Hills. Humidity. Hard.

Those were the exact words I posted on my Facebook page after a 6 PM run yesterday. The statement sums up the run. In other words, it was HELL. While I'd like to run along cold blue lakes and picture-perfect mounds of green grass (as so dreamily depicted in the photo to the left), I was barely moving along gum-stained and urine-tainted cement. Trying to seek refuge in the shadows of ugly buildings, I could not escape the humidity - nor the sun's heavy blanket! I was suffocating.

The plan was to do a mile warm-up, followed 10x150m hills (with 150m recovery), and then a mile cool-down. The humidity had me at the first quarter mile. I'd assumed that it wouldn't be *that* bad - with all of the speed work and focused training I'd done in the past few weeks. But no. I was yet again humbled by the seemingly simple act of running. While I did complete my mission, I stumbled into my condo, soaked to the core, wondering if/how I'm going to survive marathon training in the upcoming summer heat.

Summer is a-comin' to Iowa, and this girl needs to prepare...and hydrate.

Intervals, Strides, Tempo Runs...Oh My!

I never thought this day would come. I now look forward to hard runs - like the ones listed in today's post.

I've run on the high school track quite a bit these past couple of weeks. I HATED the track in high school; even the sight of black rubber with pristine white lines used to make me want to ralph. Memories of running the 1500 and 3k invaded my mind every time I thought of the track. I would get SO bored running back then. Eight laps felt like eternity when I was in my teens. During track meets, I'd enlist my friends (who were lucky enough to run the 100- or 200-meter races) to entertain me while running the 3k. Two-sentence conversations, anything - I was desperate for someone/something to make me forget I was running eight laps.

Twelve years later, I'm CRAVING the track. I'm not saying that I LOVE running 6x400s - especially not during the actual interval. Really, I want to ralph during those uncomfortable runs. But, the feeling AFTER those runs are BLISS. Seriously. It's a major high that is not attained after a long, easy run. It's special. Maybe it's the rubber that emits that certain high. I dunno. I don't care. I want more.

Addicted? Thank god. Yes.

Marathon Training (For 'Reals')...

Yes, after a not-so-brief hiatus, the Overpronator is back and pounding the pavement. I've actually been running since my last post. And I have been cross-training. And I've showed up hungover for a couple of races (what's new?). And all-in-all, I've been livin' the dream, folks.

Here are a couple of highlights since my last post:

Completed Des Moines Half-Marathon in October '09
Completed (and survived complete hell) Drake On-The-Roads Half Marathon in April '10

I'll be honest with you, I *thought* my training this year compared to last year has been spot-on. Okay, so I've missed a couple of longer runs here and there, but I've kicked up the speed work. When I signed up for the Drake Half-Marathon, my goal was to beat my PR. I missed it by a minute. I blame the hills. These hills were practically ALL in the last half of the race, and they were those long, annoying never-ending energy-suckers. I was a-hurtin' during those last couple of miles. So...I struggled to the finish line, feeling defeated and pissed. And de-hydrated. And hungry. And pissed. Screw the medal.

That said, since then, I've hired a running coach. I'm that serious. Hard-core, if you will. I started his training plan late last week. I'll keep you posted on how this is all going. So far, I've completed THREE speed-work sessions. On a track. 'Nuff said.