RUN TODD RUN, Week 8

THURSDAY, 6/17/10
Did two times through our neighborhood which came right in at 15 minutes. It wasn't too late in the morning, but already hot. Without realizing it, I've moved from a 10-minute floor (meaning every time I run, I know I'm going to do at least ten minutes) to a 15-minute floor. For me, these past two months of running have really been about looking back - taking the opportunity to compare where I am now with where I started. Figured I'll park on the 15 minute thing for the rest of this week. Hopefully!

FRIDAY, 6/18/10
Same thing. 15 minutes doing two times through the neighborhood. I ran around 9:30. Good run...15 minutes is still hard, but not impossible. However, as soon as I was done, Kristen and I took the kids swimming. The swimming part wasn't all that much exercise for me, but the two activities combined knocked me out! We drove home to Lufkin Friday afternoon for a party at my parents' house and by the time we got done with that, I was wiped from a day of running, swimming, driving, partying. (Someone's getting old....)

SUNDAY, 6/20/10
I've probably mentioned this before, but Sundays are the hardest days to run. I usually get up relatively early to get ready for church and then lead worship until 12. Throw in an after-church lunch and any other Sunday evening activities and my legs are totally useless by the end of the night.

However, over the past few months, I've been accidentally getting up early. I've been sorta' sitting up at 5am, ready to get up. Most days, I lay back down and try to get some more rest, but I figured I might use that to my advantage.

On Saturday night prior, I set my alarm for 6am. (Normal wake up time w/ a few snooze buttons throw in there.) I went to sleep thinking, "Okay, if my body wakes up earlier than that, I'll run."

My body did. I woke up at 5:11am and decided to go for it. I snuck out of the house and got my run in. I did a much longer warm up walk simply because my legs and brain weren't quite awake yet. I also changed my route. Still did 15 minutes, but tried a different approach. There were a couple of reasons for that - one of the streets in my normal run has a ton dogs in their backyards. I didn't want to run through and set off every dog on the street at 5:30 in the morning. Second reason for the different route was to put some uphill/downhill running closer together. Still got my 15 minutes in, but it was very different run. It's stil not easy, but I keep hoping that someday...it will be.

MONDAY, 6/21/10
Krist was scheduled to work out at Body Pump on Monday morning, so I decided to tag along. Early on in my couch to 5k thing, I ran what's called "Southern Trail," which is a 1/2 mile trail that runs from Woodcreek to Reick. When I ran it back then, I was terrible, so I was a little anxious to run it again. The fifteen minute runs are still tough, but I can pound it out if I'll work at it. The trails have mile markers, which is nice. So I walked to the head of the Southern Trail and took off. I hit the 1/2 mile marker at about 5:15, which is pretty normal for me. I should have turned, run the back half and then a little extra...but I didn't. Instead, I went ahead and ran further up the trail on a GIANT hill. Not smart. That extra part of the trail really winded me and I was pretty ready to give up at around the 12 minute mark. By then, I was back down the hill on a return trip and was able to make it using the mile markers as my motivation. Ended up running just over 15 minutes. Still had some tiem before Krist was done, so I walked for another 10 minutes or so.

It was a very hot run, but I'm glad I did it. Still haven't experience that fabled "runner's high," but I'm pressing on regardless!