"But yes I'm still running"

I've said this before, but it's still true - one of my favorite parts of any song of all time is the part of "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" by U2 when they say:

"Well I believe in the kingdom come

Then all the colors will bleed into one, bleed into one

But yes I'm still running"

So yes - I'm still running. Were you worried? How kind of you. I will chronicle two runs in this post because I've been too lazy to post since Saturday.

This weekend I was here:

which was The Great. I got to see a lot of my friends (I wish I had put the pictures from this weekend on this computer so I could post some of them to the blog...maybe I'll add them later, just to entice you to check back). It's always hard going back to Columbus (by Always I mean the two times I've been back since I moved). I didn't leave Columbus because of the city or because of the people - I left because of the job I had there, and I figured it was about time I try something new. So when I go back, it's hard because it's not like I'm thinking to myself "Wow, sure glad I escaped this place!" Instead, I'm thinking "Wow, I really miss my friends and I miss the fact that everything is so CHEAP and SAFE and CLEAN here." Anyway, grass is always greener, right?

So I arrived on Friday morning and spent the rest of the day hanging out with my friends Heather and Jared (apparently Jared reads this blog, Hi Jared!). On Saturday morning I needed to run 12 miles (commence dry heaving) so I got up at 5:45 (sick, I know) and drove across the city to meet up with my old running buddies from the Columbus Running Company at their store in Dublin. I got there at 6:30 and Kathy, Annette, Lisa and I set out to do 8 miles together. These were my splits for the first 8 miles:

1 - 11:19

2 - 11:49

3 - 11:46

4 - 12:06

5 - 11:26

6 - 11:46

7 - 11:38

8 - 11:27

By mile 8 we had arrived back at the store to meet up with the rest of the group, who congregates at 8 am, divides into pace groups, learns where the water stops will be, and sets out for their run. I was able to refill my water bottles on my new fuel belt (that pink one was just too large and therefore too bouncy and I couldn't deal with it. So I bought another on Friday night). This is my new fuel belt:

It is the RunLite 4 from Amphipod. I like it much more than the Nathan Speed 2 I previously bought. More bottles, easier access (they just snap on and off), a little mesh pocket in the front as well as the larger pocket you can see attached to the back, so lots of storage. Plus you can customize the length of the belt, meaning that the fit is much much better for me than the Nathan belt was.

Anyway, moving on. I refilled my water bottles (I'd drained all 32 oz out of them in the first 8 miles), ate some more Clif Shot Bloks (I'd finished an entire pack by that point, so 6 bloks over 8 miles), stretched a little bit, and was ready to go out for the remainder of the run. Kathy and I went out and did the last 4 of my 12 together, and the splits looked like this:

9 - 11:15

10 - 11:11

11 - 10:40

12 - 11:10

Overall, it took me 2:17:42 to run 12 miles (that only includes the time I was running or walking on the course), I burned 1351 calories (I think that is overestimating how many calories I burned, it should have been closer to 1200), my average pace was 11:28/mi, and my average HR was 169 bpm.

So, what did I learn from reviewing my splits? I can run faster than I think I can. I let myself get away with bullshit slower running because it makes me panic less. I need to push myself to be faster. Had I been working the way I should have been, I should not have been able to run the last 4 miles at splits that much lower than those in which I ran the first 8 miles.

Also, I wasn't as sore as I should have been afterwards. Yes, I fueled appropriately. Yes, I stretched - both of which mean that I shouldn't be too sore. But had I really pushed myself, I would have been more sore than I was. And I know long runs aren't the place to push yourself to the limit, shorter mid-week runs are, but still. I think I need to step it up. Sigh.

SO - I ran 12 miles on Saturday and had a great time catching up with my running buddies and then felt free to eat and drink as much as I damn well pleased the rest of the weekend! Which was great since I was visiting all my favorite haunts in Columbus.

Moving onto the 2nd run that I will recap in this post - I ran this morning. I had planned to meet up with my friend Brigid again, but she had a headache and couldn't come out. Luckily, I missed her message telling me that, which meant that I got my butt out of bed and got dressed and went downstairs to run. After 10 minutes I figured she wasn't coming so I set off on my own. This meant that I didn't have my iPod, which was kind of ok with me. Maybe I would have run faster with some music, but I was feeling Saturday's run this morning and needed to be mentally "there" to check my pace and tell myself to slow down when necessary - today was more a recovery run than anything else.

So, I ran 3.84 miles in 45:02. My average pace was 11:45/mi (I didn't stop my watch when I slowed down to walk at two points, one because the dock was slippery, the other because I WANTED TO), and my average heart rate was 165 bpm. It says I burned 427 calories, but I should have only burned about 384 calories (I assume that I'm burning 100 calories/mile while running, pretty standard). I'm starting to tell you guys this stuff so that hopefully I will be so embarrassed by how slow I am that I will run faster. Let's see if it works. My splits were:

1 - 11:10

2 - 12:02 (Includes walking)

3 - 12:11 (Ditto)

4 - 9:36 (this was only 0.84 miles, so had I run a full mile and kept the same pace, it would have been 11:26)

Overall, this run went well. It was nice and cool (only about 77*) when I went for the run, and the humidity was somewhat in check because we had a thunderstorm last night. I enjoyed running w/o my iPod for once, but I don't think I'll be doing it again anytime soon. I do think that music helps me run faster.

So. Yeah. I'm still running. I have to run 15 miles this weekend - probably Saturday morning. But...I...no. Do not want. But I must. Remind me why I signed up for a marathon again?

Also - the answer to the question "How do you run so far?" is clearly - "Slowly." I am not fast. At all. Now you know my shameful secret. But whatever - your medal looks the same if you finish the marathon in 3 hours or 5.