10/15 Day 5

Goal: 4 miles easy
Actual: 4 miles easy, TLT / 5 strides at shores.
Weekly Mileage: 25

Notes: Short post today, in the middle of lots of work. I ran 4 this morning around the lake - pace was easy - 8:13 / 7:58 / 7:54 / 8:46 after Jorge asked me last night if I had ever run any distance at 8:30's or above. I was not able to answer him, other than to remind him of all the times I had to run slow because his ass was dragging... I tried to keep the pace above 8's and my average was, so I feel good about that.

Anyway, the weather has been beautiful for a return to running, The temps were in the upper 50's and sunny. Amazing. I watched two swans fly by, saw a couple geese, and a number of mom's, pro triathletes and aged people wandering on the trail. Body feels OK surprisingly. I expect to start the second phase of this training next week, when the body starts to complain more, and my energy levels drag. But for now, I feel awesome out there, and am excited to
get back in some sort of shape.

I was thinking about my old blog (I posted a link to it on the menu), and got caught up reading the old posts. I can still remember almost every one of those workouts. Weird how writing about these things really helps cement the memory.

As I start back, I am constantly monitoring my mental state and physical being, trying to determine what is and isn't hurting. As I read the old posts, it seems that I had good and bad days then as I do now. My perception of myself back then was that I was a bad ass runner, who ran 20 each Saturday etc, but I notice that I frequently ran 12-15 miles and didn't seem to feel too bad about that. I guess I don't need to try to meet some weird standard of being a bad ass runner, since I never really was one. On another note, it does look like gazelles workouts will become important again, since those have been off the menu for a long long time.
To begin, I am going to start the 6am firecracker run again for friendship and one decent workout a week.

Finally, last night, I went out for a few with my lady friends, Rich, Erine, and Jorge. These 3 have been stalwart friends and great running buddies for me. Many a firecracker run in their company. Here are Rich and Erine...and one more of Jorge - He complained about the ponytail shot so I found one of him looking really strong in a 5K. Thumbs Up man! Looking strong my friend, a little green around the gills...but still. Don't give up.

(Actually this picture was taken at the end of a 10/20 mile race that runtex put on up in Georgetown a few years back. It was frigid and the wind was howling. Miserable. Jorge's face appears frozen in a grimace of disbelief).