Progress - 10/28/07 (Pleasant Grove, OH)

I'm 412 miles in and coming up on Pleasant Grove, OH. Now, I know most of you were thinking that Pleasant Grove is an incorporated census-designated place. Oh, not so. It's actually unincorporated. I know, I was shocked, too.

According to Wikipedia (and how could that be wrong), it's a town of 2,016 people with a median income of $34,728. Ah, Pleasant Grove, we hardly knew ye.

I Could Have Run All Night - 10/21/07

Yesterday afternoon's run was an excellent example of those runs when you feel like you can run forever. After a very cold patch (30s in the mornings, not much warmer in the afternoons), we're having a bit of an Indian Summer and it was 75 yesterday at 5pm. I put down the law books for an hour and decided to run... oh, and run, I did.

The graph above is a bit deceiving. My slowest time/mile in the near 7-mile run? 8:06. Fastest: about 7:50. Over 7 miles, that's by far my fastest average yet. Needless to say, I was feeling good and smiling the whole time. I don't get a ton of these, but when I do, I want to enjoy them.

Progress - 10/17/07 (Fairview, OH)

I'm 375 miles in and just passed Fairview, OH. If you're interested, it's exit 198 off of Route 70. Fairview is known as a National Road town and was one of the first routes to take travelers from east to west. It's also known (to someone, I assume) as a major maker of pennyroyal oil. Thanks to Road Museum for this information.

Thanks, Susan and Charlie for the great suggestion to mention something about the town.

Mile dedications

I read a couple of great posts this week from people getting ready for upcoming marathons. To help them get through and personalize the race, they are dedicating each mile to someone special in their lives, whether is a co-worker, family member, fellow blogger, or whatever.

Marcie at The Lazy Girl's Guide to Marathon Running split up her miles in groups from beginning to end and dedicates a couple of miles at the end to herself--a great idea!

Amanda at Run to Finish broke up her half marathon into miles for friends and family.

I think I'll borrow (steal) their ideas for my marathon in February. There's something about thanking the people that helped to get you there that just makes the race all the more worthwhile and so much more of a team event. Great posts, ladies!

My World Wife Half marathon

I had originally planned to run my 1/2 marathon for the World Wide Half on Saturday, but well, I became a bit more motivated as I hit the road on Wednesday. I had a Clif Shot (my first one) and decided to hit the road. I felt good as I ran and decided to go the distance and get the 13 miles out of the way. As you can see, I hit my peak around 8 miles (close to 8:15/mile) and then dropped to 9:09/mile at the very end. I was definitely tired when it was over, but not too bad.

I was a bit disappointed in my time. I would have liked to see it a few minutes faster. The general conversion for a 1/2 to a full marathon is 2x 1/2 marathon time + 10 minutes. That'd put me at exactly 4 hours, which is my goal for February.

That said, this is the longest I've ever run and for the longest time, so I guess I shouldn't complain. And, this allows me to take it a bit easier on Saturday/Sunday, though I think I'll still try to get some decent runs in--just not 13 miles.

And I'm into another state--Ohio. It didn't take much to get me through West Virginia, and now I'm on Rt. 70 through Ohio.

I'm in West Virginia

Woo hoo! I'm in West Virginia, and yes, I may be the first person to have both "Woo Hoo" and West Virginia in the same thought. I'm 338 miles in and I just passed the West Virginia border. I'm going through a very thin part of the state by Wheeling, and it will only be another 7 miles before I cross the river into Ohio.

At this point, I'm more than 12% of the way to LA and I just now got out of Pennsylvania. That should illustrate how wide the state is... sheesh!

Onwards and upwards. It's nice and cool in the morning, so the runs are happening without too many problems. My World Wide Half is coming up this weekend as well.

I think Paula Radcliffe has a thing for me

I decided to run 6 miles today which turned into 8 miles. I found a hilly (read: VERY hilly) area and started my trudging. As you can see from the run above, the huge dips were where I dropped from 8:13/m to 8:48/m. Needless to say, I was a bit tired after this run.

That said, I'm beginning to think that Paula Radcliffe has a thing for me. She has been whispering in my ear a lot lately. She congratulated me on my longest run yet (how could she know that I had to reset my IPod in between?), on hitting 250 miles and then just tonight about hitting 500 kilometers. I mean, I appreciate the encouragement and all, Paula, but come on. I think you need to move on to someone else.

First of all, I'm flattered, but you're married, and beyond that, I absolutely could not keep up with you. It was just never meant to be. That said, I won't shoo you away when you congratulate me on my fastest mile, hitting 500 miles or whatever else you decide to whisper in my ear. That's just the kind of guy I am.