I Have Been Accepted!

Today I got a letter I have been anticipating for a few weeks.

"We are happy to advise that you have been accepted on Regular status to pursue the Doctoral Degree in Industrial Engineering, ..."

I'm going back to school! I start classes in January. And if all goes well, I should finish in about 6 or 7 years.

This is something I have been thinking about for years - and now, 18 years after completing my Masters, 25 years after completing my Bachelors, I finally get to do it!

As part of this process, I expect that I may need to curtail my marathoning a bit. I am going to need those hours to study! I will still be out there running - but perhaps, not so much the 4-5 hour runs on the weekends.

On the running front, I am on plan this week for about 32 miles - having a step back week after my 46 mile birthday week. On Thursday I passed the 100 mile mark for the month of September. I am on track to complete over 150 miles this month - the biggest month in my 3 years of running. My plantar is beginning to remind me that it is there, but I have been more aggressively massaging and stretching the area and it seems to help. It has been a strong running month for me! I hope I don't burn out too soon before my big races are over in January.

I Have Completed My 46 Miles for 46 Years!

With the completion of today's 19 mile long run, I have finished a 46 mile running week (actually ran a total of 46.5 miles) in celebration of my 46th birthday. And what a week of running it has been!!! Overall, my runs have been strong and felt really good! Even today's 19 miler.

As has been typical recently, I was up while it was still dark and outside my driveway waiting for my Garmin to find the satellites at about 5:30 am. A bright, nearly full moon was beginning to set in the west. A bit of a late start with the distance I had to do - I was not likely to finish much before 10 am. The temperature just before dawn has been around 75 degrees (today was no exception). The reprieve I got was that it was not quite as humid as it has been lately. That made a big difference!

The first portion of my run was mostly in the dark. Since I am on the sidewalk I don't usually worry about traffic except for the occasional car coming from the side streets. I have started wearing a reflective "thing" (not a vest but just straps that lay over my shoulders and around my waist) so that any car coming would light me up like a Christmas tree. I figure it is better to be really visible and safe.

I ran the first 10.5 miles in just over 2 hours before stopping at the house for refills. This part of the run went really well. I was running comfortably and my heart rate was in the mid 140's - in a good part of my aerobic zone. I felt I had plenty of gas in the tank for the other 9 miles. The difference was that the sun had risen and it was going to make things more difficult for me!

I continued to run conservatively...running 5 minutes and walking 1. I didn't really start to "feel it" until around mile 14. My walking breaks got a bit slower which made my overall pace slower. Around mile 16 is when I started to have that "I really want to finish this" feeling - which is pretty good, since my last big run was 17 miles.

I was able to maintain my run 5 walk 1 pace until the very last mile, where I snuck an extra walking break before finishing the last .2 mile strong. I stopped the Garmin at 19.14 miles and walked the remaining .1 miles to the house. The finish time was 4 hours, 9 minutes, 5 seconds - a 13:01 pace. I was happy with the result and how good I felt throughout the run.

The overall stats:

19.14 miles
4:09:05 / 13:01 min/mile (faster than my pace for the previous 17 miler)
AHR 149, MHR 173 (really good AHR)
3228 calories burned (according to Garmin)
6 Clif Shots, 64 oz of water
Ice bath afterwards
Beginning temp: 75 deg F
Ending tem: 84 deg F

46 Miles for 46 Years

Tomorrow I celebrate my 46th birthday. Since I don't have the endurance to run 46 miles on my birthday, I am attempting to run:

4.6 miles on my birthday
46 km on my birthday weekend
46 miles my birthday week

My schedule:

Mon - 4 miles (done! 4.2 miles)
Tues - 5 miles (done! 5.16 miles)
Wed - 8 miles (done! 7.9 miles - was a little ahead so stopped before 8)
Thurs - Rest day (done, thank goodness! I ran Sat (6 miles) and Sun (12 miles) last weekend so after 5 days straight running I was ready for a rest day!)
Fri (B-day) - 4.6 miles (done! 4.6 continuous non-stop!)
Sat - 5.4 miles (done! 5.4 even after birthday celebration the night before)
Sun - 19 miles (maybe I will run 1 more to grow on...my first really big run leading up to San Antonio)(done! See details in next blog post. Did 0.1 extra - didn't have it in the tank to do 20...but I completed my 46 for 46!)

It was the coming of my 40th birthday that started my running. In honor of my 40th birthday, I ran my very first 5K. So I guess you could say I am celebrating 6 years of running as well as 46 revolutions around the sun.

And what an adventure it has been! Thanks for sharing it with me.

I will let you know how it ends up!

Breathing New Life Into My Ipod - Engineering my Run

I own an iPod Mini which I won in a drawing about 2 years ago. At the time, the mini was no longer being sold - having been replaced by the 1G Nanos, but this one was special, with 6Gb of storage.

Recently, the battery has struggled to keep a charge. And more than once, I have gone out for my run only to find it dead within half a mile. I thought to replace it with a shiny new iPod Nano, but didn't really want to spend the $199 (okay, I did want to spend the money, but my husband didn't). I found a website online where I could replace the battery myself with their kit - and it seemed to have good reviews. And the batteries reportedly lasted longer than the original battery.

So I took the $30 plunge and ordered the battery. It arrived today and I managed to take my iPod apart and install the new battery.

I reassembled it and, lo and behold, the iPod powered up!

We shall see over time if I didn't break anything else and if the battery holds. If it lasts me awhile, it will be worth the $30.

The Miles are Picking Up!

August was an incredible month of running. I ran my most miles all year - 122 miles. This was more than June and July combined - which were a bit short due to vacation and other things.

Today's long run was to be 17 or 18 miles - depending on how well I was feeling. After a pretty good night's sleep I woke up at 5 am to prepare for my run. I was out the door and running by 5:40 am.

I decided to do my run in two parts - the first a 9 mile route down my usual Lockwood Blvd but with a little extra added to get to 9 miles. I would then stop at the house for refills and then do another 8 or 9 miles. Most of the first 9 miles were done in the dark, with the daylight arriving around 1 hour into the run. After the first 9 miles, I changed shirts (I could wring out the one I had on...) and refilled water and Clif Blok supplies, grabbed my sunglasses and headed out. It was a warm morning - but there were some clouds around that helped reduce my exposure to the heat of the sun. I felt okay after 9 miles but a bit tired. I decided 18 miles might be too far.

I began to lose steam around 12 miles in and seriously considered cutting the run short, but I pushed...telling myself that I was now in mental training. My legs were feeling tired and heavy and temperature was beginning to rise. By 14 miles, I could no longer maintain my run 5 min walk 1 min routine. I walked for about 3 minutes in the middle of mile 14, then opted to run 2 minutes and walk 2 minutes. That pace did me well for the rest of the run.

I even had in my arsenal a Power Shot gel - it was some Tangerine / Orange flavor with double the caffeine. I normally don't run with caffeine, but decided to take this along for the end in case I needed the boost. I finally downed it at mile 15. And, as I expected, it was pretty nasty. However, I think it helped me through the last couple of miles.

My final time for 17 miles was 3:42:10 - a 13:03 min/mi pace - which I was surprised by given my slow finish. With all the walking, my pace never exceeded 14:31 (miles 14-15) and I finished the last mile in 12:23 min.

The stats:

17 miles
3:42:10 / 13:03 min/mile
AHR 157, MHR 174
2593 calories burned (according to Garmin)
2 packs Clif Bloks, 1 Power Gel, 64 oz of water
Ice bath afterwards