Lighthouse Run today, and of course--it's a swelter. It's really hot, pushing 80 degrees, with 85%+ humidity. I got going with Melissa and Kristin and by mile 2-3 I was really struggling. Knee felt fine, but mentally I was struggling with the heat and my body just felt like it couldn't move. I really debated turning south at the 4-mile turn, but they told me know. Then as we approached 3 mile Rd and I realized we were only at 4 miles, I was convinced I needed to quit. I just couldn't imagine doing that for 6 more miles. Kristin's foot was really bothering her so she wanted to walk a bit. I decided to walk with her, then see how I felt. We walked, ran, walked, ran for the next 2 or so miles. She was really struggling, and the walk breaks helped me. By just before 6 miles, there was nothing to do but finish as that's by Shoop and the shortest way back is to just finish. Kristin said she just couldn't run anymore and told me to go on. I started running and actually felt OK. Ended up running the whole thing with a few walk breaks here and there, particularly at water stops. Needed lots of water, to drink and to dump down my back.

It wasn't pretty, but I finished in 1:39:24....10 minutes slower than I wanted to. About a minute a mile slower, due to the unbearable heat. I probably could have been 1-3 minutes faster as I walked more with Kristin than I needed to, but that's about all I could have cut off. And if it wasn't for her, I probably would have quit completely so I needed her.

Up this morning again to meet the group. Still want to take it easy on the knee as it was tweaked a bit during tennis. I think that doesn't help it as it's a lot of starting and stopping and leaning different ways. Kristin convinced me to run with her to Melissa's, which is a 0.9 mile run. Actually the knee felt pretty good then. After we met up with her, I walked the rest of the way. A few times I tried to run a bit and my knee hurt quite a bit--it seems that after I walk a while and have that whole 'heel-striking, knee-locking' motion, running isn't good. I can run without walking, but not after. Ended up running/walking 3.35 miles total in 45:36 for a 13:35 average. The first 2 miles were at a 12:39 average (which had that mile or so of running), and the second 1.35 miles were mostly walking with an average of 14:58 pace.

As mentioned last week, Bill decided Sunday would be a day of running drills. His original idea was just intervals, but I mentioned doing hill workout (remembering my Chicago St hill workout from several Sundays ago) would be a good combo to training. Today's our first one and we chose Gateway hill. I wanted to mix it up a bit, so I suggested we do the hill, then jog over to the stairs and do stairs. So we started with a 1 mile jog, then started going up the hill. Kristin and I started at our regular running pace, only to be passed quickly by Melissa and Bill teasing us---you're supposed to charge the hill to make it tougher, not just jog up it! So Kristin and I picked it up. Went up and down, jogged over to the stairs, up then down, then back to hill. Did that four times, then took a quick water break. Decided that although it was tough, I could do 2 more. After those two, I was done! Tired, and my knee was starting to bother me. Waited for the rest, then jogged a 1 mile cooldown. Overall it turned out to be 4.5 miles total.

Today’s the day of my first 10 mile Lighthouse Run. I’ve walked 2 (I think) and ran the 4 mile two years ago, but never even thought I could do the 10. Now here I am, and I did a ½ marathon just last month.

I've been nursing the pain in my right lower cheek, but overall it doesn’t hurt too bad when I’m running. Jeff, Tina, Justin, & Madelaine came up for the weekend and Tina and Justin are going to attempt the 10 mile, while Jeff and Madelaine are going to do the fun walk with Mom and Jeanne and Larry Rickman.

Got down to the starting line and there a lot of our running group doing the race. As we lined up, I was with Ken and Megan, but it became clear that Ken was going to run his race, a much faster pace than I can do. Then I saw Jim, a new member of our running group, that I ran with a few weeks ago for about 6 miles on a Panera run. He’s a nice guy and mentioned coaching high school athletics. He’s good to run with as he doesn’t talk a lot, but enough---talks just once in a while and provides good distractions. I waved him over and we started the race with him. That turned out to be the best move for me as he was very encouraging and kept me moving.

We’re off and running. I had to walk around miles 3.5 or so for a short bit to get water. Then I gradually ran a little faster than pace to catch back up with Megan and Jim (Ken had left us right from the start). As we came around by Shoop, the clouds opened and it started to rain. That actually felt pretty good, but then a strong wind came west to east. I really didn’t need that, especially as we were about to turn west on 3 Mile. As we approached the corner of 3 Mile and Main, it was about 7 miles in, and I needed to walk a bit again while I drank some water. Unfortunately I had to walk for about 1/8 of a mile and got behind Megan and Jim. I got running again, but was definitely getting tired. I knew it would be hard to catch back up with them. I just had to focus on running, even if it was a 10 min mile pace. I had to walk a bit around 8 and 9 miles, but tried to keep the walks short and keep moving. After mile 9, I didn’t allow myself to walk again, even up the bridge and then up the hill at 3rd/4th street. That’s a killer little hill at 9.7 miles! As I approached the finish, I looked at my GPS and saw I was going to be really close to 1:30, my stretch goal. I just kept going and pushed as much as I could. As I crossed the finish, I hit my stop button and it read 1:29:56! I know that’s not the official time, but it made me feel really good. I had run as good of a race as I could, taking breaks when I needed to but making sure not every time I wanted to (which would have been a lot more often!). Running with Jim and Megan was great as it really kept me moving and Jim was very encouraging, watching out for me when I fell a bit behind and offer words of encouragement often throughout the race. Since I’m still not really running a lot of distance, this was as good of a race as I could’ve done. I’m really proud of myself! Now I can go on vacation with a good sense of accomplishment and can relax and enjoy it.

The official time for the race was 1:30:32.9—a 9:03/mile pace. Although not quite my 1:30, it’s a 1:30 as far as Boston Marathon-type time keeping!