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Month: August 2009

An a.m. romp in the rain

An a.m. romp in the rain

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How to celebrate finishing my summer obligations of a PT internship and a grad-level statistics class (whose final I took last night)?  Do one of the things I’ve neglected all summer: run.

I entertained the idea of running home after last night’s stats final, but with a rash of burglaries and assaults in my otherwise safe ‘hood, I was a bit hesitant.  This morning seemed like the better option.

Enter: Chicago, late August, about 68 degrees, and it has been raining nearly all night long.  Add: lakefront path, big waves, and wind so hard that it feels like for every step I make forward, some one (a wind monster, evidently) is trying to push me backward.  Luckily, the wind seemed to let up once I passed Navy Pier.  Before I stepped outside, I entertained the notion of doing a fartlek or maybe some 800m strides.  The weather made me decide otherwise!  I was satisfied with my solid 8:30s for about 7 miles.

Besides the wind, the weather could not have been better for an a.m. trek.  Putting in 7 miles before I get to work makes Erin a happy, content girl.  And why not?  If you had a summer full of school and internship and work and statistics, you’d want to celebrate by running it all “away,” too.

This time, it’s for real

This time, it’s for real

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As the nearly 18-month gap between this blog’s inception and my first post indicates, I’m a terrible blogger. C helped me land this domain just a few weeks before or after my Nashville Country Music Marathon (marathon #4, if you’re counting), yet for one reason I haven’t written in it yet. Maybe it’s fear, maybe it’s because I really doubt anyone will find this helpful or entertaining, but what the hell. Here goes.

I’m in the throes of training for marathon #11 and #12 – Akron and the Marine Corps Marathon, respectively. Akron’s like the hometown marathon for me and a chance to better my 3:55 there from 2008. MCM will be like a little mini-family vay-cay, since C and my folks will be trekkin’ to DC with me for the trip. It should be fun.

This summer’s training has been of maintenance standard, at best. Blame the FT work, FT school, PT internship, and “life” getting in the way, and the fact that I desperately needed some time-off since running my first Boston in April and then BQing in Rockford in May. I’m a bit anxious about my fall marathons, but as I tell myself when I’m shrouded in doubt: there will be other races.

I’ll try my best to begin blogging on a more regular basis, but I may need some encouragement. Feel free to drop me a line anytime at erin at running (no space) ruminations dot com.