The Good Stuff

I'm typically out the door running at 6:30 a.m. With the sun rising earlier and the temperatures starting to rise, the morning presents the essence of running or "the good stuff". There is a perfection to the morning. Everything is still except for the birds chirping waiting to be fed, the deer ending their evening of activity, the cocks crowing letting the farmers know it is time to sow the fields and the sun rising up over the hills. Yes, although I live in NJ running out the door of my house affords me of "the good stuff".

I have had a decent couple of weeks of running with a good medium run of 15 miles last Sunday, short tempo runs and a couple of hill workouts. Next up will be the Runner's World 1/2 marathon in late April. It will be a family affair running with my niece and nephew.

However, it is time for vacation and the beauty of St. John which provides "the good stuff" in a whole different way!

St. Paddy's

Call it the luck of the Irish...the running of the green...but whatever it was, it wasn't expected. I haven't had a good 5 weeks of running. It has actually been a bit difficult to explain but it has been hard pushing anything more than 6 miles and any pace better than 9 minutes. I did get a couple of back to back 10 milers at an acceptable pace of 8:26 but in general it has been a struggle.

I signed up for the St. Paddy's 10 miler a few weeks back, after the LV marathon. I have run it before and last year was a master's PR for me at 1:17:55. I even contemplated not going yesterday because I really didn't know if it was going to be a fun time. The weather was perfect at about 42 dgrees and sunny. I told my myself to get out there, expect nothing and just have an enjoyable run.

I toed the line very relaxed and just waiting for the start. I was really expecting to be in the neighborhodd of 8:25's and just hoping to get in under 1:25. Well, I started out at about 7:40 pace and never let go of it keeping a consistent strong pace averaging 7:37 for the entire 10 miles. I really felt great! I beat last year's master's PR by 90 seconds coming in at 1:16:26. Truly, I was shocked and still not sure how it happened. Maybe I let my body heal for the last 5 weeks; maybe I approached it very relaxed, maybe it was the luck of the Irish. Whatever it was, it gave me some much needed confidence. It's funny how running can do that, just when you need it, it gives once more, something back to you!

Songs About Rain

Yesterday felt like a taste of spring. Today it is raw again! It was 43 degrees when I got out the door at 7:00 AM but it was raining - the more I ran, the harder the rain got. There is something about running in the rain that feels good - maybe it is just mingling with the elements, flirting with mother nature, dancing with the raindrops. Today, maybe it was just being able to wear shorts yet having cold, wet, numbing legs. Whatever it was, it felt pretty good!

Twin 10's

Sometimes your mind and body is disconnected. My mind wants to run....run races, run marathons, run long and far. My body has not cooperated over the last month barely running anything under a 9 minute pace. On Saturday, I left it up to the body asking it to perform if it wanted to run another marathon in Cleveland in May. In order to say yes, it had to run a 10-miler under 9 minute pace. It responded with a resounding yes and an 8:26 pace. On Sunday, I went back out for another 10-miler and also felt decent. Sometimes, the body and mind need reconciled.

Do Something

With my running not going so great these days, I have decided that if I don't run I need to do something. I have wanted to get back into strength training for a little while. I figure it is a good time to start a program and then as my running comes around to integrate the two. The key is to "do something" everyday for the body!