Jodi’s Running Blog

Spring has arrived in Seattle! Since I had the day off, I embarked on my first “long run” since I went Running with the Salmon in October 2005. It was also the first day since last summer where I have run outside in a sleeveless top - how wonderfully refreshing not to have to bundle up to exercise. For those of you familiar with Seattle geography, I ran down 23rd Avenue S, cut across Smith Park into the Mount Baker Tunnel, and then down to Lake Washington Boulevard (normally I would continue across the I-90 pedestrian bridge). Then, I continued south along Lake Washington to Sayres Park. The views of the lake, as always, were gorgeous, but particularly on a day with plenty of sunshine, warmth, and clear views of the still snow-capped mountains. According to my heart rate monitor, my one hour of running burned 749 Calories. Perhaps it was the huge hill on the return.

The beautiful thing about this path is that the route about Lake Washington goes for miles and miles AND MILES, all the while providing scenery to keep one occupied. It should make for good long runs, should I decide to try for another marathon.

Which brings me to my next point - I’m starting to feel that urge that those who have previously completed marathons get, that “Yeah, it would be really nice to train for a marathon…” daydream. One knows that training is exhausting, time-consuming, that motivation can become difficult - and yet, the desire is still there. One of my dreams since I finished my first marathon in 2000 has been to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I would like to do it before I turn 35 (which requires a sub-3:40 qualifying time for women 34 and under).

Anyway, more to come on this. Happy Spring!

On Monday I went skiing with Tim, my brother, who traveled from Texas to Seattle for a few days of winter sports mixed in with a quick tour of my new city. We had a fantastic day, leaving me completely exhausted that night. I also managed to acquire quite a sunburn given the 10/10 visibility, but well worth a good day on skis. I found myself willing to let go of some of my fears - of heights, falling, etc - in order to gain that invigorating speed on shorter downhill stretches.

On Tuesday night, Tim said, “So I’m ready to try snowboarding tomorrow.” I did a double take, did not believe him, and the next thing I knew - I had a snowboard strapped to my left foot on Wednesday morning. It is one of the most painful athletic experiences I have endured. At one point I fell flat on my chest, and the headache that followed was unpleasant. I was also left with several bruises and extreme arm (from picking myself up continuously) and groin (from the board sliding through the line, hooked to my left foot while my right foot hopped along, struggling to keep up) soreness the following day. However, I likely got a good core body workout as my arms must have gained something from lifting my 132-lb structure from the ground at least thirty times in two hours.

Finally, Evan and I returned for a day of skiing yesterday, and ended up leaving early, partially because the snow had gotten so slushy. It was difficult to gain much speed as half of the time I felt like I was wading through thick watery slush in order to reach my destination. It is sweet sorrow - we had a wonderful ski season that now must come to a close. Evan is sorry to see winter leave, but I look forward to spring.

When I was on my high school cross country team, I usually ran 5k’s between 22:50 (which remains my PR to this day) and 25 minutes. Since that time, I have never broken the 25 minute 5k, and had determined that it may not happen again. For some reason, though, I had this magical moment today where I thought it was to be.

I had every intention of skiing today for exercise, but on my way to Summit Central I got caught in the middle of a winter storm. When my car began sliding on the road, and my visibility was next to nothing (I won’t go into further details here), I turned around and drove back to Seattle. I was thinking about how the combination of skiing and running this winter had really brightened my mood during an otherwise chilly and gray atmosphere, and how I do feel that perhaps *this* is the best shape of my life. Upon arriving home, I decided today’s workout was going to consist of a 5k, and I would run it as quickly as I could (at a speed maintainable for 3.1 miles). I used the treadmill in my condo’s fitness room to get the distance exactly right. Granted, the indoor temperature was an ideal 65 degrees and it was flat the entire way - but I finished in 24:04!!! Talk about shock. How did that happen? My first thought, rather than being proud of myself, was that the speed on the treadmill must be broken. I don’t think it was, though - I’ve been using it off and on for months and it has been consistent.

24:04 - a slightly better than average time from my high school running days. Except it happened today! At the age of 27, I still have some running spunk. I’m eager to run in a local race, to see if I can repeat the time outside, on random inclines in a different temperature.

So now I’m *really* excited about running, and wondering what I can still do.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Winter Olympics managed to fire me up again about running. After a couple of weeks of consistent workouts, I have created a new goal for myself, something I have wanted to do for years but have never actually made it happen: I would like to run a sub-50 minute 10k. My most recent 10k’s have brought times of 52:02 (Cooper River Bridge Run, 2002), 59:41 (Cooper River Bridge Run, 2003 - not a great race day), and 52:35 (Salmon Days Rotary Run, 2005). My accounts of these races are documented on my website. I think consistent running, pacing, and a good race day could finally lead to breaking into 49 territory in the 10k. Now to choose a race…spring is on the way, and road races are not scarce on Seattle weekends during the spring and summer months.

I have been running outdoors mostly as well, trying to better train myself on the natural inclines of the area. I trained for the Salmon Days 10k last October mainly on the treadmill; now, I’m reserving the treadmill only for those days when the weather is particularly nasty. However, it is nice to know exactly how far I have run and to be able to split my miles precisely.

On a slightly different but similar note, I recently received a free issue of Runner’s World in the mail, a magazine to which I used to have a subscription, but allowed it to lapse due to a lack of time in keeping up with all of them (Runner’s World, The New Yorker, JAMA, Neurology, Newsweek). However, I have REALLY enjoyed reading this issue and am considering a subscription (which, I imagine is the reason they have sent me a free issue, so their marketing is working). It is certainly motivating.

Happy running!