Inspiration

I love how interested Alex is in my running. It surprises me that at this young age he is so intrigued by it.

Often I run after he goes to bed, but I'll usually change into my running clothes before he goes down so he knows I'm going out for a run. The other day he was having a really bad morning and was crying and sobbing. I went into his bedroom and held him to help calm him down. In between the sobs he asked me "Did you have a good one?" And I'm thinking, "A good what?" I thought he might have been asking if I had a good night's sleep because we often talk about that in the morning. The honest answer to that would have been, "No, because you've been up since 4:30." But I asked him to repeat himself and after a few tries he finally calmed down enough to ask more clearly, "Did you have a good run?"

I almost burst into tears. Here he was, so upset, but the first thing he thought of when he saw me was to ask if I had had a good run. You bet I did, buddy!

Resolve

I am very determined to not fall into a post-race rut/funk, so I have picked out a new training plan (courtesy of Runner's World's Smart Coach). Tonight I got back on the horse and went out for an easy run. Managing to complete 2.5 miles of the race before a walk break was great for my psyche. I now have no excuses for taking a walk break in my short runs, and I predict that the more of those short runs I can build up, the more confident I will get. I definitely feel like I've turned a corner, and I hope that I can build on this momentum.

Racing in the Heat

Today was the Fleet Feet Sports Women's 5K, 10K & Festival. Sue and I had a lot of fun. How can you not have fun when they are offering mini-manicures on the grounds?! It was hot and humid, but there was cloud cover for most of the race, which certainly helped.

I had resolved that I was going to run slowly (as I've been doing in training to keep my heart rate under control) in order to run for more of the race. I still started off a bit too fast, but was able to settle down and keep a good, moderate pace going. I knew my training had not been what it needed to be and that I was not yet at a point where I could run the whole race, but once I settled in to the race I decided to make that a possible goal and to use that as motivation. At the 2.5 mile point I decided that the safer choice, given the heat, was to walk for a bit. I took a short walk break and then got back to it, finishing off the race with a strong sprint for the last .1 mile.

My official time was 39.44, which leaves lots of room for improvement. I'm excited to put together a more solid training plan going forward and to signing up for another couple of races before November.

Thanks, Bruce!

I went for a long run (well, long for me) on Sunday. The first song up on my Shuffle was "Born To Run." I decided that was a very good omen.

The longer run was a good challenge, and using the Garmin to keep my pace more controlled and slower is really paying off. My heart rate is doing much better, even though my legs still got tired.

My training has been disappointing, so I'm a bit nervous about the race this weekend. I've resolved to be more disciplined about the next round of training after this race, and I think my new discovery of using the slower running to be able to run longer is really going to help.

The Heat Index Is Thwarting Me

The alternate title of this post is I Am A Wimp About The Heat.

It has been seriously steamy here. I put off last night's run because of the heat, hoping I could get one in tonight. However, when I left work the heat index was 97 degrees. Yikes! No running for me tonight. The temps dropped about 20 degrees with a storm that came through, but by then it was too dark to get out for a run. I think my best bet at this point is to try to get up extra early tomorrow. That's always a challenge, but I will try to suck it up and hit the pavement.