I Did It My Way

That was me this morning. Doing it my way.

I decided to talk to myself (again) as though I were giving someone (someone not so bright) some advice. Someone NEW to running. Someone who was feeling despair about running. Someone who didn't know her arse from her elbow.

Here's what I said:
Self, you're gonna run six miles this morning, before work.
"Six miles!! You're nuts. I don't have time or energy for that. I can only do that if I'm with a group, heavily distracted. Or sedated."
Well, you're gonna do it anyway, cuz you're doing too much else this week and you need the mileage if you think you're gonna run this on Sept. 16.

So, I went out early, 6 a.m., it was still cool (relatively speaking), and I told myself to take the first two miles slow, pick it up for miles 3 and 4 (my version of picking it up, OK?) and then slow it way down for the last two miles.

Now, I don't know if this is in any way any kind of, you know, official, running-type work-out or anything. I mean it wasn't a tempo run, or intervals, or fartlek, or whatever. It was a pure JEANNE run.

So here, because I like to share, (I'm a giver!) I give you the JEANNE run, guaranteed to not kill you and yet, leave you feeling amazingly good (how many other things can you say that about?!!):

mile 1: 11:13
mile 2: 10:50
mile 3: 10:14
mile 4: 10:21
mile 5: 11:42
mile 6: 11:50

I felt good. Afterglow!

Meanwhile, I leave for Philly tomorrow morning (in a rental car, don't worry) to drop off Number One Daughter at her first apartment for her senior year. I'm spending the night with NOD and her roomies. Slumber par-tay!!

Friday, I'm driving from Philly to Delaware to visit some friends at the shore. And I'm staying through Sunday, unless they kick me out sooner which is not beyond the realm. So somewhere in between now and Sunday, I've got to get in an 8-miler. (Are ya listening Bob?!?!?!) If anyone knows any good running routes in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, drop me a line!

In the meantime, give a listen to ol' blue eyes over there ------------------->

This Must Be the Place

Recognize this? You should—it's everywhere!

The very kind people at Accelerade sent me a few boxes of this stuff and asked if I'd give it a test ride and let people know what I thought. So, I did (sort of) and I will.

Yesterday was my 10-mile group long run so off I went in my little putt-putt machine hoping the engine would not decide to break down on the beltway at 7 a.m. We meet at 7:30 a.m. these days, which is supposed to be early but in Washington might as well be high noon. Too late people!

Yesterday's long run for my group was four miles on the Mt. Vernon trail, which runs along the Virginia side of the Potomac River. We met at Daingerfield Island (which is neither dangerous nor an island) and ran north to Reagan National Airport and back. My personal long-run schedule said six miles, which I had tried to do a few weeks ago on my own and choked. So while hanging around waiting for everyone to arrive, I intensely debated whether or not to add on two miles. Like my life depended on it.


There were about 10,000 runners gathered at Daingerfield Island on Saturday: Team in Training, the Arlington Road Runners, Galloway's group, and a few others. Toss in a few thousand bikers on the trail and good luck not getting killed. As we waited, like some old school marm (no offense to old school marms!) I warned people to please stay to the right and not run six abreast as I've seen some highly organized groups do.

Coach J. arrived and off we went.

Coach J.'s group has a wide range of paces: from 9-minute milers to 13-minute milers. Two people were far ahead of me, one girl was near my pace but was walk/running, and the rest of the group was a behind me. Alone in the midst of thousands. A voice in the wilderness. And, I had made the supreme sacrifice of running sans headphones since I'm trying to be social! For naught!

Oh the humanity.

At the turnaround point I finally made the critical all-important life changing decision that today was the day I was going to merge my two programs into one and get my six-mile long run in. I was feeling good at mile two so pushed on to three. It was hot, the trail has lots of rolling hills, and little shade. And I was cleverly carrying no water. (But I did have my shoe ID on! Thanks, E.!)

(Mt. Vernon trail, Gravelly Point, north of National airport. Clueless walker about to be mowed down by bike.)

Still feeling good at mile three, I started worrying about no water. Lucky for me the Arlington Road Runners Club had a lovely table set up nearby with my version of sex on the beach: frozen grapes! And pretzels. A veritable buffet. And water. I helped myself to two gulps of water, said thanks, and was on my way.

Was that wrong?

Six miles in the can! I'm just starting to believe that ten is within my grasp. Maybe.

But. It. Was. Hot. Apparently my moisture-wicking clothing lost its wickiness a while ago. I was drenched. I inhaled an entire bottle of Gatorade and another of water the minute I got back.

After I got in the car, I pulled out the Accelerade. I swilled some down while I cranked up the heat in my car (to pull it out of the engine. Fun.).

So a few words about Accelerade. First, it's got milk products (whey protein) in it, so if you're vegan, you might think twice about it.

Second, it's not really a thirst quencher. The "citrus grapefruit" flavor left a not-unpleasant after-taste, but also left me thirsty. It has an odd mouth-feel.

The protein in it is 'sposed to make it a good recovery drink, but I'm not sure I gave it a good test. I got home, read the paper, and immediately crashed for two hours. So maybe it's good for getting you to sleep?

When I woke up, I had a slightly sick stomach. It could have been the Gatorade, the heat, the Starbucks raspberry scone I picked up on the way home OR the Accelerade.

But that didn't stop me from heading out to celebrate someone's birthday at the Korean BBQ. And if you've ever read someone's blog, you know she can really pack in the calories. She's a machine. I've never seen more food on one table in my life. The good news is I overcame my queasy stomach, and tried everything in sight (but the meat) and I loved it all, my first foray into the world of Korean cuisine.

Saturday's totals:
mile 1: 9:30
mile 2: 11:04
mile 3: 10:47
mile 4: 11:34
mile 5: 10:42
mile 6: 11:03

One raspberry scone
One gatorade
One accelerade
Seaweed salad, bip 'n bop (?), edamame, miso, and lots of other yummy stuff that I can't pronounce and don't know what it is. All I know is: it cured what ailed me, and it was GOOD.

Now bounce on over to someone's site and wish her Happy Birthday!