Today I went running twice…. kinda. I made a plan yesterday to start running before work because of the length of time it takes. Unfortunately, when I went to leave to go running with Ava, Yoli wanted to come too. She’s always been a pretty big baby when I left the house with Ava and not her, but today, I couldn’t get her back in the house unless we went too. Sometimes she’s too smart (and dumb) for her own (and my own good). So, anyways, we all went running together. The only problem is that Yoli is a hound mix, so she doesn’t just go and run. She doesn’t go anywhere without her nose on the ground. This causes a problem for me when I’m running because either she is pulling on the leash ahead of me, or I’m dragging her because she stopped to smell something. Yoli’s presence also always excites Ava a bit, so when she starts freaking out and getting distracted, it starts to drive me crazy and really distract me from the running.
So, I made it about half of a lap, which is 1/5 of a mile, and then I gave up and just started walking back to the car. I was totally annoyed and frustrated, even though I expected it. I went home, and just hung out with the girls for a while before I went to work instead of sticking it out. I made a plan to run at work again, even though I didn’t really want to, and said that was that. The cool thing, is that I actually did run at work (which I’ll get to later). I walked the dogs up the hill when I woke up, I went out to get a real workout in about two hours later (and didn’t really succeed), and then I ran over three miles at work. That is a lot of exercise! Three months ago, I wouldn’t have done any ONE of those things, let alone all three. I would have used the failed attempt to not try again, and I would have used the sucky weather to keep me from going on the walk in the morning. This is a great accomplishment!
Okay, so back to business. Ava and I got our TDI stuff in the mail today 🙂
It includes a book of stuff to know, a bandana, and a name badge. I’m trying to switch my schedule at work right now so that I can spend next Tuesday in Clarion providing Animal Assisted Therapy to the college kids during finals. It would be pretty cool to be able to do that. PLUS I’d have an excuse to see my mama, and I’m always happy for those. We need to practice up a bit this week to get back to our usual routine so that she doesn’t jump on anyone and she remembers how to walk on my heel. I’m thinking this practice will also help her run on a heel when I want her to. Of course, that also means I need to stop being so soft and leave Yoli at home, but who knows if that will ever happen ha.
Back to my run tonight. It was awesome! I was in the zone. I totally was lost in my thoughts for most of it and didn’t feel exhausted or crappy much at all. I also noticed something this week; I have more energy after mile one of my run. I actually picked up the pace for my second and third miles as compared to my first. It wasn’t an exponential change or anything, but my first mile was right around 15 minutes, and my last two were closer to 13.5 or 14. Weird how that is happening. I’m thinking its because at the beginning of the run I’m still getting warmed up, and toward the end of the run I’m loosened up and lost somewhere in my mind. Either way, its totally cool.
Also, today is the first time that I’m 100% sure that I ran an entire 5k. The workout was 3 sets of 15 minutes jogging and 1 minute of walking. I definitely finished 3 of the miles with 3 minutes left, meaning that I ran 3 miles in 42 minutes. I didn’t walk very far on my 1 minute walking breaks either, so I’m pretty confident that I could run the whole thing without any walking, which is pretty cool. That is a terrible time for a 5k though. One of my old friends from college started running just over a month before me and she is under 40 minutes for her 5k, so I’m totally jealous. I’m hoping that in another month of jogging I’ll be doing the same. According to the 10k trainer I’m using, I should be able to run 10k in two weeks. In reality, that is only 60 minutes, so it may be more like four miles, since I’m running three in just under 45 minutes now. I hope that isn’t the case. I was hoping my pace would start to pick up by now, but it hasn’t really. Maybe I need to tweak my workout schedule to add a faster-paced, shorter run on the weekends. Maybe if I add one 2 mile run on the weekends to see how quick I can do it, it will help me pick up my pace naturally on week days? God, sometimes I feel like I know nothing about running.
inspiration by introspection 