5 miles

I keep having to remind myself that while I decided to follow a 10k training plan to launch myself into my 1/2 marathon training, these are still distances I haven't run in over a year. Well, at least my body keeps reminding of that anyway. It's okay to feel fatigued, it's okay for it to be hard, it's supposed to be!

I procrastinated as much as I could this morning before heading out on today's long run of 5 miles. Trying to gauge the weather and what my clothing choices should be. The temps were warmer this morning then they have been, but it was cloudy and I knew it wasn't going to get much warmer. I purchased a new running jacket yesterday but I wasn't sure today was the right day to wear it, based on the temp outside. The news did say it was going to get windy, but it didn't look windy out yet. So I opted for my usual tights, long sleeve shirt and compression socks. My first thought as I started out down my street was it's windy. Maybe I should have worn the jacket. I made sure to run slow down my street, I typically love running down my street and usually run about a 9:05 pace, since today was my longest run in over a year I knew I had to dial it back. I felt like I was running a 12:00 pace but amazingly I actually ran the first mile at a 9:30 pace.

It's funny to me how there are so many different climate's around my house. I pulled my thumbs out of my shirt as I reached Moraga, and once I hit the park it actually felt warm! This was my first time actually picking up the trail in the park since they repaved it. I was hoping for a nice smooth new path, but they used that more gravely type of pavement. Oh well, at least once I get to running longer distances that section of the trail should at least be even. I only had a quarter mile on the trail before I hit my turn-around mark. On my way back through the park I stopped to refill one water bottle just in case and eat a couple of blocks. These are are more difficult to chew while running than taking in a Gu, so I walked for a little bit until I got it down. I figure now is a good time to experiment with nutrition and make adjustments. Since my morning breakfast of an english muffin and milk didn't seem to be great sustenance, I was glad I had brought a couple of Cliff Blocks with me.

With about 2 miles left in my run I was ecstatic to pass another runner, okay, maybe he was like 65 but I still passed him and all of a sudden my form and pace seemed really good. As I closed into my last intersection I was kind of bummed to see two women at the light already ready to cross, which meant by the time I got there there was no rest because the light was green for me. Oh well, as I prepared for the 1 mile uphill back to my house. This time I decided to run with traffic to avoid another near miss. When I had run down the street there were 3 police cars with a survey set-up. I found this interesting because normally it's not police who set up these types of surveys. I was also surprised that it took 3 patrol cars and 4 officers to handle the entire task. At any rate, they were still there when I came back up, so this kept me occupied and I completely failed to notice that I had actually run further than I expected before I needed to take a walk break. Distractions are good!

At some point I started thinking about overall time and realized that it would be nice to finish in 55 minutes. I kept looking at watch thinking it would be tough to meet the goal given my walk/run intervals up my street and I was already feeling pretty dog tired. I pushed what I thought would be my last run segment, I have a landmark that I run to on my street and allow myself to walk the last .05 miles to my driveway to help cool down. I was so fatigued I couldn't quite make it to my landmark. But then I looked at my watch and saw I wouldn't actually need to get to my driveway to hit the 5 miles and pushed to run the last few steps until my watch marked my final lap. In my head I was thinking F*!@ yes, I'm done! And then my neighbor drove by, honked and cheered "Good Job!" I finished in 55:11, close to my goal and this includes stops for water, stops at lights etc.

I'm really hopeful that I can get a 10k PR in a couple of weeks.