Filed under: Lindsey
I waited until after five before leaving the house to run at Campus Lake again. It was near 100 degrees, so I wanted to run where it was shaded. I saw more monarch butterflies while running. I noticed the butterflies a couple weeks ago. It is so neat to see so many monarchs going from flower to flower next to the lake. It’s beautiful and always puts a smile on my face.
It was also nice to smell barbecue near the Bucky picnic dome. This is the second night in a row students gathered to make barbecue and park a vehicle on the grass. I can’t help but remember every semester as my parents drove on the grass around campus so they wouldn’t have to walk as far to unload the car. They would drive on the sidewalk, around to the back of the dorm next to the lake and up to the door so we could simply slip in and unpack. I always felt embarrassed and worried I’d get in trouble, but I am happy we didn’t have to walk so far. Now, I completely understand how the new students feel as their parents walk around campus with them, asking all sorts of questions and making their kids blush. (I’ll never forget when my dad saw one of my teachers at the store and started telling him why we were buying so much toilet paper.)
I ran the entire three miles without stopping. I went slower than I did yesterday, but still made 10-minute miles which is exactly what I wanted to do. I’m feeling so strong. I can’t wait to run nine miles on Saturday!
Yesterday, it happened. I missed a training day for the first time. I worked an extremely long and vigorous day on Monday. By Tuesday, I was extremely worn out. By the end of my work day, I had a major migraine. I decided to take a nap, but didn’t wake up until after 8 p.m. My headache was even worse. I ate dinner and then went back to sleep. But, I made up for it today!
I ran around Campus Lake twice in under 40 minutes. Altogether, I ran 4.4 miles, taking about nine minutes a mile. I felt strong and energetic afterward. I focused on sprinting for 10 minutes, and then walking two minutes. I ran fast. The humidity was choking me, along with the stench of the lake, which was turning over. I joked that it smelled because it was the first week the students were back on campus. But it is nice to see so much activity around campus again. It gives me something to look at while I’m running.
Thanks to Hurricane Erin, we’re getting some showers and wind today. It’s not often we’re affected in St. Louis by hurricanes, but this one traveled right up the midwest and is dying out as it’s pushing through our area. It was much cooler and overcast all day. I ran right after work, and it was pretty windy, enough to make me wonder if it was slowing down my run. About a mile into the run, it started raining, and it was off and on the rest of the way. Nothing too hard, nothing too stormy…just a nice wet rain. Felt great, actually. I don’t mind running in the rain. I just don’t want my mp3 player to short out on me.
Conditions: 82 degrees, rain.
Results: today: 3 miles; shoe miles: 50; time: 30:43; pace: 10:14
Thoughts: Glad I wore my running gear that whisks away water! Wearing cotton today would’ve slowed me down from weighing so much!
What I’ll remember the most: Trying to wear my sunglasses to protect my eyes from the rain.
Finally!!! Temperatures were under 90 degrees! In fact, we began our 5-mile run at 7:30 a.m., and it was only 75 degrees! We started out at the Visitor’s Center just like last time, and then ran the entire park. We stopped a little bit short because the park is 5.6 miles around.
I put my headphones on at the beginning of the run and listened to some Bobby Darin music. I didn’t hear or say “Good Morning,” because my music was on. After a mile, I took my headphones off and started to say “Hi,” which made the run a bit nicer.
I tried to keep up with Patrick because I wanted to run the entire park without stopping. I’m a better runner when I run fast and then take a walking break. After getting about half the park done, I decided to take off. I found this run quite difficult and I’m not sure why. I actually find it easier to run in extreme heat. I think it’s because I push myself hard to finish faster when it’s hot. I have the mind set, “The faster I run, the sooner I’ll be done.”
Because it was so nice in the morning, I wanted to walk, relax, and take in the atmosphere. I just didn’t want to run. And, I couldn’t think of anything to think about. Usually I think about one particular subject which occupies me through the run. On this morning, I could only think about wanting to have something interesting to think about. Besides enjoying the beauty of the park, the run started out boring.
I also started to know the layout of the park, which means I knew what to expect. It makes the run seem longer when I know just how much further I have to run. People on bikes were passing me up so fast. I had to keep an eye to make sure I didn’t get run over. The park was quite packed.
I was also in pain almost the entire run. Everything hurt. My right ankle hurt first, and then my calf. My shoulder hurt during the middle of the run. I had a headache near the end. My left big toe was in extreme pain. I didn’t get any cramping though. That was nice. I was just really happy– and tired– when the run was over.
Then, it was onto Six Flags. We were taking Patrick’s sister Ellen and his niece Erin to the park as Ellen’s birthday present. Erin was afraid of many of the rides, so she ended up waiting for us and waving the whole time. But she enjoyed herself. Her favorite ride was the Scooby-Doo ride and the bumper cars. Ellen and Patrick loved Mr. Freeze. I love the Buccaneer, which is now– sadly– called the Joker. It was so much more of a thrill when it felt like the entire ride was going to fall apart. Now it’s all safe. Bummer.
The entire experience made us miss Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. I did find the rides and some of features of the shopping better. Although Six Flags had entertainment shows, we didn’t have enough time to see them. Even if I enjoyed the rides, while standing in line I kept thinking about the price of all the merchandise, food, and even parking. And, if people are sick of standing in line, at Six Flags, they could pay $ 25 extra and jump the line. So much for teaching kids about patience.
Here’s a comparison:
Admission:
$ 44.99, Six Flags
$ 37.95, Holiday World
Parking:
$ 15 per car, Six Flags
Free, Holiday World
Sodas:
$ 9.50 and $ 1 per refill, Six Flags
Free, Holiday World
Water:
$ 4, Six Flags
Free, Holiday World
Suntan Lotion:
Bring your own, Six Flags
Free suntan lotion stations, Holiday World
Food:
Around $10 a person for a burger and fries, Six Flags
About $5 a person for a burger, fries and a cookie, Holiday World
To Get In:
Go through medal detectors, get bags inspected, have an endless amount of people trying to sell you trips, Six Flags
Just go in, Holiday World
If Holiday World were closer, we would have gone there. It would have been a 3-hour drive one way and that would have been too long to take the girls. Although at Six Flags, I felt like I got a work out. We couldn’t find some the entrances to the rides, so we kept walking around and got a real workout. But after running 5 miles in the morning, I would have rather had more of a relaxing day. We did have fun. The girls will be talking about it for months to come.
For our cheat meal, we ate at Johnny Rockets in the park. Patrick and I had double-cheese burgers with fries. It was so hot and what was horrible is that there was no air conditioning or fans while we were trying to eat. We wanted a shake, but they were six bucks a piece. And we couldn’t find bathrooms. We ate our food without washing our hands. EEEWWW! You think they would have been requires to put a bathroom INSIDE the eating facility. We walked around for about five minutes after our meal looking for them. We finally found bathrooms about 400 feet away.
We ended up eating Dippin’ Dots at the end of the day. I got my wonderful chocolate mint, and Patrick had Cookies and Cream. By the end of the day, we were tired. We ended up falling to sleep pretty early. We can’t wait to get the pictures printed from our day at Six Flags and give a copy to the girls and Patrick’s mom.
It’s hard to even call this morning’s run a “long run”. We are following Hal Hidgon’s marathon training schedule, which puts a 5-miler on the map for today, and it was an easy run. Easy because all the elements were in place–the weather was MUCH cooler, breezy conditions, enthusiastic morning runners at Forest Park, and we’ve finally adjusted to getting up early on Saturday mornings.
After our typical morning “flush” at the Visitor’s Center, Lindsey and I ran together for the first mile, then Lindsey took off a little faster and ran her interval training. I just ran straight through non-stop. There were times when I would pass her up, then she would pass me up right afterwards. She finished a few minutes before I did, but I was really happy with my run, and the weather conditions were perfect. Temps in the mid-70s, breezy wind, and a familiar course. I remember back to the first time I ran Forest Park, I could barely run it. Now, it was a non-stop jog, and I feel like I’ve built my endurance up quite a bit in the last 3 weeks.
After the run, we took my sister Ellen and my neice Erin to Six Flags St. Louis, where we dumped $250 into a typical day’s worth of expenses. I haven’t been at the park in over 10 years, and it’s quite the rip-off. They nickel and dime ya every chance they can. It’s so worth traveling to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. A 3.5 hour trip there will still be less expensive than Six Flags St. Louis. At Holiday World, the drinks and parking is free. Those 3 things at Six Flags St. Louis added up to $65. I’m just going to stop here before I really rip Six Flags St. Louis a new one.
Conditions: 73 degrees, breezy.
Results: today: 5 miles; shoe miles: 47; time: 51:35; pace: 10:18
Thoughts: The cooler temps was such a relief! I almost felt like I needed a jacket!
What I’ll remember the most: Not dying for water at the end. We drank out of the water fountain at the Visitor’s Center and didn’t even touch our own water bottles.
After 3 weeks of upper 90s to 100s, the temps were downright chilly! Ha Ha. Actually the high was around 90 today, which allowed me to run in the evening, instead of after dark. Lindsey was in town Thursday night, so we ran in Fenton Park around 6:30. The weather was cooler, the park was filled with activity, and I was able to easily run 3 miles non-stop. I wasn’t even out of breath after the run. 10 degrees cooler and less humidity certainly help the run. I was really getting frustrated with running late at night, because I had a hard time settling my body down after going through that type of high-intensity workout.
Conditions: 85 degrees, overcast.
Results: today: 2.8 miles; shoe miles: 42; time: 29:16; pace: 10:27
Thoughts: Overcast and cooler temps. I’m looking forward to the Fall.
What I’ll remember the most: Running with Lindsey on a weekday.
I had such a nice time running my 3-miler. It wasn’t too hot, and I decided to run next to Patrick. We ran the entire course non-stop. At the end, I wasn’t even out of breath. There were soccer and baseball games going on all around the park. It was nice to run and see so much activity. My knees hurt right off the bat because I had run so fast the day before. Patrick and I wanted to keep running, but we knew were were supposed to take it easy this week.
I wanted to run yesterday (because I run Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays), but this heat is keeping me from getting motivated. It was muggy and hot and I figured I’d wait until tomorrow to run. I got in my car to head home after work today, and was shocked to see a temperature of 112 degrees on my thermometer. I snapped a photo from my cell phone. 
It ranged between 110 and 115 on the way home. Just insane. How can I train in that kind of weather? That’s a pretty good indication I’m running after dark, when the temp gets down into the lower 90s. Around 9:15pm, the temps were about 91, so I headed out to run my 4-miler. I went to Fenton Park like I always do during the week, and decided to run 4.2 miles, which is 3 laps around. The humidity was low, and it felt pretty nice out. There were some ball games still going on at the time, but by the time I went around my third lap, they were turning off the lights! One interesting note about running at night is that with each lap, the stars looked like they were in a different position…and I guess that’s right…it was about 15 minutes a lap for me tonight.
While running, the mind wanders, and today I was just imagining what it would be like to run down the streets of Vegas and have all the lights and casinos passing by. Pretty cool scene. I can’t wait to run it. I felt good about today’s run, since I ran it non stop. I had a good stretch afterwards and I didn’t experience any side pains like I had been in the past. I was getting pains within the first half-mile, but now I don’t have any pain at all.
Conditions: 91 degrees, less humid, clear starry skies.
Results: today: 4 miles; total: 39 miles; time: 46:50; pace: 11:09
Thoughts: I enjoy the night running. There are parts of the park where there’s hardly any light, but I like the lack of sun every now and then, especially when the official high was 105 today!
What I’ll remember the most: The stars.
