Back in the saddle?

I ran 6 miles with my friend again.  I'm glad she's back in town!  My garmin battery died, so I don't know our pace.  I am doing a 4-mile race called the Luminaria Run on Saturday night.  The entire race is run through luminaria-lined streets!  I have wanted to do this race for years, and now I finally get to do it, because I'm not training for the marathon.  Yay for no marathon training!

I ran with my friend, as usual.  We didn't do the last 1/3 mile because both of our stomachs were not feeling well.  I picked it up for the last quarter mile or so to 8:25--the race pace I need to qualify for Boston.

This is crazy, but I'm actually thinking about running PF Chang's in January.  It would be fun to pace my friend, who is running her first marathon ever.  If I can get up to 18 miles in the next few weeks, I'll do it.  Otherwise, I'll do the half.  The final contingency plan is to pace her for the last several miles of the marathon.  It will depend on....lots of things!

Well, I am very pleasantly surprised at myself.  This was a beautiful race in the high desert about 30 miles north of Phoenix.  The entire run is lined with luminarias, which became very visible when it started getting dark around mile 2.  it was beautiful! 

The race is advertised as a 4-mile race, but it was actually only 3.57 miles.  I went up there with my friend who I have been running with lately.  It was her first race ever, so we did our own thing for the race.

The course went through a residential neighborhood and had lots of rolling hills.  It started on an incline, but, thanks to the out-and-back course, it finished smokin' fast!  My mile splits were 8:37 (hilly), 9:18 (BIG uphill and water stop), 8:33, and 7:39 (yeah!) for the last .57.  My "gold" goal was to finish with an average pace under 9:00, and I would have been okay with anything under 10:00, given the fact that I took so much time off and have been running about 11:00 pace with my friend.  So, I ROCKED my goal, and I am a happy camper!

We went to In n Out Burger afterwards-yum!  My friend finished with a 9:43 average-I am so proud of her!

Update: I finished 6th in my age group (30-34) out of 38, and 139/592 overall.  Not too shabby!

Ouch!  I woke up with somewhat sore abs and slightly sore glutes, so I thought, Sure!  I can run 15 miles after church! 

Nope!  We only made it 8 miles, and my legs were screaming after about 2 miles.  I think I set a record of my slowest average pace ever.  Actually, though, I'm very happy with the fact that I could run 8 miles the day after a race.  Now I'm going to make sausage cheese biscuits and spinach dip for my caroling party tonight-yum!

I think I might take tomorrow off.

I ran 6 miles by myself tonight.  It was 63 degrees-cold for a Phoenician!  I ran it in 1:00:50, 10:08 average.  It felt easy, but my legs were a little sore, probably from wearing heels all day.  It was a good run.

Tonight was the usual 6 miles with my friend.  When we run together, it's usually 11:00 pace or slower.  It's been working well, because even though I've ramped up the mileage quite a bit, I have felt very fresh most of the time by running at such an easy pace.  Tonight we ran a 10:30 average, so she's getting faster!

I can't believe she has talked me into the marathon.  I'm actually very excited, even though I know it will be one of my slowest marathons.  It will be nice to not worry about time, though, and it will be fun to help her through her first marathon (who knows, maybe I'll be the one needing the help!).  Her goal is 5 hours or less.  Hopefully it will all work out.  Plan B is the half marathon.  I would probably just shoot for breaking 2:00. 

We cut the run a little short tonight.  My knees are getting a little sore from all the mileage, so I'm glad I'm taking tomorrow off.  The weather was perfect.

I had planned to run 15 miles today with my friend, but my body was just not cooperating.  I guess going from couch potato to 40+ mile weeks in six weeks just doesn't work well!  We ran eight miles with another friend.  Then he went home, and I rode my bike alongside my friend for the last seven miles.  I converted the bike miles to running miles, but because I was riding so slowly, I'm not sure it counts.  Hey, I'll count it anyway.

I'm not doing the marathon anymore, which is fine.  I'm mostly disappointed that I won't be able to pace my friend, but I have higher priorities in my life right now, and lots of running impedes those priorities.  I am going to have to cut my mileage back, but I'm not sure by how much.  Maybe I'll post the question on the discussion forum, if I get brave enough.