Monday brought some changes to my running. As I have the marathon on my mind, I'm trying to adapt to things I've not normally done. One thing is that I wore a fuel belt for the first time carrying my water with me for hydration. In the past, preparing for a half marathon, Kent has ridden his bike alongside me on my longer runs to hand me water. But this time, I wanted to be self-sufficient as much as I could be. Carried my water, GU gel, iPod and cellphone. The GU was not bad and had no idea what to expect. I got to where I could manage "whipping out" my water bottle, placed behind me, like it was a six-shooter. Got pretty good at that. The longer I ran the easier it got and then realized that it was attributed to less weight of water as I drank more and more. The belt takes some getting use to, but can be done.
Planning to do 11-12 miles, I mistakenly pressed the "start" on my Garmin twice and didn't know it. I had stopped for refreshment and thought I had started it again until I looked down and saw where it was not "clocking". Though I got my mileage correct, my husband took information I had gotten by pressing "lap" during that part of the missed run (on the way back) in order to come out with a total on time and calories. It is within a couple of seconds from being exact. He's great at figuring these kind of things. I just hated I messed this up on a long run.
Tuesday was a very busy day but had planned on a "rest" day after the long run on Monday. Wednesday, my legs felt heavy but running with Frank helped me eke out 5 recovery miles. Though I didn't restart my watch, we walked an additional mile c/d, giving me a total of 6 miles for the day.
Thursday, Kent and I ran at the Howard Tech Park for the first time, other than running the Rotary 5k race held there. It was very nice. While eating an apple and drinking our water, we sat on a bench overlooking the little pond. It was so peaceful and nice. I do think we will run there again.
On Friday I planned an easy 3-miler but I felt soooo good, mentally and physically, that I enjoyed a tempo run instead. Now that I'm running longer I don't look at 3 miles as much any more.
Earlier this week, one of my Tuesday running buddies, Catherine, contacted me to see if I would be interested in joining her and some others to run 8 miles on Saturday. I was very excited because I'm always wanting to meet other local runners. This group is preparing to run in the Jazz Half Marathon in New Orleans at the end of the month and needed to put in a distance run. As it turned out, 5 basically ran together while 2 others wanted a longer run therefore they began earlier and came in later.
I had wanted to run a 10:00 minute pace in order to prepare for running slower and longer but it didn't happen that way. I wasn't use to running roads, per se', and it was a little challenging for me. As we all spread out to a comfortable pace, I somehow ended up by myself...in the middle of the group. Using my iPod kept me at a little faster pace than planned. As it turned out, my overall pace was 9:49. I've got to work on this slower pace thingy.
When everyone was in, we enjoyed a nice hot breakfast and good fellowship. Here is a picture of those that ran. Are we not "hot" or what??
Before everyone started leaving, Ms. Caroline brought out a surprise for all of us. She had had t-shirts made with the day's info on it. "CR8" means: CR (County Road) 8, 8:00 we started and 8 miles. Is this not cool or what!!! I love the catchy saying.
And here we are all spiffy with them on. Oh yeah, to be festive, she gave us leis, too. She's so cool!
I finished the week with my best mileage yet, 34.62 miles! About 1.5 of those miles were walking. What a great way to end the week!! I'm so thankful I'm healthy.
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