I’m back in town and decided to run this course this morning. I was slow to get out of bed this morning, so I got a later start than I had hoped. It was way warmer out than I thought it would be, and when I hit the Challenge sign, I was done!!!
The combination of the North Country Half on Saturday and too many extended periods of sitting between that and today wreaked havoc on my legs. They screamed at me every time I climbed a flight of stairs!
Community stars via posting on the forum is the one thing I am able to do to win some Challenge 
. Earlier this week as I was trying to get to the template for this course, I scrolled through some of my posts and was a little disappointed in the tone.
This morning I decided that I would try to be more positive and also stay in the moment. I headed to the Challenge sign where I saw @patrickmilano and Theo had just finished a run. I introduced myself, and Patrick told me to enjoy my run.
I decided that I would try out some running mantras, and here are a few I came up with:
~My legs have carried me thousands of miles
~I am setting a good example for my children
~Running is my release
~I enjoy spending time outdoors
~This is good for my body/health
I had to ground myself several times by engaging my senses. I only noticed a couple of smells, one being the dry leaves out on the Treman Loop. I decided that the only taste I might get is if an insect flew in my mouth.
And thanks Patrick, I did indeed enjoy my run!
I did this the morning of Women Swimmin’ before taking the shuttle bus up to the yacht club. Last year I took a wrong turn and needed to add on so I didn’t end up short. This year I took a different wrong turn and ended up long! Maybe next year I’ll get it right?
Beautiful day at the Lansing Lighthouse 5K in Myers Park. Can’t believe I had never visited this lovely park before
Kris and I took our grandson Julian on Lakefront loops today. His personal challenge was to walk five steps on the 5K course. He met his goal!
I saved this for the last course in my tarmac challenge because I’ve run it so many times. RunGo strangely would not speak the directions even though it had been working for me all day, and I knew I would need it to figure out where the turnaround was. Burned a few minutes walking while trying to figure it out, then ran until I saw a beautiful foggy sunset coming into view as I turned left onto the path in front of the benches just north of the marina. I had to stop and take a picture:
After seeing this I continued on running and was able to run all but 200ish meters of the remaining course. And with that, I finished the tarmac challenge just as it got dark!
The leaderboard will have my running time and elapsed time so here are some FUN stats:
Total steps today: 62,954. Probably my personal step record, although I didn’t have a step tracker when I ran my first and only marathon.
Total mileage according to Garmin: 27.6 mi
Pairs of shoes worn: 2. Changed into trail shoes for Black Diamond just to switch it up.
Pairs of socks worn: 2
Shirts worn: 2, but only 1 pair of shorts
Toenails damaged: 0. I already had a purple one but there were no other casualties!
I’ve been feeling my anxiety more than usual lately. I hoped I would be able to run some of it out this morning. My brain didn’t settle like I thought it might. I engaged my senses and repeated “I am running the Lakefront Loops 5K” to myself again and again.
My left knee has prevented me from running all but Mulholland Waterfalls early in the Challenge (though I also counted the Sweetgum 1600 from having walked it while checking the distance and installing the sign). But I’d really like to be able to at least power walk the PGXC races this fall so as to score for the High Noon Vets team, and I figured that I could test it today so I have more information about whether it was a good idea for my appointment with Andy Getzin on Friday.
Hence, a true Lakefront Loops 5K power walk. I’ve done some run/walk intervals this summer and lots of biking but nothing that has tasked my cardiovascular system like full-on power walking for nearly 23 minutes. Luckily, my heart rate settled down after the first few minutes of “what the hell are you doing?” The knee itself wasn’t comfortable after about a mile or so, but it didn’t get much worse and while it’s not great afterward, it’s not as bad as I’d feared it might be. We’ll see how it feels tomorrow, since that 24-hour test is always the key.
This morning on my drive to Lakefront Loops, I fretted about getting rained on and being under dressed. What a waste of energy, neither was the case.
Whoa! That is an impressive power walking pace! Fingers crossed your knee feels okay.
Happily, it seems pretty much OK today, though I suspect a fair amount of that is the meloxicam (an NSAID) preventing it from talking. Still, that was intentionally a part of the test.
Glad to hear that!
We treat research sheep with meloxicam after performing certain procedures on them. 
l
Baa! 
A beautiful afternoon with a light breeze 
Today had great weather for a 5K race, and I happily ran the Groton Labor Day 5K for my final “Lakefront Loops.” I was hoping to get a better time than a 5K I ran last spring, but I was a few seconds slower. Regardless, I enjoyed the small town vibe, picked up second in my age group just behind @KimJ (at left in the photo), and ate my first fresh apple of the season.
The last day of the challenge has arrived, and I thought there’s no better way to conclude, than go for a PR! Over 2 years I’ve had my mind set on breaking an 18:00 5k, I hadn’t tried for it in a couple of months, but I knew I was in good enough shape to give it a go. Recently, I decided to splurge and pick up a pair of Nike Alphafly’s, and yes, they’re fun! Ready to put the Alphafly’s to the test, I took off in the middle of day, ready to get baked by full sun. 
First mile felt good, as I came in at sub 5:40. last 2 miles were more of a grind. I came across the finish at 17:51, nine seconds below the goal. Mission accomplished:) I never really felt in rhythm throughout the run, but still just trying to get a good feel for my first ever pair of carbon plated shoes.
Joel and I run/walked the Groton Labor Day 5k this morning. It was his first organized race longer than 400m and he handled the distance with aplomb, determined to remain ahead of some walkers behind us which turned out not to be registered entrants. We tied for last place and Joel won a prize for youngest finisher.
This was his third time competing the event but the first using his own two legs. (I’ve run this twice pushing him and his brother in a double stroller.) Adrian was home sick and a little sad to miss out, but now he’s looking forward to the 5&10 next week.
