Hill Work Saturday

Today was the day for hills! It was also the nicest day we've had for about two weeks. It hasn't rained (yet), and we actually have had sunshine and blue skies!

*CUE ANGELS SINGING*

This morning, I ran the Horrible Hill Route. Just like last week, I was able to run all the way up the hills, although I had to drop down to a walk at the top of the Horrible Hill to get a handle on the gasping and wheezing. But I didn't stop! That might be a first. And I shaved about a minute off my time from last week. Woohoo!

But that is not all! I also spent a couple hours rambling up and around Arthur's Seat. It's a regular walking club walk, but I somehow found myself running just a bit late, and then I had the worst bus karma, and then I had to stop at the loo and there was a queue. Yes a queue for the loo. In short, I was about 20 minutes late. But this weather was not to be missed, so I started rambling around on my own on some of the less well traveled paths, and lo and behold I actually ran into the group from the walking club about an hour later. Woot!

A bit more walking, a pint of cider, and a small ice cream (dipped in Belgium chocolate) later, and I am back home, writing this. Unfortunately, in my rush I forgot my camera, so I shall leave you with this picture taken back in July, when I walked up Arthur's Seat with Little Sis. The picture is looking down the back of Arthur's Seat toward Dunsapie Loch.

Progress

I came very close to running the whole Horrible Hill route tonight. I ended up averaging only about a 13 min/mile pace, but I'm just going to roll with it and be happy. I think my idea of walking up hills as a form of cross training might actually be paying off.

The question is, can I do it again? Check back next week for the answer to that scintilating question.

Happy Birthday to Me*! How old am I again?

Yes, today is my birthday! I turned 38 37. Definitely 37. If my older sister is turning 40 this year, and I am almost three years younger, then I can't be turning 38 right?

At some point in the past year or so, I seemed to have aged myself a year in my head. I'm fairly sure that I've thought of myself as being 37 all this past year, and so until I did the math about a month ago, I was sure that I was turning 38.

I'm still having a hard time remembering that I'm only 37 now. The notion was that firmly entrenched. Maybe by next year, it will have sunk in.

In other news, my little sister is visiting, and she arrived today! I can't remember the last time I spent my actual birthday with friends (come July, most leave on holiday), not to mention family.

We walked around the city a bit, and climbed up all 387 steps of the Scott Monument for fabulous views of the city, as well as some disturbing gothic architecture.

The Scott Monument. We climbed to the very top! All 287 steps!

Little Sis and me* on the Scott Monument.

In some spots on the climb up the spiral stair (which is twisting the WRONG way), it gets to be a bit of a squeeze.

View of Edinburgh Castle from the Scott Monument.

Arthur's Seat view from the top of the Scott Monument

Ok, dog faces aren't too bad.

But then there's also lots of gargoyles.

And these creepy faces stuck all over the place!

In the evening we went for a run around the neighborhood. We ran a literary version of the Horrible Hill Route, running by the homes of Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith, and J.K. Rowlings. Running Partner E. was the tour guide.

Aside: My younger sister totally mocked the difficulty of the Horrible Hill. Some day, Horrible Hill, I will no longer be lame and I will be able to run up and conquer you!

To end the day, we enjoyed a pint of Caledonian 80 at the Morning Glory pub down the road. (Sorry, CMS, we didn't ask around for Billy and Alex.)

On tap for tomorrow: A bit of work during the day and then hopefully a Literary Pub Crawl in the evening.

Divebombed

What was it with the wee bugs that kept making suicide runs toward my face this evening?! At least one met his end in my eye and another in my mouth. Yuck.

So it was the Horrible Hill Route tonight. And between the divebombing bugs and the GI issues (again), it was definitely on the horrible side. With much walking on the hills. But, slightly faster than last week, so I suppose that's something.

No more broccoli for me for lunch on days that I run in the evening I think.

Once more, with feeling

So yeah, goals. My running goal for May was to run three times per week. How did I do? Well, meh.

Week 1: 3 runs
Week 2: 3 runs
Week 3: 1 run, but with lots and lots and lots of walking that weekend
Week 4: 2 runs

And the first week of June: big fat zero!

The Horrible Hill route tonight was PAINFUL, and I now have my worst time ever for that route. (The GI issues didn't help. I made it home in time. Barely.)

Back to goals and such. I said that if I managed to stick to my 3x per week goal, I would sign up for the Erie half-marathon. Unlike a 5k or 10k, I can't be totally slacking off my training plan if I want to try to run this race. But the more I think about it, the more I really want to give it a go. Yet this inability to get myself out the door to train thing is definitely a problem.

So let's try this again. For the next 5 weeks (including this week), my goal is to run 3x per week. Plus, I'm going to up the ante a bit by also committing to either a 4th run or a long walk each week.

This week's runs will be on Tuesday (done!), Thursday, and Friday.

It's a bit late, but not too late to start training for the Erie half-marathon. I've found a training plan that builds up from a 10k to a half-marathon, which is just what I need. If I can stick to this plan and meet my goals over the next five weeks, I'm signing up!

Me versus The Hill: Week 3

Tonight I ran the Horrible Hill route by myself! Running partner E. was busy last night, so of course I put off going for a run. I almost put it off again tonight, but finally, after I procrastinated a bit, I kicked myself out the door. That's a small triumph right there.

Then, I was tempted to run a different route and avoid The Hill. But no! I will conquer this route by the end of summer. And alas, the only way to conquer it is to actually run it. Another small triumph.

So off I went, peering warily at the ominous clouds. It looked like the sky was considering falling, but luckily, the rain mostly held off until the end of the run. And the sky did not actually fall, so that's good, too.

As far as how the run went, I discovered that it is more enjoyable not to be struggling to keep up with running partner E. At no point did I feel the need to keel over as I tried to catch my breath. However, the fact that I wasn't pushing myself as hard definitely showed up in my time.

• Last week: 45:36


• This week: 46:03

But, I definitely felt that I did better on the hills. I employed the strategy suggested by Ted of taking very small steps when running up hills. On the Horrible Hill, it actually felt like I was running up stairs. I think this definitely helped, as this week I made it at least 3/4 of the way to the top before stopping to walk. So thanks, Ted! And I ran most of the way up the hill at the end too!

Hills, I will conquer you!

Overall, definite improvements toward my goal of running the Horrible Hill route in its entirety. We'll see how next week goes when I'm once again trying to keep up with E.