Training run #2

I'm really excited to have a race to be training for! I forgot how nice it is to have a goal and a reason to get up and go for a run.

Today was a supposed to be a nice easy 5 mile run at a 10:51 pace but turned into a 6 mile run at a 10:20 pace. I met up with my running buddy, Kelly who is the reason I am running this half in January. We both have dogs who like to join us on our runs but my dog is a brat and cannot handle running with another dog. We met up at our usual junction but Lucy was being such a stinker. Kelly headed on up ahead of me so that Lucy would relax a bit. We went on like this for about 3 miles until we met up at my house so I could drop Lucy off.

Kelly and I ran a couple more miles together and then parted ways.

I felt so good during this run! I love "easy pace" runs. I love that I could run 6 miles and feel great at the end of it!

I ran with an angel

Happy Thanksgiving! This morning I did my own personal Turkey Trot. It was a beautiful cloudy morning, perfect temp.

I love when the clouds look like this and you can tell that it is raining but it evaporates before it hits the ground, like this (don't quote my scientific explanation of this cloud formation!)

So this morning I began my first official training run for a half I decided to do at the end of January. It was a 4 mile tempo run: one easy warm up mile, 2 miles at a 9:12 pace and a cool down mile. I started out and immediately noticed this cloud formation similar to the ones above but it looked like a giant angel hovering over me as I ran. For the first mile this "angel" was with me and it was the coolest thing! It made me think of my mom.

I am excited to train for this half with my Garmin because the last half I did, I didn't have this luxury. So after talking with my running guru I played with the data fields on my watch to make the most of my training. The 4 fields I have on there are time, distance, time of day and average pace.

The first mile was fine, it was my warm up and I averaged a pace of 11:05. Then once I hit mile 2 I picked up the pace but that average pace box wasn't coming down like I thought it should. I knew I was running fast but it only creeped down about 5 seconds. What the heck! Then I realized it was telling me my average pace for my entire run, not each mile or lap. So I was irritated that I didn't know if I was hitting my target pace of 9:12 for those 2 miles. So I just kept running hard. Slowing down for that last mile felt SO good! I was winded! When I got home I checked out what my pace was, here is how it broke down:

mile 1 - 11:05

mile 2 - 8:45

mile 3 - 9:07

mile 4 - 11:09

I was happy with that! I just need to play with the data fields so that I can have it tell me my average pace for the current lap. Hmmm, I wonder where I put the instruction book...

A little uncomfortable...

I was in need of more smelly stuff. I stock up on it about once a year. So I went to one of my favorite websites, retailmenot.com and searched for deals at my favorite smelly store.

So I went into the store, armed with my $10 off $30 coupon and excited to take advantage of their Buy 3, Get 3 sale!

I carefully sniffed each lotion that I thought might appeal to me. Some I turned my nose up at others made me gag. Gosh darn it, why don't they carry my favorite smell in the freakin' stores?? All I wanted was my Rice Flower & Shea. I even asked if I bought 3 things in the store, can I get 3 things from online for free? No, not allowed. So I got a couple of a new favorite (Eternal Sunshine) and grabbed a couple of my mother-in-law's favorite since Christmas is coming and was struggling with what else to get. I rubbed stuff in, sprayed stuff on, even used my sweet daughter's arms to spray stuff on when I ran out of limbs! After about 30 minutes, I finally found a scent that I liked and went to pay.

As I'm standing in line, a man is in line behind me. He is holding 2 items. I felt it my duty to explain that if he bought one more thing he could then get 3 more items for FREE! He was unimpressed. The lady behind the counter said she already explained that to him. He clearly just wanted to pay for his things and get the heck out!

I know that men's brains and women's brains are completely different from each other, Mark Gungor taught me that! But it was so funny to me how uncomfortable he was in Bath & Body Works and totally not buying into the whole "Buy 3, Get 3" chicanery! He walked in, grabbed the two items he was in there to get, paid and got out. This ability that men have, we'll call it "one track mindedness", is the reason I send my sweet husband to the grocery store when I am needing just one or two things. He will go, get me exactly what I asked for and come home with just those things. If I were to go get myself those one or two items, I would come home with two grocery sacks full of stuff that was not on the list!!

This is why God made us the way that he did, we compliment each other so well, dontcha think?