Lindsay's Legacy 5K

I went into this race feeling a bit apprehensive. I have had a little foot pain, and wasn't sure what I was going to be able to do. I shortened a run on Thursday- had 3 mile speed work scheduled and ended up running an "easy" 2.25 miles, stopping when I decided my foot hurt enough to make it a bad idea to keep going. Walking to the race, I had a little soreness, but nothing that I felt would be a big problem. I decided to just do what I could and not push too hard. I actually started out pretty fast, much faster than I should- about a 9:30 mile, which is just simply not maintainable for me yet. But I was feeling pretty good and just kept pushing on. As I was running, I felt some soreness in my foot, but nothing too bad. I was irritated when on a hill I got passed by someone who looked and sounded like he wasn't going to make it. I hate when that happens. Anyway I had a great race, finishing in 33:30, over 2 minutes faster than my previous best. I averaged a 10:50 mile. Oh, and I saw the guy who passed me earlier at the end, and my husband, who was nice enough to meet me for the last quarter, asked me if I was going to let him beat me... the answer was NO! I zoomed in for last tenth of a mile at an 8:20 pace. I didn't know I could move that fast, but when pride is at stake, I guess everything changes. My foot was pretty painful afterwards, and I suppose shopping all day didn't help. But I am icing it and will take a few rest days this week. Next up: 8K race this Saturday, as well as the 8K Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving!

Change of Scenery

Now that it's pretty much dark when I am not at work, running outside is done, except for the weekends. I got pretty used to being outside, and since the cold weather doesn't scare me, I know I can still get in at least one (if not two) runs outside on the weekends. During the week, I now have two new options. I am swapping my gym membership for one that has an indoor track. Bally's, while old, has everything one could want, including the indoor track and a pool! I ran 5 miles on it yesterday, which in case anyone was curious, was 40 times around (it's a 1/8 mile, so I did the math for you). Booooorrrring but not as boring as the treadmill in my opinion. Bally's has plenty of treadmills, but we were lucky enough to have friends with an old but usable treadmill. It's loud, but it works, and in a pinch when I need to get in a shorter run, it will be perfect. Our little home gym now has a treadmill, elliptical, bike on a trainer and a bowflex (as well as a cat that won't leave the room and her litter box, but what can you do?). So these are some good options for my winter runs. I was very pleased with yesterday's 5 mile run- I actually completed it faster than my Turkey Trot goal, so it looks like it is definitely time to re-evaluate my goal. I am running a 5K this weekend, so how that goes will determine how agressive my new goal will be.