Personal Record

38:33 (unofficial) today! That is a PR (personal record) for me! And it was to be a TEMPO RUN to begin with (3 miles, 13/min mile).  DONE.

I am so glad I have done hill repeats. I am so glad I have done the 4x400's speedwork. Yes, you read that correctly. All that pain in training paid off today. A slight incline around mile 1.5. I trudged right up it  and I PASSED people. That was pretty cool. Especially if you have ever seen me do hill repeats (ahem Cristen, Shirley, Amy). It is not a pretty sight. And the speedwork. WOW! That paid off totally at the end when I sprinted to the finish line. I could see the time. 37 something...I HAD TO GET UNDER 40! Hell, I HAD TO GET UNDER 39 MINUTES! I could see Boss Lady and Cult Lady Training Planner (aka Amy and Shirley, respectively) in my sideline. I could see BFFAE and Deanna at the finish line. I HAD TO FINISH STRONG.  For them. But mostly FOR ME. 

This was the thought that was going thru my mind as I SPRINTED to the finish line...

At any rate, that sprint felt AWESOME! I am AWESOME!  And they are right...all those trainings will improve me. And the weather makes all the difference.

Week one of training is complete. It feels good to have it done. But it also means 9 more weeks till the Akron 1/2 Marathon.... I am already imagining how that race is gonna be. What the weather is going to be like (end of September). And if I will really be able to achieve the goal I have set out to complete, race completion time of...nope, not gonna tell ya. Not yet at least. I am just not ready to say it out loud. I have committed to the training and what it will take to get the result I want. So as the day gets closer and I am more confident in myself and my training, I will post my goal time for the Akron 1/2.

So the plan for week 2 is too start with another bike ride tomorrow. It was a nice recovery last week. Maybe not 13 miles, but definitely get some mileage in. May go check out a park or something. Although the pool and relaxing sounds like a good idea too. Then it's my favorite! HILL REPEATS on Monday. Boss Lady said we were doing 5 repeats. I told her 4. She can do 5. I am doing 4. Maybe next week I will increase it to 5. But not this week. Long run of 8 miles scheduled tentatively for Wednesday morning. BFFAE has a BIG 4-0 birthday on Thursday and I arranged for Jimmy Buffet to perform at Riverbend on her birthday (wink, wink). So we are off to the concert and a day of tailgating fun. Gotta get our long run in before that big event! 

Hope to get some more cross training in and/or my tempo this week as well.

So tonight I am resting my legs. Watching some Olympics. If these athletes don't inspire you...maybe this pic will...Boss Lady (Amy, middle) placed first in her age group and Cult Lady Training Planner (next to me) placed third in her age group! I love my group of friends. Each and every one of them in this picture have impacted me and my running. (Jen (BFFAE, in the green) is the one who got me started running in my fist 5k in 2010!)

L-R:  Me, Shirley, Amy, Deanna, Jen

Run. Strong.

-t-