chugging along

its time for the (boring) marathon training plan update for all of you who probably don't care at all how its going - but will kindly read this anyways because you are my polite and respecting blog readers. which is why i love you.

so i'm logging over 30 miles a week now, had 2 days of minor injury scares before bouncing back last week, and today marked the day of my (new) longest training run ever: 18 miles!

i had a great cheerleader-on-bike helping me out for part of it, and 2 great friends (the cheerleader plus another) running with me for another part of it -- so it ended up being a wonderfully social, yet satisfying run. wind not included.

many mental blocks were torn down today! and probably a few muscle fibers too. time for a movie and bed.

spawn!

bay 2 breakers was this weekend. my co-worker was one of the salmon this year (they run the entire course backwards).

he posted a little footage of his experience online. it's short, and a bit nauseating (shaky-cam)... but worth the 5 seconds it will take from your life.

spawn!

nike plus

ok - i'm really excited about something.

>> nike+

i'm a huge dork about data collection. for instance, i recently started tracking all my training runs on nike's training log (online in their running section), because its super cool and graphs my progress and keeps track of all sorts of things like how much i sleep, weigh, how hot it is, what terrain i ran on, my running distances, paces, if i have injuries, if i lifted weights, etc...

i also track my running loops using mapmyrun.com to get accurate distances so i can make sure my paces are on target. i've got over 20 runs saved online on their site now.

but with this new merge between my shoes and music... i can start getting more accurate data (i hope), an even better interface for tracking my progress (i hope) and real-time data? how fun is that!

and the clothing they've been working on for carrying the nano is super cool - major flash back to my grad school days...

sadly its not available until mid-july so now i have to wait and dream about how great it will be. i hope it doesn't disappoint.

sigh.

well -- i guess this gives me a little time to save up for the nano i have to purchase. i definitely need new shoes anyways, so that expense is necessary (secret internal rejoicing)...

oh data data data data! come to mama!

hair

heh. so periodically, when i try out a new hairstyle at work, one of the engineers (who has his own set of hair woes) seems to feel it's necessary to tell me he doesn't like my hair-do.

to his credit, he only tells me when he doesn't like it - he won't tell me when he does, or if i do something cool that meets his approval he might compliment me (usually after making some equally mean crack at me first, to keep equilibria).

but can i really care that much when its coming from a guy with shoulder-length curls?

a guy who dressed up in a pink bunny suit for our company holiday party?

for some reason, i do. of all the un-hip people that i work with, he's one of the least hip -- clothing and hair-wise -- and yet i still respect is opinion on these things.

weird.

going the distance

wow. 2 weeks into my marathon training plan (its an 18 week plan, provided by the coach of my team)... and today i've run my longest training run ever.

15.05 miles. and thats nothing compared to what comes up in july!!!

time? 2 hours and 4 minutes of running.

(overall i was outside for about 2 and a half hours -- since i had to wait for a lot of lights, stop to pee once, jog back to find my gloves that i dropped, etc.)

pace? surprisingly, i kept up a steady 8:16/mile pace... just shy of the 8:23 pace i need to keep up in order to qualify for boston. not too bad for week #2.

... and that included running over the golden gate bridge while DODGING SWARMS OF GIRL SCOUTS!

millions of them! all in their green and blue vests. taking pictures. linking arms and blocking the path. singing songs. being cute little adolescent girls... grrr.

how is a marathoner-in-training supposed to hit her stride while playing frogger with girl scouts!?

and why were they all walking the bridge today!?

:)

so, i used to exercise in two hour chunks -- when i was riding my bike all the time. i've never put in this much coverage by feet in one day for training. and i have to say. i'm kinda proud of myself. pat on back...

so now i'm going to sit at home all night by myself watching TV and drinking wine.

ah the life of an athlete. heh.

megan 911

so i've become mildy addicted (intrigued, is more like it...) by two television shows lately, nanny 911 and dr. phil.

i generally watch them only if i'm home alone in the evening, and only if i'm working on a project on my computer simultaneously. but i've seen several episodes of each, and i'm finding myself believing that this makes me an expert in the art of child rearing. go figure that one out.

case in point - i seem to be chock full of "advice" for all my recent friends-turned-parents. several couples i know have 2-3 mo. old poopers in their lives now, and every time i see them i'm little-miss-advice-girl (knowingly or not, whether they, or i, like it -- or not).

i blame too many years of babysitting combined with all my recent television "research".

i mean, these shows are pretty good. they seem to hit the nail on the head when it comes to issues of discipline, communication, and priorities. but still. they're just shows.

who am i to be a parental advice giver?
do i have any kids? hell no!

i'm surprised none of them have thrown bottles of breastmilk in my face yet.

mustache tattoo & more

ha. this is so dumb, it charms me...

see the trend sweeping the nation!
(on all 15 people who have one, that is...)

>> mustache tattoo movie

ok - and this next short movie is for all the (other) (immature) red sox fans out there.

is a-rod REALLY a baseball player?

>> not helping the rumors

see more on addictingclips.com if you have time to kill...

42.2 kilometers

"Megan Galbraith is now Registered for Festival de la Santé Oasis in the Marathon."

which means i'm officially running the montreal marathon in september!

woo hoo!

its supposed to be hot and humid so i need to start practicing now... mom, dad, i'll be doing some long runs when i visit in july. consider yourself forewarned.

time to go brush up on some french.

and if all goes well -- allison and laurel can cheer me on as an official runner in boston 2007! keep the fingers crossed!