I’m really digging this whole running thing. The more I run, the easier it gets. Last summer, I struggled with running a mile and change. Two weeks ago it was an effort to finish the 4.4 miles of the Winter Wimp (to date, still my longest run). But today, as I look back on the past week of running — 3 miles each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday — I can say that I’m now able to run 3 miles with the same level of effort it used to take for me to run 1. It’s a great feeling and the running gets easier with each mile. The new shoes help, too.
This morning Alex and I met up with about 100+ other people (mostly women — we experienced what it was like to be the hot single chicks alone at a bar) at the Warming Hut in the Spa State Park for the kick-off meeting and run for our local chapter of Team In Training. Alex has officially committed to raise money for Leukemia and Lymphoma research and to run the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon in San Diego (in addition to the upcoming half). I’ve mostly mentally and psychologically committed, and just need to do so officially (you’ll no doubt see another blog entry on this when I do).
So anyhoo, not only did Alex and I lead the pack around the first leisurely 2-mile lap, but we picked up the pace for our second 2-mile lap when many others stopped after the first (roughly 15 minutes for the second 2 miles). So we ran 4 miles this morning and it felt great. We were also way out in front, which I didn’t expect at all, following my experience at the Winter Wimp.
When I posted my first running graph, my week began on Sunday. Then I realized that the Nike+ site I use allows me to have my week start on Monday, which I suppose it might for purposes of running. So when I set that preference, my chart shows steadily increasing weekly mileage — I like:
And when I set my week to begin on Sunday, I get this – 16 miles since Sunday:
In other news, we went out last night with some peeps to The Wine Bar, but I didn’t have my camera (I know: gasp!). Luckily, Tom did, so hopefully he’ll share some photos soon.
1 response so far ↓
1 Kim Alvarez // Jan 27, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Hey Gabe,
Glad to hear you and Alex went to the TNT kick off run this weekend. Jack and I trained with them back in the spring/summer of ’04 and ran the Marine Corps Marathon in DC. I LOVED training with this group! We made great friends, worked with great coaches and just had a fantastic experience. (Unfortunately I’m sad to say I can bearing run 2 miles these days!!) I officially committed to fundraise, while Jack just joined us on the training runs. In hindsight, however, we should have both signed up because I ended up raising twice the required funds (enough for both of us). Note that when you raise the funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society thru TNT, your race registration, travel and hotel accomodations are all covered. Plus it feels great to be helping such a great cause. As you can see, 4 years later I’m still a huge fan of the Society and it’s Team in Training arm. In fact, I’m now working with one of the running coaches again in his “FitCamp” strength training program. There are a lot of TNT-ers in the program, so it feels great to be training with a team again. As for the running progression and your experience with Fleet Feet, kudos on all counts. Sounds like you are off to a great start — a big part of it is just being excited about the process, which is seems you are.
While training I bought and read the “The Non-runner’s Marathon Trainer” book — it was really helpful. http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781570281822-7
We look forward to future blog postings on your running.
KIM