01 JUN -- 14:29 -- 1.30 miles -- 13 elevation gain
-- 15:24 -- 0.32 miles -- 1200 elevation gain (stairmaster)
-- 10:08 -- 1.29 miles -- 4 elevation gain
02 JUN -- 1:16:20 -- 10.03 miles -- 45 elevation gain
-- 7:54 -- 0.16 miles -- 605 elevation gain (stairmaster)
-- 9:25 -- 1.28 miles -- 4 elevation gain
03 JUN -- 11:54 -- 0.27 miles -- 1000 elevation gain
04 JUN -- 19:46 -- 3.01 miles -- 32 elevation gain
-- 22:18 -- 2.98 miles -- 13 elevation gain
05 JUN -- off -- played slow pitch softball
06 JUN -- 1:43:54 -- 13.51 miles -- 70 elevation gain
07 JUN -- 37:12 -- 5.09 miles -- 20 elevation gain
TOTAL -- 5:28:44 -- 39.24 miles -- 3006 elevation gain
I'll continue to track my runs to the gym, the stairmaster workout, and the run home afterwards as separate workouts on here, but I'm tracking them as one continuous workout in my statistics for the year. Although I stop my watch and reset it while I'm on the stairmaster, the whole workout is really just one run separated by a few doors and a flight of steps to the machine. I don't want my total number of runs for the year to be inflated, which would happen if I counted each Stairmaster workout as 3 separate runs. That's not confusing...
I'm finding that running around here continues to get more and more boring. It will be a constant struggle to find happiness in running on flat, long, boring stretches on base. There's a park outside the gate (Croatan National Forest) which has some cool trails from what I've seen and read online, but it's an hour and twenty minutes away - longer than my drive was to Shenandoah from our house in Fredericksburg. I've been aimlessly running down dirt roads and through tall grassy fields looking for some type of new adventure, but they almost always lead to concrete or one of a thousand dirt tank trails on base that all look the same. It's no use.
This week, I'm going to start training hard for elevation on a treadmill. Like many times in the past, Microsoft Excel has saved the planet by allowing me to plug and chug some simple numbers from the treadmill post-workout to tell me my elevation gain. Microsoft has my vote for President, but don't tell my iPhone...
I'm still thinking hard about signing up for some timed events in the summer or fall. I'd really like to do a 12-hour event - I've never done one and I'm curious to see how many miles I can cover. But I'm still not mentally comfortable with registering for any races. My work schedule will largely dictate my race schedule over the next few years anyway. Likewise, I'm still not keen on racing towards a finish line - those races aren't fun right now. If the Marine Corps would give me 3 months off then I'd already be in the rental car heading south to Springer Mountain in GA to tackle the Appalachian Trail...
