Week 7

After last week’s struggle, this week went well. Monday ran 4 miles, kind of hard, but did it. Tuesday ran 4.5 miles with Steve and it felt almost good. Thursday ran to Nate’s baseball game, the last summer game of the season, which made me kind of sad. I will miss running that 5.5 miles to his games. I enjoyed that 5 o’clock run more than I would have dreamed possible. Saturday’s long run was 16 miles and Steve ran with me. We drove 16 miles across town dropping off bottled water and skittles every mile or so and then ran home. (I don’t know how runners could not be Christians, because in a 16 mile run if you don’t already know Jesus, you will find him). My legs are sore today, but not because I have hurt something, just sore because I ran for 3+ hours yesterday. That always makes me tired and makes my legs ache for a day or two.

It was a week of personal records for me, Tuesday night's trail run was the fastest 4.5 trail I've run, Thursday's pavement run was the fastest 5.5 I've ever run, and Saturday's 16 miles was the longest distance I have run. We also ran through a thunderstorm for about 25 minutes which was a first. We didn't melt or suffer any adverse affects from it, which is good to know. And, my weekly running total was 36 miles. That's a first too. Hopefully this week will go as well as last week.

Today Steve went for a 10 mile trail run and I rode my bike, carrying a backpack of water. I rode 6 miles and my front tire went flat. I kept riding, because 4 miles is a long way to walk and push a bike. With 2 miles left, the other tire went flat too, so I got to enjoy a 2 mile walk pushing a 24 pound bike. It was a different workout than I'm used to, but it was exercise, so I'll just consider it additional cross training.

I have lost 5 pounds in the 7 weeks of training (YAY!!!).

I talk about Steve’s and my trail runs and rides, wanted to share a few pictures so you will know why I brave the varmints to run and ride this trail. It feels like stepping into a different world.