Today I went out for a run with the intention of running four to five miles. I headed out to the park in town so that I could just run circles around the track until my legs were good and sore! I wanted to run for an hour and see how much distance I could cover. The last time I ran at the park, I could barely run a third of the half mile track loop, and this time I ran the entire loop plus some before I had to stop to take a walk break. This really showed me how far I have come in my running endurance. Back in October or November I never could have imagined accomplishing that.
The first mile went well and I ran it under my 12:00/mile goal race pace. At about a mile and a half however, I started having some pain in my hip. It started hurting really bad, so I took a break to stop and stretch before getting back on the track. I also decided that I would walk the rest of my time. I really didn't want to walk the rest of it because I was going for the most mileage I could accomplish in an hour, but I knew if I pushed it, I could end up seriously hurting myself. Plus, I have a 2-hour Zumbathon tomorrow night, so I need my hips in working order :-)
I kept walking the track for a while until RunKeeper told me that I had been going for 50 minutes and had gone 3.33 miles. At that point, my hip was feeling good, so I picked up the pace and managed to complete 4.18 miles in 59:45. While it wasn't quite what I was hoping to accomplish when I went out this morning, it is the longest run I have done so far, so that's an accomplishment in my book! Only .82 miles away from five! That 5 mile race is four weeks from tomorrow!
In the world of Weight Watchers this week I hit another milestone. This week I hit 26 pounds lost! When I stepped on the scale for my weigh-in (in my bathroom, I only do online, not meetings) I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had exceeded my goal of hitting the 25 pound mark. I am now about 10 pounds from my goal and it's really exciting and motivating to be this close to my goal.
Also this week, I made my decision on what will be my first half marathon. On January 20, 2013 I will be competing in the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. I am so excited but I really realize how much work I am going to have to do to get myself up to being able to complete 13.1 miles. Having a half marathon on the horizon is going to be a huge motivator to get me out on the road and start logging more miles. I can't wait to complete the B.A.A. 10K (which I will register for on Wednesday) so that I will have a time to put in when I register for Tink. I also managed to convince my roommate to run this with me, so we will be taking on our first half, and first 10K, together!
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