North Park - The lake has thawed!

Here we are in North Park again. Last time we trained there (in February) the lake was completely frozen and it was 10 degrees outside. Last Saturday it was about 33 degrees, but it felt much colder. In addition to the wind, I think that the sweat made us cold too. We jog/walked 5 miles and then gave up due to the cold. Next weekend we'll try for better mileage in .... Paris!

Jogging while watching Xena

During the week last week I was back on the treadmill. Our treadmill is positioned so that you can see the TV while walking/jogging. I have been working my way through the DVDs of the television show Xena: Warrior Princess. I'm on season 3 now. For those who aren't familiar with Xena, it's a spin-off from the live action Hercules show that was on in 1995.

Training sidetracked by ankle "splints"

Michael and I were supposed to run 8 miles yesterday. We chose to go on the Panther Hollow Trail and then the Eliza Furnace Trail. Here's a link to the trail map: http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/trails/images/trail_brochure_map.pdf. Panther Hollow Trail runs next to Schenly Park and then runs into the Eliza Furnace Trail which follows along the river towards downtown. The Eliza Furnace Trail is also called the Jail Trail because it runs past the Allegheny County Prison. When we started jogging I noticed a small discomfort in my right ankle. I decided to ignore it (bad idea!). By the time we had finished 4 miles I couldn't jog anymore and we ended up taking a cab back to where we had parked the car. To make matters worse, I left my water belt in the taxi! Sigh ...

I occasionally have a problem with what I call ankle splints. They are like shin splints, but I feel them on the lower portion of my shin - closer to my ankle. I'll take two days off and then try to do just a couple of miles on Tuesday and Thursday. I think that the problem is a combination of overtraining during our week day short runs and running too much on the treadmill and not enough outside. I think I'm going to limit my short runs to 3 miles twice a week from now on. That worked well for our last half marathon. And now that the weather and light are better, I can do most of my run/walking outside.

Thursday run in Highland Park

Nice weather drove us outside again. Last Thursday evening we jog/walked in Highland Park around the reservoir. We were shorts! And we ran into Dan, one of the Team in Training mentors. We did several laps with Dan and had a good conversation. The four miles went more quickly than usual.

Training INSIDE!

After shoveling, sweeiping, and salting snow and ice off the driveway, Michael and I decided to train inside today. Our treadmill's going to wear out quickly at this rate - with each of us doing seven miles today. Since the evenings have been dark and cold we've actually been training inside after work two or three times a week. Maybe now that we have daylight savings time and it's getting warmer (we hope!) we'll train outside more. Training on a treadmill isn't as good as training outside.

Combining fundraising efforts

Michael and I have decided that while both of us will keep training, only one of us will raise funds. So technically you will be donating to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on my behalf. It was too overwhelming for both of us to raise over $2,000.

Florida Breezes

Ahhhh ... jogging amongst the palm trees - much better than the ice and snow we've been dealing with for the past month!

Warm warm warm warm....

This weekend we were down in Gainesville, FL visiting Jenny's cousins and uncle. We did 6 miles in the the Florida warm. Which was wonderful, an early taste of spring

Unfortunately, the mosquitoes had an early taste of Michael as well. I was feasted upon, and I'm very itchy this week.

Running felt pretty good, considering that I had skipped both during-the-week runs. We went slowly, and all seemed well.

--Michael