7.10 Run - North Park and Then Home :)

I went for a run with Christina.  I love that we plan to go on the weekends and then we each force ourselves to get up and go. We both said that if we hadn't made plans to run at 7:30 that we would have still been sleeping. If we were still sleeping, by the time we woke up, it would have been entirely too hot.  Christina and I were running and we were going fasting than normal. We usually say we each hold the other one back but I'm pretty sure we both push each other along.  Well first off if she wasn't there I wouldn't have even run so that's one benefit to running with her.   I noticed on some of the hills she pushed a lot harder than I wanted to but I didn't want her to pull ahead so I sped up. There were many of times that we had to interact with other people along the trail and we had to go one behind the other. That always makes me go fast if I'm the first person so I'm not holding up my friend. It also makes me go fast if I'm the person behind because as soon as the other people are out of the way, I have to run fast to catch up.  

We ran 1 loop. It wasn't quite 5 miles because we walked a tad before we got started.  So we ran 4.81 miles. Then at our cars we got water and stretched. We were deciding what else to do and decided to do a little interval something or other. It was too hot to run another 5 miles. We didn't think our endurance was there either. We also didn't want to get so dehydrated that we'd touch our face and feel salt. (I had that happen before and it was not cool.)

For the intervals, we started off together but we decided to only run .5 then walk .5 and see if we wanted to double up after that.  We were only together the first few hundred yards and then I started pulling ahead of Christina. I was about to slow up so she could catch up with me, but since we were only running .5, she shouted for me to go ahead and run fast. Well then I picked up the pace after she said that. I didn't know I had it in me. Also I was still sore from my weight lifting session Friday morning where I even tweeted that I knew I'd be sore.  I finished the first .25 of the .5 run in 2:01. Not bad. I just need to be able to keep that up. The second half of it was 2:13. I slowed up a lot. I was also rounding a bend and wondering how far back Christina was. When my mind isn't in it, I'm slow. I need to be thinking about the run.

After we walked .25 then ran .25, we walked to the car. We talked for awhile but while we were talking, I decided I wanted to run some more (but not another 5 mile loop).  I was hoping the high school track was open that is on the way home. The school has construction but I was hoping it was not the track.  Well I drove in there and the track was closed. I have 2 high school tracks within 5 minutes of my house and both are closed this summer for construction. I'm really bummed about that. I want some track interval workouts.

Well since the track was out, I decided to go home and run 1 mile. I specifically only planned on running 1 mile. I thought I had an out and back I could do to get 1 mile. I was close; it was .96 so I just ran a bit past my house and doubled back. I don't round up so I needed to complete that mile.  I did have a half hour or so rest after my previous running, but I was still really happy with my time. My splits were 2:14, 2:09, 2:04, and 2:09.  I love it when my splits get faster each time. Too bad that last one was slow. I think it was slow due to the doubling back. Turning around never works right and I always run further than it's marker. Therefore I'm still happy with that.

I'm very happy with all the running.  Christina and I were able to go faster because we weren't talking the entire time. Sometimes talking is good but I'm glad we got some faster running in since my running has severely been lacking lately.

Sometimes I think I analyze my data a little too much. (Note this is only sometimes and it is only a little bit too much not a lot.)

I have 2 weeks until a 5k. Last year my time was 27:08 for this race. I'd really like it to be 26:08.  My time was 26:40 on July 4.  Do you think I can do it?  I actually wish my time would be 25 but that will never happen. :(