THOU SHALT BE A COMEBACK

I got back into running 3 weeks ago and have really discovered the joy.  I will be running my first 5K on October 11 and am training for that.  I just need to establish a baseline time.

Anyways, on this day I ran an exactly 5 mile route which includes a significant uphill portion--not a steep grade by any means but definitely up hill.  I ran 5 miles in fifty minutes which is the best I have run so far.  I felt great and the weather was crisp and gorgeous so I started off too fast.  I knew I was going to fast but I felt good and didn't care.  The first two miles flew by and getting into the third mile I started to hurt.  Most of the third mile and part of the fourth was straight up a slight incline.  I got onto even ground and after some slow running picked the pace back up to finish the fifth mile, though not nearly as fast as my first two miles.  I do not know what my splits were but I am sure the third mile was slower, the fourth mile the slowest, and the fifth mile pretty slow.  Last week when I did five miles it took 57 minutes, so I felt pretty great after the run!  My goal for this 5K is under 30 minutes, which I think is definitely possible now.  Oh well, this was the third day in a row running so it is time for a day off and I will run again on Tuesday.  I am trying to vary the routine so perhaps a fartlek. It depends on how I feel that day.

Five miles in fifty minutes again today, but the run itself was rough.  My legs felt tight and my breathing felt tough from the beginning and it never got any better.  I peaked at my watch at the 3 mile mark and I was at thirty minutes so I was inspired to maintain the pace for only two more miles.  As awful as the run itself was, I felt absolutely fantastic afterward and I almost want to go running again but that is not possible as I need to spend time with my family before my long shift at work this evening.  Thanks for all the input and comments!  It is very encouraging!

I was tired and stressed today and wanted to ENJOY my run thorougly so I ran at an effortless and leisurely pace and it was very relaxing.  I did not measure the route until afterwards.  It was 4.7 miles in 52 minutes, about 11 minute 3 second miles if I did the math right.  The run was relaxing and enjoyable which is what I wanted it to be.

5.8 miles in 63 minutes.  It would have been faster but I got BITTEN BY A DOG.  I was just jogging along down a dirt road when two large dogs came running at me from their yard.  I threw my arms up to push them off but they were circling around and on got behind me and bit me in the back of the right thigh.  I was screaming but the homeowners never came out of the home.  I just kept backing down the road and finally the dogs left me alone and returned to their  yard.  Of course this is out in the sticks where there are not a lot of people around so I walked to the next neighbors house a few minutes down the road and they had heard me screaming.  They said that same dog had bitten their kid about a month back.  Anyways I talked to them for a minute and then finished running home.  My husband called the sherriff and we made a report.  I have learned my lesson.  Now I will be sure to carry mace or something like that. The bite broke the skin but I'm not missing a chunk of flesh or anything.  Guess I'll be going to get a tetanus shot tomorrow.  I am wondering if a fanny pack is feasible to carry mace and maybe a cellphone when you are running?

It was going to have to be short and sweet today.  Husband at work, baby down for a nap, the three younger boys watching television.  I have to stay on the one mile loop that begins and ends at my house, just in case world war 3 breaks out at home I can get there fast.  It is dirt roads with lots of potholes and big loose gravel, so pushing baby in the stroller is not really going to work.  I wait until she is napping, give instructions to the boys, then creep out and lock the door.  I have only finished lunch 45 minutes ago, a recipe for disaster, but this is the only time I've got today!  I decide I am going to warm up jogging for a mile, run a mile at what I think might be 5k race pace, then cool down a  mile.  The first mile is fine, a little hot outside, but no big deal.  Then, I hit mile 2 at a "comfortably hard" pace and hit the watch.  I am not in shape, so "comfortably hard", a laughable concept at this point, quickly turns into just plain HARD.  By the halfway point, I am so nauseated that I wish I had not eaten lunch at all.  I gut it out the rest way, then at the end hit the watch and slow to a walk.  8:30. Next time I won't eat.  Definitely not going to eat before the race.  I walk 100 meters or so, then force myself to jog another loop.  Next I check in, and Vanessa is awake, so I put her in the stroller and we walk half a mile until the nausea finally lets up.  

4.7 miles in 47 minutes.  It was a steady pace the whole way.  I didn't feel good or bad.  Just steady.