(S)Now I'm Running!

I'm now ready to deem my 2 weeks sans running a success.  I eased back into running this week making sure I didn't do any speedwork.  I was a little scared the first few runs thinking that any weird feeling in my knee was the return of Runner's Knee.  On Thursday morning, I did a run in some pretty cold temps on one of my extra hilly routes.  It was good.  I was planning a 40-50 minute run for Friday, put with the impending snowstorm, I moved that run to Thursday evening so I could return to one of my favorite winter running events…

Dome Running!*

I ran two laps, then ran into Steve and Pharmie.  I did two laps with Steve, then ran the rest of the time with Pharmie and we were joined later by Steve Q.  Even though I had planned to run for 40 minutes, we were having a wonderful conversation and next thing I know, it's been and hour.  And I'm ok with that because I ran for an hour on the hard surface with no knee pain!  Victory!

Then winter came.  Again.

Last night it snowed, and my normal 20 minute commute took 1.5 hours in part because my bus was 40 minutes late.  This morning, I awoke and it was sunny with 4-5 inches of fresh, fluffy snow—perfect time for a run.  So I strapped on my Yaktrax and grabbed my camera and off I went.

My foot with Yaktrax.

The first few block were pretty treacherous, but once I got to the golf course near the river, the paths were cleared:

The sidewalk you see in this photo is new.  It used to be a wonderful tree lined, grassy, trail-like path heading down to the river.  Then the city decided that no one was allowed to have fun anymore and they took out a bunch of trees and put this concrete in.

The path was already cleared along the river in St. Paul...

…and in Minneapolis

A magnificent view from the Franklin Ave bridge 

Me, afterwards.  It looks like there is a spear going through my head.

So, take that, winter!  Between Yaktrax and Dome Running, there's no reason to forego running in the winter.

*Every Tuesday and Thursday from 5-8pm, the Metrodome is open for runners on the upper concourse.  It only costs $1, and parking is free in the lot on the east side of the Dome.  Go here for more details.

What Now?

It's now been a week since the triathlon, although it seems like ages ago.  I've got some more pictures from the event that I'll be posting soon.

The question now is what am I going to do for the rest of the year.  I'm certainly no triathlete, so no more triathlons for the rest of this year.  (I'll admit that it was fun, though, and next year I'll do a few more.  My plans for next year, though, are the subject of another post entirely.  A post that I probably won't write until December.  Or January.  But I digress.)

My racing schedule for the rest of 2010 is lighter compared to the year up to this point.  Here's what I've got planned:

• My main focus: Twin Cities Marathon.  I don't want to give the impression that I'm only focusing on this now.  This has been my big goal and main focus for months now.  The triathlon was a healthy diversion, and it was set up such that it would support my marathon training.  I think looking at my results from the triathlon, you'll see that my running didn't suffer by adding the biking and swimming.  Refreshingly, though, with the triathlon being done, I can go to running almost exclusively.  Sure, I may get a swim in every now and then, and I think Roy deserves to get his wheels spinning every so often, but the mantra is going to be "run.  Run.  RUN."  In fact, I did the first of 3 twenty mile runs today, and it went really well.
• Beyond the marathon, I've got a few ideas for what I could do.  I'll certainly take the needed recovery time, but I'm looking at a few races in Oct/Nov.  The first is the Monster Dash.  Katie and I did the 5k last year, but since it's so crowded, I don't want to do the 5k this year.  I'm leaning towards the 10 mile race, but I'm not going to make any decisions about this until after Twin Cities.  I want to see how the recovery is going before committing myself to that distance.
• I'm 99% sure about the next race: the Tesfa 5k.  Once again, Katie and I did this last year, and we both had a fantastic time.  I LOVE small races, and Ft. Snelling is a fantastic place to run, so we'll most likely be there again.  And, this year we have the annual state parks pass.
• I don't have anything specific for after the Tesfa 5k, but I'm considering an indoor triathlon sometime this winter.  That may happen in 2010 or 2011, depending on the schedules.
• Not related to racing, but I'm really looking forward to Dome Running this year.  Strange, isn't it? I love running outdoors, but there's just something about spending your evening with the whole Twin Cities running community.

Barking Up the Wrong Concourse

Man, has this Dome gone to the dogs!  (That's funny on so many levels, I just can't help myself).

While it was a nice day yesterday, Dome Running on Thursdays has become part of my routine, so I went anyway.  When I got there, this is what I found:

If you can't tell from the picture, those are dogs—lots of dogs.  It was hilarious, and loud.  I was thankful that they were confined to the lower concourse.  I like to run, but outrunning hundreds of dogs at one time might have been a bit much.

David joined me again, and this time we didn't end up running for many laps without happening upon each other.  We also remarked on the music—yes, music—that was being piped over the loudspeaker.  This is the first time there was ever music.  It was oldies.  And don't get me wrong, I really like Oldies, but these were the type of oldies that they remix into elevator music—and this isn't ideal for running.

One more week of Dome Running left.

Dome Running and a BIG Announcement

What am I doing in the Metrodome on Thursday nights during the winter?  Hanging out with Brett Favre, of course.

Actually, the MDRA opens up the upper concourse of the dome on Tuesday and Thursday evenings during the winter from 5pm to 8pm.  It costs a buck to run, and one lap around the outer wall is about 0.4 miles (2.5 laps/per mile).

It isn't too exciting running indoors (you can only look at a hot dog stand so many times before you want to bang your head against a wall), but it is infinitely better than a treadmill, particularly when Minnesota is being Minnesota and throwing bone-chilling temps your way.  It isn't too crowded when I get there after class (usually about 7pm), so it's eerily quiet for a bunch of people running in a circular hallway.

I ran into a pitfall with dome running this week when David said he would drop by around 7 too.  I started running, figuring that when he showed up, I'd spot him.  As it turned out, in the 3:30 it takes me to run around the concourse, David arrived, got ready, and started running without me seeing him.  We didn't cross paths until I had put about 7 laps in.  After that, though, things were good—I had forgotten how great it is to run with other people.

Dome Running goes for 2 more weeks, so drop by while there is still time.

Big Announcement

This probably won't be a surprise to many people, but I've decided that I'm not "one and done".  Yup, I am now registered for the 2010 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.  My goal this time is to complete it sub 4 hours.  I think it is doable since I was on pace for a 4:30 finish last year before my quads went wonky. I'm going to post more this week about my new training plan and other marathon related stuff.

One more thing: if you, or someone you know will be training for the TC Marathon, it would be great to run with someone else on occasion.  The solo training wasn't bad last year, but having a partner on those long runs would help out a lot.