Recalibration

I recalibrated the nike+ tonight.

I think I am a little closer to where I want to be.

Tonight's run was a short one. I ran the 1/2 mile needed to calibrate the sensor and then did a loop from home that was just under 3 miles...or 2.81. The new Nike+ reading for that distance came to 2.94 in just about 28 minutes. We;ll see what it says for my longer run tomorrow.

Happy Easter

Wonderful Easter weekend up in NJ!

I had a GREAT run Sunday morning. I did just under 6 miles on one of my favorite loops near my Dad's house. It is a beautiful route on mainly dirt roads past horse farms, large country estates, properties that my Dad has for sale, the future home of a former NJ Devils Captain...and one unfortunate golf course. It is not an easy run as no matter which direction you take from our house there are HILLS. Still, I made it through the whole run without stopping to walk, including up the "Dip of Death" on Spook Hollow Rd.

GMaps says the route is 5.66 miles.
Nike Plus says I did 6.06 in 57:42. Clearly something is off. I am going to go for a short run tonight (probably in the rain) and will try to recalibrate it so that it becomes a little more accurate.

While in P'ville I also had the opportunity to go to the local Y with my dad. It was crazy crowded on Saturday morning so he was able to sneak me in past the front desk without incident. It was fun to be back at the place I spent so many nights during high school swim days. The place has definitely changed for the better with a brand new pool and an expanded workout facility. It is huge! I got to workout with my Dad which was a lot of fun. He has been doing really well in getting to the gym at least a couple of times a week and I am very proud of him!

We had a delicious Easter dinner at Guya's Sunday evening. The weekend was a little drama-filled after Arianna spent hours on a gorgeous lamb-shaped cake only to have Jack, Guya's Jack Russel Terrier, jump up onto the kitchen table and eat it's head. No joke! I don't know that I have ever seen A so mad...with the exception of that time we woke her up in Switzerland to the tune of "What's the Story, Morning Glory". She's knows what I'm talking about. Anyways..it all got fixed in the end by a few more hours and another box of cake mix. This time the cake was protected on a higher table.

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler

This past weekend was the Cherry Blossom ten miler. Another race that I wasn't entirely prepared for! It is a sign of spring in DC though and I am glad that I did it. This event has a history of being plagued by terrible weather and cold, rainy races but this year was gorgeous. The blossoms were actually in peak the week of the race as evidened by the photos to the left.

Gorgeous!

I ran the entire ten miles with EL which was great. I think we helped each other out a lot. I am really glad that I raced despite some sore legs for the start of this week. I am definitely ready to officially start my pre-training now!

I went out this week and bought Hal Higdon's book Marathon.

I am hoping it gives me extra inspiration as I get closer to the start of training. I think I'll be following his novice training program so it is good to get an idea of what I'm in for! The basis of the program is 2 short runs, a medium run and a long run per week. The basic schedule might look like 3 miles Tuesday, 4 Wednesday, 3 Thursday and then 6 on Saturday. Starting this week I'm shooting for 4 runs a week to get into the habit. So far so good this week! With Sunday's Cherry Blossom and runs on Tuesday and Wednesday I am well on the way.

It feels good to have a minor success so far.