Thursday, September 1, 2011

Fantastic George!

At the beginning of our runs our group leader George asks us loudly "how's everyone feeling tonight?" our response is shouted just as loudly back at him "Fantastic George!"

Last night's run was 3.2 miles, yep a full 5K. It was so they could get an idea of our actual time and pace. Our group rules are strict with no headphones, no music. I've never run without music....so it was difficult. I also started out a lot faster than I should. That always happens with groups. I mean I even started towards the back of the group. I did well with keeping up with the group the first time around but then my pace slowed, the air grew thicker, and I had to walk/run.

I know walk/run is not the end of the world. Hell, I do it in most races. It's just when everyone in the group you are running with looks ten times healthier than you, well you try to emulate their health as well.

My "winner" finisher's medal
The second time around a mentor walked parts with me and shouted out tips of relaxing my arms more and keeping my arms at my side while walking and use them to pump. So it was great. Also, they are an encouraging bunch - which is nice. I kept smiling & laughing the entire time so that is a real good thing.

At the end of the race they gave us out finisher's medals. Which is really nice. How did I do? around 47 minutes. So I am off from my last 5K time of 41 minutes. Still, I haven't run in 6 weeks and I felt like crap this morning. So I'm OK with the 47 minutes for right now. It's a good starting time. Ultimately, when I ran The Boilermaker my split time for the 10K portion was 1hr36min so my goal is come November to beat that time. I'd LOVE to run a 10K in an hour or 1:10 but beating my 1:36 is my success goal.

The rest of the week is interesting, especially with my rehearsal schedule. So it's yoga tomorrow, short run on Friday, cross training Saturday, and then a short run & strength training on Sunday. I'm not sure if I'll get yoga in tomorrow because 1. i don't know how to do it. 2. i don't have a gym membership and 3. I have rehearsal at 7pm tomorrow. Friday's run is no problem and Saturday is no problem. Sunday I'll just have to wake up early to get it done before I start Tech Sunday.

So in 10 weeks I should be slimming down, training my legs & lungs, building strength, and making some new friends.