This goes out to Jackie

You are the BEST Jackie!! Thank you so much for helping me push past my rut during the long run this a.m.at Stoney!!! It was deja-vu in reverse, but I don't think you were ever hurtin as bad as I was this a.m. I sounded like a near heart attack victim during that last mile, but you kept ruthlessly pushing me, which is exactly what I wanted you to do!!

I went 9.5 miles today w/ Jackie, and I had to call myself the chain and Laura around her ankle cause she wouldn't leave me, but neither could I go nearly as fast as she could and I had to stop and walk every .75 of a mile (her plan, by the way, much more sensible than my idea-- the only 3 stops plan) I told Jackie that if I couldn't run a mile in the the finish then I was finished and no matter what I said, or what I did, even if my heart itself leaped from my chest and sat on her shoulder and begged her to stop, to not stop and not let me stop. So when my breath got really insane, esp. up one of the hills, she told me to keep going or she would leave my ass!! Yes!! I kept going. Felt good to finish those miles. I was swearing like a trucker though! Usually I am the one admiring the "Monet Painting" of the leaves as we run and Jackie's telling me to shut the hell up, this sucks! as I wax poetic about every bird and tree and lake we pass.

well, this time I swore up every hill--even took the lords name in vain many times. We had fun, none-the-less, talking about teaching English--how our kids hate us over the Odyssey and getting chased by coach Ken in his car. I swear he was EVERYWHERE!!! He was at the 2 mile handing out cups of water, at the water cooler (only 2 more miles up) telling us "this is not a social stop! get going!" Then he drove his darn care up the nature center right behind us
!!! I asked if we could get in, but he said no--he was going to drive behind us and make us go faster. He sure is motivating, you know, in that lovable drill sergeant who scares the hell out of you every time you see him, kind of motivation.

So, I'm feeling confident again as many parts of my body are already, to use Jackie's term, "Barking" at me. That means I really pushed myself, I won't be walking right tomorrow, and I can get myself through this 10K in Dearborn next Saturday and eventually the Bayshore itself.

JACKIE IS AWESOME!!!

A very cold engine

Even more sad running stats:

Tuesday
Miles: 3.75
Average pace: 15 minutes per mile!!!

I felt like my heart was going to fling itself from my chest after just a quarter of a mile and so I stopped and walked every quarter mile or so. It was terrible. It's weird, but I think in some ways my earlier training made me a mental wimp. Having experienced the ease of running six miles w/ barely any increase in breathing or muscle fatigue made pain a surprise. I was too wimpy to deal w/ starting this cold running engine again after my, mostly, two month hiatus. Sure, I could surge forth in a four mile race, but try to run around my neighborhood? Nope.
The minute I felt that stretching feeling in my heart and my chest heaving, I thought, what the?? and stopped.

When I first started running, though, I remember now that that was what every mile felt like and it was my mind not my body that kept me running--well the one part of my mind barking the wimpy side to stand down and give way to training. This feeling is training, I would tell myself.

So, with firm resolve, I planned to run four miles w/out stopping no matter what my breathing, lungs, legs did. Didn't happen.

Here's the stats
Wednesday
miles: 2.75
Average pace: 13 miles per minute

This time I only stopped to walk/stretch three times and made sure I ran at least an entire mile first but I was done after 2.75 miles. I warmed the engine up some more but not nearly as much as I wanted to.

Tonight is TNR. The group plans to run a six mile route that I am going to cut into a four mile route by cutting across 12 mile to main street. I bet they still get to Farmers Market before me.

Okay. I am taking hold of my brain right now and I will drink lots oh water. I will NOT stop running until I have at least gone four miles.

! Favorite time to be in Detroit and favorite part to be in! Funny, when I lived in Dublin on St. Patrick's there were more American's than Irish parading down O'Connell Street but here on this day, there truly seems to be more Irish than Americans.
The parade was fantastic as usual. I can't recall what the knives were for but they were part of the parade immediately after the race.
Both the pontiff himself and the king of Oz made it to the race/parade day to celebrate St. Patrick's day.
Loved listening to the traditional Irish--Flowers of Forest after the race but hated my place and my time:

169 Laura Redman Royal Oak MI 1761 34 1815 48:24 12:06/M

Sad, just plain sad. This is slower than the first time I ran the Corktown four mile race. Well, I guess this lass cannot get away with almost no training for nearly two months and still place anywhere near respectable in a four mile race. Never was too good with the short distances anyway.

Okay, that said. How fun! Love running through downtown Detroit--especially Corktown. What a great way to see the city and seems to always be beautiful the Sunday morning before St. Patrick's! Lots of bagpipers and a cup of beer awaiting the runners at the finish--also a nice Corktown touch. Though, tis a wee bit dehydrating to gulp down a plastic cup of Miller rather than cold water immediately after pounding past the chip mat. A bunch of us TNT currents and alumni kept in contact via cell phone and found each other off and on at various Corktown staples: Gaelic league, Slow, Nemo's, etc. Capped the celebration off at Dougins. My friend Tracy and I after the race--she always dresses for the part.

But really must get back to true training as in more than once every two months running. It felt awesome to run again.

This is the last place I ran--my mom's home town in Minnesota for my cousin Tiff's wedding in February. Got lost, of course, but it was so fun, such a beautiful place! Historic downtown Faribault is just as it sounds: a place time forgot. They filmed parts of Grumpy Old Men here and the "downtown" part is but one long corridor of brick store fronts, coffee shops, diners, bars, a resale boutique called the "The Closet" and an old fashioned pharmacy that gleams with green and purple glass potion bottles in the display window. Even a barber shop with one of those candy-cane posts marking the outside.

So, how did I get lost? Well I ran way past "downtown" from my grandma's house and into steep, hilly streets lined by oddly shaped mansions nestled between broken down shacks and multi-colored Victorians. I even saw an ancient looking red house with a widow's walk. I tried to use all the strange, beautiful, timeless sites to make my way back after I had gone four miles but found that I was starting to literarly run in circles--the last landmark I remembered was a small market called "Nelsons" which bordered "central park" I had four directions to choose from to run back to my Grandma's, tried all four and decided there must be a fifth one somewhere I couldn't see, when my Aunt Sarah pulled up and I hopped in her car-- I thought she had been sent to find me but she was as just on her way to Nelsons-- only in Faribault.

tomorrow I start my training in earnest for my half-marathon at Bayshore again this year. I'm not going with TNT this time but I am going with some friends I met through TNT.

I'm meeting my friend Michelle at Stoney at 8 in the morning, so of course I can't sleep.

My goal: A) keep up with Michelle---probably won't happen as I have not run, except in MN, since the January race. B) Go three miles without stopping C)total of four miles.

Next weekend I'm running in Detroit's Corktown, St. Patrick's day race and it's an odd four mile race. I at least want to be able to do four miles the week before!