My First 20-Mile Week!

Whew! It's been a whirlwind of a few days, but my first week is complete! Woohoo! 

Here's a quick summary of the last few days. 

FRIDAY

I had a bit of a shorter run. I went for three miles (none of which felt particularly great). 

Mile 1: 11:22

Mile 2: 10:00

Mile 3: 10:03

This made for a total of 15 miles. Five more to go in order to reach my goal of running my first 20 mile week in a long, long time! 

Funny mini-dialogue between my husband and I when he brought me a slice of pizza later that day:

Me: "Did you get one more piece than me?"

Husband: "Yes."

Me: "Good, because my goal is to NOT eat as much as you...even though I can." :D 

I went to the pool with a girlfriend and she asked if I was on a strict diet along with my new running regimen. Heck no! I told her, "I run so I can eat, girl!" :D

SATURDAY

This was a rest day. We got up at 5:30am and took a family trip to Oceanside to support two of our friends who were doing the half iron man. Here we are at the beach.

Talk about motivating! The guys did an awesome job. It was especially inspiring as I watched athletes who had lost legs in the line of service crossing the finish line after swimming 1.2 miles, biking 56 miles and running a half-marathon. Talk about heart! It made me want to stay the course and I found myself looking forward to my long 5 mile run the next day. Don't laugh...that's long for me.  I'm no ironman...yet. :D

SUNDAY (Today)

I did it!! I ran my last five miles to reach my goal of twenty miles for the week and it felt great! No really, the RUNNING part felt great today! My husband put together a great music mix and I headed out the door after throwing back a cup of coffee, a sour apple powergel and glass of water. 

Check out the milage!! 5.38 miles in 58:37.09

Mile 1: 10:48

Mile 2: 10:54

Mile 3: 10:37

Mile 4: 9:42 (I sped up! Must have been some kickin' music :)

Mile 5: 10:00 

The last mile I was still feeling pretty good. As I was going up one stretch of the run, I saw a car pulling over ahead of me and a lady leaning out to get my attention. I'll confess, my first thought was to hide behind my sunglasses and earphones and pretend not to see them. I sooooo did not want to stop and break my rhythm or ruin my time. Sigh. That thought was quickly followed by a self-scolding. What's my problem??? Of course people are more important! I stopped to give directions to Walmart and Home Depot and then started up again. I tried to kick a little and gain some of the time lost. While I'm embarrassed to confess the temptation to pretend not to see them, I'm also kind of strangely excited about it. It does, afterall, show a small shift in my thinking. Used to, I would have welcomed any and every opportunity to stop. Case in point...today when I would get stopped at a crossing, I tried to keep moving so as not to lose too much momentum. Just a week or so ago, I was praying for red lights and gasping for air. These are tiny improvements that show change and make me happy. :)

My first 20 mile week! Thanks so much for all the support. You guys rock! I love all the comments and emails. They're so encouraging and motivating. Makes me kinda feel like I have some company out there. :D 

Next week's goal: 20 miles