Weekend Jumble

Friday went well - I got up to seven miles in right around 65 minutes.  It was a fabulous accomplishment and beyond the fact that my knees and ankles were screaming quite loudly, I felt pretty good.  I ran out by my office again, and this time I came just a little closer the airport.  My next run out there will be the same seven mile route, and the one following that will be all the way to the airport.  Friday involved the Mount Vernon Trail down to Duke Street and back to the office (around 2 miles) then  2.5 miles out toward GW Parkway and back.  Great weather and far fewer people than Wednesday (I guess people want to have fun or be with their families at the end of the work week).

Saturday we went out to Great Falls to climb and I had tons of fun.  For the sake of naming things, we went to this area with climbs named Romeo's Ladder and Juliet's Balcon (I think).  How great is that?  The climbs were really great.  Very footsy, requiring lots of thought.  The starts for all the climbs, 5.5 to 5.9, were ridiculous.  I had a really hard time getting on everything.  Once on, things got more reasonable.  In any case, it seems pretty standard that getting on routes at Great Falls and Carderock is a pain in the ass.  A lot of the climbs, even being footsy, asked for a little more arm muscle than I'm used to working on, and for the first time my biceps and shoulders are a little sore.  

Today I had thought to go run out on the track (since I'm in Germantown this weekend and tracks are a little more prominent than in the inner city).  I really wanted to so some timed runs and get a good gauge on my pace, and I also wanted to test out this iPhone application, TrackThingLite, that I downloaded that supposedly tracks distance/time via GPS.  My brother recommended it to me and I hope it works.  In any case, I'd like to try it out and then buy one of those fancy schmancy arm bands to carry on my runs.  I'm generally against running with electronics, and I manage without it just fine, but I'd like to know my times and distances without googlemaps after runs.  At the same time, running with my phone appeals to me since I run on my own most of the time and it's a good safety option.  In any case, I'm debating whether I go out to the track today.  My knees and ankles are achy and while I feel motivated, I'm not sure it's the smartest thing to do.  

I've started considering the notion of running the full marathon rather than the half.  The race is January 25, and I'm already at 7 miles.  What's to stop me from going all the way?  I could run a faster 13.1 miles if I just focused on training for it, or I could keep up the slow pace and do the full 26.2.  I've got my appointment with the Sports Doc tomorrow, and hopefully he can give me a better idea of what sorts of limitations I'll be looking at.  I may just take the good advice he offers and ignore the stupid warnings I am bound to get.  It would be pretty awesome to run a full marathon...and the Miami race is supposed to be a good first marathon by most standards.  We'll see.

It's a good thing that I don't have a TV or internet in my apartment.  Beyond saving money that I don't need to spend, I am much more motivated to do other things.  I had a pretty active weekend, but last night I came home from climbing (and REI) and I sat in front of the TV for hours watching stuff that was of no particular interest to me.  The fact that I don't have TV or internet at home means that I have to find other ways to entertain myself outside the apartment or I'll go crazy.  

Today maybe involve some late afternoon slacklining down on the Potomac.  I may bring the boys (also known as my brother's 2 Italian Greyhounds) with me to the park, or if it's later in the afternoon I'll just head back to the DC area for the evening, since my dog sitting shift is over this evening.  Alexandria is an insane dog capital - I love it.  I should get a dog.  I can't, but I should.  A friend of mine is adopting a dog that I will get to have some time with during my office lunch times.

That is all.