A breath of fresh air

Will and I ran 3 miles with Jade.  Jade went home to get ready for work and Will and I ran 2.8 more.  I felt very slow on the hills, but we enjoyed the run.

Here's my Eclipse scoop, but it will spoil the book if you haven't read it.

I finished Eclipse Saturday, so much for finishing it in five days.  Overall I liked it.  I can't believe how selfless Edward it.  I liked the Frost poem and the magnet symbolism.  I kept waiting for the battle to happen and was surprised Jacob and Edward kept having face offs.  Seriously, for three chapters I kept thinking the next chapter would be the battle chapter.  I was anticipating a character dying and was curious who's it would be.  I wasn't expecting Jacob's or Edward's death but, Leah or maybe Seth would disobey orders and join the fight.  I did enjoy Edward and Jacob's conversation in the tent.  I was surprised that Bella loved Jacob--I believed Bella the whole time.  I loved Edward being the "interpreter" for the pack and how reading the pack's minds was like a soap opera.  I thought the paragraph about Edward and Alice playing chess was funny.  I enjoyed the battle scene.  No one died, and I was okay with that.  I am glad that Edward and Bella are keeping their virtue.  I feel good about Bella's decision to have a wedding to say good-bye to her parents and Forks.

I can't wait to find out Bella's superpower.  Maybe her power will be whoever she focuses on will be immune to mental powers.  Like Jane won't be able to hurt Edward as long as Bella is there to block Jane from entering Edward's mind.  Or Bella will disable anyone's mental powers in the room.  That could be a good thing and a bad thing.  I guess all the powers come with an upside and a downside.  Anyone have guess on what Bella's vampire power will be?  Do you have a new guess, Lybi, now that you've finished Eclipse or are you still waiting to get your book back?

Other Eclipse questions on my mind:

Will Jacob come back?  Will he try to stop the wedding?--I think he will, but I don't think he will stop the wedding.  At least I don't think he will.  I mean, isn't that what all of Eclipse was about?  Bella choosing Edward once and for all.

What will happen with the packs and Cullen coven team work/friendliness?  Will the Volturi discover it and declare war on the "team?"

Will and I hammered out four miles today.  Everything was wet.  There was a pretty good storm early, early this morning.  We took the stroller's rain cover, but we didn't need it.  Will and I still haven't ran in the rain here and we've been in Iowa for almost seven weeks.  Our days are numbered.  We'll get wet soon enough--I'm sure.

Will, Jade, and I ran a new route: 1.5 miles to a neighborhood, a mile through the houses, and the same 1.5 back home.  The first half was up hill and the second half was down hill.  The weather was cooler. 

I think I over-dressed Will  because he feel asleep again.  But, thankfully he took his normal naps, too, and I was able to finish piecing the twinsize denim banket for my sister-in-law.

Will and I enjoyed the weather.  It's a beautiful day.  Tomorrow Will and I will run two.  I am tapering Sasha-style.  Sasha and I don't live in the same "running" world.  I remember Sarah telling me Sasha was going to run an easy six before a marathon.  For me, six miles is possible, but not my easy run before a ten mile race.  I figured two miles would be good.

I use to take a couple days off before the race.  I probably still would if I wasn't blogging my miles.  I love watching them add up.

Will and I enjoyed another lovely morning on our run.  Tomorrow's the race.  Hobbey-Ho!

I had a PR today by two minutes! And I broke the 8:17 mile pace barrier!! I didn't stick around to find out the official results, but my watch read 1:21:50.

The race was held a Lake MacBride State Park. Nine miles of the race was on a well marked dirt trail, which made it possible to check my quarter splits.  Every once and a while the dirt trail weaved out of woods and I was able to take in the beautiful lake. I saw several geese and a huge bird of prey--I think is was an eagle.  Because the trail was next to the lake, most of the hills weren't super severe.

I met Tina around mile 2 and we ran together for about four miles. (She's training for the marathon in Vegas, Dec 2. We were very well matched. I love how running with someone makes the miles pass quickly.) To save energy for the one big, steep hill at mile 9, I concentrated on trying not to talk too much. Tina was very nice. We encouraged everyone we saw running the other way on the trail. (It was an out and back course.) Our five mile split was around 41 minutes. I wanted very badly to get another 41 minutes on the second five. The next quarter split I timed was 2:13. I wasn't pleased. I wanted to keep the pace near two minute quarters as much as I could. At mile six, Tina told me to keep going and pass the girl ahead of us. After I passed the girl in white and another guy, I could see a three more runners ahead. I kept focusing on closing the distance on these three runners. I had a streak of great splits 2:01, 2:00, 1:58. When I did have a 2:06 split, I didn't get upset. I just tried to pick it up and keep after those three runner. When I hit mile 9's hill, I passed one of the three runners. However, I still wanted to catch up to the other two. The hill was tough, but I pictured myself in fast training runs pushing Will up hill.  It worked and it felt great not to be pushing a jogging-stroller! The trickiest part of the hill was the trail's dirt wasn't as packed down as the rest of the course. It was hard to get footing--like running up a sand dune. What a relief it was to hit the pavement for the last half mile! I felt powerful back on the hard road. And I passed the two runners I'd been following since mile 7!

I loved it. I love races. I get nervous every time, but what a rush it is to cross the finish line!