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April 7, 2008
Run, Rosie, Run!
Before I launch into a recap of the past week in running, I thought it would be fun to kick off the entry with a little photojournalism :)
The pictures below were taken at Chicago's Cheetah 5K yesterday. My sister, Colleen, is sick with the running bug and she has been running up a storm lately! Personally, I find her energy contagious, and I am constantly in awe of her dedication to training as she juggles her law career and her three beautiful, amazing, brilliant children! Her oldest daughter, Rosie, is 3, and her next two children, Mr. Mack and Miss Sadie, are almost 2 (twins!). Colleen and I meet up every Wednesday morning at 4:45 AM for an 8-9 mile run . . . we refer to our runs together as our "therapy sessions."
Anyway, Miss Rosie is blossoming into quite the athlete; I am convinced that she is the next Paula Radcliffe or Deena Kastor. She is becoming well known on the race circuit, too. She debuted this past November in the Drumstick Dash and she followed that fabulous and furiously fast debut with a solid showing at Sunday's Cheetah dash. She hung with the big guns (i.e the 4 year-olds!) for the first 25 yards before slightly fading in the final 25 yards. Still, she dusted all of the three year-olds and she showed the big kids why they need to take the little ones seriously. Power to the little people!
Rosie runs in her favorite dress and wins a ribbon!
Grandpa, Rosie, and me. I finished my 15 mile run in time to meet up with my family, run Colleen's final mile with her, and cheer Rosie on! It was a deceptively chilly morning, but considering the arctic temperatures of late, I was psyched to shovel out the shorts and blind fellow runners with my stark white skin (I would scare Casper and he's a freakin' ghost).
AIR ROSIE!!!!! We need to have a talk: clearly, Rosie did not race hard enough if she can go home and exercise her hurdling skills. Future Olympic Steeplechase Star? We might be hearing about Rosie Klein in 2020!
March 31 - April 6 Recap
I'll write up this recap quickly, and I will try to commit to updating my blog several times a week instead of weekly, bi-weekly, monthly . . . or yearly! I'll be the first person to admit that I need to spin the writing wheels as consistently as I spin the running wheels.
Monday: B., my twin sister, Anne, and I ventured out for a hilariously fun 5.8 mile fun run around the neighborhood. Anne and I were laughing so hard at one point that I got serious stomach cramps.
Tuesday: H. and I and the group hit the lakefront for our usual 4.65 mile tempo run. Total run: 10.4 miles. In spite of racing hard on Sunday, I felt fairly fresh and ready to rock. H. and I kept it under control. We averaged 6:15 on the tempo.
Wednesday: 9 miles easy. Treadmill run.
Thursday: INTERVALS! These are the days that have molded me into a runner; I dread them, but I understand all too well why I have to gut them out. H., Adrian, Jeremy and I headed out for a tempo-ish warm-up, and then we pumped out 6 x 800 with 45 seconds rest. H. kept me under control the first 2: 2:54, 2:52. The next 4: 2:49, 2:48, 2:50, 2:49. It's hard to tell from the splits, but numbers 1,3, and 5 were slightly uphill and 2,4, and 6 were slightly downhill. I wasn't running close to these splits this time last year (I was just happy to run 2:59 12 months ago!). Our desert after the 800s? A 1200 in 4:28. I got no rest in between the final 800 and the 1200. H. wanted to make sure that we could replicate Sunday's race in a workout. Total miles: 10.
Friday: SHOOT ME NOW. Dead. Tired. Dead. Tired. 3 miles easy with B. (okay, okay, we actually walked the three miles, but I logged them anyway!).
Saturday: TEMPO with the big boys on our racing team. I think they were trying to drop me, but I hung in there. Actually, the 6:30s and the 6:20s that we hit felt super comfortable. Even the 6:11 felt blissful. BUT the final mile - 6:05 - hurt. Total: 12.5
Sunday: 15 at 6:52 pace. I actually think that I ran over 15, but I am calling it 15. H. would have my head on the chopping block if he knew I ripped those miles faster than 7:00 pace. The sun was smiling, the wind was gently rocking, and I felt good. I drowned in the beauty of the Spring morning and totally lost track of pace, time, etc. However, I need to be more conscious of pace. I have enjoyed almost 18 months of injury-free running. I don't want to risk anything now.
Total for the week: 65+ It's time to gear up for a June Marathon!
Posted by bridget at April 7, 2008 4:45 PM
Comments
looks like rosie has your speed, bridge, and colleen's sense of style! love the recap - and the photos! keep them coming...
Posted by: carrie g. at April 7, 2008 5:34 PM
What a great post (I'm biased, of course)! I showed it to Rosie and she kept asking if she was going to win her races like Aunt Bridge. Too cute!
Posted by: colleen at April 8, 2008 6:33 AM
yay, bridget! im excited you're back to posting. you are still one of my "daily check" websites.
you seriously inspire me to keep running!!!
Posted by: katie w at April 9, 2008 12:38 PM
Wow! What a great post! I love all the pictures and I love hearing all of your energy. I am envious that you are running with your sister! I ran with my sister a lot last summer, but she is way too busy these days. Rosie is adorable - I LOVE the "steeplechase" pic! It is so much fun to get kids involved in running. My kids watch me do it so much that they get so excited to do kids' runs and earn their own ribbons and medals. Good stuff.
I am glad to hear you intend to post more.
Nice week of running - you can see all of that training in those great legs!
Posted by: mindi at April 13, 2008 7:56 AM
Woo Hoo!! Go Rosie....looks like she got the Bridget gene! Very cool...and those hops - wow! Cool post and dude - your legs are rockin!!
Posted by: Patrick at April 13, 2008 8:47 PM