Getting back to Boston

Went to SHS for a midnight fish, only to find the gates locked (probably a good idea in retrospect). So I drove home, put the car up and went to run three laps around the mall. Incredibly boring (and ridiculously windy), but the first five miles of 2012 are in the book. Took nearly an hour to do them, thanks to very stiff legs from Saturday morning's 20-miler, but they're done.

106 laps at MAFC after work. Actually managed to keep the HR down pretty well; I let it drift up to AHR 122 in the final mile. Pace was around 10:00 once I settled in. With 41 hours since the last run, I'd had decent recovery time, even though that run was yesterday. Now the trick will be to have an OK run at 8 a.m. tomorrow. Hopefully this didn't take much out of me and I can knock out another 8 or 9 miles. If I can run 5/6 of the time (305 runs) and average something over 8, that'll get me to my 2012 mileage goal -- and hopefully to a PR or two along the way.

Balmy 24 degrees this morning, so broke out the tights. Tried to push the pace a little more, and succeeded (last few miles were down around 9:10 pace), but ther AHR was still only 128.

Legs pretty heavy this morning, so kept it slow. Even with that, AHR virtually identical to yesterday's much-quicker run. Really felt it on the hills, like coming up Rogers from Creekmore Park, or up Duncan toward the Casa. Temp was about 34 at the start, and I felt fine in shorts. Actually, probably a little overdressed with long-sleeved tech shirt, fleece headband and gloves. Also probably would have helped if I'd had something other than coffee for breakfast. Hoping work is less hectic than yesterday. After a slow start, it got really crazy around 4:00 and stayed that way until 9:30.

Took the morning off, ran after work instead at MAFC. Just kept slogging, wound up with 133 laps in 99 minutes plus. Haven't downloaded the Garmin yet, but I'm pretty sure I kept the AHR to 125 or so. I'm also pretty sure I've lost my lap clicker, which irritates me. I know where to get another one, but it still irritates me. I used the Garmin tonight to help me keep track, on the basis that four laps at the pace I was going roughly equaled three minutes (I was very slightly quicker than that, but never got more than a minute ahead of that pattern).

 Figured out what I need to average per month to get to my mileage goal. The 31-day months, I need 221 miles; 214 in the 30-day months; and 207 in February. Of course, any months I can exceed that will be banked against the inevitable niggles/illness/schedule conflicts that seem to take me out of a run at least one day a week on average. It's gonna take consistency, some luck with my health, and pure-dee OCD to get there. Let's see if I can pull it off.

It's 12:07 a.m., I've been home from work for less than 15 minutes, and it's time for bed. Night. 

Seven this morning after 10 last night. Took probably 2.5 miles to get loose, but as I did, the HR came down and so did the pace. Still wound up with a 10:05 average, but that's OK. Not a bad run coming less than 10 hours after the last one. 

Cotton Bowl tonight, which will probably keep me up late, so I may wait to do 10+ until Sunday morning. Six-plus will get me over 50, which is a decent mileage for a work week. 

Pre-work "until" run -- run until I finish or until they call me to go to work. Timed it just about perfectly; my phone went off after I turned back onto Burnham Court, with less than 15 seconds left in the run. Came up just six seconds short of two hours for 12.29 miles AHR was about 131, but I did push the pace just a little bit more, and it was about 50 degrees, warmer than it's been for morning runs lately. Since I missed yesterday, may do a shortie after work just to get to my 60-mile week.

Now for some Nesquik and off to the salt mines. Then we'll see what happens this week in and around Bella Vista <evil grin>. 

Ninety minutes at the track. Dallied around until after dark, then remembered that the WAR crew was supposed to be doing speedwork at 6. I wasn't going to do speedwork, but figured it would be nice to be out there with some friends anyway. Except, as far as I could tell, none of them showed. There was one guy and one woman running 200s, but didn't recognize either one. Anyway, run went well. Worked to keep the pace and HR down for the first six miles or so, then picked it up, trying to finish 15K in 90 minutes. Didn't quite get there (missed by 100 meters), but kept going and finished 15K in 90:30. AHR was still around 130 anyway.

Easy 9+ at MAFC, since it was cold and rainy all day. I could have gone outside if I had to, but didn't have to, so just do it inside. Wasn't sure I was going to get through it, though. Legs took forever to loosen up, and just about the time they finally warmed up, I got nauseated. Kept going, nothing came up, and actually felt good for the last 2-3 miles. Briefly considered going on to finish 10, but nah. This was fine. Lost track of the laps without a clicker and ran one extra, so it was 9.13 instead of 9.06. Keep this up, do a decent run Saturday morning, and this might be a 75-mile week. It's gonna be cold starting tomorrow night, though; I'm hearing maybe teens for lows. Tights time!

Gorgeous day, so got out earlyish, like before 11. Original plan was to do 9, then it just kept expanding. Wound up doing 13+. Did a lot of thinking in those two hours; a few things happened in the last 24 hours for me to think about. No conclusions, yet, but will explore some things. Anyway, run was comfortable. Warm enough that my AHR crept up to 130, but I kept the pace around 10:00 until the last mile or so, when I just got ready to get it over with. Well on my way to a 70-mile week, which wouldn't be bad for an old guy in January. Now waiting for the cold snap to arrive. Saturday morning with the WAR crew might be rather interesting.

A pretty major day for the old Spiderpig. Got named Midlevel of the Month at work, and it got better from there. Had a really good 10-miler at dusk, and it still got better.  I have a woman in my life now, and I'm about as sure as I can be that she's going to stay there for a while. I've thought she was very attractive since I've known her, but I didn't think I had a snowball's chance. Turns out, very fortuitously, I was wrong. She's wanted to get together with me, and yesterday she started taking steps to make that happen, since I evidently wasn't catching her hints (Never have done subtle well, have I, Pam?). Fortunately for both of us, her direct approach worked. And the last 24 hours or so has been a whirlwind; my mind is reeling.

I'm still completely stunned that she's interested in me at all, never mind that this has been going on for a while, but I'm absolutely thrilled about it. And my coverage has been way, way outkicked. Thank goodness she called for the fair catch, to extend the bad football analogy.

So after very little sleep, and talking/texting to her pretty much nonstop from 5:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., then the work meeting and a failed attempt at a nap, I ran that 10.6 at 9:30 pace on pure adrenaline. Still pretty wired, even though I'm exhausted. Tomorrow, probably 6-8, then a dinner date with her. Saturday, although she has to clear it with her visiting daughter, I hope to spend the afternoon and evening in Fedvul with her, including Bordino's and basketball. And a trip to get her fitted for running shoes; on top of everything else, she's a runner (how perfect is this?). But before heading north, a morning run with the WAR crew. I'll get GF out there with WAR eventually, but not quite yet.

If she can't go, I'm still going to the game, but I really hope she can make it. It'll be a fun afternoon/evening.

Easy, easy 9ish. Legs felt a little heavy, understandable given lack of sleep, lack of food and heavy training load this week, but got through OK at 10:25 average. A little late lunch, a little nap, then get ready for the big date with my girlfriend. Man, I wondered if I'd ever use those words: "my girlfriend."

I'd planned to get up early and go to Chaffee to run with WAR this morning,. Nope. Not happening. Sleep was minimal and fitful last night, after I got home shortly after midnight. Really no idea why. I didn't get any good sleep until after 4:30. So when the alarm went off at 6:45, forget about it.

Got up 8ish, I guess, communicated a little with GF by text, chatted on FB and RWOL, tracked Leah and others in the Olympic Trials, then worked out a training plan for Cindy for her next race over FB. And watched people scrambling to try to figure out who I'm dating. This oughta be good. I don't care who knows; I'm proud to be dating her, but she doesn't want the word out yet, and I'm going to respect that. And I know every person who actually knows her identity (a very, very short list). So if somebody says so and so told them, I know so and so is full of it.

 Anyway, after all that, went out for 8.3. It had warmed up into the 50s, so I was quite comfortable in singlet and shorts. Also glad I wore the sunglasses; I needed them. Wound up with 72+ for the week, never going more than 13ish. Brick by brick, the base is being built. Gonna be hard to do 70 next week with working, but I can do 50+, I'm sure. Then back to 60s or 70s the following week. Also back to dating. Work and dating aren't going to coexist due to schedule conflicts, but that's tolerable (barely). Get through the work week, then see her on the off weeks.

Easy, easy on a Sunday morning.

Up predawn; highly unusual for me. I needed to get a run in, then go look for a new mattress, then go to work for 12 hours. Pushed the run just a tad and liked the results. Average was 9:33 with the last mile in sub-9, including up the hill to the house. AHR still where I like it, even with the surge. Wound up doing 9.11. Now to go find a nice squishy pillowtop mattress.

Got a nice surprise at work yesterday. GF came up there for some reason and I got, not only o see her, but a little lunch date. Made my whole day better. And I wasn't nearly as surly as I usually am on a Sunday, even though the Packers lost.

Now to shower and mattress store... 

Windy day for a 7 miler. Temps 40ish, but wind made it more tolerable even as it climbed into the 50s (amazing how the 50s can seem warm). Kept the AHR to 126. 

Date after work tonight with GF (I hope). We'll see how it goes. 

Date went very, VERY well last night and I had to get up today and wait for my new mattress to be delivered. That combination, along with a heavy set of legs, caused me to decide to take today off. I've done 16 runs in 18 days; if I can keep the RD rate to around 10% and stay healthy, I should hit all my mileage goals and then some. Better sleep on the new mattress should help keep the RD rate down too. I hope.

Need to go back and update for Tuesday...

Took Wednesday off from running because of mattress delivery and the fact I was up too late Tuesday night :) Then last night at work, I found out my schedule at work changes immediately: Instead of 10 to 10, I'm now 1 to 1, possibly becoming 2 to 2. Which is OK; it gives me more time for daylight runs before work. But to change schedules in the middle of the workweek is kinda weird. It's happened, though, so deal with it. Got to work today at like 12:52.

So this morning, after sleeping to 9:30, I did 8.3 easy on the SHS/Cliff/Free Ferry loop. AHR probably around 130, so needed to slow down a little, but I didn't want to dawdle out there too much. It was also a little warm; climbed into the 50s during the run.

So now I have 11 hours of work left. We'll see how this works. The change came down as an edict from the CEO to get more daytime coverage. So swing shift was eliminated, that doc moves to days, and I shifted later basically to take over swing shift.

Afternoon run, mainly memorable because I got to Southside at the time school was letting out and had to dodge all kinds of 17-year-old drivers. A bit scary. I was fine, maybe even a tad warm, in singlet and shorts, but at about the same time GF was running near her house and freezing. Funny how people respond so differently to the same conditions.

Until run after time at GFs, and nap, and Hog basketball.

Really had a hard time motivating myself to get out the door; finally did so around 3:30 p.m. It was pretty chilly this morning, but turned out to be a quite nice afternoon. Running in t-shirt and shorts was quite comfortable. Sunglasses came in handy too, until sun got behind tree level. Ended up stretching the run past 11, which almost got me to a 50-mile week, but 49 and change is adequate. And tonight's run cut it real close on the call to come into work, which came moments after I got out of the shower.

Keep doing 70+ on the off weeks, 50 on the work weeks, and I'll get a 3000-mile year. I do need to work in some XT on the upper body; I've noticed some deficiencies there in the past 10 days. :)

Took the day off yesterday, came back tonight with 171 laps at MAFC in two hours. Nice run. Happy with it. Even happier with where my life is right now. All is good at Casa SP.

Started too late, so the last half of my 10-miler was in the dark. No lights, no reflectors, no blinkie. Dumb. Got away with it, but dumb. Run went well, though. One of those runs where you just keep chugging. Was never tempted to speed up much after doing 13 last night, so the pace stayed where it needed to be. Or almost; AHR 130. Taking GF to Fayetteville tomorrow, if her headache has subsided. She ended up leaving work early, went to the doctor and then spent some time with me. Pain eased off some, then came back with a vengeance. I ended up going over there tonight largely to comfort her.

Until run indoors at MAFC, thanks to rain. Until, in this case, being until GF called me when she got back from Little Rock with her mom. Which meant I got 7 miles done. Then we drove to Fayetteville, got her fitted for shoes at Fleet Feet (she picked the Sauconys, Asics and Mizunos being the other options), showed her my name on Senior Walk, then we came back to Fort Smith and had dinner at Taliano's. Had a really, really intense conversation. She told me some things about herself that were very, very private. They surprised me, but they didn't scare me off. 

I guess I passed the test, because a few minutes later, she told me she loved me. I really knew she did, whether she said it (or admitted it to herself) or not, but it was a thrill to hear those words again. Those words I never thought I'd hear again. She knows how I feel, too. So now everything's out in the open. Even most people at work now know about us. Most are happy; some are, it seems, a little jealous. Get over it, folks. Not going to drag me down to your level of misery.

I ran almost 4 miles up to MAFC today, meeting GF there. Ran another mile and a half without her, and 4 miles with her. Total of 9.32. Not optimal from a workout standpoint, but in spending quality time with the woman I love, perfect. She's actually in pretty good shape considering where she's coming from. Not gonna run 26.2 any time soon, but she's doing just fine, and I'm proud of what she's accomplished. Also signed her up for six months' membership to help her keep up the good work through the winter cold, spring thunderstorms and summer heat.

Ran 7.25 miles to MAFC to meet Jennifer after work, then did 4.31 miles of Gallowalking with her while I was there. Pretty much wore me out. Calves were very, very heavy by the end. Jennifer was very tired too after a stressful, emotional day, but she hung in there and got it done. I told her I was very proud of her, and I am.

Great run this morning at the WAR Room with Kathy and Mary Jo. Ran a 12-mile loop, mostly with Kathy, then after a GU and some water, headed out for another 8-mile loop. I could have kept going even farther, felt pretty good, but I figured 20 miles was enough. As usual lately, I spent a lot of time thinking about Jennifer, and I found that kept me going. Legs felt heavy and all that stuff, but I was able to maintain pace and even pick it up some in the last few miles. I ran the last three miles at about 9:10 pace after various speeds higher in the 9 range. Finished the 20 in 3:11.56, which I would be happy with for the last 20 before a marathon, never mind just a routine run in January.

 So this puts me at almost 71 miles for the week -- and I skipped Sunday. Nine-plus tomorrow would put me at 80 for the Monday-Sunday period. Not a bad week. I think Jen has provided more than a little inspiration. 

Then, on top of that, I went with Jen on her four-miler this evening. No running, just brisk walking, but still a four-mile workout that took more than an hour. So I'm logging that too. 

Two runs today -- 7.29 with Rose and Mary Jo at Chaffee, and 5.97 at MAFC by myself and with Jennifer. Got me up to 88 miles for the week. I can tell I've done a lot of mileage, but no pain, just tired. Not my mileage PR either; I did 92 once. But it's a really good week. Figured out it took at least 14.5 hours to do that many miles. About 8% of my week. Not that much, really. I could easily have spent that much time watching TV, or playing Bejeweled on FB (come to think of it, maybe I did spend 14 hours playing Bejeweled). I'm being careful about it -- keep the pace slow, listen to my body if it squawks, and back off this week to allow recovery.

Again two recovery runs today: 5 this morning to SHS and back, 4.25 with Jen at Creekmore Park. Slow, slow, slow. Legs still feel heavy and tired, which makes sense after 88 last week, but got through both runs OK with no issues. Jen did her run fartlek-style -- run when she wanted, walk when she wanted -- and seemed to get stronger as the run went on, although she was glad when I told her she was done. She never wants to know how much she has left to do until it's done for some reason. Me, I want to know, to get that adrenaline surge of gutting out the last two reps or the last mile. She's the opposite. OK, I can handle that. 

Also ordered a Valentine's Day present for Jennifer today (if you're lurking, Jen, I'm not going to give you any hints). 

Work tonight, then off tomorrow to take Jennifer to Fayetteville, Bordino's, and the Hog game. Probably will get in a morning ROUD. Eleven would get me to 275 for January, which would be a nice start to 2012 (and 54 miles over my monthly target). 

Pushed the pace today, mainly because I was running behind before dinner/hoops date with Jennifer. Got faster and faster; last mile and change was about at 8:20 pace. Felt good to run fast again. I felt pretty strong.