Niki's Neverending Adventure

We have been having the most awesome running weather the past 2 mornings!! Let’s back up to Saturday morning… I knew the weather was supposed to be cooler this weekend, but when I woke up Saturday morning and checked the temp, I was definitely not expecting to see 53 degrees!! That’s pretty chilly when it’s been 90+!! I had totally forgotten what to wear when I run in temps of the 50’s so I opted for capris and a short sleeve shirt. It worked out well, although shorts would have been fine too!! I was so pumped to run because it felt so nice!! I only had 3 miles on the schedule and my long run planned for Sunday, so I was trying not to push myself hard but it was very difficult! I just felt like running fast!! I just kept telling myself to slow down. All in all it was a great run! Here’s the stats:

3 miles in 28:54

Mile 1: 10:17

Mile 2: 9:37

Mile 3: 9:01

Avg Pace: 9:38

Obviously by the last mile I had totally stopped listening to my reminder to slow down! It really felt like a great run!!

And now on to my long run this morning… as I said on Friday, I decided to start upping my long runs a bit more quickly than I had previously thought, so I can be ready for the Bass Pro Half if I decide to run it. So 7 miles it was! I got up at 5:45 and headed out to my parent’s house so I could run out there. It’s my favorite place to do long runs. The temp was reading about 50 degrees when I started, and I could immediately tell a difference in how I felt this morning compared to my long run last week in the mid 70’s. I felt wonderful!! According to the Runner’s World Training Calculator, I should be doing my long runs around a 10:45-10:55 pace to hit my time goal for the half. This seemed a bit slow when I first read it, but they seem to know what their talking about so I am going with it. I tried really hard to keep my pace between 10:45-10:55 but other than the first mile, I failed!! I just couldn’t keep it that slow! Better faster than too slow, right?!

The 7 miles flew by and I felt great the entire run! I never really got tired and was even able to push it at the end! I love runs like this and I’ve just been on a runner’s high all day!

7 miles in 1:13:15

Mile 1: 10:49

Mile 2: 10:34

Mile 3: 10:30

Mile 4: 10:36

Mile 5: 10:30

Mile 6: 10:21

Mile 7: 9:56

Avg Pace: 10:28

So I ran about the same pace as I did my 6 miles last week but ran farther and felt much better this week! Gotta love it!! I really love long runs, it’s nice to run slow and it’s such a huge accomplishment when you finish!! What’s your favorite type of run?

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As many of you know, I am running the St. Jude Half Marathon and raising money for St. Jude!! I am trying to work on some fundraising ideas and I think it would be fun to have some sort of raffle! So my questions for y’all are:

1. What type of items would you like to see in the raffle? Fitness/running related?

2. Does anyone know of any companies that would donate items to put in a blog raffle for St. Jude?

3. Does anyone reading this want to donate items for the raffle? :)

Let me know if y’all have any other ideas for me! I gotta make it to at least $500 for St. Jude!! And if you would like to donate, please go to my donation page! Any little bit helps! Spread the word too friends!!

I hope y’all have a fabulous night and great holiday tomorrow!

Posted in: on Sunday, September 5, 2010 at at 5:55 PM