3.43 miles

Shoes: Saucony ProGrid Omni Ultimate
Resting HR: n/a
Time: 40:00 min, plus 5 min warm-up, 8 min cool-down, then 10 min stretching
Pace: 11:39
Training HR: n/a
Miles: 3.43
Miles this week: 3.43 miles
Weather: Mostly cloudy, hazy, warm and humid (~35-40%), ~72 F.
X-Training: 30 pushups, 60 crunches, 1:10 plank pose.

Huuuuu-mid. Damn. Still, very good run considering I had only about 5.5 hours of sleep last night and could barely drag myself out of bed this morning. Felt good, legs were surprisingly strong and fresh, form really good. I guess taking a full day off yesterday helped tremendously.

Tried on my new Foster Grant Ironman Elite sunglasses from Target. Yay! Perfect. I mean, perfect. No sliding, no slipping, the rubberized nose pads kept them firmly in place. Plus, the wraparound styling helped in keeping all sun and bugs out of my eyes.

Also tried the new Bite Blocker DEET-free insect repellent I bought at the health food store on Saturday. I sprayed it all over my legs and rubbed it in as well as I could. Did it help? Who knows? Seems like even more swarms of these giant mosquitoes came after me, although that may have likely been more because of the relative stillness of the air in that empty lot I cross to get to my neighborhood route. I heard them buzzing loudly around my head and just kept swatting until I'd finally cleared the area and started running. I didn't get bitten, though, so maybe it did help.

Just for my own sanity's sake, though, I took the "long route" home and avoided the entire empty lot. That afforded me an excellent view of what's probably causing the larger-than-normal amount of mosquitoes in the area: a good-sized (probably 15'x10') pond of standing water surrounded by a chain-link fence and a sign warning trespassers to stay away. Great. And here's the city trying to figure out how to get ride of the West Nile Virus.

I may not race the Moab Other Half after all. I've been reading Dagny Scott's Complete Book of Women's Running (the older, 2000 edition, not the new 2007 one), and she advocates a gradual training regimen that focuses on base building for an entire year before tackling something a half. Now, I don't know exactly where I would fall in her estimation, for although I've been a runner for 9 years, I've taken breaks as long as 3-4 months. I've been running fairly steadily, though, for about 3 months, and have really picked it up the last 3 weeks. I would consider myself an Intermediate Runner, but then again, I'm also at an 11:30 or so pace. I'm definitely not where I was six years ago, when I was running 9:00 or 9:30 in training and 8:30 in 5k's.

Still, regardless, I'll try for the Dallas White Rock Half in December. Considering our upcoming trip in September, it might be pushing it trying for a race so soon after we come back, even though I know I'd treat the Other Half like any other long run. But we'll see.

Breakfast: bowl of cereal: 1/2 cup granola, 1/2 cup Almond Flakes, small sliced banana, handful of chocolate chips, and a cup of plain organic kefir. Also 1 cup of orange juice.

Sunday:
Dinner: Rice, chicken parmesan nuggets, sauteed green beans. Dessert: 1/2 cup mango sorbet.
Lunch: Miscellaneous snacking of crackers, cheese.
Breakfast: Small cafe au lait, bowl of cereal (1/2 cup granola, 1/2 cup Almond Flakes, small sliced banana, cup of plain organic kefir).