Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Run and then run more

It feels like I have been out running a load this week. My milage really has not increased much but those few miles make a difference.

Sunday - I did six miles with the group.

Monday - I did just over four miles here in the neighborhood. It was slower than I really wanted to go but it was still a decent time. It was cool enough I decided to try running in a t-shirt rather than my normal tank top. Mistake!! Even though the shirt I ran in was a wicking shirt, not 100% cotton, it was still heavier than what I have been running in. It also has sleeves! I will go back to my tank tops and sleeveless shirts until the weather cools off significantly more.

Today - I met Candi and Samantha down at the fairgrounds. Since it is starting to get dark earlier, the park is closing earlier so we moved our meet time up by 15 minutes to make sure we got our run in.

Once again, I felt like I was just plodding along and not making much progress. At the end of my three miles, I was stunned.

1 mile: 12:15
2 mile: 12:07
3 mile: 11:20!!!

A big change is that I can stop and run again. By that, I mean that I can stop running during a run and then I can continue to run again. That is a big change for me. I only did 3 miles. Candi did 3.5 and as she passed me on the final .3, she wanted me to tell her she could do it. I just ran the last .3 with her. Samantha did 4.5 miles and Candi and I joined her for her final .3 miles. Even six weeks ago, I would not have been able to do that! I would have encouraged but there is no way I could have ran that little bit after my run was finished.

It has been six months since I started running consistantly. February 14 was a cold, winter morning. It was 32F outside and blowing snow. We did 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for 20 minutes (as well as a 5 min warm up and cool down) At the end of that 30 minutes, I was breathing like I had just run miles. It is funny to look back at that now because after six miles of nonstop running, I don't breathe that hard.

What a difference six month can make!

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