Old Route... New Run

Well, I wanted to get a long run in today, of around 12 miles. Due to staying out too late the night before, we woke up at 6 instead of 5, shrinking the time alotted for me to run. Sigh. But, whatever, I had fun last night.

As per my request, we went to the lakes in Baton Rouge. Andy went clockwise and I went counterclockwise and through the campus to do the steep inclines/hills.

This was a very familiar route. I remember walking and biking the lakes when I was a student. Now, I was running the route. I had a blast during the campus leg - I was slower than I wanted to, but I got to see the changes being made to my school and the neighborhood around it (my theatre building is being remodeled! They tore down a shopping center and replaced it with apartments! Where's McDonald's?). And I had such a fun time running through campus! I got some good hill training in - plus Baton Rouge is slightly less flat than Houston, which was a bit of a perk. One thing I miss about Baton Rouge is definitely the campus. It's so lovely that I think I'd enjoy being a college professor there one day. I just have to get my master's and PhD first.

I only got in 7.71 miles, however, because I was in a very bad mood. I was angry at myself for not being more diligent with the fact that I'm training for a marathon (i.e. staying up late and drinking). I was angry with myself because I couldn't pick up speed (at least I wasn't hurting, just slow). I was angry for not getting in the miles I wanted recently (even though I was healing). I was angry with myself for being angry with myself! And I was angry because my phone broke again, but this time I think it's dead for good. I discovered that at mile 7.5, and add all my irritations together and you get a cranky Erica. I was fine until my phone broke, and that was like the straw that broke the camel's back. Now I really am going to have to get a new cell phone, which isn't in my budget. Grumble. I stayed angry for a while, quietly so that I wouldn't lash out at Andy and scare him. When I get mad, just leave me alone for a while! Poor him. :) But I was back to my old self within an hour or two. Now I'm fine (thanks to a "slap in the face" conversation with his dad about how I overanalyze and think too much about my running).

In retrospect, I blame my crankiness on the possibility of PMS.

Here's my splits:
Mile 1 - 13:21
Mile 2 - 13:42
Mile 3 - 13:55
Mile 4 - 13:40
Mile 5 - 14
Mile 6 - 14:07
Mile 7 - 14:46
Last .71 - 10:05
I wanted to keep 13 minute miles, but my body said, "Hell no!" I'm over it. I ate crap, stayed out too late for the past two nights, had alcohol in my system (a virtual rarity) and ran a race the day before. I'm too hard on myself, so this is a learning opportunity. :)

The results haven't been posted, but somehow Andy found our gun times. The odd thing about the timing of this race was that they only gave out champion chips to those expected to finish in 45 minutes or less. The rest of us had to rent our chips (I didn't have mine with me). So hopefully, since I was wearing a chip, they'll put my chip time up there because my gun time was over 81 minutes (thanks to a long line to the starting mat).

Tomorrow, I hope to run 7 miles. I'm looking forward to the marathon being over because I want to get more steady with my runs and increase my weekly mileage (and not have to fear hurting myself because I won't be training for a big race).

Ugh. Time for bed. Cheers!