Marathon Training Week 2

Before I tell you about the run from this morning, I have to tell you something really awesome.  Last Wednesday I went out for a 3 mile training run.  I had Cody, and I wasn't planning on going to fast.  I just wanted to take things easy.  I planned my route (actually 3.1 or 5k distance, because that was easier), and off I went.  There wasn't much exciting about the route, but it felt REALLY good.  When I finished, I looked at my Garmin, and then I saw it...my time.  29:30!!  I ran a 5k in under 30 minutes.  It's the first time I've done that, and I couldn't be happier about it.  It definitely set the mood for the rest of the week.

Today's run was pretty straight forward.  A big group of people went met at 7:00 am for an "easy" 5 mile run.  It went really well!

I started off at a pace that I could tell was a little faster than normal, and I chalked that up to being in a group.  I talked with a few people, but I was struggling to find a pace that I really liked (without looking at my watch), and the people that I was talking with were either going faster or slower.  I couldn't find my running buddy from last week (we'll call her R.B. for Running Buddy), but I was OK with that because I wanted to meet more people from our team.  I met a gentleman wearing a knee brace as an effort to keep from re-injuring his tibia (yeah, he was faster than me).  I met a woman who had been on the training team for the past two years (I was faster than her).  I talked a bit with one of the coaches.  His first time on the team was three years ago (impressive that he's a coach now), and he had only run a 10k before going in too.  It made me feel good.

We took a route through a park which was nice and shaded and there wasn't any traffic.  There were, however, hills.  Some were big, some were small, but there were plenty of them.  Of course, this made it harder for keeping a pace.

When we finished the run, I was surprisingly exhausted.  I knew I had pushed a little harder than usual, but I didn't think I should be huffing and puffing the way I was.  I figured I had run about 10:15 min/mile, about 15-30 sec faster than my usual pace.  Imagine my surprise when I looked at my watch and saw that I had run 9:59 min/mile!  That's 30-45 sec faster than my usual pace, AND it's the first time I've run a long distance under a 10:00 minute mile.  Suddenly I no longer felt exhausted.  I felt empowered!  Apparently I'm getting faster.

As I was stretching out and having some water, I looked up and there was R.B.  She had just finished and was happy with her time as well.  We had a nice, little chat and then we went home.  I'm excited for this week, because I'm going to meet up with another girl from MTT for a run together.  I am really enjoying meeting so many people and finding others with the same interest as me, and I am very happy that I decided to do this.  It may be a bit difficult at times, but I know if I can do this then I can do anything.