5 miles!!!!!!

I ran 5 miles!!! I ran 5 miles!!!!!

Yesterday was a beautiful morning. Hubby wasn't leaving for work at any specific time, so I headed out around 6am. It was still dark, but there was a rosy glow on the eastern horizon. I felt pretty good. My long run goal for the week was 4.75. But I new 5 miles wouldn't be impossible since it would only be about a 10% increase over last weeks 4.5 miles. I like to get my long run in as early in the week as possible so I don't have to be pressured if things don't go well later on in the week.

My adrenaline got pumping a little bit when I saw a smashed pumpkin in the subdivision behind us. Then all down our road south of the subdivision I saw vandalized pumpkins. Many smashed right in the middle of the owners' driveways. I was so angry at the obnoxious brats that have fun at others expense, I wasn't surprised when my mile time was 12:40. However as I crossed the bridge and turned off our road the rest of the pumpkins were intact, and I calmed down. But I still was at about a 12:40 pace.

Our town is really small, I don't know if we even have 5 miles of roads. (The opposite corner of town is only a 1 mile run) I went about 3 miles snaking through town. I felt so good I decided to try for 5 miles, so I circled the "neighborhood" on the opposite corner of town until I was up to 4 miles. Then I just had to run home. I was amazed my pace was still about 12:45, but I knew the last quarter mile would be uphill so I didn't expect to keep it up. I was amazed at how good I felt at 4.75 miles. I had told myself I could walk then if I wanted, but I felt so good I decided to run faster.

I ran 5 miles. My time: 63:10!

That is a 12:38 pace! I kept that up for 5 miles!

My goal for October was 5 miles. I think I will "rest" next week. Meaning I won't try to add distance. But I will still be well on my way to my goal of 6 miles by Thanksgiving.

I never ever thought I could or ever would run 5 miles. Just WOW!

Struggles and Accomplishments

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I was going to write a blog post titled "struggles". But I was too tired to bother. Today is a different day where I want to write about my accomplishment!

39:49!!!

That was my time for the first 5 kilometers I ran this morning! I accomplished my goal! Then I ran for another 5 minutes, so I know in a race situation I could even finish faster. I ran a total of 3.5 miles. (3.76 miles including my warm up and cool down walking)

I noticed how long it has been since I posted. Life got busy, between my 3 y/o's birthday, vacation, new computer training at work, my mom's group starting back up, etc....etc... But, I have still been running, some days better than others. A lot of the time I have been struggling. But struggles are a part of life, an integral part, as that is where we learn. So here is what I learned about running through some struggles of the last few weeks:

1. If you eat badly, you will feel badly when you run. I discovered this on vacation. The first morning I ran I felt pretty good. Then after eating too much food, and food that mostly fell into the categories fried, rich, or sugary; I felt awful when running. Plus I gained 4 pounds. It took me a couple of days to recover, and I still have 2 pound to go to my pre-vacation weight. SO: eat well to run well!
2. Sleep is crucial. This one I couldn't control much this week, but sometimes I can. My 16 month old threw up in the middle of the night 3 nights in a row. When I tried to run on 4 hours of poor sleep I just ran out of gas. I probably would have been better off with a nap SO: sleep well to run well
3. Don't run where you know you might run into obstacles. I decided to try running north again, the first time I didn't encounter the dog, but I did burn some time and energy watching for him. The second time, sure enough he came blasting/barking out into the road, and I twisted my hip in my quick turn away from him. Truly my best runs have been my runs south. That route lets me concentrate on my running form etc... not on what I might encounter along the way. SO: Choose your route wisely.
4. A few bad days or a bad week doesn't reflect reality. I went on vacation and thought I had set myself back for weeks, but then I had 2 really good 3+mile runs a few days after I came home. This week I had a really bad 3 days of running, then today I met my goal! SO: keep running it will get better.

My new goal is to run 4 miles by October 1st. I don't think that should be too hard to reach. The trick is that I usually only have about 45 to 50 minutes to run (including warm up/cool down). So I need to get a bit faster to run 4 miles in that time frame. But I'll just keep running until I get there.

I ran 5k!!!

I ran 3.11 miles today. Ran the whole thing!!! I can do a 5k. =) I am slow. It took me 43:44. But I have 29 days to get faster.

My initial goal was to do it in under 40, then I changed it to less than 35 minutes. That seems like a lot. But when I consider that 1 month ago I was so excited that I ran for 10 minutes straight, it doesn't seem beyond reality.

Goal met!!!!

I ran 2 miles straight today! Actually I ran farther than that (2.25m) as I ran for a total of 30 minutes!

Yesterday I finished my new runner training. It was so great to go out and just run today. I did want to run 30 minutes so I set my timer when I started running. But my goal was to run 2 miles or more so I was running "to" somewhere instead of just for an amount of time. Granted my running to somewhere ended up being where I started from. But instead of checking my watch to make sure to take my required walk break, I was only occasionally looking at my watch to check my pace. So much fun to move from "how much longer before I have to walk?" to "how far/fast am I running?" I feel like a real runner!

When I started this "I'm going to get healthy" journey on June 14th, I never imagined that on August 14th I would be running more than 2 miles. I feel like I have given myself this wonderful gift. Actually, I feel that God has given me a wonderful gift. I never before kept up w/ exercise consistently for 2 months in my life (I don't think I ever even pulled off 1 month.) But I never found something I enjoyed as much as running before either, something that adds to my identity. Although part of me wants to qualify it - "I am slow", "I am new", "I don't go very far" - I realize those things don't matter because they are relative and/or temporary. Instead I am now delighted to say with conviction:

I am a runner.

Plan for 8/16-9/18

I am working on my plan for next week, and the next month. I need a plan so I have an assignment to complete. I want to run 4 days per week. I hoping to start at 30 and work my way up to 45 minutes 3 days a week. Then one day I want to work on running faster. I am so not a competitive person, I really need to pay attention to challenge myself to run faster. So using the treadmill or taking the GPS I want to try to pick up the pace a little. Maybe not run quite so long, but try to get a feel for a faster pace. Of course I am shooting for somewhere between 11 and 12 minute miles here, so it is not like I will be doing "speed drills." Plus I want to keep up my pilates and upperbody workout. So the plan for 8/16 through 9/18:

1. Run 30-45 minutes 3 days/wk
2. Run "faster" 1 day per week
3. Pilates DVD 3 days/week
4. upper body workout (here), 2 days/wk

Plus on off running day I may throw in some bike rides. It helps to keep getting up and getting out there at the crack of dawn. I don't want to get used to sleeping in again.

Looking ahead, while looking back

I will be done with my training schedule in the next 2 weeks. I want to keep running. I think one of the things I really love about running is the progress I make. I ran for 16 minutes twice. I ran a mile and more TWICE in less than an hour. My mile times (I timed the first mile of the 16 minutes) were less than 13 minutes!! My mile last week was 13:30.

To look back and remember how I was dreading 6 minutes just a few weeks ago, makes me wonder what I can actual do next.

• My initial running goal was to be able to run 2 miles straight. Then I felt like that would be too easy. (I still haven't done it, but within 2 weeks that goal should be accomplished)
• Then I decided I wanted to do a 5k in less than 40 minutes. Well I am not there yet, but I frequently interval a 5k in about 42 minutes.

I am planning on doing a 5k on September 18th. (A nearby one raising money for autism research/services) That is well over a month away. So I want to make a new goal. I want to do it in less than 35 minutes. Maybe that goal isn't tough enough. But it seems huge to me. That would be a sub 12 min/mile pace.

So now I need to come up with a training plan to get faster. ???? I have between now and August 23rd to figure it out. I know I will do better if I have a plan written down. It is easier to drag myself out of bed at 6am or earlier when I have an "assignment"