Day 12, 13, 14, and 15

This'll be an abbreviated post due to not much happening and because it's four days worth.

Day 12:
Friday was a 3 mile run. No lies - it was hard to do this run. Why? Something called Mosaic Festival here. Basically, it's a festival for celebrating multiple cultures. There's different pavilions setup at different venues and you visit the venues and can buy drinks and eat food related to that country and watch dancing or listen to music of that culture. It's actually a very entertaining and, at times, educational experience.

Unfortunately - when you start drinking beers from around the world, the next day doesn't treat you as well.

It took a while, but I finally got myself to the gym to do the 3 mile run. Mix in the fact that the treadmill I was on didn't have a working TV and it was a 3 mile run from hell.

Day 13/14:
These ended up being rest days. I was in a first aid course from 8am to 5pm and then both night we ended up having plans that just didn't allow enough time for a 1+ hour run. As Sunday (Day 14) came to a close, I wondered if I would have to skip the long run. It was to be a 9 mile run and farthest I would have ran since the half marathon on Good Friday. However, the wheels started turning...

Day 15:
Travel. Yet. Again. I played with the idea of doing my run in the morning before having to take off, but decided that I didn't want to be tired for 2+ hours of driving. Things ended up working out quite well though in the end. I went into work for half the day, and then hit Track & Trail on the way out and picked up a running water belt. There was one of those Groupon type deals of $40 for $20 for Track & Trail a few months ago, so I used my certificate to get the water belt/bottle. Basically $44 for $24. Not bad at all.

Once I got to my destination, I got ready and went out for my run. I am starting to really enjoy training outside of the city at times, because it's different scenery and poses different challenges. Take for example the valley I encountered on my run. It occurred at about the 1.5 mile mark. This would mean I would encounter it with approx 1 mile left to go on the run. Ouch.

Overall - the run went well. For the most part, vehicles were respectful in slowing down as they met me. At about the 5 mile mark, it felt like my right food had gone numb or asleep. Not sure if it was my socks to tight (had them folded down) or from running on gravel. I stopped a couple of times and removed my shoe and adjusted my socks and also moved further left on the road, more off stones, and eventually it went away.

The next interesting event was almost something out of a movie. Listen to this song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh2jWWYMJMs

It comes on just before the hill on my way back in. I'm also nearing the 8.32 mile mark which means another "aid" station break. As I'm descending the hill, the tempo is picking up with the music. My heart stops a little. I see a semi coming down the other side. The valley is steep enough that he won't want to reduce his speed to much. Curses fly in my head. Song tempo picking up more. I look behind. Another vehicle. Are. You. Kidding. Me?

I keep going, wondering what my options are. As I get nearer to the bottom of the hill, it hits me - the semi is going to meet me pretty much the same time as it's going to meet the other vehicle. He won't be able to move over to be on the safe side. Oh. Shit. The song is at it's highest moments now.

Just as the semi gets closer, I hop off to the left and crouch and throw my shirt up to protect my face and head. Now the music starts to let off, and everyone is ok. As I continue up the hill, the music fades off (along with my energy) and eventually I reach the "aid" station. It really felt like a tense, dramatic scene from a movie.

Anyways - I eventually reached the end of 9 miles in 1 hour 18 min 50 seconds. I plugged that pace into a pace calculator and it says I would finish in 3 hours 47 mins. As I go further and further, I'll continue to check. I really hope to be able to finish in less than 4 hours.

As I look at the rest of the week, it consists of a two 3 mile runs, one 5 mile run and one 10 mile run. Unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), there's a work golf tournament on Saturday. Due to today being the long run day, this would mean that Saturday would be a rest day and Sunday a long run day. Not going to happen. I will have no desire to long run on Sunday. I'm thinking I'm either going to skip the 3 mile run I'm supposed to do on Friday or complete it and then do the 10 mile run on Saturday before the tournament. 3 mile runs are pretty short and mix it with the fact that I'm still early on in the training program and I think either option shouldn't affect the end result.