Saturday, December 24, 2011

To Mt. Bonnell!!! Er, or not....

Damn I love this thing on long training runs! Hardly even know it's on!


So today was a major victory, on several counts! The first was that I dragged my ass out of bed, knowing it was cold and raining! Score. I drove on down to Town Lake where I met up with my Austin Fit training group, and I was SO grateful to be back with them. I've missed several weeks due to The Calf, but it was feeling great today so off we went. I made a wise decision to back off from the 10:30 per mile group and join the 11 minute per mile group. I knew we were running scenic drive and the surrounding hilly (some short but STEEP hills) area nearby. The plan was to run 5, and then decide if the group wanted to add the 3 miles up/down to Mt. Bonnell. I felt pretty good from the start, I was wearing my Nike running tights and the added compression (slight) on the calf I think really helped! Not to mention I looked awesome. Doh. Score.

I managed to run all the hills, even the steepest, which I swear had me barely moving forward. And no calf pain running the downhills. Considering the stretch on Scenic after all the hills during the Run  For the Water 10 miler was where I tore my calf (at mile 7), I felt truly vindicated. I think I was the only one that really wanted to do the full 10 today, but I was fine with the decision to cut it to 7 miles. Probably very wise, as the calf is not 100%.

I met several of the runners after the run, and everyone was really welcoming and friendly! So I have committed to running the rest of this training session - which culminates with the Austin Half Marathon on Feb 19th - and the I'll see where I am. It's about a minute per mile slower than my "race pace" but that is perfect for a Long Run pace in training for me. I love the accountability of running with a group, and I'm so glad I put my shyness/introversion aside and joined them. If you live near any major city, there is a USA Fit group close to you I bet. I highly recommend them!

Today of course is Christmas Eve and my good friends Tashia and Dennis have graciously invited me to their home for dinner tonight, I'm looking forward to that! And at some point today or tomorrow I'll meet up with Megs for a bit.

Merry Christmas to all!!!