Upping the Ante

I am becoming more and more convinced that with the LA Roadrunners and marathon training running it is indeed all or nothing. I always kind of had that attitude when I played sports in school; but, now, I have seen other groups lose people in the middle of runs (our pace leaders for Lucky 7 say they are pleased we all go out together and come back together).

So, this morning, I awoke to darkness as usual and rain as unusual. I decided that this was one of those test days, especially as the ante was being upped: longer minutes and faster pace, plus a bit of a sore knee. Anyways, I decided what the heck ... vamonos!

So, I set out with the addition of a Raiders little windbreaker to the normal gear. I had won it at a Super Bowl party a few years ago and finally have some reason to use it ... they had even won Sunday somehow and even my dislike for them could not counter its utility.

I started out decently and got to my faster pace pretty well.

I then found myself losing the new faster target pace as numerous stoplights, problems with sidewalks, etc. required a lot of stop-and-go running which made it hard to lock on to the speed. I also started thinking about the slick sidewalks as on Saturday a pace leader fell on a little bit of standing water on a dry day! So, visions of going facefirst onto cement at 4:30 a.m. were soon in my head. My knee also twinged a little.

I guess it was a so-so run. I am trying to evaluate it. I did 11:09 pace (faster by a lot over the aerobic pace goals; but, slower than 10:30 I wanted) for 4.15 miles in 46:16. My knee also gave me a little concern. So, those were the negatives. The positives were I ran pretty well considering the knee and the weather conditions as well as first time in a long time at faster pace (September!). I hope to get to the faster pace as soon as possible obviously; but, still some positive signs among the need to be improved signs. I hope when the group goes to the faster pace in a few weeks I will be alright. I am also pleased a bit that on a day when it would have been easy to make excuses and not go ... I did.

So, I hope things will get better and improve. I'm trying ... At least running in the rain is fun!

Running in the Rain

Running in the rain, just running in the rain ... what a glorious feeling ...

This morning was the fun I had been anticipating ... running in the rain. It seems this is the largest October storm to hit Southern California in 45 years; so, I did the obvious ... I ran!

It was 45 minutes of running up and down the Pico Neighborhood with some little hills to boot. There were some massive ponds, er puddles, to cross/wade through along the way in the dark.

Still, it was so much fun. I was not completely inundated; but, I was definitely damp afterwards.

It was quite a different bit of marathon training; but, it all counts (I hope). Still, somehow this running through water did not quite match up to the opening of Chariots of Fire with the nice beach!

Wednesday ...

Let's see. It will likely be raining. I will be waking up at about 4 a.m. It will be totally dark obviously. I will be going around non-scenic areas.

Yet, somehow I look forward to it! Running at it's finest. 45 minutes of Go Time!