Do boars hang out in Silicon Valley?

I had a great run tonight! No, really, I'm not being sarcastic this time. I also had an unexpected encounter but I'll get to that later.

*****

Last week was a bit crazy so I was only able to make it to the gym once for a body conditioning class. It was a good class although I wasn't really digging the teacher's music which included KC and the Sunshine band and The Weather Girls.

As I had suspected in my last post, I woke up Saturday morning with a cold. Nothing major - just achy with the sneezy, runny nose nonsense. I did what I do best which is to lounge around all day long. I took some cold medicine, drank lots of fluids, napped here and there - it was pretty awesome. The next morning I felt a lot better and I was itching to get outside because we had beautiful weather this weekend which I totally wasted on Saturday.

I have a couple of races this month so I knew I needed to get a long run in BUT I also just discovered that I'm registered for the Cinderella Classic - a 65 mile bike ride in less than a month. (They do things the old fashioned way: They snail mailed me an application. I snail mailed them a check. I had to check and see if my check was cashed to find out if I'm in.) I've never biked more than 30 miles and my last bike ride was in January. Oops.

By the way, I learned about the Cinderella Classic from my friend KB. Listen to how cool this sounds:

This unique 100-kilometer (65-mile) bicycle tour for women of all ages winds through Amador, Livermore, Diablo, and San Ramon Valleys. It is mostly flat with a few moderate hills... Charming Princes will be at three rest/food stops along the way, with a cold lunch at the second. Our SAG service patrols the entire route to provide rider assistance if required. A Cinderella Classic ride patch is awarded to every rider.

The nice thing is that this is not a race. I love the idea of being able to snack and have lunch during a ride. Definitely would not be having lunch in the middle of a marathon! I am, however, a little worried about being in a saddle for that long.

Anyway, I decided to do a short run and a long bike ride on Sunday. But I have to mention a random small victory first. That morning, I was reading on someone's blog that the Coach outlets were having a 50% off sale and she showed pics of her super cute loot and the crazy low prices she bought them at. And yes, I was so tempted to make a run for the Gilroy outlet and push out the whole run/bike idea. But logic prevailed! (That and the blogger had also mentioned that her Coach store had a line out the door and I wasn't in the mood to deal with that.)

So onto the run...

ORN
3.0mi
0:29:56
Avg pace: 9:59 min/mi
Avg hr: 174bpm

1: 10:31
2: 10:01
3: 9:23

I then took an extended break to watch a marathon of Millionaire Matchmaker. Thank goodness for the time change. I didn't like losing that hour in the morning but I really liked having an extra hour of daylight to squeeze in my bike ride. I headed up to Canada Road again which is very biker friendly. But my goodness, the sunshine was totally misleading because it was freezing and super windy! I swear I thought I was going to get knocked off my bike at times. But I got it done. (And I will need to continue logging longer bike rides every weekend until the event - nothing like training at the last minute!)

OCN
20.0mi
1:24:16
Avg pace: 14.2mph
Avg hr: 152bpm

*****

On to Monday... Today totally flew by - I was surprised when it was 5PM because it was still so sunny out. I realized the extended daylight may actually help motivate me to workout. When it's getting dark, I just want to go home and chill but if it's still sunny, it seems silly to just go home.

So I got out of work early and headed to the gym which is right off the Coyote Creek trail. I wanted to do at least three miles but knowing I have a 10K coming up, I really wanted to get a 6 mile run under my belt. When I started running, I initially thought it would be a 3 mile day because I felt really sluggish. The nice thing is that the weather was perfect - high 40's / low 50's maybe. Cold but not too bad as I was still able to run in a sleeveless T and capri tights. Eventually, I found my rhythm (which hasn't happened in awhile) and was confident I could bust out all six miles tonight.

Now here's the weird part... halfway through my run, I swear I saw a boar alongside the trail about 25 ft ahead of me. Does this sound weird? I don't run in the boonies... actually this trail runs along a major highway and is surrounded by tech parks. Granted, there are signs on the trail warning of mountain lions and I know I've seen wild turkey from time to time but I was definitely thrown off by this creature. I stopped, looked at him, he looked at me, and then I decided that it was a perfect time to turn around and head back home. Of course, I kept turning around to see if he followed which of course he didn't and I'm pretty sure I could outrun him if he did. I was still freaked out.

Anyway, I was really pleased with my splits! I think it was the combination of perfect running weather, the fear of a wild boar chase, and the fact that the sun was setting and I'm a scaredy cat that does not like to run in the dark ever.

ORN
6.2mi
1:00:48
Avg pace: 9:49 min/mi
Avg hr: 175bpm

1: 10:16
2: 10:06
3: 9:48
4: 9:38
5: 9:48
6: 9:31
0.2: 1:41 (8:29 pace)

I went ahead and tagged on the extra 0.2 miles at the end. So yay, I am officially ready for the Mermaid 10K in two weeks.