Running is a means and never merely an end

95 minute long run at 8:15 avg pace including a 15 minute just-slower-than-tempo pace at the end. Felt great and relaxed during this except for the fact that I had to stop to go to the bathroom twice, which always makes me mad because I feel like I'm defeating the aerobic purpose of the workout when I have to stop like that. Oh well. Good to finally get another long run in. Core afterwards.

45 minute run + 9x10sec hill sprints. Went all throughout downtown and around the courthouse loop. Not sure of the pace because my GPS watch memory was full so I just had to do the stopwatch. Oh well. Felt great and had a lot of fun with it. Good quality prayer time :) core afterwards!

55 minute progression run. Coach Harris wanted us to do 15 minutes easy warm up into it, then gain into the last 35 minutes being from 7:35 to 6:55. Mile splits went 8:40/8:34/7:55/7:54/7:28/7:30/6:51. Kinda weird splits cause of certain places with hills I think, but overall felt progressive effort-wise.

Weight lifting, core, & stretching afterwards.

Decided to do today's run around Smoky Mountain/Fairview/Ashe Loop area today. It was 60 minutes. Kind of felt like it was taking forever but I felt fine physically. Mentally, I'm kind of missing having my team to run with! But I'm just so happy to be with my family that it cancels out and then some. Christmas traditions begin tonight!!

45 minutes easy in the early morning so I could get it done with before my sisters woke up to open presents. 8:14 avg pace. It was BEAUTIFUL out this morning. Not exactly a white Christmas, it was so mild, but a gorgeous sunrise. Just so thankful for this Christmas and for the love that God poured out on us when he sent Jesus into this world knowing full well that he'd slay him on that cross one day so that messed-up, sinful people like me could have a chance to spend forever with him one day despite how unworthy I am to do so. Pretty radical, a love like that. Praise God and his goodness and love, and Merry Christmas y'all!!

p.s. Santa brought me a brand new GPS watch (TomTom Runner...SO dope, love it way more than the Nike+) and store credit for new trainers I just gotta go get fitted!! Hopefully some fresh cushioning will solve the issue of the post-run pain in my arches every day!

AM- 15 minute warm up, then a 5 mile tempo. I was supposed to split 7:15's; splits were 6:59/7:07/7:09/7:26/7:09 with a 211ft elevation gain. Averaged out to 7:11 per mile. Coach Harris specifically said not to go faster than our assigned pace but I really didn't mean to. This was my first run with my new watch, and honestly I didn't really trust the pace it was giving me for the first mile. You know how when you first start a run, you could be jogging and your GPS watch will still say its like 6:45 pace or something for a minute until it gauges it accurately. I kind of thought it was doing that for the first three fourths of the first mile or so, which is why that split was so fast. Maybe it was actually accurate from the get-go and I was running like 6:45, it just felt slow. Oops. Anyways, after that I did a 20 minute cool down followed by some weight lifting and core.

PM- ran back home after babysitting for my easy PM run. Added a bit to get to 30 minutes. Note to self...stop forgetting gloves at night! Sincerely, perpetually frozen fingers.

95 minutes relaxed with a fast last 15 minutes. Averaged out to 8:07 pace. My feet are absolutely killing me, like I all but limp for the rest of the night after my long runs. I have GOT to go get my new trainers asap. Except I am leaving for Florida in the morning untill New Years for my campus outreach conference. So I guess I'll get them when my dad picks me up on our way back. I hope I'll be able to make time for runs like usual while I'm at the conference.