One Mile At A Time

I told myself last night that this morning I would get up and run before it got too hot. I guess that is why I woke up at 5:30 this morning and could not go back to sleep. Anyone that knows me very well knows that I don't wake up that early unless I really have to. My legs were still sore from my run on Thursday night. I took both as a sign to get my rear end out of bed and get on the road. It was about 7:00 before I was out the door.

There was a breeze blowing and it felt nice out. I walked about a quarter mile and then took off. I felt good, my pace was comfortable, my breathing steady and there was very little traffic on the road at that time of day. My plan was to run a half mile then walk a minute or so and run another half. I only wanted 3 miles total today. I was feeling so good this morning that when my Garmin showed I was at a half I decided that I could probably do a whole mile without stopping; and I did! To folks who run regularly that seems like a small feat. I haven't run or really done much exercising all summer; so to m it was an true accomplishment. I walked about two minutes then began running again. I got about a half mile before stopping again. I ran and walked 1.66 miles then turned around and started running back. I decided that I would do 3.5 miles today since I had gone out more than 1.5 before turning around. Again, I ran more than I walked. When I got to my neighborhood I looked at my Garmin and I had 3.45. Then I decided to do 4 miles. I took off around another subdivision near mine. By the time I got home I had 4.01 miles in 54 minutes. Again, to a person who has been running awhile that seems really slow. To me it felt great! It took me 44 minutes to do 2 miles on Wednesday. So, I am improving already.

Tomorrow if hurricane Ivan isn't taking his wrath out on Arkansas I will run again. I'll shoot for 4 again and try to improve my time. If Ivan rears his head then I guess I'll hit the recumbent bike for an hour or so.

I have to go and get my 15 year old princess out of bed. She has an appointment to get her hair done. More running to do, only a different kind! Just as rewarding!