got the runs

I didn't know I was going to run this race until the previous afternoon.  If I had known, I probably wouldn't have gone out so hard on saturday morning (or thrown that house party saturday night, incidentally).  But sometimes these are the best races!   I got up at 6:00 after getting mimimal sleep, metro'd to downtown DC, grabbed a bib from a friend (some 15 year old girl named Abigail couldn't compete and gave me her number) and hit the asphalt.  It was a really cool run that (needless to say) weaved through the cherry blossoms of DC around all the monuments etc.  I've heard there were upwards of 10,000 people there (second largest race in thea area), which was quite evident in the tight packing of runners.  I had to get off and into the grass for most of the race in order to maintain the pace I wanted (given my circumstances, I was shooting for 8 min miles, which I achieved).  I don't know my exact time, because I didn't start at 0:00:00 due to the large group of racers (in fact, I was still in the port a john long after the gun went off, and I certainly wasn't the last one) but I kept track between miles and they were all around 8:00.   I didn't take this race all too seriously (obviously), which made it a great segue for me to get back into the scene in this part of the country.  Lots of fun to be by so many happy runners!!  Then i ate lots of eggs.  Lots and lots of eggs.

A splendid 6 miles along the tidal basin and major monuments of DC at sunset under waves of cherry blossoms with a good friend.  Doesn't get much better than that.

3.5 miles out to the gym at a pretty chilled out pace.  An hour of lifting.  3.5 miles back home feeling like a truck ran over me.  good times.

A good solid run at ~7:30 min miles. I've been striding out more and more on my returns and pounding out the few hills that I come across, and my legs are really feeling strong. I've been wanting to run to work, and I think next week it's finally going to happen (~12 miles).

A pretty chilly run on the W & OD trail with a friend.  Save for a couple of strides toward the end, we kept it at a chilled out 7:30 - 8:00 pace.  It was more of a maintenance run, as I wanted to stay fresh for another such run this evening. I'd be all in favor of that spring weather bouncing back this way again...

8 miles right at sunset.  I was a little worried that my legs would be a bit overworked due to increasing my mileage more quickly than usual this week.  However, after a 2 mile warmup, it became immediately clear that they were stronger than on any other run this week, so I stepped it up a bit.  Somewhere around 7:15 average.  I'm also realizing (thanks largely to Paul's blog) that I'm just not really meant to take entire days off.  It throws everything out of whack and, as Paul suggested, it becomes a mental game.  I know I'm perfectly capable of cranking out a run/day as long as I plan my runs appropriately, and if can just keep my brain wrapped around that my training will be that much easier.  It's those runs following full days off that really throw me for a loop (especially with regards to endurance and hill attackability).  Oh, the things we learn...