We shivered our way along the streets and noticed how beautifully clear the day was. It's what should be a typical fall day (but these days nothing is quite typical). The hills on the horizon were sharp and defined, the air smelled good, the sky was blue, the leaves were falling in the strong breeze. What a fantastic day to run!
We ended up with just under 7 miles and when we finished Anita beat my shoes off on her trademarked sprint. I tried to beat her, didn't even tell her we were almost done until I had gotten up some speed. It didn't help, that woman has a wonderful finish. I realized when I was done that although we had been running for almost an hour and a half, I had never removed my gloves. That told me just how cold it was. We averaged 12:27/mile and that included some irregular walk breaks, about 15 minutes apart, none lasting more than a minute. I felt strong and ready for Nike next week.
To celebrate (and just because) we went to the Rising Loafer for breakfast. It was strange not having the gang with us but we were prepared to eat our scrambles anyway. I think they have a new cook there. The Loafer Scramble with eggwhites was runny, overly tomatoed and unimpressive. We've been eating that for years but it looks like it might be time to move along the street to the new Chow.
Afterward we headed down the street to Forward Motion to check out the new Nike Women's Marathon race clothing items. I'd been told by a reliable source that it looked like they were back to sizing the clothes normally. Last year all of their racewear was teensy. I'm sure all the size 0-10 women loved it, enjoyed the fitted, tight running clothes (and leisure wear). But anyone who wears a large or extra large, or godforbid an xxlarge or likes loose clothes was out of luck. Even the finishers shirts were very small. I just didn't understand this, seeing their customers. Nike puts on the race for Team in Training. TnT is there to train beginners, runners and walkers in this case. Many women entering this race are doing their first athletic endeavor ever and are -- how do I put this nicely - plus size. Heck, some of us are doing this race as runners running their 30+ half marathon and are plus size. Making clothes that a large portion of the women have no hope of squeezing into is just mean. So seeing their history of sizing down I wasn't feeling too lucky.
Fortunately for me and unfortunately for my wallet the clothes are indeed bigger. The running shirts are in deep rose pink, powder blue and a strange-but-pretty not-quite-teal blue. Most of them are also in white, some in black. Long sleeved, short sleeved, vests, jackets, sweatshirts. I could have bought one of each and any of them would have fit. And no, it's not because I've lost weight this year. Last years' clothes wouldn't fit me now any better than they did then. I ended up with only a sweatshirt in the darker blue color. The race name and date are on the shoulder and the two-women-running-together-with-all-the-flowers is on the lower back. Now I just have to NOT buy anything else at the expo(tique).
I went to see a movie Saturday night. This is stranger than it sounds, I can't remember the last time I was in a theater to see a movie. I haven't even rented a dvd lately. I joined my bro's family and a few of my nephew's 10-11 year old friends to see the City of Ember. I had, at my bro's urging, read the book -- and the second one in the series -- and the third one. I'm a fan of well-written children's literature, especially fantasy or science fiction. An apocalyptic children's book sounded intriguing and so it was. All of them are a fast read and well written. Definitely geared for an adolescent, but that doesn't bother me. The movie, like most movies, wasn't as good as the book. Unfortunately they pumped up the action and gore, quiet unnecessarily in my opinion. But the two teenage stars were incredible and true to the book. The boys highly enjoyed it and all sat tight during almost the entire movie.
Today I did the usual weekend mom stuff. After taking care of her paperwork I had a quandary. She's finally gotten bookcases to hold her dozen or so boxes of books and all her
Good thing I have until Sunday before I need to run for any time or distance. This week will be busy and my only running will or may be on the treadmill. Very little cross-training either, so I can rest up. Maybe catch up on my knitting!
Oh! Congratulations to Phil for his big half marathon PR! You ROCK!
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