Monday, April 25, 2011

A Muggy Day...

Date of run: 04.23.2011
Distance: 5.83 miles
Duration: 01:08:56
Avg Pace: 11:49 min/mile
Route: MapMyRun

Saturday's run was hot and sticky. It was definitely muggy out and I wish I had hydrated better before my run, but I took the time when I could. I was aiming to complete 6 miles, but I guess I didn't run quite far enough away from home.

Instead of running the pretty parts in the beginning, I ran the boring parts. It made the final few miles a lot more interesting.

I hope that running 5.83 miles will make 5 miles now my easy run -- and that 6 miles is attainable some time this week. The hard part is that I'm going to be travelling, so fitting in runs may be difficult.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Foul mood is foul today.

Distance: 3.23 miles
Duration: 35:07
Avg Pace: 10:57 min/mile (wow, under 11 min/mile!)
Route: MapMyRun

A short run. I really struggled with this one. I didn't feel great when I woke up this morning. I still don't feel great.

Have I mentioned before that I have a 10 month old baby? She sleeps great most of the time, but the past couple of nights, she's woken up 3:30, 4, 4:30 am and been just ready to play. I am a pretty evil subhuman version of myself at those hours. I'm fortunate enough that my husband is around to help out and go sit with her some of the bad mornings, but I still wake up when she cries. I don't function well with super broken up sleep. Momma needs her beauty sleep!

So I didn't get great sleep last night. I woke up in a foul mood. There's a lot of other personal stuff going on with my siblings, which I won't get into, but needless to say, there's a LOT on my mind.

So usually I run to clear my mind. To de-stress. To calm my nerves and relax.

All I could think about during today's run was how quickly I could get home. And how my pants fit funny and my belly was squishy. and how much stuff I need to do before I go on vacation. And all the sibling stuff. and and and...

There's so much going on -- even a run in gorgeous sunny weather couldn't clear my head today.

Monday, April 18, 2011

But I don't wannnnnnnnnaaaaa....

Distance: 5.04 miles
Duration: 56:24 (just under an hour!)
Avg Pace: 11:11 min/mile (that's pretty darn good for an easy run!)
Route: MapMyRun

I'm actually shocked that I ran 5 miles on my lunch break today. I really really didn't feel up to it when I got my shoes on. I didn't feel like running for an hour -- told that to a friend on IM, even. But once I got started, just after the 2 mile mark, and after all the pretty parts of my usual route, I turned left instead of right and made the commitment to running at least 4 miles.

Then, just before the 3.5 mile mark I decided to go for it and ran across at the light. This meant I was committing to at least 4 miles, maybe more.

The last 3/4 mile was rough and real hard to keep up. I got a horrible side stitch and almost stopped running altogether.

But then I rounded the corner and made it home.

I'm very proud of my "easy run." I'm very happy how mellowed out I feel after it. There was definitely a point when my mind was at a complete blank and there was a time when I was just lost in my thoughts. Not too bad for a lunch break run.

Thursday's Run - Brought to you by beauty.

Distance: 5.26 miles!
Duration: 01:01:09 (yup, just over an hour!)
Avg Pace: 11:37 min/mile (slower than my easy run, but still acceptable by all means!)
Route: MapMyRun

I didn't get a chance to update on Thursday but I'm so proud of this run! Over 5 miles is a HUGE deal. HUGE!

It was a really pretty run, too. I saw DUCKS. actual DUCKS. and a bright green fly that followed me for a mile. Some squirrels. A dead deer (ew!). And the most beautiful flowers throughout the trees. It was sunny. The weather was great.

I ran farther than I've run in a very long time. I'm very very proud of myself.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy.

Distance: 4.12miles! (this is my new "easy run"!)
Duration: 46:38
Avg Pace: 11:19 min/mile (faster than last week's long run!)
Route: MapMyRun

Today's run was out in the beautiful weather. It was sunny and warm. I may have been overdressed (a tank top would have been more than enough!) but I still loved it. I really like my new route. I'm sure I'll be bored of it by next week...

I think what I'm most excited about today is that today is supposed to be an easy run. and I did 4 miles, easy. In February 2.5 miles was an easy run (but was still hard). That was only 2 months ago. I think it's really cool that I have increased my mileage, but I'm worried about Bay to Breakers. It's only 35 days away. That's 4 weeks! I can't take another 2 months to get up to a 12K. I only have 1 month to increase to 7.5 miles!

But if I keep increasing mileage - and try for another mile on my long runs each week, I'll be fine. Even if I can "only" run 6 miles - adrenaline and my friends will carry me over the last mile and half, right?