4th of July Rain Run

Hi Everyone,

Well yesterday morning I managed to get up at 5:30am....on my day off.....[pause for applause to self]....to get in a run and all I have to say is man am I glad I got up early for it.

When I looked outside it was raining....well more like kind of sprinkling and drizzling but I decided to go anyway. I headed out to do my trail run and I really really really wanted to run 3.0 miles. I kept trying to tell myself, "today it was about distance not pace." I find more often than not I start out too fast and can't get the distance in so I kept my pace nice and slow. It was an average pace of 13:40 (yup that slow) with a max at 8:22 (see I kicked it up a little at times). By the time I hit a mile though I was starting to feel fatigue in my legs. So I stopped for a minute to catch my breath and walked for maybe .05, not very far but far enough to kind of reset my breathing and shake out my legs.

I was hot at this point and it was really humid out and while the light drizzle kept me cooler it was still kind of unpleasant conditions. I walked a little further and decided that if I could get to 2.0 miles I would be proud so I turned around and started to run back and I told myself that I would NOT walk. I repeat I would NOT walk any of it. I wanted to run 2 solid miles outside with hills because I knew that for my 1st race in August I need to be at least comfortable with 2 miles and obstacles like steep hills to have any shot at running the whole thing.

So I ran. And I pushed harder and I ran harder and I fought up each and every hill. It was hard.

But once I hit the 2.0 mile mark my watch beeped and I slowed down to a walk while beaming ear to ear that I made it. I walked a cool-down for the next 5 minutes or so back to my car and I felt unstoppable. It was a big moment for me because I had pushed past my comfortable 1 and 1.5 mile routes to get in a solid 2.0 miles. I really wished I could have gotten out to 1.5 and then turned to run the full 3 but I will save that for another day. I am running again on Saturday and Sunday so I'm hoping I can try the route again and get just a little bit further this time.

The rest of my day was pretty low key I was outside a lot and the heat was awful. I leaned over to Paul at one point and said, "I'm sure glad I'm not running now" since the sun had come out and when we got in the car around 4pm it registered 102 degrees with humidity. Yuck. We got home and were exhausted I think from the heat and we took a nap till 6:30. It was glorious. Then we made dinner, watched a little TV, and hit the sack.

Tonight I've got Randi's class......so help me. She's been brutal lately so I'm hoping I make it. Look for my recap tomorrow! I hope you all had a great 4th and got in some exercise! Stay tuned for more later!