It might be a bit of an overstatement to call our warm weather right now a heat wave but it seems to have come out of no where. I know mid-summer will be much worse with heat and humidity than what we are currently experiencing but I figured I would delay my run until the evening when it had cooled down a bit. I used that extra time in between to be productive by washing all the dishes that had accumulated on my side of the sink and to cook myself three different meals for the week. Now I have some variety when it comes to my lunches and dinners (for those that are wondering I made a spinach-potato casserole, chicken and mushroom hash and pasta salad with goat cheese and broccoli). Cooking took me a little longer than expected so I didn't start my run until almost 8 o'clock. I wore my super cool looking reflective vest just to be safe and headed out down Rt 1 running 2.75 miles in the 30 minutes.
Today is suppose to be just as hot as yesterday and I was planning on running in the morning while it was still cool. Although I woke up at the required time, mainly because my cat Jack decided to bring a toy into bed and expect to be played with, it was not a well thought out plan as I awoke sore and very tired from my late night run yesterday. I'm not ready for two runs so close together so today has now become a day of rest and I will attempt the morning run on Thursday instead!
J.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Sunday Fun-day!
Many know this but every sunday I religiously check the Postsecret website. There are often secrets I can relate to, some I find humorous, others shocking but always interesting. I'm very proud to say that this secret is not one I can relate to:
postsecret.com
After a quick motorcycle ride to breakfast and scenic ride back home, I put on my running shoes and had Shawn drive me 3.1 miles away from my house for my first run of 30 minutes. I figured based on my pace of 11min/miles in the past that it would be an appropriate distance away. The route was again filled with hills and went great. In fact the biggest compliment I could have received was from Shawn after I returned from the run, he said I looked like I hadn't even run, I was in that good of condition on the return! I felt like I could have continued on running but I'm sticking to the plan so that I don't overdo it and burn out.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at a winefest at the Jonathan Edwards Winery. Shawn, A and myself along with some other friends sampled wine and cheeses and spent a leisurely time in the sun listening to some great live music.
J.
After a quick motorcycle ride to breakfast and scenic ride back home, I put on my running shoes and had Shawn drive me 3.1 miles away from my house for my first run of 30 minutes. I figured based on my pace of 11min/miles in the past that it would be an appropriate distance away. The route was again filled with hills and went great. In fact the biggest compliment I could have received was from Shawn after I returned from the run, he said I looked like I hadn't even run, I was in that good of condition on the return! I felt like I could have continued on running but I'm sticking to the plan so that I don't overdo it and burn out.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at a winefest at the Jonathan Edwards Winery. Shawn, A and myself along with some other friends sampled wine and cheeses and spent a leisurely time in the sun listening to some great live music.
J.
MILEstones
How many weeks are we into this? I'm already losing track. This week's suggested run is 25 minutes with a 5 minute walk, though I may just skip right to the 30 minute run. I set out with a distance goal today - the 2 mile mark. I've come frusteratingly close in the last 2 weeks, but today was the first time I ran the full 2 - 2.27 to be exact :) I rewarded myself with some snazzy new shorts and running shirts for summer, since it's starting to get quite warm out. Expect a fashion show at some point.
I did some poking, around my old pictures, and found these from my first (and only) 5k that I ran in college. I've walked others, but this was a very big deal for me, so I was pretty excited, if you can't tell from my face.
I did some poking, around my old pictures, and found these from my first (and only) 5k that I ran in college. I've walked others, but this was a very big deal for me, so I was pretty excited, if you can't tell from my face.
Check out those guns!
I can't remember how many people ran that race, but I know it was more than 82, and that was fine by me. [I think it was somewhere over 100, actually]
With the 10K coming up in 20 days, I don't think my milage will be quite where I want it to be, so my big goal is to run the whole thing, and not to come in last.
Here we go!
A.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Dead ends and sunny days.
I guess you could call it a busy two weeks... but that seems like an understatement. Although I wasn't involved in the wedding, I was happy to attend and dance the night away, but it was a crazy week at work. I still managed to fit in all of my runs last week. This week was another step up - 20 minute run, 5 minute walk, 20 minute run. Happily, I made it through all 4 days, and it even felt pretty good afterwards. I could get used to this feeling. The weather has also been cooperating most days - not too humid or rainy, so it's hard to come up with an excuse not to run.
I've started to suprise myself with how far I can get in 20 minutes, and have come across 3 dead ends that I didn't know existed, simply because I hadn't made it to the end of those streets before. Pretty cool. It still gets frusterating that I'm not getting as far as I'd like to - I haven't made the 4 mile mark yet - but I keep telling myself that it's much further than I was running a month ago, so progress is good, no matter so slow. The 10k will be a big milestone for me, so I've got 22 more days to get ready for it.
Next week, I move up to 25 minutes of running, 5 minutes of walking. I don't think it will be too hard of a transition, especially since I'll be able to push myself and know that there isn't a second set of running to repeat.
Here goes!
A.
I've started to suprise myself with how far I can get in 20 minutes, and have come across 3 dead ends that I didn't know existed, simply because I hadn't made it to the end of those streets before. Pretty cool. It still gets frusterating that I'm not getting as far as I'd like to - I haven't made the 4 mile mark yet - but I keep telling myself that it's much further than I was running a month ago, so progress is good, no matter so slow. The 10k will be a big milestone for me, so I've got 22 more days to get ready for it.
Next week, I move up to 25 minutes of running, 5 minutes of walking. I don't think it will be too hard of a transition, especially since I'll be able to push myself and know that there isn't a second set of running to repeat.
Here goes!
A.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Hills
I asked my coworker who used to run around the aquarium a lot for a route to switch it up with today. I don't like running the same way over and over again so I'm trying to constantly alternate where I'm going. Her suggestion was a little more than the distance I needed but sounded like a great run, minus one small (or very large) thing - hills!
I started out in the direction she suggested but wasn't necessarily convinced I would proceed with the run, I kept trying to think of alternate routes but couldn't come up with any that I hadn't already done at least once. It was at this point that I figured the past few runs this week have been good, not easy, but not hard and I was up for the challenge. I turned right and ran up the first hill, my legs burned, but as soon as I hit the top and ran where it was flat again they recovered and quickly! I hit the second hill, more burning, more flat ground and more recovering. The final hill seemed never ending as I was running up it but obviously it ended and I was able to recover and to continue running. The feeling of accomplishing something I couldn't do a month ago, two weeks ago, even last week was amazing. I ended up running 2.5 miles in just over 28 mins!
Although I never thought this was possible - I think I'm starting to like running (which is really good seeing as I'm in this for the long haul - 219 days until the marathon!)
J.
I started out in the direction she suggested but wasn't necessarily convinced I would proceed with the run, I kept trying to think of alternate routes but couldn't come up with any that I hadn't already done at least once. It was at this point that I figured the past few runs this week have been good, not easy, but not hard and I was up for the challenge. I turned right and ran up the first hill, my legs burned, but as soon as I hit the top and ran where it was flat again they recovered and quickly! I hit the second hill, more burning, more flat ground and more recovering. The final hill seemed never ending as I was running up it but obviously it ended and I was able to recover and to continue running. The feeling of accomplishing something I couldn't do a month ago, two weeks ago, even last week was amazing. I ended up running 2.5 miles in just over 28 mins!
Although I never thought this was possible - I think I'm starting to like running (which is really good seeing as I'm in this for the long haul - 219 days until the marathon!)
J.
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