Birthday Run

Well today was my birthday. Yes, I am 29. (I wish) I had originally planned on riding with the group on a 50 mile bike ride today but the weather and work changed that. I was taking a vacation day today but ended up having to work on some audits so that blew that. The bike ride wouldn't have been too much fun anyway, it was about 30 degrees with a 24 degree wind chill at ride time. There was 4 riders that rode though. All I can say is they are animals! You have to be truly dedicated or training for a major event to brave the cold like today on a bike.

Annette and Brenda talked me in to having a birthday run with them. I only needed about 2 miles and Annette talked me into 3 so I said ok, i'd go. I'm glad I did. We ran the Blooming Ridge subdivision where Annette runs almost every Monday and Wednesday night. The route is well lit and very little traffic. But there is one catch. There is a bunch of hills. These are not big hills, but the kind that creep up on you. The girls claimed that they wanted to run a slow, easy pace but I knew better than that with these two. I figured they would run off and leave me but I hung with them and they were running slower than normal. I could tell I was still trying to get my conditioning back to where it was but I was able to run every hill. We ran a solid 2 miles before we took a quick walk break. About 3 hills later I was walking a little but I'd speed up to catch the girls. It felt pretty good but I was working harder than normal. This easy run for the girls was probably a tempo run for me. I'll be glad when my conditioning comes back. Here are my times, not bad I guess for my second week back running.

Total run - 3.5 miles - 36:32
Avg. Pace - 10:26
1- 10:12
2- 10:39
3- 10:30
.5- 10:22

The workout for tomorrow night's clinic is hill repeats. I hope my legs feel up to it!