Minuteman Trail: also pwned.

About 7 miles in a solo river loop out to BU. This was after 1 hour of sleep from it being a late night in lab. The run felt pretty OK, although I was getting tired in miles 6 and 7. After I took my shower I took a nap for five hours though.

Got in a rather fast 5 mile run with TC today. Felt good to having a running buddy again; scheduling snafus and travel by CL had had be operating solo for a fair bit.

About 8 miles today, solo, along the river. Felt great, even though it was really hot, humid, and windy.

Managed to do 16 miles today along the Minuteman Trail. Felt really good, although I did stop along the way to get a drink. Unwisely, I decided on a Sobe Blackberry Grape Life Water, which was 100% vile.

Last week and this week both I tried out ice baths afterward my long run. I was skeptical at first, but I think I like it. It's definitely calming and refreshing after a long run, and I think it also made a big difference in how sore I become the following day, at least for my 20 mile run last week.

I was supposed to meet TC at 7:30am to run ~7 or 8 mi with him this morning, but I didn't wake up until 7:33. Oops, I'm late! I rushed out the door and threw on my jogging clothes, in frantically trying to to find TC before he gave up on me...but when I sprinted into our meetup point, he wasn't there--he must've already left.

A little frustrated with myself for the snafu, but still determined to get in some miles, I continued out to the River St. bridge. But after mile 4, I began to realize that I hadn't attended to all the business that I usually attend to in the mornings before running. That realization became a very pressing urge in no time. I slowed to a walk, just to avoid jostling things around in there too much. Eventually I had to make a detour back over the Mass. Ave. bridge and ducked into campus to attend to the aforementioned business. After that, I just jogged home. Still was about 7 miles total, with maybe 5 or so of consistent jogging.

The best part is, when I saw TC later in the day, it turns out he'd sent me a text messaging bailing out of our running plans late last night. So it turns out I'd rushed myself into this, um, crappy situation for no good reason after all....

7 miles with CL before he took off on his trip. Was still very sore from the 20 miler on Sunday, and perhaps a few steps slower than usual as a result, but it felt good to work out some of that soreness from the ol' legs.

Charles River (of previously being pwned fame), long run, 20.13 miles, with CL. He tells me we did 3:21:03, 9:59 pace. I was dying big-time in the last four or so. Glad he was there to bring me home.

Yawn. Ms Hippo is here. /Trots into the blog after a long time away/

So, I finished the race with a 2:24:26 time, taking over an extra hour over my goal-time. As tentrillion posted, the results are in. As you can see, I finished near the bottom -- there were over a 1000 people who participated, but it looks like a good 400 people either didn't finish or finished beyond the alloted time.

The Waikiki Roughwater Swim was way harder than in a pool. Although the length of the course, 2.4miles, was what I'd practiced in a pool, I wasn't prepared for the current and all the waves. The course was marked with flags so that you could see where you were going, but unfortunately, there were so many times when waves completely blocked my view of the flags. However, the flags were just there for guidance -- to point you in the correct direction. You could have the athletic freedom to severely zig zag on both sides of the flags if you wanted to. You could swim to Japan and back if you wanted to. The only rule with regard to swimming the course was that you had to round two particular buoys (one at the beginning of the race and one at the end) in a specified way. Other than that, all flag markers in between were just for guidance. So, I definitely zig zagged a LOT -- not deliberately, but I had some issues with navigation. Even though you did have the athletic freedom in theory to severely zig zag, I suppose it was controlled to a certain extent -- an official on a kayak at some point had to stop me to tell me I was swimming too far off-course and that I should turn and swim in another direction.

Yet, even though I couldn't see the flags most of the time, it's not like it was a storm out there -- there were just way more waves than in a pool, which I wasn't prepared for. I kept getting pummeled, so I forced myself to breathe only on my right side, which faced the shore, to avoid swallowing unnecessary water. By the time 2 hours hit, I felt like I was really dying out there, because I wasn't prepared to swim much longer than 1:30; I ended up swimming really slowly by the end.

The highlight of the swim was seeing a turtle swimming on sea floor...pretty exciting! However, I soon noticed that it was swimming faster than I was, which was rather discouraging. You know a race is going poorly when a turtle is moving faster than you.

All in all, it was an ok race. I was glad that I finished but was really disappointed by my time. I think I'd be up for swim race, though perhaps in a lake. Any suggestions?

Lastly, thanks so much for all the support, enthusiasm, and smart-arse comments! The blog will continue to be in use for the next month or so until I find another race and tentrillion finishes his marathon. So please do write in with your thoughts on other race possibilities. It could even be as out-there as bog snorkeling.

A NOTE TO OUR READERS: No need to further heckle Ms. Hippo. I've been doing just that. She assures me that a post summarizing her race experience is imminent.

P.S. If you're interested, the results are here if you must peek early. But wait to hear about it from Ms. Hippo!

Vacation, aaaagain. A short 3.5 mile jaunt through Mountain View.

I'll hopefully try a long long distance on Saturday -- I would like to try to crack 20. I can't tell if it will be harder than my last 18.4 miler with CL because I've been slacking lately, or easier because hey, it's not slacking, its "tapering".

Vacation week continues! This time I went for a quick morning jog with DP in sunny (but less hot) Mountain View, CA. Only 2.7 miles, but better than not going at all.