Today Randy Pausch passed away. I, like many others, was deeply affected by his Last Lecture (see below), I think particularly since I am an academic in Pittsburgh. Every time I run by CMU I always run harder, motivated and inspired by him. I often think of him when I'm working hard and burning the candle at both ends... not only to remind myself that success is the result of hard work (in all domains, both professional and personal), but also to keep it all in perspective and to enjoy life because there is so much living to do.

I am humbled by this incredible man and I cannot think of any words that would be fitting to pay him tribute- sometimes words are not great enough. However, today I am both saddened that the world lost such an outstanding man, but also incredibly proud and privileged that so many were able to learn from him during his short stay here. My prayers go out to all who knew Dr. Pausch. I also strongly recommend that those who have not yet viewed it, take an hour of their day to watch the Last Lecture:

Because my training had been progressing successfully with faster and easier runs, I thought that I'd incorporate some core work into my routine. Since I was at the gym I decided to throw in some Bulgarian split squats, demonstrated in the video below:

Even though I have strong legs, these are hard. I should have known better when my boyfriend, who pushes vans in the desert for a leg workout, recommended them to me. I did two sets of 8 on each leg with 2 5-pound weights. As a result, I have been unable to walk for the last two days. I've been the kind of sore where I tripped because I couldn't lift my leg high enough to keep my stiletto from catching a crack in the sidewalk. I've been the kind of sore where the pain woke me up at night when I was sleeping. On Wednesday, after a session with a client I went to stand up and couldn't without using my arms to push me up out of the chair. Those Bulgarian split squats put me in my place and showed me who was boss (not me).

Even though I was sore, I decided to get my runs in, hoping they'd help me loosen up. My 6 miles on Wednesday night were a complete and utter disaster. I knew my legs were shot but it was hot so I wanted to run through the park because there are water fountains. One of my favorite trails (Panther Hollow in Schenley Park) has a long, steady uphill that I usually run from the bottom up. Since my legs were so dead I thought I'd take the "easy" way out and run it downhill. Nope, that didn't work at all. In fact, my slowest mile was the downhill part because my quads were already shot. My pace for this 6 mile run was slower than my marathon pace from last year! It was the first bad run I've had in well over a month so I chalked it up to a bad day and figured it was due.

That, however was just the beginning. On Thursday I went running with my friend Steph who ran XC in college and qualified for Boston on her first marathon. Steph can easily place in local races and hopes to BQ again at Chicago this year. Let's just put this in perspective by saying that her planned marathon pace is about my 5K PR pace. We ran together because a) my tempo runs could be very slow recovery runs for her) and b) she knows the trails in Frick Park, which I've never run on and wanted to learn. I made a few critical mistakes: 1) Do not plan tempo runs on trails. 2) Do not run on new, technical trails on days where you can barely get out of bed. This run was abysmal. In a 3.5 mile run I had to stop twice to walk, which is uncharacteristic of me and terribly embarrassing in front of my very accomplished runner friend (who, I should mention, is the nicest person in the world and wouldn't be the type to judge). My "tempo" run which should have been about 8:45 pace ended up at a 10 minute pace. In some ways I think I'm being hard on myself because I was recovering from a tough few sessions and the terrain was more technical than I've ever run before, but it is disappointing to not  meet goals that you've set for yourself.

What I've learned:

1. Bulgarian split squats are a great workout, but if executed should probably be left for Thursdays so I can recover with a rest day on Friday.

2. I love the trails in Frick Park! They are so beautiful and I can't wait to run there more.

3. I love running with other people, the time goes by so much faster. Steph and I blew through mile 1.

4. I need to be less hard on myself and keep in mind that external factors can effect my running and that bad days will pop up. And when bad days do pop up, you can only learn from them and move forward.

Since Saturday I have been in DC for the annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (imagine a big science fair for anyone who studies anything related to alcoholism). As a doctoral student I wear a lot of hats, one of them scientific researcher, and I was at this meeting to learn, network and present some preliminary findings from my Masters (although collateral- and self-reports of smoking, drinking, and deviance are significantly concordant, adolescents are not sensitive in their reporting of their friends' problem behaviors). I had a great conference and I learned a lot, met a lot of really incredible people and saw some old friends.

Even though I did was I was "supposed" to do, one of my favorite parts of this trip was the time I spent running. I like running in Pittsburgh, but a thousand miles later my routes have gotten a little stale. I know hills are good for my training, but a break would be nice. I wasn't necessarily looking forward to running in DC because I knew I'd be so busy with the meeting, I thought I'd really just be squeezing them in when I could.

Sunday I was up at 5:30 to meet Jen, a colleague from Pittsburgh and an MCM runner from last year, and Isaac, a member of the Marine Corps Marathon community. Ike brought a friend, Dave, and we headed out for an 8-mile run along the mall, Haines Point and the tidal basin.  It was hot and humid (much more than Pittsburgh) and we were going at a pace about 30 seconds faster than I had run my 8 the week before. I'm not sure whether it was running with a group (I always run solo) or just the excitement of seeing the city early in the morning, but the run was the easiest long run I've ever had. Not only did we come in under our target pace as a group but I had enough in me to push the last bit. I can't imagine a better way to start a Sunday morning than a sunrise run in the Nation's Capital with a group of friends. We met some other MCM friends at Lincoln Diner and I had some scrambled eggs and blueberry pancakes and I was ready to start a very long day. Not only was the run great, but I really do think it set me up for a great rest of the day as well (including a student luncheon and 6 hours of meetings!).

(Tidal Basin)

Tuesday I ran 4 miles around the monuments... I hit the Washington, WWII, Korean War, Lincoln (including running up the steps), Vietnam, and then ran by the White House. I've seen all these monuments dozens of times, but I really think running them is the way to do it. See, with the monuments, once you see them, you see them. There isn't much to DO there. You can stand, look, take pictures. But then you go to the next one and see that. I basically condensed a good morning worth of sight-seeing into about 35 minutes. Awesome.

(Lincoln Memorial)

This morning I ran a 5-mile loop with Jen. We started at the Woodley Park metro and ran to the National Cathedral, down Embassy Row and then through Rock Creek Park. It was so different than seeing the big touristy spots and it was wonderful not to need to dodge a million scattered sight-seers. Instead it was a really nice tour of beautiful neighborhoods, amazing architecture and DC's famous traffic circles (I've heard the traffic circles were to protect the Capitol during a war to confuse enemy troops). It was also nice to feel like a DC-er as opposed to a tourist.

(National Cathedral)

I miss DC a lot. I love the architecture and the people. I LOVE the food! I'm sorry Pittsburgh, but just because you put fries on it (salads especially) doesn't make it cultural, and it definitely does not make it good. A lot of people think DC is stuffy and Type-A.... but I'm formal and Type-A. When Jen and I were walking out of the Metro I realized where I got my impatience for slow Pittsburghers. In DC you can't stand and be confused because otherwise you create bottlenecks and inconvenience lots of people. I've learned not to do that and it drives me CRAZY when people in Pittsburgh (read: everyone!) does that (especially in the grocery store as they stop in the middle of the aisle and wonder where, or where could the milk possibly be).

It was great to be back home and although the conference was great in itself, running was definitely the icing on the cake. It made me feel really privileged to be healthy and in-shape enough to be able to enjoy the experiences I did (sight-seeing, being with friends) as I ran around the city this week.

(Pictures taken from the web... if I wasn't supposed to use them, tell me and I'll happily take them down)