Chug-along-chica!

Woo-hooo!  I shattered my record for a non-race 5K today with a time of 29:10.  That's about  a minute and a half faster than my old record.  I can't believe it!  I wasn't even pushing that hard (except at the end) and I had not been looking at the Garmin, but when I saw my 2 mile split I knew I had a chance to break 30 if I pushed it a little, so I did--but I was still SO surprised with my finishing time.  Yea!  Splits were: 9:49, 9:37, 8:55, and :48 for the .1. 

Best Monday run EVER!  I think the temperature really helped.  Today was the first day that it actually felt a little bit cold to me when I first started. 

I've been thinking about doing an experiment this week.   I'm going to try to have a no sugar, no white flour week and just see what it's like.  Is it impossible?  Is it feasible, could I do it long term?  Just an experiment...Anybody else wanna try it with me?  If it works well, I'll try to do it until St. George.

I'm going to try to reach 21-22 miles this week, which will be a new record for me.  Wish me...hmmm..I was going to say "luck", but I think "consistency" is more appropriate.  Wish me consistency, everybody.

PM 1 mile with my boys.

5K with Christine in 29:40 (9:34 pace).  Felt pretty good.  This is a :58 PR for Christine since she started running again.   I probably would've gone a little slower if she hadn't been there, but I was DETERMINED not to be the one slowing us down.  This is why she is so good for me. 

So I got the impression that some of you might need an explanation about giving up sugar and white flour this week.  Let me explain...no there is too much, let me sum up:  Someone at church asked me "how far along" I am...as if I were pregnant!  Never never do this!  People should all adopt Dave Barry's rule of thumb about confronting pregnant women--unless you actually SEE the baby exiting the woman's body, you should not assume she is pregnant.  Otherwise you might drive her to weird dietary changes, yada yada yada.  'Nuff said.

Happy hump-day.  Now it's downhill to the weekend!  32:33 for the 5K and it felt a little hard, for some reason.  Undoubtedly my body wanted to take advantage of not having a speedy training partner today.   A little discomfort in my left arch.  I probably need to get new shoes.

I took a different route today through a huge apartment complex.  The most notable thing that happened was that I passed a guy with a huge black wolf!  He had to step off the sidewalk and exert considerable energy to keep that thing from eating me.  I don't think I'll run that route again!  I prefer the lakes around my house, where I see the nice old guy and the huge orange fish every morning.  BTW did you see the moon this morning?  So big and golden!  Beautiful.

PM run with little ones.  1.37 miles.

Nice and easy 5K with Christine in 31:50 (10:15 pace).   Very steady splits 10:15, 10:14, 10:19, and 1 minute for the .1.  We got to see the International Space Station glide across the sky at 5:40.  It looked like a star except it was a little bit oblong and it was moving pretty fast.  Kerry tipped us off, so James and I were both watching for it this morning. If any of you like astronomy, you should check out Kerry's blog.  He often has cool stuff on there about stars and other celestial sights.

Run. Blog. Improve. Repeat.  Cute, huh?  How appropriate.  I like it.

Later I ran my son to school, .63 of a mile

PM 2 miles with Holly nice & easy.  We talked about Jane Austin the whole time.

3 miles with Christine.  1st 10:48.  2nd 10:11.  3rd 10:11.  See?  Nice and slow, just like Sasha wants (although I overdid it a little on that first one.   He he.)

I'm still torn about whether or not to run in the 5K tomorrow.  The issue is that James won't be able to come (which means I'll inevitably get lost in Phoenix on the way there; might be too tired to drive home; no cheering section yada yada yada). 

Hmmm.  If I get more than 5 people who leave comments telling me to go for it, I will.  There, it's out of my hands now.

Ahhhhh.  So this is how it feels to run a race without heat exhaustion.  MUCH better. 

1st mile on residential roads with lots of 90 degree turns.  8:12

2nd mile on residential roads--most of it one long stretch.  8:22

3rd mile with a little uphill and a psych-out ending (you head towards the finish line and get all excited, but you have to pass it and do another loop and come back).  Partial road, partial grass. 8:53

last .15 in 1:05 (7:27 pace)

This is the first  race I've run this year that I haven't had to lay down within 3 minutes of finishing.  In fact, I kept my feet under me the whole time.   I waited around for about an hour to get the results, and met a lot of fun people.  A lot of really good runners on this course!  Probably because it was a certified course--and very well organized, imo--chip timing and everything.  Several people were trying for the OTQ time in both men's and women's divisions.  A couple of Kenyans showed up to win the race by quite a bit.  I went and congratulated them--they were both very nice.

I felt really good this whole race.  Obviously I was glad when it was over, but I had a much better mental attitude this race.  No fear, just excitement.   I had really wanted to push the second mile, because it is usually my downfall, and I think I succeeded.   I give myself a silver medal for effort with the 26:31.  Gold would've been 25:59.  Bronze 26:59.  Post high school PR by 31 seconds.  : )

I set a new Lybi record by NOT getting lost in Phoenix, despite the city's best attempts to derail me with 2 closed freeways along my route.  Dah!  How'd they know I was coming? 

Weekly mileage record at 24 and change.  Yea!