Week 1 in the books, and running on the plan has already strengthened my legs, but has tired them out in the process.

Monday:  3.1 Miles (Pace 8:12)

The heat and humidity has not subsided, we are having a classic Baltimore summer!  Today I took a loop around the neighborhood, I waited till later in the evening to run but that didn’t provide any relief.

Tuesday:  5 Miles (Pace 8:30)

I’ve been doing some cross training and riding my bike a bit more, on Tuesdays I run at Tin Roof and normally ride my bike.  I went a bit early for an appointment I had and then rode to Ft. McHenry.  We normally start running at 6:45, but the skies opened up at 6:15 and there were bad storms for about an hour.  Once the rain let up, I rode home, in total I did 2o miles on the bike.  The storm had really cooled things down and it was still overcast when I started running.  That didn’t last long about two miles in the sun came out and the temps started rising again.  I did have a negative split for the run!  My quads were really sore, as I was running I was thinking about scheduling a massage for Friday!

Wednesday:  4 Miles (Pace 8:12)

Today’s training plan called for 3 miles but I decided to do 4.  On Wednesdays I normally run with City Sports Run Club, that is where I first started running with a group about 2 and a half years ago.  The group isn’t as large as it was in the past, but a few new people came this evening.  I didn’t want to turn around before any of them since there was just a few of us.  Each mile was a negative split, the run felt strong and it wasn’t as humid as it had been the last few days.

Thursday:  1.5 Miles (Pace 7:02)

So I was feeling unsure about the tempo run the training plan called for, I’ve never done one before and was hoping someone would run one with me but everyone was busy or had already ran.  I decided I would do hills with November Project and Sarah in the morning tomorrow.  Tonight I decided to do a quick mile and a half, faster than my race pace.  When I started I was thinking about a new PR for the mile but the humidity was a little much and I didn’t warm up for it.  No excuses, I just didn’t have it in me, but I was happy with the run!

Friday:  4 Miles (Pace 8:24)

Normally I’m not a morning runner, which is kind of odd considering when I was in the military I was up almost everyday at 4 am or early for PT.  Today I woke up at 5:30 to go to November Project and run with Picky Runner.  When I went outside I was pleasantly surprised at how cool it was, and thought maybe I should start running in the morning more often!  I rode my bike to Patterson Park, that is where NP meets.  I think I am finally starting to get over my social anxiety with NP, they pride themselves on being weird and I think I’m starting to get use to it.  Most people think I’m an extrovert, but those who really know me, know I’m an introvert and it takes a lot for me to be comfortable in social situations where I don’t know everyone.  In between 1/2 mile hill repeats, we did partner pushups and hoisties and every other repeat we were suppose to do ‘last man up’ sprints.  Last man up sprints use to be called ‘Indian Sprints’ but we live in a post-PC World now.  I did a variation of those exercises and ran with some new people today!  I didn’t catch their names, maybe next time.  NP has a lot of good runners and happy people, so I think I will keep going when I can.  Today was a good day of running days like today are why I run, or maybe it was all the endorphins, running releases those, It’s Science!  All this before 8am!

Saturday:  11.1 Miles (Pace 8:59)

I decided to move my long run to today.  After a few hours of delays and wishful thinking that the weather would clear up, my friends Cat and Elizabeth convinced me to go running, well I suppose we all convinced each other.  The weather had finally cooled and was in the 60’s!  When we started the rain had stopped but it was cloudy.  The wind started to really pick up in mile 3, by mile 4 the rain had started but wasn’t to bad.  Somewhere around mile 6 the sky really opened up and it stayed that way the rest of the run.  At first it really didn’t bother any of us but by mile 9 our shoes and clothes were soaked and we just wanted dry feet and to not be weighed down by our clothes.  Around mile 10 is when we all came to the consensus we were miserable, but Cat was trying to talk me into another 3 miles.  I just didn’t have it in me, my stomach had started hurting a while back and I just wanted to finish the 11 and call it a day, that is what happened.  Even with the rain, it was a good run and it was nice to run with Cat and Elizabeth, we are pretty much the only ones left that started (other than Theo) running together 2 years ago.  Today, I wondered, and I imagine all distance runners do at some point, why am I out here doing this?  I’m not sure there is an answer to that, today the answer was because my friends are out here doing it with me and my legs need the miles!

*Note, my phone didn’t survive this run 😦  I’m now on the market for a new phone, but I’m not really sold on an iPhone 6 upgrade…decisions, decisions.

Sunday:  3 Miles (Pace 9:28)

Today I only wanted to run a mile, but I ran with my best friend John.  He is training for the upcoming Heritage 6k next week and wanted to run farther.  After the run yesterday, I really didn’t feel like it but once my legs loosened up, I knew I had 3 miles in me.  The pace was slow and that was fine with me, it let me go a bit further.  We picked up the pace the last mile and I took off in the last half mile, I just wanted to stretch my legs out.  It was a good end to week 2 of marathon training!

Total Miles:  31.7