Although I haven't been very consistent on posting about it, I have been consistently running on schedule.
Tuesday's run I did 4.5 miles. I need to build back up to doing 5 mile runs on my training days.
Thursday's run was distracted. My FIL was here and kept coming in and out of the house. Even though he didn't need anything of me, I kept having too look around. It feels weird running with other people in the house. As I haven't been happy with my speed recently, I decided to only run a 5K. I finished with a 12:25 pace, so I felt better about myself.
My MIL volunteered to take my kids overnight on Saturday. I tried to discourage this because the 3 boys had been violently ill with a stomach bug on Thursday night, but she insisted. That meant I wouldn't have to worry about my kids for the LR on Sunday. I had planned on getting up at 630 so I could eat and be out the door by 730. BUT, I wasn't getting up before 7am when my kids aren't here. So I set the alarm for 7.
I decided since I hadn't had very good luck with toast and peanut butter for a breakfast before a run, I needed to try something different. I had oatmeal for the first time in 3 years. I used the plain old fashioned oatmeal that I then flavored. I had no intestinal issues, and I didn't feel like I hit a wall. I may have to try this before another morning LR. If it continues to work out for me, it will be easy enough to carry to Disney.
The high for the day was only supposed to get up to 68 and first thing in the morning it was in the mid 50's. It was quite chilly when I finally walked out the door at 815. I resisted the urge to dress too warmly. I wore my compression shorts with my favorite outdoor running shorts and my blue Adidas top. That top is a little more cotton than most of my tops, but I figured with the coolness, I would be okay. I would later come to regret this decision. As I had no kids home, and I was just going our neighborhood loop, I decided to not carry my cell phone. DH decided he should run at the same time, so he would have found me eventually if something happened. It was nice not to have to wear my extra belt, as my iPod fit in the back pocket on my shorts (which is why they are my favorite pair, I wish the brand hadn't changed designs).
I got out my Jelly Bellys and water, and headed out the door. I gave DH a good head start while fiddling with trying to get a good satellite signal on RunKeeper, I eventually gave up. I took off and hoped I didn't catch DH too quickly.
I should mention now that DH isn't really a runner. He only runs very sporadically, and like most beginning runners, can't go very far between walk breaks. I didn't end up catching him until we neared the 3 mile mark, but that might have more to do with the pattern of my run.
I have decided to run two laps one way (aka 1 mile), then two laps the other way. This made it so much easier to keep up with the 14 laps. I only had one part where I panicked and couldn't remember whether I was on lap one or two of that direction. Then I remembered I had passed up the water bottle going in that direction, so I had to be on the second lap. I was only stopping for water at the 1 mile mark.
I started eating my beans at 3 miles. I was storing them at our mailbox with my water bottle. On that first pass I wanted to get back running as fast as I could, so I shoved all three beans in at once. Bad idea. I had to chew extra long because it was a huge mass in my mouth. In subsequent stops I popped them in one at a time and was able to semi chew then swallow them much faster.
After my hands thawed out, I got hot. The sun was out and beating down on me. Only parts of the block had a breeze. Since I was wearing the shirt with more cotton, it wasn't doing a great job drying off and when those breezes hit, it was chilly, but then the breezeless areas hit and I got hot. I hope I don't get sick because of it.
After my run, I came in and looked at my RunKeeper map. As I had feared when I hadn't gotten a good signal, it was all over the place. So I went to MapMyRun and just got my distance that way. As my block is actually .53 miles around, my 14 laps ended up being 7.42 miles, done in 1 hour 34 minutes for a 12:37 pace. Not too shabby for running outside.
So I have had 2 weeks of consistently running when I am supposed to. Guess who doesn't want to run today?!?
My husband was deployed until the end of July so I had to do all of my running on the treadmill until then. Now I'm able to get outside on the weekends for my long run. I still do my two shorter runs during the week on my treadmill.
Straight downhill much steeper than the first hill. I figured I would worry about coming back up that hill on the way back out of the neighborhood. Halfway down the hill I got my first encounter with a loose dog. It was a big puppy that just wanted to say hi. He was a big dog though so I had to come to a complete stop and make sure I didn't excite him. Luckily his owner was right there and able to call him away from me. So off I went again. As soon as I hit the bottom of the hill I knew I was in big trouble. It only flattened out for maybe 100 yards before it climbed upwards again. I climbed back out of that small valley very slowly. It leveled out at the top again for a very short distance before it start a slight but obvious decline. I knew I was going to have fun getting out of this neighborhood. I finally made it to the end of the street (it also dead ended), and headed back. I met my second loose dog. His owner was no where to be seen. He stopped when I told him to and looked at me weird when I told him to go home. He didn't even come sniff me, but I had to slowly walk out of his line of sight. As I was getting ready to head up the last hill out of this neighborhood the big puppy came bounding back at me. I had to remind him we had already met. The man of the house opened the door to make sure I was okay. I was just glad the other two dogs in the yard across from him were more interested in playing than me. I had to walk out of the neighborhood. Then I went back into my neighborhood (this was part of my loop I was doing).
I'm talking the tent type. I am going to take a look at the lay of the land to see if there is anywhere I can safely run my LR this weekend. I cannot go another weekend without getting a LR in. I need to do at least 7-9 miles in.
Congrats on your 10k! You did awesome. 
