12. In fact, they don't even have to adore me. The job, I mean. They can just like me a lot. Or just respect me. I don't care--just give me a living wage. (And by living wage, I mean the wage of a person whose living includes triathlon, marathon, and ultrarunning racing fees, travel expenses, and gear.)
11. Friday, I did a moderate run on the Bosque for 9 miles, and held an 11:35 pace. I couldn't believe it. I've never done that run that fast! WHOOSH! At least, that's how it felt to me. That used to be my 5K pace. The next day was the brakes-on triathlon debacle. Quite a workout I got!
10. Week 1 training: planned: 50. Actually done: 50.
9. Week 2 training: Planned, 50. Actually done, 47.5. But my knee and calf are pretty pissed at me, so I'm calling it good. Me and Advil, we're planning to elope.
8. Saturday, I did my LSR on the Bosque, which is as flat as it gets around here. It's at 5000 feet, but there's a net elevation change of about 44 feet from one end to the other and then back again. Still, I was surprised to find that I easily kept a sub 12:30 pace for 20 miles. This is important because...
7. Baboo has signed us up for the Las Vegas Marathon in December. They have a "run through" chapel at mile 3, where we can renew your vows. But. The 3-5 minute ceremony begins a minimum of 45 minutes after the race starts, and the race has a 5:30 cutoff. I'll have 4 hours and 43 minutes to finish this marathon. My marathon PR is 5:39. I did this marathon in 2007 in 5:46:29
So, what to do? Right now, options being explored are:
a) I try to run 23.2 miles at a 12:00 minute pace, and suck it up, call it a challenge....
or
b) we do a homemade vow renewal when it's convenient for us, not for people keeping a 15 minute pace, and then I try to do a marathon a bit faster than I ever have. Which is possible, I think.
Hmm. Decisions, decisions.
6. Also, the LV marathon is the day after the Death Valley Trail marathon, which Baboo has also signed us up for. Further complicating my ability to finish a marathon in 4:45 minute (or 5:30, depending on the option chosen) is doing one the day before. Baboo has this crazy idea of us doing 3 marathons in 10 days.
Are you with me so far? I'll wait until you finish laughing.
The next day, 2. the Las Vegas marathon on Sunday the 5th. I've done this one. The profile looks like this:
(Before you get too worried, look at the elevation on the left.)
Then 6 days later, 3. the Tuscon marathon, which is essentially a long downhill run.
5. I told Baboo after my 20 mile run that I still needed to get in a few more miles to round out my week, but they needed to be easy miles, more hiking than running.
For future reference, do not say that to a 100-mile run finisher.
Baboo took us on a hike that went up 1000 feet in 1.5 miles. I'm not making that up. The trip back down was on trails covered with pea gravel.
4. But in the middle of all of it--while wondering if being the highest thing on a mountain top is the smartest thing with a thunderstorm rolling our way--I realized I wasn't out of breath. It's taken me over a month, but I finally have gotten back some of the fitness that I'd lost over the winter.
3. With respect to the debacle of this past Saturday, it has of course occurred to me that if I got on my bike more than 4 times a year, I would be able to quickly tell when something was wrong with it.
Shhhhhh: Don't let DP know I said that, or she'd think she was right about something.
2. In case you're wondering what prompted my rant on Monday, partly, it was this:
1. Be aware that my training will be a bit interrupted by Baboo's run not this weekend, but next. And here it is:
...
