Back... and with 24.5 miles!!!

Marathon Plan - Regressive Countdown - Week Sixteen
08/11/08 - 08/17/08
Week Total: 24.5

Hi friends, I've missed you as I've missed running. From July 07th till August 02nd I was pretty much in jail. 2 weeks in Huntsville, AL, and 2 weeks in Washington DC, logging very long work hours. I worked 85 hours in one of those weeks. We had a deadline, and "get it done" was the task.... As you can imagine, my priority, other than work, was to sleep... Needing to cross the country for each of these trips added to my exhaustion. I was pretty much destroyed.

The results of this involuntary hiatus was a total of 16 miles in five weeks. SIXTEEN!!!! When I do 16 miles in a week it is a low-mileage week!!!!!!! Fortunately it's over.

I started on the 11th my marathon training plan and it went way better than expected. Although I found out I lost all speed I gained during my first portion of the year, my endurance was still there.

This week#16 was not free of travel, of course. I did my speed work in Seattle, but I had again to cross the country to Philadelphia on Wednesday. When I arrived at 3pm I felt I needed to run. But it's summer, right? and Philly was HOT! So, no choice but a hot gym to run 8 miles on the treadmill. I needed to pour cold water on me every 20 minutes, as the temperature in the whole hotel was 78F!!!!!! Anyway, I felt successful.

Back home I found there was a heat wave in Seattle. So my long run on Sunday morning was at 75F. A High School in my route had their sprinklers system on and one of the valves was broken, so every time I passed I took a delicious shower to refresh myself. Another successful day completing 12.4 miles.

Happy to be back.... and with 24.5 miles!!! Now, I am going to catch up with your stories...

America The Beautiful

I have been working since March on a half-marathon plan for the Seattle SeaFair (June 26th). I was ready with what I believe was the same pace that I had in my Seattle Marathon of November last year, however, a possibility of going to California to be with my husband arose during the week. Priorities are priorities, and preferring being with my husband in SoCal I flew there and didn't race SeaFair. Not a bit of remorse. As I start my Seattle Marathon plan at the end of July I hope to find a Half Marathon race on the week I have to run the half distance.

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California was hot, however its mornings were nice for running. With the exception of Independence Day which was really hot, 85F, every morning I ran was in the mid 60's, which I consider the perfect temperature for running.

My favorite run of the week was certainly the 4th of July. It was a gorgeous sunny day (and hot) with a nice breeze. The beach was packed with families celebrating this great day. A cute kids parade showed hundreds of kids' bikes beautifully decorated on red, white and blue. In Bay Shore Ave, a street that shores with the Naples canals, a family was painting a huge American Flag on the asphalt. But what brought tears to my eyes was a lonely man standing on the sand facing the ocean with a trumpet. He was playing "America the Beautiful". I stop, heard the song with respect, and when he finished I ran toward him, shook his hand and told him: Thank you Sir, you gave me a beautiful gift. Happy Independence Day and God Bless America.

That night my husband and I went to the beach with our "beach bums chairs" and enjoyed the fireworks launched from the "Oil Islands" of Long Beach.

America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!



I am blessed that I can run and race in
America The Beautiful
from sea to shining sea!



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Even though I had a good 17-mile week, I feel as if I did not run at all. The reason? I have not raced since June 21st . Weird how we are. To replace tempos, which I dislike, I have been running weekly 5K races to replace them. These races became a weekly goal...but I have missed a couple of weekends, and it seems I will miss another two as tomorrow, I am off to Huntsville, Alabama for two weeks, and there are no races in the vicinity. I'd have to wait until I go back to Seattle and see what is available in two weeks.
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The pictures below are of a race I participated with a co-worker in Washington DC on June 18th at noon: Tidal Basin, 3K, which is scheduled every third Wednesday of every month. Although it is an informal race the organizers "DC Runners" register the results. It was a nice and fun race around the Tidal Basin/Jefferson Memorial with a big turn out with serious runners in the 5min/mile pace. My goal for this 3K was to get it under 18 min. I achieved it: 17:28 for a 9:23 min/mile. Chris did it in 11:41 for a pace of 6:17.

This race was the 413th monthly Tidal Basin 3K, the day before Juneteenth, which celebrates the freeing of America's last slaves on June 19, 1865.

This photo belongs to: www.visitingdc.com/memorial/tidal-basin.htm

I Hated Pink....Till This Very Day

I hated pink... till this very day. The day that I had the honor of running with hundreds of breast cancer survivors. A race where there was a pray for those beloved that had passed; where running time, even measured, was not important; where the hope and the goal was not in the PR but in the cure; where the medals were not for the fastest runners but for the real winners, the breast cancer survivors.

Every instant my feet pounded the asphalt was dedicated to all the women that have gone through this and survived, and to the ones that have passed. God Bless Them All.

The 5K race, with 15,000 participants, and in a "kinda summer" Seattle day, closed with a beautiful ceremony in our Seahawks Field where Survivors paraded indicating how many years they have survived breast cancer.

My company, Boeing, received the largest team award with 1,400 runners. Boeing pledged $100 for every Boeing runner, for $140,000!!!

My time 30:38 for a pace of 9:52.
0-1 year