What Can Make You Run Faster?

I set out on my "long" run this weekend - about 6.4 miles. At a point when I was about three miles away from home, I got a call from my husband, saying that he had managed to lock himself and our toddler out of the house. They had left for the park when I set out on my run and he forgot to take his house keys with them. Whoops!!!! Unfortunately, I was three miles away, with no way to get home quickly! I just had to run! :) At least it made me pick up the pace a little bit (that and being chased by a bee during the last mile!). What a workout! Not my longest run -- but definitely some of my quicker miles there at the end! Now if I can just do double that, I should be ready for August!!! :)

8 Miles!

Although it still seems partly unbelievable (but is true ... I have witnesses), I got up early to run EIGHT miles this morning. I woke up feeling not too hot -- but told myself I should just get out there & do the best I could. Most of the routes I've been running are there-and-back routes, so I figured if I wasn't feeling up to the whole eight miles once I got going, I could always turn back early. Not so. Once I got there I found out we were running a big loop around part of Mission Bay - through Tecolote Shores, past Sea World, up Ingraham Street and then back through PB. So once I started, I would have to finish. I expected to fall waaaaaaaay back -- but surprisingly, I was able to keep up! I was ridiculously impressed with myself! (Let me remind you that I'm the girl who, six months ago, would have balked and said "no thanks!" to any suggestion of running a single mile.) I think I owe a lot to the jogging stroller I spend most of my runs pushing. It's clearly been adding some oomph to some of my shorter runs - because I'm feeling MUCH better after my 8 mile run than I did after my 7 mile run a few weeks back (I even spent the next few hours trucking all over Sea World!). What a fun way to start the weekend!!! It feels GREAT! :)

Lake Murray Kicked My Butt!!!

I naively assumed that because I was able to run 7 miles the other weekend, that I would have no problem whatsoever with a 6 mile run around Lake Murray. Let me just say that a totally flat 7 mile run on my own is a LOT different than a 6 mile run on a more hilly course with a toddler in a jogging stroller. A LOT different. Granted, there aren't enormous hills around the lake path -- but they sure FEEL pretty enormous after five miles of running with a stroller.
The first two miles of any run aren't really fun for me. By the third mile I'm a little more into the running groove. When we hit the turnaround point in the run, I was feeling pretty good -- we'd run the whole way at a good pace (considering the uphill jags) - stopping only twice really quickly: once for me to take B's sweatshirt off & once for me to give him a juice box. The way back was pretty rough -- my legs and butt were in PAIN from pushing B up the hills (which I admit I was probably trying to do too quickly just to get to the next blissful downward turn). And I will reiterate for anyone who says the hills aren't very big and shouldn't be a problem: try it with a stroller. ALL of it. ALL six miles. Ouch, ouch, ouch. If I didn't have my jogging stroller, there's no way we would have made it. We'd probably still be sitting out there, me collapsed on the side of the path while Billy chased the ducks around.
Billy did great on the run. I think he started to get a little restless towards the end -- but it had been more than an hour of running -- so he was a GREAT little companion. The juice box entertained him for awhile - -as did all of the dogs we passed and all of the other runners & walkers out at the lake. He would wave and say "hi" to everyone we passed & everyone thought he was just adorable! We saw a few other kiddies out in jogging strollers -- and lots of little old couples going for their morning stroll, and plenty of super-fit athletes springing past us like gazelles.
I think we'll definitely attempt it again...... someday......... after my body forgives me for putting it through the agony. I had to cut my Tuesday run down from 3.5 miles to 2 miles (not all of which I ran) because my legs were still just SO SORE -- they didn't want to run.
But we did it -- last time I attempted Lake Murray my sister & I walked (with B in his regular stroller) and we turned back around the 2.5 mile marker -- this time B & I ran all the way. :)