Day 28 (Oct. 11)

Lately all I’ve wanted to do is sit around and eat Peeps. Yum.

Thankfully, I’ve kept my Peep intake to a minimum so far. Notice I wrote “so far.” I love them so. And, candy corn. Yum. I haven’t been around any candy corn yet this year, and I know it’s for the best. I have the desire to eat massive amounts of it.

After last Thursday’s tough run and the resulting tired legs, followed by Sunday’s frustrating run, I became a little unmotivated. I was really hoping for good things after my brilliant 7-mile run two Sundays ago, and I feel like just the opposite has happened. Hence the desire to sit around and eat Peeps and buckets of candy corn.

Fortunately, I didn’t sit around and eat loads of Halloween candy. Instead, I went to my training group on Tuesday, and I had a great run, which lessened this desire for sugared goodness.

We had a 50-minute run on Tuesday with four, five-minute speed intervals with four-minute jogs after the intervals. I forgot my Garmin watch (Well, I didn’t forget it, technically. I’ve temporarily misplaced it. Eek!), so I had no idea what pace I was running. I just had to do it by feel and by my position to other runners. I’m at the point where I know who should be in front of me and by how much, so that really helped in terms of pacing.

It was difficult (especially that last killer interval that felt like it lasted 15 minutes), but I felt really good about how I did. I felt great the entire time, and my legs finally feel back to normal. Yippee!

In my quest to include more photos, here is a picture of happy me post-run at home. I avoided the awkward, in the car pre-run photo this time.

I think this is the happiest part of my day. I have such a feeling of accomplishment and a stockpile of all those great running endorphins. And, I have the rest of the evening to myself. Well, mostly myself. My dog demands some attention, which I gladly give her.

Teach me to fly

After our group run, a girl came up to me and said, "You need to teach me how to fly."

My brain started scrambling ... did I tell her about a sweet deal I got on a flight (I am a serious bargain shopper when it comes to flights. OK, I'm a serious bargain shopper for everything.)? Did I look rather pilot-like today (I don't think so ... unless pilots are wearing capris and tech shirts these days)?

Finally, she said, "We start out running together, and then you fly ahead of me."

Wow. She's implying I'm fast! This is a moment. An emotional moment. Never have I ever been referred to as fast. Ever. So, when I think of flying and being emotional, I can't help but think of this song.

Cheesy, yes. Sorry, I can't help it. And, I don't even really like the song that much. It just popped in my head. But thankfully, I started thinking about the singer (R. Kelly), and then it lead me to think of this mega-jam. I love-love-love this song.

But, I digress. Did I mention someone inferred that I'm fast?!?

Of course, to others, I'm slow. To others, the same pace. It used to bother me that I'm slow. But, I guess the important thing is, we're all running, no matter the pace.

Day 5

Thursday: hot. Surprise! OK, not really. I live in Florida. It's summer.

The plan: run 40 minutes with a group about your speed. I was not excited about this. I don't really fall into a group. We have the really fast group, and that is definitely not me. Then, we have the group that does a combo of running and walking (three minutes of running, then two minutes of walking), and that isn't me either. The rest of the group runs, but some stop running before me. Some start out faster than I do. Others just don't run as far. I felt like I'd be taking a step back if I didn't run as far as I could. But, I did what our coach said to do and found a group about my speed.

Our group of three ran at about an 11:30 pace, which was fine by me. We ran 21 minutes, and then stopped to walk (I really felt like I could have gone farther, but I was doing as I was told and stuck with the group). After a three-minute walking break, we started running again for about six minutes. After another three-minute walk break, we ran the remaining seven minutes.

I felt great. And, even though I didn't go as far as I could initially, I felt stronger toward the end, which I guess is a good thing. Maybe that coach of ours does know what he's talking about.