Virgin Hash

Good news, that flat tire I wrote about the other day has been repaired!  I didn't do it, but I watched my husband replace the tube, and I'm pretty confident I'd be able to do it myself next time.

Saturday I went for a glorious shoulda-been-5 mile-pace run.  I went longer.  If I had a video camera, it might have been the running equivalent of Double Rainbow ...all the way.  My first mile was my warm up and was fine...splits 2-5 ranged from 10:18-10:29, all within the range I was hoping for (anything in the 10:20s; a 10:19 pace would be a 2:15 half).

I had one more pace mile to do, and I got to the part of my favorite park where they just recently tore up the old paved road to plant grass seed.  Except it is a now very un-level packed dirt surface with giant chunks of asphalt ranging from large gravel size to pieces bigger than my fist throughout. Half way through, my course took me to a grassy path.  I was sure this non-road surface would slow me down.  I checked my watch to see I had run a mile on it at a 9:50 pace!  And I felt GREAT.  I decided to keep running.  So I continued through the park on the grassy path, in a giant loop, returning the unpaved mess and managed to run another faster mile at 9:51. I was shocked!


I tried to slow down for my cool down but ran it at half marathon pace, apparently...10:23 for that .41 mile.  Then I walked the last .04 mile home.

I was pretty excited by how comfortable I felt for that run after my warm up, and returned in such a great mood!!  Just in time to shower and hop in the car to drive to nearby (well, a little over an hour) Victory Brewing to meet a friend from high school.

Throwback Lager for me and Bayrisch Pale Ale for hubs.

We came home with our two growlers filled with two newer beers: Herbrucker Pils and Tettnanger Tripel.

Sunday morning was productive, we woke up strangely early for us, had a delicious "brunch" (really, breakfast, it was at 9am) from our favorite restaurant and sat outside because it was so nice, went grocery shopping, got dog food, then did 3 loads of laundry and cleaned the bathroom.  Whew!

Sunday was also supposed to be my 11 mile day...and I screwed it up.

I filled up my camelbak back pack (was going to try it instead of my handheld water bottle, for fun - I've only used it for biking), and I packed two gu in the camelbak, ready to head to the nearby canal towpath for my long run.  Then at the last minute I decided to go to run my very first Hash run with a friend's group.

What's a hash run you might ask?  Check out this description (not the group I ran with).

The run was 5.6 miles (or that's what I did) in 1:21.  Not a fast pace, but it's not supposed to be.  There was a lot of stopping, turning around, running through (only a little) mud, through woods, etc.  One of the faster guys there got about 7 miles on his garmin, but he was the one to usually run ahead and see if we were on the right course.  The run ended up at the house of the person who set the course...where beer and snacks were waiting.

I had a Jersey Summer breakfast ale, which wasn't bad.  And probably a much better choice than a coffee stout, before running some additional miles.

An hour later, the guy whose house it was gave everyone a ride back to their cars.  Since this was supposed to be a long run day for me, and I knew where we were and how to get back to my car...I ran there.  It was 2.79 miles - which were supposed to be easy miles - that I ran at a 10:54, 10:56, and 10:37 pace.  Not bad at all with a beer, some mac salad, and two bite size quiches in my belly.

I drove home and cleaned out a bunch of the healthy things in the fridge (it wasn't all beer and mac salad this weekend!) Veggies and Kashi crackers, hummus, and delicious feta.

Overall, the hash was fun and I would definitely do one again!  I'm just not a super muddy person, so I'd be more of a fair-weather hasher...and would look for more opportunities like today where it hadn't rained in a couple days :)  I should also mention, I picked 4 ticks off of my shoes during the 5.6 mile portion of the run...and found one in my shoe when I got home. Gross!! Luckily no ticks anywhere else and none were stuck to me, just my socks/shoes.  Maybe I'd wear some bug repellent with Deet next time to try to deter the ticks.  Ticks and all, I would do it again.  It's a nice way to explore some new parks/other towns, it's very social, and it's something fun to keep your running interesting.


Question for you all:
This is my tentative plan for the next two weeks.

Week 5  5/9-5/15	2 easy  + strength	6x800  @10k	2-3 easy  + strength	50 min  tempo	Rest	3 pace	12 long	26-27
Week 6  5/16-5/22	3 easy  + strength	6x400  @5k	2 easy  + strength	30 min  tempo	Rest	Rest	Half!

As I did not run 11 miles today, should I be looking to squeeze in an 11 mile run on Tuesday before getting to 12+ next weekend??  Do I just let it slide since I know I can run 13.1 miles and have done so on at least 3 other occasions?

I'm really feeling like I want to get it in there...but then I don't know which run to sacrifice later this week...the 6x800 at 10k pace or the 50 minute tempo run.  I guess I did a tempo run last week, so maybe do the speed work?  Or is the tempo run more valuable since I'm holding that same pace for longer...

Regardless, I should have some great weather for my runs this week... I love spring!

 ETA-
Fun fact: This past week (May 2 - May 8) I ran 32.13 miles! I think that's my all time weekly high.
Another fun fact: Sunday's hash run brought me up to 320 miles for 2011.  That's half of my 2010 total on the 128th day of the year!

Hope everyone had a great weekend.