Broad Street and Garden Update

First, Broad Street Run. I had been keeping my goal somewhat secret (I had told a few people early on, and more as I got more confident I'd make it) so that fewer people would know if I didn't make it. I'm going to finally state my goal for the whole internet to see, followed up a caveat that I may not make it, and that's ok, and you'll see why.

My goal for the 10 mile Broad Street Run is 1 hour 30 minutes. So, 9 minute miles. Last week, I did 10.3 miles in 1:33, which worked out to a 9:05 pace. And you always figure you'll run faster in a race than you do in training (except the third leg a Ragnar Relay when you have to run 9.1 miles, no shade, 3 hours of sleep, and you've already run a total of 9.1 miles over 2 runs in the past 24 hours; then you run slower), so you'd think I'd be fine. However, 8.5 miles into the run, my knee started really bothering me and I think I have and IT band problem. I bought a foam roller, iced my knee, and took some ibuprofin. My knee felt much better the next day, and I ran 1.5 miles on the treadmill on Monday with no real issue. Then, on Tuesday, I got an ear infection. It really hurt, was making me miserable, and I couldn't even fit my earphones in my ear (actually, the nurse practitioner couldn't get the ear looking at thingy in my ear). So, no running until Saturday, when I decided music or no (no music), knees hurting or no (pain), I had to run. I did four miles this morning, and my knee hurt around .25 miles in. On the plus side, I'm pretty sure I could've made it 10 miles. The pain wasn't too bad. Also, my knee didn't hurt nearly as bad after the run (last week, I limped until I finally got the foam roller, this week, I could walk properly and my knee was just uncomfortable, not painful). So, my current goal for Broad Street is back to 10 minute miles. My run today was faster than that (9:23 pace), and I didn't feel like I was pushing myself, but I'm not sure how much I'll be pushing myself if my knee hurts for 97% of my race and I don't know if I'll have to slow down more as I run farther. Maybe we should say my goal is 1:35 (9:30 pace). We'll go with that. Thanks, internet, for the confidence boost!

Onto the garden. I was finally given the OK to plant this week, so I loaded up everything in my backpack (aside from the watering can and markers for what I was planting [oops]), and biked out to the plot (holding the watering can in my hand while I biked). I planted cherry tomatoes, purple tomatillos (what do you call purple salsa verde?), green beans, sugar peas, brussel sprouts, green beans, lettuce, and zucchini. I still have a bit of space left, so I'm going to look for more seeds, and probably plant some flowers. I really enjoyed bringing home flowers for my dining room table earlier this year, and I think I want to continue that.