Day 76 of Training: 3.5 Miles

Saturday came around and it was the start of a new training week. I was supposed to run for 20 minutes, walk 5, then run for another 20. I did pretty well at first and made it through my first 20, I started to walk, slowed down to catch my breathe and then started running again.

I don't know why I didn't think this through but I was going the same route I do everyday which is about 3.7 miles. Well, I realize I'm going to run out of my route before I run out of time so I'm trying to decide where to go. After considering some longer routes I finally decide that I'm just going to pass my house, keep going to the end of the street, take a left (which is a dead end) and then come back. In my head I'm thinking this should be about right. So I pass my house, wave to a neighbor that's working in his yard, run my new route and start heading back towards my house. I wave at my neighbor again and look at my watch... I still have 5 minutes left!! I pass my house again and run to the end of the street which took considerably less time than I had anticipated. I come back toward my house wave at my neighbor again and look at my watch. I still have 2 more minutes! I decided to just bag it. My neighbor was starting to give me odd looks, my legs felt like jello, my sides were hurting and I think there's only so many times you can pass your own house and not just want to collapse onto your porch. My second time around was only 18 minutes. Close but didn't make it.

I started to think about it and I wondered if I hadn't have stopped for the 5 minute walk how long I could have ran? I also probably would have been able to keep my same route without the slow down in the middle if I would have just kept running.

Today I decided to take no breaks, take it easy and slow and see how long I could run. I was pretty excited as I came up on my 20 minutes, then 25, then 30 and I finally decided to stop and cool down at 35. I felt like my legs were getting tired and I was coming up to my house. 35 MINUTES!! I was pretty excited.

I was getting really nervous about the 5K that I signed up for on October 10th. I was worried I wouldn't be able to run the whole thing but now I feel like a weight has been lifted. I did 3.5 miles in 35 minutes... I know, only a 10 minutes mile. I'm going to keep it here and try to get a little faster before the 5k.

I'm so excited to be jogging for more than 30 minutes! That means I can officially start my marathon training program in a couple weeks! Yay for 35 minutes!! I thought I'd never get here!!