Ben and Jenelle DOT COM

Happy Birthday, Todd!

When the blog switched to its new look, I updated my personal best for the 15K (about 9.33 miles). I trekked out on Sunday morning and finished in one hour, 21 minutes, 33 seconds. Here’s the breakdown:

Mile 1 – 8:24
Mile 2 – 8:53
Mile 3 – 8:29
Mile 4 – 8:53
Mile 5 – 8:20
Mile 6 – 8:53
Mile 7 – 8:48
Mile 8 – 9:08
Mile 9 – 8:45
Finish – 2:56 (8:36 pace)

Average pace – about 8:44 / mile

There was a light but ever-present wind that was responsible for the 20-25 second fluctuations between lap times in the first six miles. Had there been no wind at all, my laps would have been much more consistent.

I’m probably going to run long this weekend — perhaps even further than the 25K that I ran on April 24. The weather is supposed to be warm with a bit of rain, which doesn’t scare me all that much. 🙂

I’m thrilled that I have almost five months to continue training for the marathon. I don’t want to jinx it, but I think that eclipsing the four-hour mark on October 2 is an attainable goal.

On Friday, I walked into the Burger King near the mall to buy a gift certificate for a friend of mine who really likes Burger King. I wasn’t sure if Burger King had gift “certificates” or gift “cards” until I read a sign near the register:

$5.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE if we fail to issue you a receipt

Ah, certificates it is. I patiently waited in line until I reached the front. Here’s the conversation that ensued with the cashier:

Me: “Hi, I’d like two $5 gift certificates please.”
Her: (matter-of-factly) “We don’t sell those.”
Me: “Er, uh… you don’t?”
Her: “No, we don’t.”
Me: “Um… are you sure?”
Her: “Yup.”
Me: (looking right at the sign) “Even though there’s a sign that mentions them right there?”
Her: “Yup.”
Me: “Hmmmm… Well, thanks for your time.”

Anyone out there ever possess a Burger King gift certificate? If so, how’d you get it? Did you buy it, or did the cashier fail to issue you a receipt?

Jenelle here…

I’m in San Francisco this week attending a conference for work. It’s good to be back on Pacific time. This is a fun city — but definitely a workout if you want to walk anywhere!

My flight to San Francisco was pretty uneventful, and after getting my bags, I took a cab to the airport. I’m staying at the Fairmont, high up on the top of Nob Hill. It’s across the street from this enormous cathedral reminiscent of the Notre Dame. Anyway, the staff here is very friendly and polite. After handing off my suitcase to the valet, I walked into the hotel to look for the front desk to check in.

As I was walking over, a man in the employee uniform walked up to me and said, “Ms. Isaacson?” And, I said “yes.” And he said something along the lines of welcome to the Fairmont, let me help you get checked in. And he ushered me up to the front of the line and introduced me to the guy behind the desk to check me in. So I asked him how he knew who I was, and all he said was that he knows everything.

So, the question is — how did this employee at the Fairmont know who I was? I didn’t have a nametag of any sort on me, and my luggage tag had my maiden name on it, and I didn’t use a credit card at the airport or in the cab. Alas, such are the mysteries of the hospitality industry. I’m still going to be scratching my head over this one for a while til I figure it out.

Jenelle did the sweetest thing yesterday — she was supposed to be spending last night in Milwaukee as part of a work-related conference. To my surprise, she walked in around 8:30 p.m. I gave her a great big hug! We watched Survivor together and had a wonderful time. Tonight, we rented Napoleon Dynamite from Blockbuster and enjoyed pizza from Buona Vita. Can you believe it? She let me have pizza, even though I had just had one on Wednesday night.

The webcam picture of Ella is still up — and until I can find something better to replace it, it’ll stay up there. 🙂

Yesterday (the 25th): Happy Birthday, Aunt Sandy!

I’ve been fighting a cold for the past few days, but I woke up this morning feeling fairly well. After resting both Thursday and Friday, I decided to make an attempt to set a new personal best for a 5K run. For those not in the know, a 5K run is five kilmeters, which is about 3.11 miles. Prior to today, my best outdoor 5K run was at the Roma 5K last July (27:20.6). My best treadmill 5K mark is 24:58.

I set the “Virtual Training Assistant” on my Garmin Forerunner at a pace of eight minutes per mile, which translates to a 5K time of 24:51. If I could keep up with the little runner on the screen, I would be successful.

Mile One
I was out of the gate in a hurry — perhaps too much of a hurry. I didn’t realize it at the time, but for the first quarter mile, I was running at almost 10 miles an hour, which is a six minute per mile pace. I slowly settled back down into a reasonable pace that I could hopefully keep for the rest of the run. I reached the one-mile marker in 7:13. A NEW RECORD! This is the fastest mile I have ever run.

Mile Two
I continued south on 90th street almost to highway 11, turning around when I had about a mile and a half to go. I felt a cramp in my side starting to develop, but it wasn’t enough to slow me down. I finished the second mile in 7:52. At this point, I knew that I had a lead of about a minute on my personal best. So, as long as I didn’t “crash” in the final mile, I would emerge victorious.

Uh, what’s a “crash”?
I don’t know, exactly. It’s a term I’ve read about in articles about running, and some of the runners I’ve talked to at the SCJ fitness center have used it. Apparently, a “crash” is when your body basically gives up, and you can’t go much faster than an easy walk. Thankfully, I haven’t experienced one yet.

Mile Three
I’ve run outside for the past few weekends. One thing I’ve noticed is that a strong wind blows from west to east. As I turned to head west back home, I was concerned that a strong wind might cause my pace to slow signficantly. The wind, combined with a slight uphill grade, can sometimes make things rather difficult. Today, however, was not a problem at all. There wasn’t much wind at all, and the energy and excitement of breaking a personal record kept me going. I finished mile three in 8:02.

The Finish
When my forerunner read “-28 feet to go”, I stopped the timer. I didn’t really have an idea of what my final time was, except that it was definitely faster than 25 minutes. I switched the display to show the total time, and I was thrilled to read:

23:59.35 !!!

Could I have gone even faster? Maybe, maybe not. I definitely started too fast, so I didn’t have much energy left for a burst of speed at the end. One thing’s for sure — if I keep exercising regularly, I’ll be in good shape to break 23:30 at this year’s Roma 5K in July.