4:00 mile

Driving to work this morning, I heard a story on NPR’s Morning Edition about high school runners and the elusive 4:00 mile. Only four students have run the mile in under four minutes this in the U.S. Ever.

I can’t help but note that my fastest HALF-MILE time at yesterday’s track workout was 4:04. Pass the Rice Krispies Treats.

Guinea pig update

A tragic and surreal turn of events for the guinea pigs this weekend: while Piggy recovered well from emergency surgery, Porkchop took an unexpected downward turn. She was mopey and lethargic during the week, but Saturday night she declined quickly and passed away, surrounded by stunned (human) friends. Piggy continues to do well but has tired of my constant checking to see if she’s still alive.

This has nothing to do with running, really, except that I was too worn out to do my Monday run. RIP Porkchop.

Guinea pig emergency, running in a dress, and so much more!

The guinea pig
So. The plan was to get to get a good night's sleep, wake early-ish, eat breakfast, take my trash/recycling to the dump, then start my 8-mile run by 8:30 a.m.

I stayed up a little too late reading this month's excellent issue of Vanity Fair. No matter - I woke up and was ready to enact the plan. Before going downstairs to eat breakfast, I stopped by the guinea pig cage to give some good morning hay to Piggy and Porkchop. Piggy loves to have her chin scratched but this morning she shrugged away from it because she had a huge mass the size of a golf ball on her throat. I was astonished! When did this happen? How could I not have noticed?!

I thought about the run, and then checked out the goiter again. I called the awesome guinea pig vet, and 10 minutes later I was in the car on my way to Essex. I still hadn't eaten yet, and at this point I was realizing that my run would not be during the cool morning hours but in the heat of the afternoon. I grabbed some berries from the fridge and stopped at Keeler Bay. (Avoided the Rice Krispies treats; I grabbed a Gatorade and a Power Bar.)

The rest of Piggy's morning was dramatic, but ended well. Dr. Francois Miquel biopsied the large mass on her throat and dramatically produced the syringe full of milky yellow pus to show me that it was, in fact, an abscess and not a tumor. However, to avoid sepsis and poisoning, he recommended immediate surgery under general anesthetic to drain her throat. (Imagine the vet's French accent, "We have to put her under the mask.")

They sent me away for an hour and half, so I aimlessly did errands and wished I had dressed for running - that would have been a good distraction.

When I got back, Piggy was awake with weepy sad guinea pig eyes, a shaved neck and inch-long open incision across her throat. Say what?! "Yeah, we don't suture it so that it can continue to drain." Lovely. They sent me home with a bagful of iodine swabs and antibiotics and bill that was, I must say, much, much smaller than I would have guessed.

So the run. It's now midday. The dump closes at 2 and I still hadn't eaten much. I took care of trash and lunch and then stared at Piggy for awhile, trying to decide if she was being her normal lazy self, or her deathly ill lazy self. She seemed annoyed by my constant attention, so I got it together and went running. (Evening update: she chowed her lettuce, grumbled only a little about the antibiotic and handled the iodine swab like a pro. Go, Piggy!)


The running dress
At the Burlington marathon I saw a runner wearing a dress and got the Skirt Sports web site from her. My order came this week and I tried out the running dress today -- loved it! Glad I ordered two of them. It's very comfortable with a pair of running shorts underneath and it has a built-in pocket for Gu. Another plus: it's decent enough to wear to the grocery store after a run - much better than spandex and a tank top.

So today the running dress and I did 8 miles on East Shore Road, out toward the Grand Isle Lake House (hi KP!). Topographical note: the Islands are NOT flat. People think they are, and compared to the rest of the state it's true. But every time I go running I find myself thinking, that was hillier than I expected. The northern stretch of East Shore? Definitely hills out there. Just saying.


Other highlights from the week:

• On Monday I was to run three miles. I didn't want to run in the evening because I had to run early on Tuesday morning. I wanted to believe I could take time at lunch to run, but really? That's never going to happen. So I got out the door at 6:45 a.m. and ran three really pleasant miles -- clear blue sky, perfect temperature, open fields to the east, open water to the west. Did I mention it was 6:45 a.m.? Renaming the blog, www.ineverlikedgettingupearly.com
• Tuesday morning I woke up at 5:30 to do the weekly interval workout at Burlington High School. Woke up, I should say, to the sound of rain drumming steadily on the roof. Dang. Got out the door anyway, drove 40 min through a downpour to Burlington, and found the track deserted and locked. I knew Jess wouldn't be there this week, but I didn't expect the entire school to be shut down! I ran 1.5 miles on the bike path to warm up, came back soaked but hoping the track would be open. No dice. I contemplated how completely reasonable it would be to abandon the workout, but since I needed to go to the gym to shower and change for work, I figured I could approximate the workout on a treadmill, which I did. This whole, wet morning was mostly a moral victory, rather than an athletic accomplishment: I so did not want to be up that early and out in the rain, and most reasonable people wouldn't have faulted me for skipping it. But did I ditch the workout? No, no I did not. Good job, Patti.
• Saw my physical therapist for the first time in nearly a year. Last summer he helped me along in my injury-ridden attempt at training for Chicago. He was somewhat stunned I made to the starting line, let alone the finish line. I believe his exact words were, "I didn't say it then, but I thought you were crazy for trying it." Awww, thanks Andy. This time I got in there early in the training at the first sign of soreness. Possible bursitis in my right hip, but nothing to worry about right now.

Procrastination

I sooo do not feel like running right now. If I wait any longer the bugs will be out in full force, followed by sunset. Putting it off won't make it better, and won't erase it form the training schedule. I just need to get my butt out the door. It's only 3 miles.

Update:

Did it. Whew.

Track workout: your key to breaking an 11:00 mile

Tomorrow morning I am leaving the house at 6:00 a.m. to meet Jess for my first early morning track workout at Burlington High School. What the heck is '200' anyway?

Her workout plan calls for four to six 200s easy and four to six 200s fast. I mean, I know it's 200 meters, but what does 200 meters look like? Basically it's half a lap on an outdoor track, or 1/8 mile. Thank you, Google!

I'm meant to warm-up with a 1 mile jog, do the workout ("it's ok to throw up" Jess told me, reassuringly) and run another mile to cool down. Krikies!

Jess is aware that I'm a total newbie to this, and I'm aware that I'm the slowest person she coaches by a pace of several minutes a mile. However, the marathon was just last weekend, so a lot her athletes are in recovery mode right now. To wit, Jess wrote me this encouraging note:

"I think it will be just you and one other client so nobody to point and laugh at you." Excellent!


Update:

I was pretty daunted when I walked up to the track this morning and saw how huge it looked. So much for trying to minimize "just half a lap." And I refused to be intimidated by the very nice man with thighs the size of tree trunks who was also there for interval training.

This workout was fun! Yes, that sounds psycho, but I found out that I'm faster (over short distances) than I suspected and I was able to run five 200 sprints without throwing up. Best time: 43 seconds, slowest time: 55 seconds. (I think -- I might be a second off).