Saturday run

Yesterday I mapped out an 8 mile run. It was a horrible, ugly, boring run. As I was not enjoying this particular run, I happened to cross the Murray entrance to the Jordan River walkway and saw lots of runners/bikers/walkers. It looked so pretty and fun that I had to forsake my mapped run and join the runners on the walkway. I'm glad I did. It still felt like I ran quite a distance, and although I don't know how far it was, it took me 1 hour 15 minutes. So I'm assuming I was probably just shy of 8 miles.

The spring snow is hampering my running efforts a bit. We've had so much snow the last week and we got more today. Hopefully it will end soon and we will have blissful warm spring running soon!

Mid-week running

Good news- Justin has decided to run the provo riverwoods 10 mile race with me! So Tuesday we ran a mile or so together (because grandma had Makenzie and I pushed Jarom in an umbrella stroller!) and yesterday we took turns. He ran for 14 minutes (we don't know how far it was) and then I ran my usual 3 mile loop out to 90th. I decided to go for speed again and ran what I would consider my 5k race pace. Usually, when I push on this run, I start slower and finish strong. This time I decided to really push myself as hard as possible right from the getgo. By the time I finished the big uphill stretch on 90th, I was beat. I tried to keep pushing myself at the same pace but I could feel my body slowing down. My legs were tight and felt heavy. I pushed as hard as I could but the slowdown was obvious. I was really happy though, because even with my slowdown I beat my best time for that loop, and finished in 23:15 (just about 8 minute miles)! I would really like to run some shorter races while I train for this marathon just to see how good I can do!

Long run!

I pulled it off- 9 miles this morning. It took me 1h30m (not counting approx. 4-5 minutes of stop time for stoplights, dogs, etc.). So I took it really easy. It was gorgeous outside (about 63 degrees according to a bank on my route). Great day!

Adding a mile

Yesterday I ran an unknown distance, but it took me 34:51 so I'm assuming (hoping) it was about 4 miles. We've had great weather the last few days, but it's supposed to get wintry again this weekend. Hope I can log some miles on Saturday. My official marathon training starts Monday.

Getting a better pace

I did my 3 mile loop today. I didn't push hard, but I didn't take it easy either. I would call it a moderate push. I finished in 24:30 (8:10 miles).

A little distance

I ran 5.5 miles today in about 51 minutes (approx. 9:16 miles). Short on time as usual or I would have gone further. It was a beautiful day out there!

Sprint pace

I ran that same 1.5 mile loop today (really hurting for time to go running this week). It may have been short, but I was booking it. I finished in 11 1/2 minutes, which gave me a 7:40 mile pace. It's impressive for me to get under the 8 minute mark.
Speed work is so hard for me. I would rather run 10 slow miles than 5 fast ones. But I'm hoping it will affect my muscle strength and prepare me for speed intervals in my longer runs.