What a great day!

Today has been a crazy day! Let's back up for just a few seconds. I got my January Get Out & Run medal for running 9 miles in January. I'd been wondering when it would arrive and really hoped it would be yesterday. I'm all about the bling these days.

With Snowstorm Nemo or whatever the news people were calling it, I knew we weren't to get much. I did think we would get a little bit and so didn't sweat getting up early to run my 5 miles on Saturday thinking the people where I run wouldn't have shoveled their sidewalks yet. Woke up late, no snow. Doh! All that thinking for nothing.

So it fell to today to run my 5 miles if I was going to at all. I decided since it was 5 miles, I didn't want to figure out a 5 mile course in the neighborhood I normally run in. I have a nice 3 mile course, then I run into Mt. Wolf for longer runs. 5 miles is kinda a pain to finagle. So instead I went to the park I first "learned" to run at and ran there.

When I got there, I had everything I use to run with - Nano, Road I.D., Garmin. I was all set. Until I realized Garmin wasn't charged. 5 miles with no Garmin. Oh the horror! Thank heavens my new Nano had a run function that I could use instead. Phew!

Turned on the run function on the Nano, got the radio on, and ran. In circles. Fun. As I was running I realized Garmin was about .5 miles ahead of me, which is fine since I realized this early on.

I am a run/walk/run lady. I usually run half a mile, walk a minute, repeat. Today, I guess Garmin being uncharged messed with me and I start walking at every quarter mile. I didn't realize this until I was about 3/4 of a mile into my run. But, I think this might have been a good thing. I started seeing that I was recovering and keeping my pace better with those 1/4 mile breaks rather than 1/2 mile breaks. I went with it. Why not?

Turns out that might have been the best thing ever. I was running much faster during the run portions than I remember running before. I was puffing, but that's ok. It happens. It's called running. I had to go with what the Nano said for 5 miles. I'm not 100% sure my final 5 miles are accurate, but whatever. I'm going to take it. Please check below.

So, my Nano says:

5 Mile Workout

February 10, 2013

Duration: 59:29

Start Time: 10:50 AM

Finish Time: 11:53 AM

Pace: 10'44" mi

Distance: 5.54 mi

Cals: 701

Know what that means? The first ever sub-60 minute 5 miler!!!! PR baby! And I'm now in a much better mindset for Shamrock. I still don't think I am going to PR the half, but I might PR the 8k on the Saturday. I'm thinking I can do this! I can run both races and be fine. Woohoo!

And to make this day better? My Higgy cat didn't seem good last night. He slept for more hours than I can count and when we did get him up he cried when we touched him. He was so out of it. He's almost 15 and has hyperthyroid. I was scared he wasn't going to make it through the night. This morning? He's awesome! Bounced back from whatever upset him last night and is his regular ole self!

Then! My Pooka who's legs went paralyzed last Friday took his first unassisted steps today! He walked maybe a total of 20 steps, but that's 20 more than he's taken in the last week!! He is back on the road to walking on his own. So thrilled!!

So today was a good day.

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Woohoo Run!

Saturday mornings, unless occupied, are running mornings. This morning I had no desire to get up. It's kinda gloomy out, the bed was warm, I had a kitten. Yea, I didn't want to get out of bed. But, I dragged my lazy butt up and got out of bed. Put on my running gear and with hubby, headed off to the park for a run. I had a feeling it was going to be a bad one. I didn't feel great this morning, so I wasn't sure how long I would last before it caught up to me and I had to stop.

Hit the trail and felt really good. Well, as good as I'm going to feel because honestly, I wasn't feeling a run this morning. Hit the first 1/4 mile marker and was thrilled when the watch said 2:41, that ties my best 1/4 mile time. I was kinda shocked. Kept trucking along and hit the 1/2 mile marker and checked the watch again, this time 5:51 - THE BEST HALF MILE TIME EVER! I was getting excited. I had a shot at have a one mile PR. With that in mind, I kept running. I checked the 3/4 mile marker and I was 8:53, well below my normal 9 minute and some time. This could happen. I booked and pushed myself to the one mile marker. And it freaking paid off! I hit the one mile marker at 11:50!!! My personal best! So excited and happy about that! I had a small goal of getting below 12 minutes before going on vacation and I did it!

And that was just the beginning of a good run. My 2 mile time was the best I've had at the park at 28:22. My three mile time was the best at the park at 45:01 (stupid one second). I had what I thought was a decent 4 mile time at 1:02:something. LOL! I was so thrilled to see 1:02 that I kinda forgot to look further. I had high hopes of hitting 1:15:00 and chopping 2 minutes and 20 seconds off my previous 5 mile run. So, thinking I stood a shot, I booked it! I didn't look at the first mile marker and just concentrated on running hard. When I hit the last marker telling me I'd run 5 miles I stopped my watch and just breathed. I knew I did good. I headed back to meet the hubby and checked my watch - 1:12:11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Five minutes and 10 seconds better than my last 5 miles! What a run today! I know every run can't be like this, and I'm ok with that. I'm just happy today was THAT day. :-)