Friday, August 29, 2008

Boys in wetsuits rock

Hi all: Well, I should say hi to anyone that still takes the time to check in even though I have been absent lately!

It has been a crazy month, but all in all, life is good. I just got back from a great trip in Maine. My mother-in-law just bought a house right on the ocean - unbelieveable. We climbed on the rocks, looked for crabs and periwinkles, went fishing, visited Fort Williams, Portland Headlight, Two Lights, ate Red's Ice Cream (the best!), ran, and did a lot of visiting w/relatives I had not seen in many months, if not years. My kids FINALLY reached the age where they were an absolute PLEASURE to travel with. After 7 years of painful travels, I can truly say that is PRICELESS. The downside was that my mother-in-law was a mess b/c my father-in-law left her 6 months ago after being together 40 years. Crazy how life works.

I did get to see my new nephew - what a little treasure. He is 2 months old and just fabulous - a beautiful smile and fully engaged. I took him every moment I could. It is amazing how quickly that precious time goes by and the next thing you know your kids are 7 years old!! At the same time I received word that a friend/colleague lost her twin babies after going into premature labor at 21 weeks. Life can be so joyful and heartbreaking. I promise NOT to get heavy on that subject even though my heart is.

I have not kept up on my running mags since I started work, but I picked up Runner's World in La Guardia (just before we had to sprint to the next terminal dodging taxis with small children to get to our connecting flight!). There was an article re the Vibram 5 finger shoes - made me think of Keith and I was laughing out loud on the plane. Ah, the pleasures of running idisyncrisies!

I am back to work, I just got the orders to write an article today which is due by September 4! Yikes - happy Labor Day weekend to me! No complaints though really, it is good in the long haul. So I ramble and you wonder if my happy @ss is running these days. Well, yes, I am doing quite fine, thank you! Last week was a cut-back week. I missed about a mile and a half after the Brewer game, but made up for it in my 14 miler in Maine on Sunday. We hit an amazingly hilly route. I ran the first 5 with my husband and it was SLOW due to the sleep hills and trails (9:55ish), then I hit the last 9 on my own and was clicking off 9:00s to 9:10s, but ended with the last 3 miles progressively faster, last at a 7:50ish pace. Nice.

This week:

M: 6 recovery (9:35) with John in Maine

T: rest and enjoy family before we have to leave

W - 13.1 (9:24) - this was truly an amazing feat given I ran after 3 cups of afternoon coffee following 6.5 hours of travel and 4 hours of sleep the night before - we had to get up at 2:20 am to meet our flight!!!

R - rest/core (I have been slacking on the core thing!!!)

F - 12.17 with 7 at 15K pace (7:28).

We are jam packed this weekend with work/social activities, but I should log a good 20+ miler and break 55 miles for the week.

3 comments:

Quinto Sol said...

That seven mile stretch at 15K pace is most impressive. The only place I can hold 15K pace for seven miles is at a 15K ... plus an extra 2.5 miles :-)

I think that pace is closer to your current half-mary pace, give or take a couple of seconds.

Greg said...

A Mindi sighting! Glad to know you're alive and doing well, I see. Pfitz had something like 7 @ 15k pace and I said, "no way!" Keep it up.

keith said...

I'm glad runner's world is doing articles on something other than running shoes!

You're really putting in some quality training! Isn't it fun to run in different states? Every time I travel for work I run where ever I go.

Glad you enjoyed your trip. Keep up the good work!