April Fools 4 miler

Yesterday was the 4 miler in Salisbury.  This time though, we weren't running the beach fighting an incoming storm, so it was considerably easier.  No wind to contend with.  I went for a 3 mile run on Friday and I had done the 6 miles on Wednesday, so I was clearly all set with this race.  It seemed a lot longer than it was though, and I think I've figured it out.  As much as I love flat roads, I also find them incredibly boring.  Especially if the race is a loop.  The same scenery there and back is just not doing it for me.
I ran with a group of people again.  There were 7 of us all together.  For one of us, it was the first time running any mileage over 3. She did pretty well too, came in around 40:50.  Three members of the group are super speedy and crossed somewhere in the 20s, and the other three, myself included, crossed in the 30s.  When I got to the 2 mile mark there was a running clock which was at about 17 minutes.  Pretty good right? If I had been doing a 3 miler, I could've had my best time ever I think.  Unfortunately, there were still 2 miles to go, and I know I slowed down a bit.  I stopped for the water because I was having trouble inhaling all the way, which added a few seconds to my time.  However, I could tell it was more than just that, because between the 2 - 3 mile stretch suddenly a lot of people from behind were passing me.  I was getting a little disappointed, to be honest.  I really wanted to go faster than I was going and it felt like it was taking me forever to get back to the beginning, which was really the end.  As I rounded the last corner I didn't think I had anything left in me, but as always, I managed to put on a burst of speed.  Mostly it was because I saw the clock and I knew I was doing much better than I thought, so I wanted to keep that up.  As it stands, this was my final time, taken directly from the cool running website.  It shows that I came in 469 overall, out of 900 something, and 39 of 92 in my age group.  My time is 36.02 with a 9.01 minute mile, and the gun time was 36.19, which is the difference from when the race started to when I crossed the starting line.

469  39/92   F2029      ALLISON RUNYAN       Lynn MA            28 F   441   36:02.4  9:01   36:19.3 

Overall, I have to say, I was satisfied with the time.  It still ended up being my best time ever.  I was really hoping to get it down to under a 9 minute mile.  So my goal for the race this Sunday and the next is to get my time down to at least an 8:57.  Once I achieve that, I will start focusing more on my half-marathon training, as I believe I'll be registering for that on Friday.....Can you feel the impending doom? I can....  

I have no pictures for you today, I know, you're super disappointed.  Maybe next time.

Good Friday

Even though this day is titled for a religious holiday, it just fits so perfectly.  I'm not sure what it was about the past few weeks at work; partly MCAS messing up schedules and partly snow days but by today I really need tomorrow off.  I realized this today when I was walking the dogs and some middle schoolers started yelling things at the dogs.  You know how middle schoolers are, they're tougher than the world, so of course they thought it was hilarious.  It was the moment when I was getting really irritated that I realized it was definitely time for a break.  One of the first rules of teaching is to NEVER let what the students say get to you.  These kids weren't even my students and I was letting it get to me.  If you're not a teacher, you can't possibly understand this, and may even be sitting there thinking how lucky I am to have days off like this, stop complaining....I know, I've heard it all, and I'm not up for defending my job to anyone at the moment.  So if you haven't done it or can't understand it, just move on.  

Alright, now that I've gotten that out of my system, let's carry on, shall we?  Last night I went for a nice 5/6 mile run with some friends.  There were four of us and it worked out nicely as two were super speedy and myself and the other girl managed to keep pace with each other.  All of our timers and speed calculators had different times, paces, and mileage, which, considering we all started at the same time and ran the same route, made no sense.  That's why I'm calling it 5/6.  I know it was somewhere between the two.  Definitely more than 5, maybe exactly 6, maybe a little less.  I don't know for sure though.  I didn't feel too bad though, which I was happy with.  I think I've figured out the key to successful running.  Coffee and BelVita a half-hour or so before the run.  The BelVita gives me the exact amount of energy I need to start off, without feeling like I'm loaded up on food or going to puke.  Basically, everything you could ask for.  The run was a nice course through Beverly, not totally flat, but not too hilly.  Plus the weather was lovely.  I think I'll be running that one more often.  Here's a Charity Miles shot, but I forgot to start this at the same time as the other running app, so there's a bit of a gap from where I started running to where I started recording. 

Tonight I purchased a new pair of running shoes from Bobs.  I had a gift card, so they ended up only costing me $13.  Sweet deal.  I'm hoping that I like them as much as I like the ClimaWarms. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I realized that my knee problem was coming from wearing my super light climacool shoes, so I had to give them up for running.  I've been looking for a pair of shoes with some more support, but without the huge price tag.  So these new shoes are Adidas, but they're the Clima Aerate, which is what my ClimaWarms are, so they have a little bit more cushioning on the sole.  Did I mention they were only $13? I think these will be good, though I may consider some running insoles as well.  I saw a pair while I was shoe shopping, but I decided to give the shoes a try on their own first.  We'll see where that takes me.  I also found a great pair of running capris, but they were bright pink and slightly see-through, so I passed over them as well. At home I tried to find them online in a different color, but of course, because I really wanted them, they don't exist in my size.  LAME!  

Here are the shoes (or very close to the shoes) that I bought.

To wrap it all up, I just had a conversation about running a half in May.  The plan is to sign up next week, so it looks like that might actually be happening.  All I have to say to that is, ULP.  This always seems like a good idea until the time comes to do it.  Then, it never seems like a good idea.  

Whoops

I know the last time I stopped running for 2 weeks I said I wouldn't do it again, because it was miserable starting back up again.  Unfortunately, I did it again.  Having a chest/head cold is THE WORST for running.  If you can't breathe through your nose, it cuts down on your air intake, therefore decreasing your running speed/stamina.  It makes everything 100x more miserable, not just running. I'm sure you've been sick before so you know.  But, once again, it's time for me to get back out there and go again.  Yesterday I went for a shorter run and tomorrow I'm going for a 5 or 6 miler.  I'll probably go again on Friday too.  It's a vacation day, so that means some time for myself, woo woo!  Saturday is a Will Run for Beer race, again in Salisbury, this time a 4 miler.  The weekend after that is another WRFB race in New Hampshire and the Saturday after THAT is the make-up from the postponed Wild Rover race.  There's one final WRFB race on the 21, but I'm not sure I want to do that one.  We'll see, but there's a good chance I'll skip it.  After all, that is the weekend after April vacation.
For running this week I've started listening to Gone With the Wind on Audible.  It's one of my favorite stories to read in the Spring/Summer, so I figured it would be a good audio book for the runs.  I've really been enjoying the audio books on my runs.  It helps distract me from the actual running which is always nice.
In order to run more, I've been debating running to/from work at least a couple of days a week. It's only a 20 minute walk, less than a mile away I believe, which means a run would be maybe 10 - 15 minutes.  I'm ok with that, but I am a little concerned about the logistics of the whole thing.  I don't want to be totally sweaty and smelly when I get to work and have to change clothes and all that jazz. Plus I have a lot of supplies that I carry with me to and from school, so I would have to add that in to my run.  For that piece at least I think I've got it figured out.  I have one of those hiking backpacks that clips around the waist and has the mesh back, you know, all that fancy stuff.  I'm sure I can fit everything in there, plus my work clothes and shoes, and carry it on my back while I run.  I know I'll look totally cool dorky running down the street to work, but sometimes you have to sacrifice looks for fitness right?  I also figured I could keep some baby wipes at work to at least freshen up after the run, which I suppose solves another piece of the problem.
I guess what it comes down to is that I have to make myself do it. I don't really WANT to get up earlier than I do, but I can.  I don't really WANT to run to work instead of drive, but I should.  Especially now, because I won a bid for a tutoring job after-school, working with some of the after-school programs in the city.  So now Tues - Thurs I work and then have to tutor.  I have an hour between the end of the school day and the beginning of tutoring, so I figure I can run home, change, let out the dogs, and then drive to tutoring.  Since I am cutting down on the amount of time I have after school to run, I figure it's better to run to and from work than to not do it at all.  I'll let you know how that goes later on though.

Still sick

Seriously.  Not cool.  I was sick for a few days, felt better for a couple, and then a new cold decided to piggyback itself onto the old cold.  The second one is definitely worse than the first.  The first time it was basically just a chest cold, this time it was a full blown fever/congestion cold.  Basically what it boils down to is that I haven't been for a REAL run in over a week now.  I went for a short one last week, on one of the two days that I was feeling better, but I didn't want to over-do it, so I only went about a mile.  Looks like it didn't matter how far I went though, as I got sick anyways.
Yesterday I was feeling completely miserable and I didn't know how I was going to make it through the day today.  Luckily, we had ANOTHER snow day.  This time though, I was actually looking forward to it, because I really wanted to just sleep.  I actually got up at 6 and found out that school was cancelled.  I did a mini-dance inside my head, put on my humidifier, brushed my teeth, and went back to bed.  Jealous? I bet.  Then I woke up around 10:30 and felt 10x better, but not great. Took a ridiculously long shower to absorb the steam into my membranes, took some medicine, went grocery shopping, and then shoveled.  Later, I even walked the dogs.  I think the sleeping until 10 really did it.  I was able to sleep off that extra bit of fever that was hanging around.  Hopefully I'll be able to run again this weekend.  I never thought I would say this, but I miss it!  I was just about to start interval training, and I was pretty excited about it, so I really want to get back at it.
Since I don't have any Charity Miles to share with you, I'll share this lovely picture I drew instead.  I thought it might be fun to put The Outsiders into comic book/graphic novel form, so I've been (sort of) working on that.  It's only chapter 1, and I'm not sure I really like the way my faces are coming out, but it's something, I guess.

Oh, and one more thing.  Remember those zip-ups I got?  Well, the other day on the T, I noticed that only the left side was working.  Seems to be a loose wire connection in the right side, because it comes and goes, depending on which way the wire is turned.  I have to say that I'm fairly disappointed in that.  This is supposed to be a great product and yet they're broken on me already.  I'm not sure how the company is going to handle this, but I imagine it's going to be tough to get a replacement without it costing me an exorbitant amount of money, considering it's an overseas company.....

Deviation

I've been sick this week, chest cold akin to bronchitis, so I haven't been running.  What I have been doing is reading books.  Mostly the same old books I always read when I feel like running away to a different world, but I did read Rob Lowe's autobiography as well.  It was interesting though it felt a little short.  What I really liked about it was his in depth account of making The Outsiders, beginning with casting all the way up until the premiere. Turns out, he was pretty disappointed with the original cut of the movie as well.
Now, if you've never read The Outsiders, or seen the movie, stop right here, go buy the book, and come back to me in two days.  Seriously.  It's a short read and it's fantastic.  Don't worry, I'll wait............................................................................................................................................
Alright, if you didn't bother to do that, then get ready for some serious spoilers. As in, I'm telling you basically the whole story line start to finish, deal with it.  Well, the book begins with Ponyboy Curtis walking home from the movies alone and getting jumped by the Socs, only to have his neighborhood greaser gang come and rescue him.  The greasers include his brothers (and only family he has left,) Sodapop and Darrel, as well as Two-bit, Steve, Johnny, and Dallas.  As the story goes on, Pony and Johnny commit manslaughter, go on the run, save some children from a burning church and get rushed to the hospital.  Johnny dies, Pony and the gang rumble with the Socs, Dallas dies, Pony falls down sick due to exhaustion, shock, and a minor concussion.  Pony wakes up, goes to juvenile court to testify and try to stay in custody of Darry.  Pony gets acquitted, finds out he's flunking English, gets in a fight with Darry, both chase down Sodapop who can't stand the fighting anymore, agree to be a big happy family, decides to write about his previous few weeks to pass English, story begins all over again.
There you go.  30 second rundown of The Outsiders.  All the important information, none of the back story.  But seriously, the book is amazing, so this 2 second tale doesn't do it justice.  When I was a teenager, I was pretty interested in the fact that they had made a movie about the book, even though my mom always said it wasn't as good.  This was back in the days before On-Demand and Netflix, and we didn't have a Blockbuster card, so there was really no way to see the movie unless it happened to be on t.v.  Which it actually was, more frequently than I thought it would be.  Turns out, my mom was right.  Where the book spent so much time developing characters and setting up the reason for the trouble with the Socs, the movie skipped right over it.  If you watched the original cut of the movie, it doesn't begin with Pony being jumped, but at the next chapter, where Pony and Johnny meet Dallas for a night out at the drive-in.  While that might not seem like a big deal, it really is.  The first chapter, with all the introductions, is key to the plot line.  Plus, without seeing Pony jumped, you would never have known that the Socs cut his neck with a switchblade, leaving him with a scab.  In fact, for a long time, it always bugged me that there was something on Pony's neck that was there half the movie and then suddenly disappeared.  It looked like a birthmark gone missing.  It wasn't until years later that I finally realized it was a scab from the jumping.  (In the book, he cuts his head, not his neck, so the only way I put the two together was with the first scene of the movie in place.) It was actually a huge relief to find out what that spot was.... The story goes on, pretty much follows the book up until after the rumble, when Dallas is running to meet the gang after holding up a gas station.  In the book, Dallas goes down, Pony passes out, and then the rest of the story unfolds.  In the original cut, Dallas goes down, Pony begins his English assignment, movie over.  Seriously.  I don't know who thought it was a good idea to cut out the entire beginning and the entire end of the story, but it was a terrible one.  Part of the reason I love the story so much is the back story of the three Curtis brothers and all that they go through to stay together as a family.  The movie took all the emotional feeling out of the movie and basically made it about some teen thugs who can't handle life.
Until 2006.  Finally, Francis Ford Coppola wised up and decided that perhaps he needed those original scenes back in the movie.  When The Outsiders: The Complete Novel came out on DVD I knew I had to have it.  I always wanted to see that end part with the Curtis brothers and I hoped the movie would actually touch upon it this time.  Thankfully, it did, and it definitely made the entire movie so much better than it was before.
Rob Lowe was a bit disappointed with the final cut  not only because it didn't follow the book, but also because his major scene got cut out.  (I don't know the guy, but I'm betting that cutting his scene weighed more heavily on his mind than the fact that the movie didn't follow the book, but I could be wrong.)  So, after years of being angry at FFC for destroying a wonderful book, I was finally able to find out why.  (Thanks Rob!)  The reason was pretty lame, they just felt like the movie didn't need those scenes to be a success. WRONG!  Ok, not wrong for the most part, but to me, WRONG!  I still have some issues with the casting; for instance, Matt Dillon as Dallas and Tom Cruise as Steve, but hey, you can't win them all right?  Plus, Rob Lowe and C.Thomas Howell made a perfect Sodapop and Ponyboy respectively, so that kind of cancels it out.
The title of this post was chosen for a reason so I hope you aren't to thrown off by my side story.  I'm sure I'll go back to running posts soon enough, but in the meantime, now you know a little bit more about me.  Or at least, more about the kind of books I read.

The Curtis brothers.  I'm sure the biggest swoon-fest of '83. I wouldn't know. I wasn't there.
(This picture isn't mine, I found it online, please don't take me to court, I'm a teacher, I have no money anyways!)

Busy running weekend

This weekend I had two races. On Saturday, we had the 2nd Will Run for Beer race in the series.  There was actually supposed to be a half marathon a couple of weekends ago, but due to a snow storm, it was cancelled.  Not that I was running it anyways, but that's so not the point! So, Saturday, the race was at 9 am up in Salisbury, right along the beach.  It should have been a nice easy course.  It was an early race and the entire course was flat.  Not a big deal, considering I've been running basically that every time I run Lynn beach. Yet, for some reason, it was the worst race I've ever run.  I don't mean time-wise, in that aspect, it was fine, just under 28.  4 seconds under, nothing to write home about.  But the race itself was miserable.  My body just did not want to run.  I could blame the wind or the fact that I didn't feel great, but I know the truth.  It was the Wendy's I ate on Friday night.  For real.  Normally I don't care too much about eating good food 24/7, but I should not have had Wendy's the night before a 5K.  It was seriously miserable, to the point where I thought I was going to throw up when I crossed the finish line.  That hasn't happened in a long time, so I knew that was a problem.  There were a lot of us running yesterday and we all finished right around the same time.  Cynthia's husband as well as her brother and his girlfriend came in around 24 minutes, maybe a bit sooner, but Cynthia, Katie, and I came in right on each others heels.  The others were just a couple of minutes behind so it wasn't too bad.  I mean, the time, not the run.  Ryan came, which was lovely, but I'm fairly certain he was bored out of his mind.  On top of that, the sea was churning and it was high tide, so the waves were washing up into the start/finish and causing puddles and problems.  It definitely wasn't my favorite race, which is sad, because the course itself was gorgeous.

This is everyone that ran and a few that didn't as well.

Ryan and I after the race, in between crashing waves.

Today, Sunday, was the third race in the Wild Rover series, but really, the second due to the same snowstorm mentioned earlier.  This was a 5 miler in Lowell, set to take place at 1 pm, and I was not looking forward to it.  To make matters worse, last night was Daylight Savings, so I lost a precious hour of sleep.  I also think I'm getting some type of chest cold, and was covered in vapor rub.  I was a little concerned that I would have trouble breathing during the 5 miler, but as I had already paid, there was no way I was skipping it.  If anything, I figured I would walk it if I had too. Going in, I knew there were hills but I wasn't sure how large they would be.  Turns out, they weren't too bad.  It was a nice day for a run, sunny and warm-ish.  I regretted not wearing my sunglasses, but it wasn't too bad without them.  My knee hasn't really been hurting, but my toes haven't been comfortable in my Clima-warms, so I thought I would go back to my old Clima-cools.  Turns out, I think I found the root of the knee problem.  Looks like those shoes have got to go.  Time for new running shoes? I think it might be.
Before the race, I decided I wanted to try something new to listen to on my run. I thought Zombies was using a lot of data, so I decided to cool it on that, but I was wrong and it's actually not using that much.  Today though, I went a different route and tried Audible.  Strangely, I felt like I was getting sick of my running music and when that happens, it makes for a very boring run.  So I bought a membership to audible and threw on an audio-book while I ran.  I went with a book I already knew and loved, and I figured if anything, I would have my music as a back up.  I actually enjoyed listening to the book while I was running.  It gave me something to focus on besides the people around me and the same old music.  I think I'll keep that up for a little bit, at least until I finish listening to the book.  Plus I have one more credit so that's two books.  Those should get me through a couple of runs at least.
As I was running, I kept passing the time signs and I was little bummed out because it seemed like I was doing worse than usual.  The times were around 10:50 for each mile. It wasn't until mile 3 that I remembered that I didn't actually cross the start at the gun time, so I could cut off a couple of seconds at least.  Then, the last mile was all downhill, so I put on a little extra speed for that.  I crossed the finish line at 48:56, but my actual time was 48:05.  Not bad for five miles with hills. I was proud of myself.  Since this was supposed to be the last race of the Wild Rover, the medal was huge.  Somehow I walked right by the guys handing them out at the finish and almost didn't get one.  The race volunteers were directing those of us who came off the finish line around the corner and they wouldn't let you go back and get a medal, since it was right after you crossed and lots of people were coming in.  But there was no way I was leaving without my medal.  The volunteer was kind of rude, but as I wasn't the only person who missed the medals, I tend to think that perhaps it wasn't the best place to hand them out.
Overall, not a bad weekend, but I definitely enjoyed today's run a lot more than yesterdays.  There aren't any races for another week or two, (thank god!), so I think in the meantime, I'm going to practice my speed.  Someone mentioned interval training, sprinting and then slowing down to regular pace, so I think I might work on that.  Maybe by the next race, I can take another 35 seconds off my time.  I'm aiming for 1 minute, but I'll settle for half a minute for now. By the final race though, I'll be 1 minute faster.  That's all for now, and in case you didn't believe me about the medal being huge, here's a picture, of course.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back outside

More snow.  Seriously.  Another foot or so fell on us today.  Right after almost all the old snow had melted away and it seemed like the weather was turning into perfect spring outdoor running weather. Now we're right back at square one.  Sidewalks are slushy and icy again, and everything is gross out. It's too bad though, because on Tuesday I went for a 4 mile run down the beach, and it was actually starting to feel like Spring!
However, yesterday, before the snow started to stick, I took Nala for a run at the beach.  We went 3 miles, which doesn't seem like much, but it was windy and rainy and icy and snowy all at once.  Good thing it was low tide, or we would've been destroyed by the 15 foot waves.  I can't honestly say that Nala enjoyed the run, but once I stopped running against the wind I actually did sort of enjoy it.
Today we had ANOTHER snow day.  Yay! Seriously though, I'm sick of snow days.  Along with the hurricane days, this makes 6 and I'd rather be in school in the winter when the world is miserable, than in June when it's gorgeous out.  On the plus side, staying home gave me a chance to watch my way through all the S.E. Hinton book to movie adaptations I could find. I started with The Outsiders (last night) because that's my all time favorite S.E. Hinton book and I could seriously watch that movie/read that book a million times and never get sick of it.  Not a million times in a row, but definitely a million times.  I think I just love how well C. Thomas Howell portrayed Ponyboy.  I really like Rob Lowe as Sodapop too, but the rest of the cast I'm not too fond of.  I suppose Patrick Swayze made an ok Darrel, though I don't picture him like that.  But Matt Dillon just does not fit Dallas Winston, and I HATE Tom Cruise as Steve Randall.  I suppose Emilio Estevez and Ralph Macchio are okay as Two-Bit and Johnny, but again, that's not how I picture them.  Anyways, after I watched The Outsiders I moved onto Rumble Fish, which I actually did not enjoy one bit.  I just couldn't get into it.  I think that was also my least favorite book, looking back.  Next I went looking for That Was Then, This is Now, but it wasn't available for instant streaming.  Finally, I found Tex.  I was actually pretty pumped.  Tex runs a close second to The Outsiders and I can't believe I never knew there was a movie made about it.  The movie was pretty good too.  Matt Dillon made a much better Tex than he did Dallas Winston.  The guy playing Mason was a bit too old, but other than that, I really liked it. I'll probably add it to my movie collection at some point.
Alright, I know I got off the topic of running for a moment, but I couldn't help it. I just wanted to share my love and excitement of The Outsiders and Tex for all of you. Now I'm back on track though.  I've been thinking about cutting down on the 5Ks actually.  They've been fun and I love getting the medals and t-shirts, but they're getting pricey.  I'm set up until June, but I think after that, I'm going to knock it back a bit.  I can run 5Ks without paying, why bother paying?  For a while, I think I'll stick to one race a month, and only a 10K or higher.  My only disclaimer is that if it's a fun-run, like the Color Run or Foam fest, I'll make an exception.  No more race series though.  I just want to save some money.
One last thing before I go.  For those of you who don't know why snow being on the sidewalks might be a big deal, let me put it out there for you.  My 4 mile run on Tuesday took 37 minutes and my 3 mile run yesterday took 30 minutes.  Today, I took a 1 mile walk around the neighborhood.  It took me 30 minutes to tromp through all the snow and by the end, I was so sweaty, I felt like I had been working harder than I have been while running.  That's why it's so miserable.  Here are some Charity Miles for you to enjoy now.

Claddagh Pub 4-Miler

Ran the 4 miler part of the Wild Rover today, even though it was slightly snowy.  The course map had mentioned a challenging hill, so I was prepared for a hill akin to what you would find in San Francisco.  Actually though, I've never been to San Francisco, so both hills were really just imaginary.  Once I got there, I didn't even see a hill, so I began to think that maybe the people who ran it were just imagining things.  (They weren't.)
The beginning of the race was actually a bit of  mess.  There was no clear starting point and there were people everywhere.  They were going in all different directions and some were just hanging around the finish, so I really wasn't sure where to start.  Then I asked one of the traffic cops and he didn't know either, so it was all quite a mess.  Turns out, the start of the race was in the middle of the street, so it wasn't marked with an arch, and the street hadn't been closed off yet, so it was difficult to find.  When I finally did, Ryan decided to go wait at Dunkin Donuts for a bit, but they were closed.  Just to clarify, Dunkin Donuts was closed, on a Sunday morning.  If you're from around here, you understand just how absurd that actually is.  It seemed like there were a lot of coffee shops closed, which makes me wonder if Lawrence has some absurd rule about coffee shops being open on Saturdays and Sundays.
Anyways, the run started at 11 and basically started right on time.  For the most part, the course was flat and the weather wasn't too bad, just a little bit chilly.  I think the total count of participants was just under 1000, so not a huge race, but not tiny either.  Of course I used Zombies, run and Charity Miles, though I found it a bit harder to listen to the dude talking on Zombies.  I was distracted by all the runners around me and found myself paying more attention to them than to my app.  The first mile was totally flat and about half way through the 2nd mile we hit the hill.  I can honestly say I didn't find the hill that bad.  Some people were walking as soon as they hit the bottom of the hill, which seemed like kind of a cop-out.  They weren't even trying to run it.  But, who am I to judge, I have no idea why they weren't running it, so to each his own.  At the top of the hill they had a water stop but I decided to forgo it.  I've come to realize I can't drink while running and by the time I hit the top, I didn't want to stop for water, so I just kept going, heading downhill.  After that, the rest was easy.  We ended at the Claddagh pub, making one final loop around to cross the finish line.  As I was running, I didn't really feel too bad, no knee problems and I didn't feel like I had just run 4 miles.  So when I saw the finish line I just put on all the speed I had and crossed just in front of the girl who had been slightly ahead of me the whole time.
What was my final time you ask? Well, according to coolrunnings.com it was 37:50.  According to when I crossed the finish line, from the gun time, it was 38:30.  All that really matters is that I've gotten myself under a 10 minute mile, hills and all.  Of course, next weekend I had a 5K and a 8K on Saturday and Sunday.  The Sunday race is rolling hills, so we'll see how much under a 10 minute mile I actually am when it comes to continuous hills instead of just one.  Overall though, it was a fun race, I got a really nice running shirt and of course a medal. Sadly though, I lost my headband somewhere along the course route.  Oh well,  I would still consider running it again next year.

Dr. Seuss day

Tomorrow is Dr. Seuss's birthday so of course we celebrated today in school.  We ate green eggs and ham, dressed in fancy t-shirts, and read/watched Dr. Seuss stories.  It was a fun day, as it always is.  I made t-shirts for myself and three other teachers, and I must admit, they came out pretty neat.
After work I went running on the beach.  I know that I'm going to get sick of the route soon, so I really hope they open up the other parking lot so I have somewhere else to start from.  Otherwise, I might go try a new beach, maybe Marblehead or Salem.  Anyways, I met a friend and we went for the 3 miles, using, of course, Zombies, run and Charity Miles.  As always, the running part itself was not so much fun, but the end result was awesome.  We did 3.05 miles in 28 minutes.  That's 3 minutes off my time lately.  Looks like I'll be all set for the race on Sunday.  Except for that hill.  I'm sure that will add another 5 minutes.  Hopefully it doesn't screw up my time too badly.
Finally, my charity miles app is, once again, being weird.  Usually at the end of the run, they email you a Google earth image of your route with the info.  You know, all those ones I post here.  Well lately, they've been a run behind.  Instead of sending me the run I did today, they sent me the one I did on Tuesday.  On Tuesday, they sent the run from Monday.  I'm not really sure what's going on with that, but hopefully that works itself out in the near future.  That's about all for today.  Here's a picture of the awesome shirts I made last night.  Enjoy.