Holy Crap!

The title of this blog is how I felt when I got home from my run last Saturday. Two Saturdays ago, I planned to do a 9 mile run. This was second longest run ever, so my goal was just to make it 9 miles and keep the pace easy so I could finish. I ran it in 1:45 and was pretty happy about it. So, last week I was planning on a 10 mile run, but kept getting distracted by work (hate it when that happens). Saturday morning I woke up and had a lot to do, but figured I'd run for "only" an hour and a half. Since this is something I know I'm capable of, I didn't really worry about my pace. I just ran something that was comfortably challenging, and stuck to my walking 1 minute every 10 routine that I do for long runs. I was amazed when it was time to turn around and I had made it as far as I did last Saturday! I finished 9 miles in just under 1:30! I don't really keep track of pace on these runs but one of my last miles was 9:30, including one minute of walking. So, I'm pretty excited about that! :) Also, I felt good almost the entire run. Sometimes I was breathing hard but it was never painful or anything. Sweet!

My goal is to run a half marathon by the end of the year. There aren't any official ones around Colorado this time of year, so I'm probably going to end up running 13.1 miles by myself on Dec. 31. Running is funny because I really despise it when I'm not running regularly. But when I do it 3 or 4 times a week - I start to really love it. I'm planning on running 10-11 miles Wed or Thurs this week in San Francisco and can't wait. :)