Monday, June 1, 2009

May Wrap-Up and a Hilly Long(ish) Run


I really wanted to skip my long run this week.  I had waaaaaay too much fun at an awesome wedding Saturday night, and I was paying for it most of Sunday.  At about 6pm, I decided that we should make dinner asap so it would be settled in my tummy and allow me to go run before it was too late.  We were going to make chicken on the grill, and Taylor yelled for me to come outside--there was a bird's nest on shelf next to the grill outside.  We joked that it was probably the annoying ass bird that wakes me up every morning at 4:30am reproducing.  I transported the nest and eggs to a more secure location.  Then, I noticed a piece of straw coming out of the grill.  I open it to find it FULL OF A ROBIN'S NEST.  Like full, full.


(The other nest was located just to the right of the grill on the attachment.)

An hour and a half later (and a lot of work later), we finally had it clean, of course that meant I didn't eat until 7:30pm.  It usually takes me a good 3 hours or so to digest food, so I was annoyed.  Of course it was storming, so it was much darker at 9:30pm than it should be, and I decided it would not be smart or safe to run on the bike trails, so I set out to run a very hilly route towards my old college.  It was lightning off in the distance when I started (I'm ridiculously frightened of lightning) so I spent the first 2 miles counting the time between the lightning and the thunder, ready to turn around if it got remotely close.  It didn't so I ran on.

Because of the insane hills, it was a pretty tough run, even though it was only a sixer.  The first two and last two (since I ran an out and back route) were craziness, and the middle two were somewhat hilly, but seemed pancake flat in comparison.  I haven't ran a lot of straight hill workouts, so it was good to incorporate a long(ish) run with some hills.  And my legs feels it today.  Wowsers.  I finished in 58:07 for a pace of 9:42.  Whoops.  
1. 9:46 
2. 9:56 
3. 9:47 
4. 9:41 
5. 9:55 
6. 9:00
I'm sooooo glad I made myself go run.  It's so true that even if you don't feel like running, 9 times out of 10, once you get out there, you're glad you did.  I have to remember that next time I feel like ditching out.

Another reason I'm glad I made myself go, is that I was sooooo close to beating my mileage for April, and have a goal to increase my mileage every month until the Green Bay Marathon next May.  Which brings me to my May In Review :)

Total Miles: 74.3 miles (over 71 from last month, ha)
Highest Weekly: 24.1 miles
Average Weekly: 16.51 miles
Average Run Distance:  3.91 miles
Favorite Run:  Either my kick ass interval workout or my run with Tay.  <3>
Best (again only) Race:  Avera Breast Cancer 5k PR 24:18 a 1:09 PR from April's best race.

2 comments:

Mica said...

Um, how did the robins get INTO the grill? That is nuts!

Awesome run. I'm impressed you conquered those hills. The word "hill" makes me shake in my boots.

J said...

I have been running on hilly routes and it is killing me! I just want some flat ground and no more hills! They make me feel so slow and tired for the run!

Great job for the month of may running!