The Week of Sevens; Week 5

Alyssa shot this while we were waiting to start our run Sunday.  Notice how we are all gathered in the shade in SF.  It was a warm day.

Sunday:  7 miles @ 10:15 pace; Easy, fun run with lots of Bay Area ladies around GPP.  My leg was a little tight and mad about the 17 mile Friday, but overall not too bad and I was able to stretch it into submission.  We even ran up Strawberry Hill once (I've been a bit nervous to do this since that is where my leg started acting up) but it didn't give me any trouble there.  We finished off the run with ramen which I've decided is the best post-run food (second perhaps to saimin, but that is rare strain of noodle dish found mainly in Hawaii).

Tuesday:  7 miles, including 3x 1600m in 7:47, 7:51, 8:09; The last time I did mile repeats, Garfield ate my data so I was curious what I would be able to do.  The first repeat is my new unofficial mile PR!  The second repeat also beat my previous PR by a few seconds.  That third one... err... Not sure what happened there.  I don't recall feeling so terrible but I guess it all caught up with me.  I haven't done any speed work in two weeks due to my calf so I'm still really happy with the way this run went.

Wednesday:  7 miles @ 9:46 pace;  The legs were pretty heavy this morning but I kept on trucking.

Friday:  7 miles @ 9:48 pace, including 2x Strawberry Hill; I keep track of the pace I log up Strawberry Hill versus the time it takes me mainly because I don't always run the same line of curve up the hill.  Posted my fastest pace yet the second time up today.  9:38!  After this run I met up with Alisa who is visiting from Portland.  We did an easy 4 mile walk/run over the Golden Gate Bridge.

I took Alisa and Mr. Pi on a brief sightseeing tour of SF.  The view from Twin Peaks today.

I normally do my long run on Fridays but skipped for three good reasons:  1) Alisa was in town and we decided to go check out the Golden Gate Bridge.  Alisa's been dealing with some injuries but she was running at great pace!  It is always great to see her and her hubby.  2)  There is a huge group of awesome runners participating in a 6 hour run this Sunday.  I'll be there to knock out my 20 miler.  The course is a one mile loop and you can run as many as you like in the 6 hour time frame.  3) My calf is feeling better every day and I figure the extra two days before I throw 20 miles at it can only help.  Last week I made huge improvements and had a slight setback after my 17 miler.  So it seems as I keep running on it I get two steps forward, one step back. Hopefully this week I take enough steps forward that I am in the clear.

The above shot is from July 4th.  Alyssa came out to meet Rowdy and then we went to the beach to chillax and fly our Rainbow Brite kite.  Here is Boyfriend showing me how it is done.