Today is Friday and that always puts me in a good mood! I got everything I needed to get done at work so I feel pretty good about that. I decided to go on a run today after all. I drove up to my favorite park and ran the loop twice. That only equals 3.6 miles, so I ran up and down the driveway and a little back onto the path in hopes of getting in 4. I used MapMyRun to check my totals and it looks I got in 4.2 today! The loop I ran at the park is pretty hilly, so I was huffing and puffing on parts of it just to keep a 10 min/mi pace, but that's okay. I hope the hills will just make me stronger, right?! My goal then will be to run that course with greater ease and in a faster time. What really stunk about the run though is that my knees are still hurting. It's not nearly as bad as it was before, it's just the fact that they are STILL hurting. I mean come ON already! It's been 8 weeks now. UGH! Despite that though, I still feel pretty positive about my running today. The knee pain has reduced and I'm getting ready to slowly approach greater distances again. Tomorrow I'll take off from running, but Sunday I plan to try 5 miles. Monday I'll have off, but then Tuesday I'll just go out for 3 or 4. I'll have to take Wed and Thur off though because I am going on a field trip with my students. We're going to CAMP! It will be really fun, but I have to admit...I'll miss DH and my kitties. (Yes, I'm lame like that.) I'll be back home Friday afternoon, but I'll probably be pretty tired. I'll try to go on another long run that weekend -- hopefully 6 miles. We'll see how I feel after that. I hope I can get up to running 6 miles with relatively no pain. That'll be awesome! The following weekend, I will have a 5.25 mile race! The course is supposed to be pretty hilly too. I hope my park course helps to prepare me for it!
Oh, I guess I should mention that speck of mojo that got me out there today. While one speck is due to the simple fact that today is FRIDAY, the other is that today was jeans day at work, and I have to say, I really liked how my jeans fit today! I remember how they used to be a little tight in the waist and today I noticed how loose they are! I kept having to pull them up! I thought, COOL BEANS -- this running thing IS doing some good for me! :-)
Other than that, I'm now still trying to decide on a race to do in August. As I wrote in an earlier post, there are two that I both wanted to do (one is a 10K and one is a 10-miler) and I recently found out that they are on the same day. They are also both 3 weeks away from my first ever half marathon. I am trying to decide which race would better prepare me for my half. At first I assumed the 10-miler would better prepare me since it is closer in distance to the 13.1. I figured it would give me a good idea of how to pace the half mary. Well today, I was reading "The Fast Lane" page in this month's Runner's World (pg 46) and it was talking about "tune up" races. Here's what is says:
"Tune-ups are done 2-3 weeks before a key event and should be shorter than your target race, but run at full effort. Running fast ensures that your fast-twitch muscle fibers and neuromuscular coordination are high; the shorter distance ensures you won't need a long recovery."
It then goes on to suggest running a 10K two weeks before a half marathon. So now I just really don't know! Luckily I have time to figure it out.
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