uh huh...didn't feel like I was going that fast, but no wonder I was hurting. From there on it's a straight shot and you just pray to keep it up...I was counting down the blocks and praying for the finish. I saw the finish finally, no real kick left (not that I had built one up anyway) and crossed the mat...it was 6:14 or 6:15...so faster than last year. That shocked me. I'm not nearly as ready or in as good a shape as then...maybe it was the 6 miles I had done during the day before the mile last year that got me (and the 25 miles for the week by that point!!). Anyway, I know I have better in me...next time...My heel...hurt pretty bad all day. Not good. And it took 2 miles of warm up, some stretching and still was a little sore, but didn't really notice it during the race. I was burning at the end. Lungs still hurt and I fininshed an hour ago...that distance hurts!!

Denise??

And no, this isn't a dedication to MNFirefly (although she did just graduate last weekend with honors, great job!!)...remember the b**** that lives downstairs from me, there have been some new issues and of course she's been complaining to everyone and has a telephone game going on with no one knowing and/or checking on what might really be happening...but tonight was nice and I went for a run, then I got home and decided to grill a burger...and hag came home. And she saw me. And I hear her call Denise. Denise. Denise. (I'm reading, and I KNOW she's talking to me, but it's not my name, so yes, I'm a child and ignor her) Finally she asks if I'm Denise _______. OK, not going to put my full real name out here...Anyway, I say no, she asks if I live there, and I say yes, I'm DANIELLE (I know her name is Jeanette, and have known that almost the entire time living here). So she goes on how I need to call my insurance and get it into other insurance so the insurance companies can figure out who needs to pay her damage etc. And I said that we need to figure out what is wrong before anything is fixed. She goes on about how the insurance and property manager know it's my new fridge (un huh, cause they have all been out here to look at it) and on and on about the deal...like I said, she doesn't know what happened, she hasn't had a plumber come look (but thinks I SHOULD have one come and rip up my floor apparently)...yeah honey, I'm going to jump all over that when you can't even be sure of my name. My mom is Denise...not me.

Anyway, if only I could've eaten better today. I snacked too much tonight...I got up, biked this morning, did ab work, then ran tonight...and then I ate and undid it all...I'm never going to lose this 8-10 pounds I need gone before October...I keep gaining and losing the same pound or two...ughh...and I have a mile race on Thursday I'm SOOO not ready for. Hmm...looks like a thunderstorm rolling in.

Coffee, A Mile and Sushi

I have to say, I really, really heart my laptop...I always knew it would be a great thing to have it to be able to go and work on things away from home, but until last night I had never really experienced it. Still trying to complete those darn essays, I decided I needed a change of scened (and distraction) so I headed to Spyhouse Coffee, a cute little coffee place in Uptown that has free wi-fi and just a nice atmosphere (not to mention a FANTASTIC latte, although I should've gone decaf). I got there around 6:30 and settled in at a table, logged on, emailed, IM'd and worked on my essays...at a table, not sitting on the couch with it on my lap, what a concept!! While I didn't get them completed yet, I'm still finalizing, redlining, correcting, etc...I did spend 2 1/2 hours on getting things worked on so there was progress. With any luck I'll be able to finish them by this weekend and have them submitted early next week at the latest. I know one of my letters of recommendation are in, just have the essays, my resume and one other letter to check on.

Of course, having sat and drank a double low fat latte, I was a bit jittery and knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. Since it was around 9 and I was near my favorite watering hole, I opted to stop in, say hi and have a couple of beers to try to counter the caffeine. I ran into a friend, visited with him a bit and then got sucked into a game of pool (I warned everyone that I sucked and to prove that, after missing all but one shot, I went to bank off the side for an intentional miss to set up for my partner and managed to bank just right to knock the 8 ball in...ah well...I told my partner coaching me is not a good idea and it's been probably 2 years since I shot as it is!!). I got home around 11:30, attempted to get to sleep so I could be up for a workout, cause you never know, hottie might be there (he wasn't), ALMOST thought I was walking in just behind him, but it was a false alarm. I got a decent workout in and plan to run a 4-6 miler tonight (moved around to get my tempo in tomorrow when I'm more rested) in more warm temps (although I'll be away from work later than normal today so not sure it will still be a nice as it's supposed to be).

I got to work and realized it was the 13th and time to register for my 1 mile race as well. So I am officially doing one race here sometime in the on the map future. I am opting out of the 5K on Saturday, even though I really wanted to do it, but a friend wants to go out and I don't see her a lot and she really can't get out much so we are going out and it won't work to get up and do it. Ah well.

Finally, to the last part of my title...never thought I'd ever post something about sush, but I had to post this cause the picture was in the paper today. I might try sushi (not a big seafood fan and the idea of eating cold or raw fish is so NOT appealing to me) if I can have it served to me this way!!

Another Quick Update - 1 Mile?

OK, so tonight is the Twin Cities Marathon kick off signup. I'm registered for the 1 mile and was supposed to work, but alas, I had a migrane/nausea or something, but somehow I managed to overcome it and am feeling better...but since I'm off the schedule...

Anyway, I haen't run a 1 mile race since high school...OK, maybe even junior high since everything was 1600 for the most part. I haven't trained for it, other than running lots and lots of miles. NO speedwork all year so far as my hamstring/IT band area yelps at me when I try to run harder, so I have no idea what to expect, but it's a nice day, my roommate is coming with and we'll go for a drink/food or something after at one of the outdoor areas in downtown...all is good. Will try to get a better update and more about the race and maybe some pictures tomorrow.