Counting calories is never a good idea.

Since yesterday's run was a 7 miler, I decided to do our favorite trick of driving to the half way point, stocking the car with Gatorade and then 'butterfly'ing' out in each direction. It would have been the perfect plan if I hadn't read the pedometer calorie count instead of mile count for my turn-around in the u-district and in Ballard. Once again (just like in Seabeck) I added about an extra mile to my run by reading my calories as miles - woops.

It was the first time I have run a long run on the Burke Gilman on the weekend. I made some important observations of things that people should NOT do on a busy weekend on the trail.
1. Ride a Segway
2. Let their dog poop in the middle of the trail
3. Stop walking in the middle of the trail to point something out to your friend
4. Schedule a scavenger hunt where a bunch of hungover college students do #3

There are many more, but Sam is crying and it's time for ballet. Good thing today is a 'rest' day according to the training schedule.

Wind Sucks.

Today ended up being only 3.5 miles, which is about what it was supposed to be based on the training schedule...except for the fact it was my first run since last Sunday's long run. A mix of Zoe with the flu (and apparently a raging case of preschooler-pms), mom in town and rain provided a variety of excuses for not running this week. I do think that I made up my miles walking to and from all of Zoe's 'time outs' this week though.

Today's run was at my slowest pace ever, even though I almost made myself trying to keep pace with some runner on the other side of the road for about a mile. I would like to blame it on running into the wind all the way home, except that would mean that the wind was at my back for the first half....maybe it was just the stack of pancakes I ate before I left....

Crossing over

Today was the big day - not only 'crossing over' to the other half (where the long runs are longer than running half the race) but also crossing over to Magnolia to do a little exploring. I didn't bring my camera since it was a 6.5 miler, but I should have - the views on the other side of the locks were really pretty. Not only that but it was a beautiful sunny day...tank top, shorts (I didn't even know that I owned shorts!) The only tough part was weaving through all the tourists at the locks. I was going to use that as an excuse for my time, but it was my best pace ever - under 9 minute miles (according to my pedometer).

New World Record!

After a morning and afternoon of set backs including a rain delay, feeding delay and a nap delay, we finally went for it and ended up having an amazing run.

Not only did the sun come out, but according to my pedometer, we did 4 miles at under a 9 minute mile. This is about a 2 minute improvement in pace which is especially shocking since I had both Sam and Zoe. Chances are that there was some error with the pedometer but I'm still taking credit for it. Hooray!

Some runs just aren't meant to be.

Feeling so lazy today that I'm just copying and pasting my Facebook status:

Today's 3 mile run = Run 1/2 mile, break for 15 minutes to pick Zoe up from school, run another 1/2 mile and realize I forgot to feed Sam. Now I've got a passed out, food coma baby, only one-third of my run done and a dog wondering why we're all just sitting here. Think I'm done for the day.

3 for 1

Fortunately I have been better at keeping up with my running than I have at keeping track of them, so I'm doing a quick recap of the last 3 just so I can remember that I actually did them.

Last Thursday was a rainy 2 mile run with my cutest running partner, Jackson. He hates the rain...and the dark....and running....so he only made it about one mile, being drug by his leash, squinting his eyes from the rain the whole time. And in true Jackson form, he picked the perfect spot to poop in order to maximize the amount of time that I had to carry the bag around.

Sunday was our family fun run - We ended up doing 4.7 miles although it ended up it was only supposed to be 4. The Burke Gilman makes for a very scenic run - except the graffiti train end of it. The area along the canal in Fremont made for some nice boat and duck viewing for Zoe and we even got to pass by Gas Works Park where we had such a fun kite-flying day last summer. Do need to remember to bring a tire pump with me though - running with a low tire is not fun.

And last night was a great run with Hillery. It's amazing how having a fun conversation can make you almost forget that it is pouring out. It was supposed to be a 3 mile but ended up closer to 3.5.

I think I was supposed to do something tonight, but after being called in as an emergency sub for preschool today, schedules were a little off the rest of the day. My work out instead consisted of scrambling up green eggs for St Patricks day celebration at the preschool and scrounging through the kitchen for something that would look like Leprechaun treasure for Zoe's Leprechaun 'trap'.

Back to it tomorrow!

Carbo load

Tuesday marked 2 successes. I did my first solo 3 mile stroller run and Amazon Fresh delivered all my implements for my new obsession with bread-making (need to carbo-load to run, after all).

The run was much easier along the Burke Gilman this time - mostly because there were no headwinds and also because my trainer, Zoe was at preschool. Not surprisingly having 45 fewer pounds to push made things quite a bit easier.

Sam and I enjoyed our run to Fremont and back. I was amazed how close we are to Fremont and kind of ashamed of us for not exploring the Burke Gilman sooner. It will be a lot of fun when the kids are older and we can all ride our bikes along it.

Note for future runs - I need to remember by iPod since Sam sleeps the whole way anyway. Notes for the city of Seattle - the first .6 miles of the Burke Gilman trail could use some serious beautification efforts. Here's a photo that summarizes both thoughts.

Here's hoping some fresh baked bread boosts my pace a little.