Captain Oblivious

First things first: I did not hit 15 miles this week. I did, however, hit 14 if you count the week as Monday to Sunday instead of Sunday to Saturday. Which I am. So there.

Second things second: I decided on my 6.5 mile run today that my biggest pet peeve while running is pedestrians who do not pay attention to their surroundings. It doesn't seem to matter if I yell out "On your left!" or "Excuse me!" or "Behind you" or just let the sound of my water bottle sloshing, my heavy breathing and my footfalls precede me, I almost ALWAYS startle people when I pass them.

The past three times I've run outside I've passed someone walking down the sidewalk, said "Excuse me" as I passed and had the person literally gasp and jump as I ran by.

I'm not a silent runner. My water bottle sloshes, I breathe fairly heavy, and you can definitely hear my footfalls. That is, IF you're not lost in your own little la-la land as you meander down the sidewalk.

So, public service announcement: Don't turn your music playing device up so loud that you can't hear someone coming up behind you, don't space out so that you're startled when someone else is in your space, and occasionally glance behind you or around you to see what's going on. At least, that's what I do.

Other than shortening someone's life by a few years due to their inability to pay attention, the run wasn't too bad. I dragged myself out of the house a little before 8 AM and decided just to stay on the sidewalks in the area instead of driving out to the bike path. I probably could have done the 7.5 I had originally been planning, but after looking at the training plan for this upcoming week and seeing that it totaled 15 miles I decided that a total of 14 for the week was fine.

I have decided, however, that my pacing is HORRIBLE. Seriously, look at those split times. Over 10 minutes, under 10 minutes, over 10, under 10. Hopefully I either get better at it or Holly is a better pacer than I am.



Tomorrow begins the next round of actual training for the Napa-to-Sonoma Half-Marathon on July 19th. This time around I'm going to attempt to not only run the miles, but I'm also going to train myself to run at my best in the morning. That way I'm not shocked on race day when I have to be at the starting line by 7 AM. Oof. 7 AM. I won't even tell you what time we have to be on the buses to the start line.

To take my mind off that scary thought, here are the stats for today's run:

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 627 ft Location: Forest Park, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 05/10/09 Up/Downhill: [+114/-114] Time: 08:00 AM Difficulty: 2.1 / 5.0   Weather: Partly Cloudy   55 F temp; 56% humidity   55 F heat index; winds W 7 Performance Distance: 6.54 miles Time: 1:05:16 Speed: 6.0 mph Pace: 9' 59 /mi Calories: 706 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 07 +0' 08 5.9 -0.1 +3 ft 2 9' 50 -0' 09 6.1 +0.1 +10 ft 3 10' 21 +0' 22 5.8 -0.2 -7 ft 4 9' 33 -0' 26 6.3 +0.3 +13 ft 5 9' 42 -0' 17 6.2 +0.2 -17 ft 6 10' 04 +0' 05 6.0 -0.1 -3 ft end 9' 48 -0' 11 6.1 +0.1 0 ft Versus average of 9' 59 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com