I LOVE WIND I LOVE HILLS

We were scheduled to run 16 miles on Saturday. Bill was on call so he couldn't be far from home, but wanted to do at least 8 miles. Rachael and I started out and he met us in Ellsworth so he wouldn't be more than 20 min away from the pager. This was all a great idea, until we got outside. I knew the wind was blowing, but wow that was crazy wind. We got to Ellsworth, turned around and it was at our back - great! We got our strength back and went for the return to trip. I knew it would strong, but again we were not prepared for what we encountered...25+mph winds! On the hill just outside Jewell, I had to stop because I just couldn't make it up the hill. About 50 feet before the top I was spent. This was perhaps one of the hardest runs I have ever done, but we did finish all 16 miles. That felt great...after I iced my shins. :)

Monday Rachael started track. She obviously is a distance runner so I will not be pushing her so much during the week. I'll wait and see how this first week goes.

Tuesday I did a 5 mile Ethanol Loop solo. I wasn't going to do the loop, but I started running and I just kept going. It was a great run. I finished in about 45 min so it was a smidge faster than 10min/mi.

Rachael and "easy" week and she had been running "extra" after practice, consisting of another mile or so. So, Thursday I took Rachael on an 8 mile run. We had fun chatting and running together again. I was so glad she had a good run. She told me that she was encouraging to the other track girls. Many don't like to run, but she wanted to let them know what a great job they were doing. Glad to see her taking on this leadership role!

Although I'm still having shin pain at the beginning of each run, within a mile or so it starts to improve and I have a good run.When I added up the mileage for the week I realized how close I was to 30 and started kicking myself for not going another mile just to make the round number. It was still a successful week of running.

Total weekly training mileage: 29 miles

March total mileage: 82 miles