The road to 13.1: This week’s runs

As part of my continued effort to catch up on my blogging, here are my two most-recent runs.  First, Monday’s Boston Tea Party fun run:

Run #47:  4 miles, 39:44, 9:55.9/mile

I enjoyed this run.  I cruised modestly through the first 3 miles, including a jaunt up the hill on Wheaton Avenue.  I took the hill comfortably … well, as comfortably as one can take such a hill.  Picking up the pace for the last mile, I managed to bring it home just under the 40-minute mark.  On top of that, I won a drawstring bag and got to extol the virtues of my shoes to the Brooks representative.

Run #48:  5 miles, 50:22, 10:04.3/mile

Tonight’s run was quite fun, too.  I moved along around the 10:30 mark for the first 3 miles and change.  In that first part, I was cheered by Becky, one of my favourite folks at Borgess ProMed, who drove by as I headed north along Romence Road.  I also encountered three deer, none of which saw me as a threat.  I gradually picked up the pace toward the back half of the fourth mile, still keeping it over a 10-minute pace.  For the fifth mile, I gradually accelerated, finishing with an absolute flourish as I arrived back at the south building of the Borgess complex at Woodbridge Hills.  I then checked in with my physical therapist, who wanted to do a quick follow-up check to ensure that I’m progressing well, and headed home.  The highlight of the run, as was the highlight of yesterday’s run, was the last mile.  In each of these two runs, I cracked the 9-minute barrier, including today’s final mile of 8:48.

Also today, I had a session with a dietician.  As I move from training for a half marathon to training for a marathon, I want to ensure I’m eating well and eating enough; that being said, I also want to be sure that I’m continuing to lose weight and maintaining a good cholesterol level.  Enter the dietician.

I know, it’s probably not as exciting as “Enter the Sandman”, but then I’d have been a bit concerned if she had chugged a beer and then smacked herself in the head with the empty can.  I’m just saying.

The best part is that I can think of only one person I know who might actually get that.

We talked about what I eat, what I don’t eat, and when/why I eat … and then she told me what I should eat.  Amazingly enough, that last part didn’t go nearly as badly for me as I expected it would.  She had absolutely zero problem with my Biggby Mocha Caramels; apparently, losing 40 pounds without giving them up gave me a little bit of leeway.  Furthermore, I don’t have to give up Pat Karr’s chocolate chip cookies.  She did suggest a few changes, the biggest of which is related to my love of cheese.  It doesn’t have to go, but it has to decline.  That’s doable; I’m content with substitute treatments for sandwiches and such.  I’ll go back in a month for follow-up, and we’ll have a little discussion about sports nutrition.

Dear Dr V,

No, not you, Mary … the other one.

I’m totally going after the last 20 pounds you want me to lose, plus a few on top of it.  Oh, and I’m going after the cholesterol level, too.  It’ll be great.  And I’ll be working on the whole marathon thing at the same time.  Not that I’ll be overdoing it.  I would never do that.

Sincerely,

Darrell