My new training partner

Wednesday I took my first run since the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler with Team ELK. Honestly, I was expecting the worst; aching muscles, pain, etc.  Imagine my suprise when I went out and had a GREAT run.  I felt perfect.  My body just wanted to go and the four miles flew by.  Our run was over at 4 miles, but I felt like I could have gone another 2 or 4.  It was such a great feeling!!!  I pushed my speed (for a slow poke it was nothing super fast--but faster than my normal pace), lengthened my stride and focused on my breathing.  It was a wonderful run to come back to!  Thursday was more of the same, but a shorter run!  Team ELK was comprised of some very weary people from our work schedules and vegging out sounded better than running (though we all felt better after running)!

Yesterday, the husband and I made a trip to the golf store (his favorite store) which is conviently located next to Road Runner Sports (my favorite store).  I was on the prowl for some sunglasses I could run in and was hoping to just get a garmin while I was there (with a 20% off coupon on top of my VIP discount).  After much thought, we decided on to Garmin 405CX and let me tell you, I wish I had this bad boy ages ago. 

I went out Saturday afternoon for a quick 4 miles (had a tee time at 4) to test drive the Garmin and my new super cute Brooks Adrenaline shoes (my feet are sooo happy to be in these babies).  I was impressed with accuracy of the GPS and knowing what my heart rate and pace was at any time.  I still need to play with it a bit more, but I am so glad we decided to purchase it.  My husband's idea was that we would share it.  Honestly, he may have to buy one for himself; I am not sure I want let my new training partner out of my sight.  I am just curious though; does anyone else have random people come up to them when they are running???  Yesterday, in my last mile, I was running (ok, shuffling) and some guy on a bike said something to the effect of "great job" (I had my ear buds in) and gave me a big thumbs up.  I appreciate the encouragement, but it was kind of random, but its happened to me a few times in my longer runs. 

Today, I had hoped to get a good 12 miles into and FINALLY meet Katye, but work has been crazy busy and I had to go in for about 5 hours.  By the time I got home, and found some motivation (being at work for 5 hours on a Sunday will do that to you) I was running short on time, especially since I needed to finish up a 5 paper so I decided to focus on 6 good miles instead.  It was tough, but I managed to get my six miles in an hour and 15 minutes.  I know its not super speedy for your speed demons out there, but for me, that was averaging just over 12 minute miles for the entire run, which is an improvement--a huge improvement in fact.  Its runs like that that make me feel like this running thing is going places!!

Another crazy week is about to start.  I can't believe that I will be graduating in 4 weeks.  I only have three weeks of actual school work left and I am so excited to take about 2 months off before I start prepping for the CPA Exam. 

What are you guys excited for during the week??