Weekly Running Recap: August 25-31

I'm kind of excited to actually be back to writing running recaps! I know they aren't the most fun thing to read, but when I'm writing about running, it means I'm actually doing it.

I feel like I've gotten to a place (for the first time ever!) that I'm starting to see running as an outlet. There are several times over the past couple of weeks where I would have just procrastinated the run or not done it at all because I was dreading it. Now, my initial reaction is, "Oh, man, I have to run today!" but when I stop and think about the run itself, it starts to sound good.

I like that I don't have a "real" schedule or any particular goals when I run. Sometimes I really need that structure, but at this point, I like doing things without a plan. I already wrote about my run from last Thursday, so I'll just go through the last couple of runs.

Sunday

Sunday's run was pretty funny. I started off going at a leisurely pace, just enjoying that I wasn't home cooking dinner. Running on Sunday evenings is kind of fun because you get to see all the stuff that people are throwing away--Monday is garbage collection day. (I mean it's fun to see things like furniture; I'm not digging through trash cans or anything!)

I'm going to try and do a little drawing on this satellite picture and hope it's not too confusing. The little yellow star is me and the little red star is a good-looking man running with his shirt off. The red arrow will come into play in a minute. (The other colors are just my running route.)

The guy was running downward on the map toward that little loop. The loop is at the end of the peninsula, so I like to run down there and circle the loop (which is exactly 1.5 miles from home, so it's a perfect three-mile run from my house) and then continue--only I stay to the left instead of the right in order to circle the whole peninsula.

Well, on Sunday, when I was at the spot where I placed the yellow star, I saw the shirtless guy (turquoise star) running the same route I just did. I knew, I just knew, he was going to circle the loop and then continue his run behind me. The red arrow is basically just where we passed by each other going opposite directions.

I was not delusional enough to think that I'd outrun him, but it would be embarrassing for him to circle the loop and then catch up to and pass me. So, I naturally picked up my speed--I couldn't help it! See where my route goes from blue to green? That's where I picked up my pace to pretty much what I could stand.

Inevitably, he caught up to me right at the two-mile mark. I called over to him that today is my easy run day; if I really wanted, I could crush his pace and run laps around him, hahaha. He laughed and then kept going, getting farther and farther ahead. Then my goal was to keep him in my sight; and after a few minutes, I didn't even see him anymore. He was definitely running fast! Although, it looked like it might have been an easy run for him, too.

Anyway, I had picked up the pace so much that I just kept going. When I got home, I saw that I'd definitely moved a little faster when trying not to get passed by a boy.

It's funny that you can see exactly where my pace went from about 12:30 to 10:30

I was exhausted after that! When your first mile is 12:39, and then you third mile is 10:20, that's a LOT of time to make up. I was pretty impressed with my 11:34/mile pace when I was done.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, I did three more miles outside. At first, I really didn't want to do this! I had been working in the garage and in my bedroom, I had to go to Lowe's for some stuff for that, I hadn't cooked dinner, and I was just exhausted. However, I started to think about how it would feel to go out for a run and I found I was kind of looking forward to it. 

This time, I figured that since my pace was almost 13:00/mile last time, I'd try to go faster. My main goal was to beat my total time from my previous run--which was 35:20. So, I ran the same route and consciously tried to run faster. 

My first mile was 11:53, and I could have SWORN I was going 10:30-ish! My legs felt so tired. So, I picked up the pace to a point where it felt like a tempo run--I knew I could finish, but it felt so hard. My second mile was 10:45--I was happy to see sub-11:00!

I kept going at what felt like a tempo pace, and then I saw that my overall pace was 11:30 (with at least half a mile to go). I knew I wouldn't be able to hit sub-11:00 for my overall average (I was already pushing myself pretty hard). But then I decided to aim for sub-11:20. It doesn't sound like much of a difference from 11:30, but I was making up time from the first two miles as well, and it was so hard! I kept glancing and seeing the numbers going down so slowly.

When I turned onto my street (I had two houses until mine), I saw that my pace was exactly 11:00 and my distance was at 2.99 miles. I ran as hard as I could for the last moment--even going a little farther than three miles, just in case--and when I was done, I saw my overall average pace was 10:52! I was really surprised, but then when I saw my third mile, I was even MORE surprised: I ran it in 10:02. I wish I'd known it was so close, because I would have pushed for that sub-10.

The whole goal was to beat Sunday's time of 35:20; well, I crushed it with 32:57. I was thrilled with that! It's funny how my weight really doesn't have anything to do with my pace. In 2010, I could run a sub-30:00 5K at 180-ish pounds (as a beginner runner). Now, I'm under 135 pounds and it's a struggle to stay under 11:00/mile. It actually makes it kind of fun so I can see myself getting better.

When I first started running, I kept trying to beat my previous times, even if it was just by one second. I almost wrote that I'd like to try that, but then I'd have a goal and that would put more pressure on me, so I am just going to stick with running however I feel like it. This week went really well!