Run - 7.17 - North Park

I ran this morning at 7:30 AM. I ran for the first time with Kelly. I knew she was fast but she was kicking my butt. Also I was sore from my awful run yesterday.  My thighs haven't been sore after just a training run ever. Or if I was it has been awhile.  We ran clockwise. I prefer counterclockwise. We also ran the big hill instead of cutting through the boathouse lot. People think cutting through the boathouse is shorter but it is not. Based on today and 1 other time, I continue to insist that it is actually longer to go through the boathouse. It is just flat so then people think it is shorter.  

At the end I thought we'd have to round the bend to get 5 miles but then I didn't want to. I just wanted to be done. So that's why we are at 4.97. If we cut through the boathouse, that would have been 5 easy without having to run some extra feet. 

Kelly is the only person faster than me that has been willing to run with me. I knew it would be a challenge. Even though Kelly hasn't been running, she's faster.  We were talking the first few miles and we were going pretty quickly.  Around 3.5 I started struggling more.  I also had us stop at 2 water fountains for water and then I ended up with a side cramp.  The hills were rough. I thought I was going to die. 

Then the end finishes on a downhill. Kelly was pushing me along. She was cheering for me. She had me pick up the pace. I thought I might throw up. I have heard that people feel like they are going to throw up when they run but had never experienced it. I have also heard of some people actually throwing up. I still have yet to experience that.  The last quarter mile was at a 7:48 pace!

Kelly cheered me on and encouraged me the entire way. She also gave me some form pointers and tricks. Some of them I knew and just wasn't thinking about them so then wasn't doing them (or was doing the wrong thing).  I know when I run with other people and I am able to run further or faster than them, I try to cheer them on. Lots of times, two of us are similar in pace and cheer each other on.  But today Kelly could have gone 8:30 miles for the last 1.5 miles and I was keeping her near 10. That was quite a difference.

After we cooled down and stretched, we both headed on our way.  I stopped at the Richland Elementary School track on the way home.  The track was in very bad shape. It was a little more out of the way than I thought too.  I struggled. I only ran 2 laps. I did them slowly.  I didn't like the lack of markings on the track.  There were numbers in each lane twice and that's about all I had to go on.  There were a few other people at the track.  The track surface was in bad shape.  In lots of spots the rubber was gone. I kicked rubber up at my legs and at my shoes a lot.  Therefore my post 5 mile run interval workout turned into a half mile.  I was going to do 1 lap with run 200, jog 200, then run 400, jog 400, run 800, jog 400, run 400, jog 400, run 200, jog 200.  I did 2 laps instead of 9. But really there's no way I would have handled 9 so 2 is better than 0. 

Recently I have been documenting the 5k split for all runs over 5k.  Above are all times I have run 5k or more since my race on March 26. All North Park runs were with someone else. All other runs were alone. 

After my run, I was trying to analyze my data. but Poly was holding my arm captive so I had issues typing.  I had to postpone finishing typing the post.  Then I was downstairs on the couch and she was on my lap again causing me not to be able to type. 

The loop without cutting through the boathouse and starting at 4 1/4.