Nine (Plus Two)

It's been a pretty good training week, capped off by nine miles (or maybe eleven) yesterday. I got some running in four days this week, plus walking most days at lunch of anywhere from two to nearly four miles.

Tuesday, I got together with my running pal, Lelia, after work. We probably got in about five miles together - most of it walking, but with some running. It was great to see her, and catch up on things in our lives after a break of several months. We will try to make that a regular Tuesday after work deal.

Wednesday, I only had time for two miles, but I upped my run interval by 10 seconds, and took 10 seconds off my walk interval. They are now at 1:55 and 1:20 respectively.

Thursday, I got in four miles after work (plus nearly four walking at lunch). I'd hoped to five+ at night, but a portion of my route was on trails, and it just got too dark. Even my first lap was dark enough that I could not see where on the sometimes rough trail my feet were. So four miles, using my new intervals, had to do.

Which brings me to yesterday's training. I planned on adding a mile to last weekend's eight miles, and joined up with Team in Training. They had routes for eight, 11 and 14 miles, so I picked eight. I ran with Sheri, who is the Executive Director of the Virginia LLS Chapter. She is an eight year cancer survivor, and we chatted about our experiences and life in general as we ran. She is actually fundraising for TNT this spring, and will run the Shamrock Half Marathon - same as me. She is a stronger runner. I decided to ignore my intervals and just try to keep up. After two miles of running, my legs were shot, so I went to mixing in walking. Sheri would walk when I did, and run when I would be ready for more of that. I would guess we ran about six of the eight miles. Back at the lake, we said goodbye, and I added two laps around the lake using my new intervals to get to the nine mile point. Then, I started stretching.

It was at that point that I realized that my running gloves were gone. I had dropped them somewhere along our eight mile route. I was pretty sure that it was in the last mile, because I had gotten chilled and decided to put my jacket back on. My gloves had been hooked over my water belt, which I removed to get to my jacket. I surely dropped them at that point. I decided to trace my steps at a walk, and I did - back up Boulevard, down Idlewild, up Sheppard to Grove. There was not a sign of them. Realizing that I could have lost them further back, I gave up at that point, and walked the mile back to my car. I had just added nearly two miles of walking to my day, giving me about 11 miles on my feet. I have another pair of gloves to us (or lose), but I really liked the ones had had just lost. They were "glittens" - gloves that converted to mittens on a really cold day. Ah well - hopefully someone who needs a pair of gloves finds them.