Today wasn't a scheduled running day for me. I had gone for a four mile bike ride with my boys earlier. But then my boys left with their dad for the next 10 days. I don't deal with that really well, free weekends are a welcome break, ten days is a long time. Anyway, instead of taking it out on a pint of icecream, I decided to sweat it out on an evening run. Felt like I could run forever, but my iPod lost it's charge, and if I couldn't get credit for it in my mile tracker, then I didn't want to run any more. Silly! Still got in 4.1 miles, felt awesome, sweat a lot. I love evening runs, but rarely get to do them.

BONUS: I have been working on being able to do push-ups for the past couple months. I started at being able to do one-half of one before I fell on my face. Today, I got to 10 full, real push-ups. BOOM!

I just finished a 32 minute walk/run. I did a downhill run on my first interval, and didn't realize that instead of doing a 20 second interval I did a 42 second interval instead! Oh, yeah! Stamina is definitely building. I've also noticed that my pace is more steady and I've been able to control my speed better, making it just over a jog, instead of full out sprinting like when I started.

To be honest, I really am loving this. I have always loved taking walks, but this is special, especially in the early morning. I've been trying to go around 6-7 am. I love how it feels like I'm the only one for just a little while, and the air always smells so fresh and nice. It clears my head, and it's made me able to write more. I actually woke up really early this morning, and was happy to look out the window, because I was anticipating my walk/run. I think this actually might be something I stick to, and I feel happy about that.

I haven't posted in a while as I've been busy switching jobs and didn't really run for a couple of weeks, except for a few short run/walk sessions. My husband and I just did our first 10k yesterday - we've done a number of 5k races but this was our first attempt at a longer distance. It was hot - 80 degrees at 7am - so that affected things a bit, even though we're used to running in warm weather. The race was at the speedway, so we ran a lap of the NASCAR track, then went around the speedway to the drag strip and got to run actually ON the drag strip, which was very cool - except it ends in quite a hill (to stop runaway race cars!) so that was rough. Then we ran under the grandstands, which was nice and shady but blocked my Garmin so I had to rely on how I felt to keep my pace. Actual race distance ended up being just a hair under 6.5 miles instead of 6.2, and I did it in 1:18:38, which I was ecstatic about - my goal was 1:30. Now it's onwards onto half marathon training if I don't want to fail miserably in October!

[b]Aimebell[b] - GREAT JOB on the pushups! It's amazin how fast our muscles respond by getting stronger...isn't it? Grrrrhhhh!

Serval - Glad to hear your enjoyin it. That's exactly how I felt when I first got started back in September '10...like, "wow...this is something I can see myself doing for the rest of my life!"

julesp313 - Anyone who can run in 80 degree weather is AMAZING IMHO! I am such a wuuuuusss when it comes to running outside in either really cold or really hot weather. Fortunately...I have a treadmill. GREAT JOB!

K...my only workout for the past 2 days has been braiding my hair. It has taken me a total of 24 hours (over the course of 2 days) to braid my entire head of hair (with really long extensions). Looks like Bo Derek from 10!

Just did my first run (really a run/walk) since my kidney stone surgery on the 10th. I took it pretty easy and slow, and stopped before I wanted to because my lower back was a little sore toward the end. But it was good to get back into a little bit of physical activity!

I ended up covering about 2.7 miles in about 40 minutes. As I said, definitely more walk than run.

indiblue - I found some non-SF gum (only 10 cals per piece, no biggie) and it was like a dry mouth miracle! Thanks so much for that suggestion. I did worry a bit about having it accidentally fall out of my mouth (which sounds ridiculous, I know, but totally something that would happen to me ) but found that it was much easier to run and chew gum than I thought it would be.

Hi ladies... I was sitting here an hour and a half ago reading this post and you made me so inspired and excited that I changed my clothes and went for my first run outside (I walk on the treadmill because I'm afraid of falling at the gym) . I didn't have a distance planned, I mean I had a goal in mind, but I honestly didn't think I'd make it, so it was more of a future goal.

Except... I did it! I just ran/walked (there was definitely some walking in there lol) 2.8 miles. I am almost in tears as I write this because I seriously didn't think I could do it, but I figured some effort was better than none.

Thank you so much for the inspiration!

I'm a hot weather runner too. It's in the 100s most of the summer here and even though I go early morning it's easily 85-90 some mornings. It sucks, bit my options are limited.

I finally got some new insols - hope they help with my knees. If not it might be time to visit the doctor. I'm encouraged, I think, that it's both knees because that kind of makes injury less likely, but it could easily be overuse. I just don't think I run enough for it to be overuse though, everyone is different I guess.

I did 11 today, while on vacay - go me! I tried a second GU midway and did notice a slightly better performance. It's hard to tell since I wasn't on my normal route doing my hills and stuff. It was also hard to tell because my legs hurt from doing too much sidewalk running. Regardless, good run.

Hi all!

ncuneo nice on the 11 miles!
Angel congrats on your walk/run!! It gives such a great sense of accomplishment, doesn't it
Jen glad the gum worked! I'm kind of fearful of swallowing my gum, which is funny because I've never once swallowed it, or almost swallowed it. Still, just one of those silly concerns I have. Way to go on getting back out there after surgery.
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I did my easy 2.5 miles on Friday, a "recovery" to my speed workout on Thursday, as well as a bit of upper body lifting. Took Saturday completely off and did 1 hour on the elliptical on Sunday. I haven't decided if I'm taking another rest day today or if I will try to get in some yoga. Tomorrow is my long run- 8K this week. Hopefully the temperature and humidity will cooperate

Where all the runners be??

This morning I did 8K in 54:53. Phew. My goal was to make it under 55 minutes, so with a bit of sprinting in the last .25 km I made it happen.

The run was not enjoyable though; I wanted to quit between kms 3-6. Ugh. I never hit any sort of runners high or zone when I run outside, especially for that distance. I think I just need to continue building endurance, as well as figure out the best food to eat before my run. Anyone have any tips?

This runner was, um, not running. In fact, I came here to post that I will run this afternoon, as a little accountability.

I'm too much of a newbie to have any real advice, I'm afraid. A question, though - if your feeling of wanting to quit stopped at km 6, and you kept on running to km 8, do you think it was more of a physical block or a mental one? I ask because it seems to me that a physical need to quit would only get worse, but if your mind is playing tricks on you, maybe you just needed to wait it out. Make sense at all?

Check in later, after my afternoon run. Which will happen!

Jen that makes a LOT of sense. I have been wondering how to differentiate between what's in my head versus what's actually physical. The distinction you made seems accurate. Need to get my head in the game a bit more

Just finished a 33 minute walk/run. Because of the huge dinner and dessert last night (hubby's birthday) my efforts felt VERY laborious. I see why you need to eat healthy/smaller portions to run. My legs felt like they were made of lead. Buuuuut I pushed through it.

That is so amazingly awesome!!! When we push ourselves to do something we thought we couldn't do....best feeling ever.

When I want to quit before I intended to, I always ask myself, "What hurts?" The answer is always "Nothing." So I keep going, and I almost always want to quit in that first 1.5 miles. When I want to quit at the end, I ask myself if I really want to quit when things get tough, do I really want to give in when I have almost acheived what I was aiming for. Works every single time. I do a lot of self-talk during my runs LOL

I'm still experimenting too. I'll have a good run, then think okay I ate within an hour of my run/drank my coffee before/ran on an empty stomach/ran on a day's worth of fuel instead of first thing in the morning, etc., then I try it again and have a rough run. Eventually we will find our groove.