Spooky Six

I'm not blogging to myself anymore; I've amassed a loyal band of readers that number somewhere in the single digits. Mid-to-low single digits. So, I will no longer address my nonexistent readers. I've also decided to limit myself to weekly blogging because (a) I don't have time for much more than that, (b) that's been the trend lately, anyway and (c) my posts are a lot longer when I can put an entire week's worth of content into them. Which brings me to throwing in the last week's worth of content.

Monday was the official start of my half-marathon training program. I'm using the Coach feature on nikerunning, which starts off with two four-mile short runs and a six-mile long run. When I first started the C25K program this summer, I really couldn't comprehend the idea of four-mile short runs. Part of me still can't, but I did them anyway. I did both of them in the early evening, following a familiar route to the park, around the lake and back home. I was scheduled to do my long run on Friday, and I even had the day off from work, but I just didn't feel like doing it. Instead, I got caught up in reading Addicted to Hate, Jon Michael Bell's account of Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church. Believe it or not, there is a running tie-in there, but I'll leave it to you, my paltry band of readers, to discover it for yourselves.

Saturday, of course, was Halloween, and I really needed to get that long run in. It's one thing to skip a short run during the week; another entirely to blow off a long run. The day was already busy with errands, meals and trick-or-treaters, though, so I decided to do it after the trick-or-treating tapered off. Shortly after nine o'clock, and under a nearly-full moon, I finally started. I took the same route as the short runs, but added another lap around the lake to increase the distance. I kept my pace at approximately ten minutes per mile and focused on my form. I'm still trying to clean up the mechanics of my stride to avoid injury and reduce recovery time. Every time Nike+ announced a mile completed, I had three or four sport beans and a mouthful of water (thanks for the tip, Michelle). I ran past quite a few Halloween parties, but I didn't see any ghosts, ghouls, zombies or even the Great Pumpkin. The six miles ticked away one at a time until I completed them, leaving me with a quarter-mile walk to my front door. Week One - Done.

On Sunday, we stopped into Ross and scored. I got a pair of Reebok men's running tights for $15 (regularly $50, and yes, I'm sure they're actually men's). Now that it's finally starting to cool off in the evenings and mornings, they'll come in handy.

I also watched the 2009 New York City Marathon on Sunday. I thought it was a bummer to see Paula lose it at the end, but apparently Nike didn't get the memo:

This week is 4/4/7, plus I have the Phoenix 10K on Sunday. I'll post again after all of that.