Today's run

I ran three miles today at a 9:57 average pace. That's faster than the 5K we did on Saturday. What is happening to me? I honestly never thought I'd break a 10-minute mile. Now I want to see how much faster I can go.

But I'm taking tomorrow off from running. Partly because I don't want to overdo it, but mostly because I have an appointment at 7:15, then I have to work, and then right after work I go to my first Marathon 501 class! Time to start getting ready for the Free Press Marathon. I'm excited and terrified.

More running with David

Since the 5K on Saturday, David and I have had two more opportunities to run together. On Sunday, we headed to the park where I'll be doing a trail 5K on Saturday. I just wanted to check it out and see how crazy it is. We did about 1 1/4 miles there. I think I can handle the terrain, but I'm a little worried about being able to pass people or let them pass me - it is mostly narrow single-track. Hmmm, should be interesting!

After we left the park, we went to my house and did another 3 miles on my local rail trail and got done just before it started raining. A good day of running!

I stayed at David's house last night and we headed out for a run at 6am today. We have a good three-mile route in David's neighborhood that we've run before. We headed out really fast (faster than our race pace from Saturday) for the first 1.5 miles. After that, we knocked it down a notch so as to avoid a heart attack. :) Our average pace for the three miles was nearly as fast as our 5K. I'm excited about the next 5K road race we decide to do, because I think we will kick some major butt.

I have to say once again that I love running with David! What could be better than sharing my favorite activity with my favorite person in the world?

Still feeling speedy

This running faster thing seems to be sticking. I ran five miles before work this morning and my average pace was about 15 seconds slower than the race I did on Sunday. And that is still WAY faster than my usual pace.

After work it was in the 60s and sunny so I just had to get out and run again. I did almost three miles and my pace was slightly faster than this morning's pace. What is up with that? I guess running outside in warmer weather agrees with me because I just can't believe how much my speed has suddenly improved. Let's see how long it lasts! I'll be really interested to see what happens during this Saturday's 10-mile long run.

Today I did my first official "speedwork" session as part of my half marathon training. I have to admit, I was a little afraid of it when I saw it on the schedule. I don't like to breathe hard. :) The basic plan was one mile warm-up, then two 1-mile repeats at a fast pace with half-mile jogs in between, and then a cooldown. Total distance 5 miles.

The fast pace wouldn't be considered fast by elite standards, but it was challenging for me. I did ultimately end up enjoying it. It's fun to push yourself sometimes. When I felt a little bit like slowing down during the second fast mile I reminded myself that people on the Biggest Loser who weigh twice as much as I do are able to do this, so I can do it, too.

This Runner's World schedule I'm following is interesting to me. All the paces were chosen for me based on the previous half marathon time I entered. It only has speed sessions one time per month. There are also tempo runs every other week. And a lot of what are labeled as "easy runs" where the prescribed pace is much slower than my normal running pace so I confess I have been running faster than it calls for. It's very different from the TNT plan I followed, which just gave me a mileage total for the day without any directions regarding pace.

By the way, the guy on the treadmill next to me was doing one-minute intervals. During his speed intervals, he was going ELEVEN miles per hour. His rest intervals in between were about the same pace as my speed intervals. :)

I feel great

Today was a strange day for me. I was filled with positive energy for some reason. I had three miles to run, so I went to gym and got on the treadmill. Just like yesterday, I was wishing I could run more. So I pushed myself and made my base speed a little faster than I usually run. And then I did a couple of three-minute intervals at an even higher speed just to push myself. I found that I really enjoyed it! Now I'm excited for the next time I get to run, when I will aim for three intervals at the faster speed instead of two.

I think I've finally started to love running, instead of just loving the way I feel AFTER I run.