Training Recap: May Week 5

The majority of this week was spent out of town, which is never good for me in the exercise department. Spending time with family and old friends always takes priority, and that's how I like it. BUT it gets me out of any exercise routine and there's the pitfall. Once routine is removed, it's really difficult for me to get back in another routine. But I am happy to say, I did very well this week even while being out of town.

Monday
Since my dad wasn't working today, he had practice to paddle with his Dragon Boat team. I hitched a ride to South Tampa so I could run Bayshore Boulevard. I started my run and was easily distracted, I'm used to running on a treadmill in a gym so to be running on the bay was a wonderful change of scenery! In my first half mile I spotted a pod of manatees, I paused my Nike+GPS watch to actually run back and try to take a picture (bottom left photo). They didn't all surface together but I think there were four in total. Later down the road, I spotted a partial rainbow then realized a cruise ship was coming into port directly under it. Once I finally got to the south end of Bayshore and headed the opposite direction I was running normal again, no more distractions or aches, just running. I finished 7 miles in 78 minutes.

Monday started the Runner World's Run Streak too! I am going to try my best to run at least one mile every day from Memorial Day to Labor Day. I hope this will also help me remember to take Brewer for more daily runs too!

Tuesday
I was about to take Brewer out for an evening run and Abigail wanted to join me. We're staying with my parents in FL where orange groves are part of their yard. So I decided we could run up and down the orange grove, I kept pausing the GPS when Abigail needed a break. It was nice letting Brewer run free, without the leash, so he could be extra crazy and get extra tired. We ran slightly over 1mi in 13.09 minutes. Abigail can keep a good pace but we did stop a good bit. The most hilarious was when it was time for us to almost hit the driveway, she sped ahead and shouted "I win!". Sneaky, sneaky girl!



Wednesday
I was about to head out for my quick RWstreak mile, and Abigail wanted to tagalong again. Sigh, why not? I guess it'll be a little slower than I wanted, again, but I cannot really tell her no. Part of why I'm running is to get/stay healthy so I should be encouraging her to run too. Well, yes, but I also run as a cheap form of therapy and I cannot really clear my head with my sweet 4yo wanting to stop or hold my hand or cry because I'm going to fast. So I took a deep breath and let her join in, noting this cannot become a daily occurrence. We did run slightly further than Tuesday, but still just over a mile, in 13:40.

Thursday
We had been in FL a full week and every single time Abigail wanted to fish it was either too late or we were leaving the house, so finially on our last morning (we headed home that afternoon) she finally got to fish! While Abigail was distracted playing with my mom and her cousin, I escaped for a quick run with Brewer.

Brewer and I ran through the orange groves again, and had much better pace without Abigail. We finished 1.14mi in under 12 minutes. I was hoping to be a bit faster but the uneven terrain of the grove was really starting to toll on leg muscles that are not normally used. It was a quick run but that's all we could do since I needed to get back and get all packed up to head home that afternoon.

Friday
The morning started out pretty rough, Brewer was in his crate for time out a good few times.

Saturday
I set out dark and early to run The Possum Trot 10K in Roswell, GA; this would be my very first race for this distance. I was exhausted rolling out of bed, and even took a nap in the car before the race. Usually I'm excited for the race and the adrenaline starts to kick in, not this morning. I eventually started moving and found my local running gals: Brandi, Jen and Ramona. We made our way to the starting line. It was nice chatting with the gals before the race because they all had run some form of this course before so it gave me a bit of head's up. We all run at a different pace so we split but since it was an out and back course, it was fun seeing each other along the way to the finish. I am super proud that I did not walk at all on the course, and I kept a good pace. I finished this race right under 64 minutes! The average pace is about 10:20 per mile. I love seeing the continued improvement!

Our finisher photo with the Possum! Sooo not Disney!

Sunday
We attended church again, FINALLY. It had been over 2mo since I've sat in our church for a sermon. We had been out of town for Easter Weekend, then volunteered with the youth the entire month of April then in May I missed as well (Abigail sick, out of town, rainy race morning, etc). It was super hot in the afternoon so I planned to run in the evening, after we attended our community group, so instead of an afternoon run Abigail and I picked some of our blueberries. We ended up with a huge container worth of blueberries and there will be bunches more in the next week or so! Abigail wanted to make muffins so we did, blueberry white chocolate chip mini-muffins. They were super tasty!  Little did I realize it was going to storm. During a break in the storm, I got all dressed for some rain and headed out with Brewer for a quick mile. A quarter of a mile into it, there was a huge clap of thunder that seemed to be right above our heads. We turned right around and headed back home only finishing a half mile run, but it was at under a 10 minute mile pace! Even though I'm supposed to be running a full mile a day for the Run Streak, I'm counting this in my streak. I give myself an A for trying!

Questions:
-How do you handle little wrenches (dogs, kids, rain, etc) that alter your exercise plans?
-What is the strangest mascot you've ever met? This Possum might be mine!