The True Test

I am currently in the middle of finishing up laundry and final packing, but I just got back from my run and wanted to post a new milestone- a run with hills. I had originally planned to do another 3-3.5 mile run so as not to wear myself out for tomorrow morning's long run. However, I went out on a limb and decided to run the 4-mile loop around my neighborhood, instead of running .22 mile laps at the park. This is a route I mapped out with my car, and is almost exactly 4 miles. I haven't run it for a couple months, ever since my hydration pack started leaking (because it sucks to go 4 miles without water, hence the laps at the park with my water bottle on a bench). But I took a little pack with my phone and an 8 oz. water bottle that I carried in my hand the whole way.

Unlike the park, which is nice and flat, this route has quite a few hills. As soon as I leave my street and head west, it's all down hill. So it's an easy warm-up. Then I turn the corner after .2 miles and head south. This is generally flat, but it's a gradual up-hill. So, I did a 4-min warm-up and started running. The first mile was a little tough, but I ran so much farther on this route than the last time I did it, so to me that was a huge measuring point. I had hoped to be able to run the first 2 miles after my warm-up, or at the very least to the 2-mile mark, which is at the bottom of a nice hill. I missed the stop light (only 2 out of 4) at the corner to head downhill, so I had to pause for a few seconds, then I continued running (down, down the hill- oh it felt good). I stayed at a pace of less than 9:00 min/mi. At one point I think I was at 8:10! At the bottom of the hill, I turned the corner to head back toward home and kept running.

I hit another stop light just before mile 3, but kept running still. I made it (again) a full 3.1 miles past my warm-up before walking. And I did it in 29:28!!!! Even with hills, I did 5k in under 30:00, so it's not just a fluke of a no-wind day with no hills. So, I am pretty proud. I have no idea what the route is like for the July 4th 5k that I plan to do, but I figure I can still get pretty close to 30:00. Plus I'll have the pancake breakfast afterward luring me to the finish line as fast as possible ; ).

Okay, hubby will probably be home pretty soon, and I'm hanging out in my running (knee-length) shorts and my sports bra- trying to cool off (it is still 80 degrees outside, even though it's now dark), so I must get rollin'. I probably won't have time to post anything tomorrow, but I'll make sure to upload my run. Let's see, right now my monthly goal is at 56.5 miles, so if you stop by over the weekend, you can just subtract that from whatever it's at to figure out how far I end up going at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow. My goal is at least 5 miles, but I'm really going to try for 6 miles, or around 60 minutes (most likely at the park).

I'm a runner-wahoo!! It kind of makes me want to dance...