Saturday, September 30, 2006

Running in the (COLD) Rain

Yesterday was exactly one month from race day. It was cold (low 50's) and raining this morning during my 20-miler, but I'm expecting this is what race day will actually be like, so I was strangely glad the weather was a little les than ideal.

I felt pretty good and could have kept going. However, due to the fact that I was getting very bored, my splits towards the end did get a little slower. Splits were as follows:

Mile 1 - 9:27
Mile 2-3 -- 18:32
Mile 4 - 9:13
Mile 5-7 - 27:10
Mile 8 - 9:16
Mile 9 - 9:07
Mile 10-12 --27:01
Mile 13 - 9:17
Mile 14: 9:16
Mile 15: 9:33
Mile 16 - 9:34
Mile 17 - 9:33
Mile 18 - 9:52 (I got run into by a bike during this mile...)
Mile 19 - 9:30
Mile 20 - 9:31

Yes, someone with a bike ran into me towards the end of mile 18. Let me paint the picture for you. I was running one way, there were two people on bikes in the center of the path coming towards me, and another running on his far right also coming towards me. As I get closer to the bikes, I realize that they aren't paying attention and are headed straight for me. I jump to the side of the path but didn't have much room because on the bikers also did the same thing - right before the other woman ran RIGHT INTO me. The other runner reached out to steady the woman on the bike, and she didn't really say anything to me. I was extremely annoyed, to say the least, and continued on my way, cursing softly to myself. About a mile later, there were a bunch of bikes and tents in one of the parking lots along the path. It must have been a Special Olympics type event, because there were several adults learning how to ride a bike, and doing a small obstacle cone course. I realized one of the bikers I encountered on the path was a coach/instructor and one was an athlete. Yes, I felt like complete shit. Other than that, the park was pretty empty and the run was pretty uneventful.

Then, this afternoon I had a girls lunch with some friends from college. One just got engaged, so we were excited to see her rock. Beautiful! It was a perfect day to meet up and have lunch, since the weather was so bad out we didn't mind sitting around for a few hours.

Tonight, we're going to watch the U of M game (somewhere) and maybe hang out with some of his friends. We had dinner with one of my friends and her boyfriend last night and couldn't go out with some of his. I don't want his friends to think I'm keeping him away from them, so I suggested we go out with his friends tonight. Typical boy, we don't know what we're doing yet. :)

Okay, nap time before the evening gets underway!

5 comments:

Neese said...

to have all your splits in the 9's is just spectacular! i'm sorry you got bored lol. it sounds like you will be SO ready in a month! :)

Anonymous said...

Nice splits and hope you had a good nap.

Radioactive Tori said...

You are doing great! Hopefully next year I'll be ready to run again too.

Deb said...

Great blog...had to check it out since that movie is my new 'all time' favorite! Good luck with the running and stay clear of manic cyclists!

Kate said...

Nice work on the 20- good work getting back into it and being patient.