Sunday, January 28, 2007

Getting through Two

Two runs that is not two miles. And seriously the best two runs that I have had in WEEKS!

After getting home on Friday we decided to move our run to Saturday...just cause. It was a really nice afternoon and we opted for a really long walk around the neighborhood and a stop in a local cafe to read our books.

Saturday morning we got up early and got to the Laundrymat before it became Bad Laundrymat with people doing mini-vans full of laundry, came home and ate some oatmeal for breakfast and then headed out for our run. All I knew is that I wanted to run 6 miles and I let my body dictate the rest. Well I guess my little body was ready (finally) for a bit harder of a workout as it pushed itself through some fast miles. The splits were like this :
  1. 9:22
  2. 8:55
  3. 8:39
  4. 8:09
  5. 8:13
  6. 7:42 (that's right...that's a 7 in the first column and is not a mistype!)
Man, it wasn't even that tough. I was breathing hard, but my legs weren't asking to slow down. The best thing about this run was just that it went. So many runs before the big breakdown were labored, every mile was tough no matter what speed and putting up miles that were under 9 minutes was close to impossible. After this run I was even more sure about my decision to cut back on the weekly mileage.

The song, Have You Fed the Fish by Badly Drawn Boy (which was part of my running mix that day is) :

Sometimes you've got to rewind to go forward

It seemed so true while I was out there. If I hadn't cut back and in a sense started fresh, I don't how long it would have been until my whole life went out of control. It's not surprising that I cut back because there wasn't another option. The other option was me having a total and complete breakdown, which...well we don't want Jason to see that side of Crazy...just yet.

We enjoyed a lazy lazy rest of the day on Saturday filled with movies and nachos (which I love because that's what we had for dinner......yes I am truely an adult because I can do that...remember being kids and your parents said, "when you are an adult you can have whatever you want for dinner...." well that happened).

This morning we woke up to temps of 14F with feels like temps of 0F. We busied ourselves in the apartment reading the Sunday paper and having some breakfast and watching a recorded episode of Heros (we are all caught up now....uh.....hello awesome show) and cleaning the house. Around 12:30 I couldn't wait any longer. I made the case to Jason and he finally, begrudgingly perhaps, agreed to go out for a run. The temperature was up to 18F with feels like 4F which is a bit better.

And you know what.

It was another great one. 4.32 miles in 40:19 or 9:19 min/mile....not bad for "just getting out there". It was cold at times, but really it wasn't too bad. Having good quality winter running gear is the most important thing. My new tights were fantastic and I simply wore a Brooks thin long sleeve shirt, a Nike mock turtleneck and then this jacket thing. None of it is very heavy, but I have to say, I was pretty toasty.

I have also been doing ab work and pushups every day for the past 5 days.....I don't know if it's doing much, but I'm going to try and keep fitting in everyday.....I AM going to florida and the bahamas in about a month.....granted eating Nachos for dinner isn't going to help my abs pop out...but oh well. I'm going to do what withing what I CAN and what I WANT.

So a good weekend of running and relaxing and it's only one more week till it's

BEAR DOWN/KILL PEYTON MANNING TIME.

AND I get to see my DAD!!! who is flying in on Saturday (just to be in Chicago when the Bears are in the Superbowl). I am so excited for this weekend. Jason gave me this Bears blanket for my birthday and even though our living room is about as cold as it is outside, I have used it on the window (now that's a fan)....oh yeah...we don't own ANY Colts gear....except for little Peyton Manning coasters which I have written on ....HA.


(on the left it says, "OUCH!!! These Bears are kicking my ass and on the right, "I want my mommy"
Jason said I made him laugh so hard his sides hurt....sarcasim perhaps?)


9 comments:

Laurie said...

The Peyton Manning coaster is priceless. I sure hope he isn't saying that on Sunday however.

Great job getting through the cold runs and getting back to running refreshed.

Full Metal Lunchbox said...

I love the modified Peyton Manning coaster!  I especially like the visible tear streaks.

Do you also have any Tom Brady coasters?

LeahC said...

yes..his eyes are bleedin'...better or worse than my cousin saying he would like peyton to be carried off the field with his ears bleeding?

GO BEARS

Joe said...

That's a kick-ass sixth mile!

Go Colts!

Scott said...

Peyton may be the first superbowl quarter back who is carried off the field because he dropped a load in his pants!

DA BEARS!

DADDY

Full Metal Lunchbox said...

Oh, and I forgot to compliment you on that mile 6 split time.

WAY TO GO, SPEEDY!

MNFirefly said...

WOW, Leah. I have my Viking spirit in my house...but it is hidden underneath the other blankets...Too embarrassed to be one right now.

Go Bears and Colts! (sorry, 3rd party person!)

Anonymous said...

My bf is in the media, and he picked up his media passes for this weeks interviews and stuff with the players. Today is some press conference or something. (I'm sure he told me, but I wasn't listening.)

Also, I just found out the Colts are staying right up the road from us here in Fort Lauderdale. If I were a football lover (I prefer soccer), I'd be in heaven. If we hear anything good, I'll let you know.

LeahC said...

geekgirl-

that's awesome that your bf has press passes (i want to change my career just for this week :-) )