Weekend Test

Small test but a test indeed for me. I've been traveling all summer long and have shrugged off many runs citing 'I'm on vacation'. I went to northern MN with my family. They are great about tolerating my running but are more the golf/boat/bocce/beer all day, gin & tonics in the evening types. Well I guess I'm one those too, so I have to will my way through and get business done in the mornings. The first of many tests for my training is a little victory for me. Here's how it went:

8/30 5 miles (35:28)

Early morning run before heading up north to Lake Ada for the weekend. I felt pretty good throughout the run and felt better at the end. It was one of those mornings that runners can never really explain to non-runners. “You got up at what time and ran how far? The sun wasn’t too bright when it came up…I just rolled over in bed so it wasn’t shining in my face!” It was a beautiful morning complete with orange dawn and fog over the marshes.

8/31 8 miles (56:45)

I debated with myself (and the few too many beers from yesterday that I couldn’t sleep off) whether or not I should turn around at 20 minutes and settle for 5.5 miles, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it while I had a seemingly endless stretch of dirt road all to myself. So I ended up going 8 with the second half getting away from me (came back 3 minutes faster). Another nice morning run although it was starting to heat up pretty quickly. The headwind felt great on the way back.

Week total: 43 miles. Overall a good first full week back.

Still can't decide if I want to drag my but out the door yet today...I went 7 consecutive for my first whole week back in the shoes.