Full Metal Lunchbox

 
Sorry my blog posts have been so limited lately.  Work has kept me super busy.  I'm usually too distracted to blog at home and I can't access Blogger on the job.  Oh, and my trusty old Dell laptop finaly died (in Chisago Lake, Minnesota of all places).  So recently I've only been able to post from my cellphone.

Now I'm enjoying a leisurely morning in bed with my work laptop, and I have a little time before I have to get up and see if I have any clothing to wear for a wedding later.

Here's a brief update on my goings on..

Last weekend Denise and I spent some time visiting her family up in Minnesota.  We also got to join in the celebration of Danielle's birthday, as well as spend a night in Denise's mom's awesome house on Chisago Lake.  Unfortuantely we were so pressed for time that we missed out on a lot of things we meant to do, including the 5K we had signed up for.

But the highlight of the weekend was getting to hang around with Denise's kids Brandon and Eva.  Here we are at the Super Target.  These guys are easily amused; we had lots of fun making mini-movies on my cellphone (which I'll post later) and making up funny jingles.  My personal favorite: "Happy Birthday to Ham!"







We also had ice cream at Izzy's.  Yum!







Now, let's talk about running--something I have not posted much about on my blog lately.  The reason for that is simple: I've been sucking.  From February through much of May I've slowed down by a lack of motivation and poor performance in general.  Every race I've run these past few months has been terrible, and my training runs have all been a struggle.  Many days I didn't know which felt worse: my inflamed leg muscles or my deep embarassment.  I just could not get it together.  (As you might have guessed from my lack of a race report, Indy was a huge fiasco, my worst race ever.  Let us not speak of it again.)

But things are starting to turn around.

I've been doing lots of speed work at the track, and though these workouts have been painful they are starting to pay off.  My longer runs along the lakefront are still a struggle, but I am finaly starting to put on some speed and distance.  At last, I can feel myself falling back into line.

Yesterday morning was my first really good medium-distance workout since January.

Distance:   6 miles
Time:   53:52
Pace:   8:59/mile!

As usual, I started out slow, leg muscles groaning.  But as I progressed down my favorite gravel path by Montrose Harbor I began to really enjoy myself, and going faster and faster became a wonderful game.

(Incidently, during mile 4, and for only the second time in my running carear, I was hit with a massive runner's high.  I felt so giddy and dizzy that I lost track of the world around me as I passsed one runner after another at breakneck speed.  For half a mile I was clocking speeds in excess of 7:30/mile pace.  I eventually stopped not because I was tired, but because I was a bit frightened!)

I had almost forgotten why I run.  Now I remember again.

Time to Great Midwest Relay:   2 weeks
Time to Marathon Training:   3 weeks

I plan on continuing to hit it hard right through to GMR, where I'll get a chance to see what my muscles can realy do.

My goal for the summer is to run the intermediate distances in the 9:30/mile pace group during CARA marathon training.

See you out on the path.  I'll be smiling for a change.