Days 19 and 20

Oh. My. God. I thought I left behind the death-like weather in Tennessee. Apparently it decided to follow me home. Yesterday I ran with a good friend, a recently graduated member from my high school team and we were going to do six miles but she wanted to do 5, So we compromised: we did five miles but we also had to go up the monster hill in the park. It was awesome having company, though our first mile was at 8min pace and over the run we slowed down, which was probably good because despite the fact that it was evening and the sun was going down, the air remained hot and humid and not conductive for trying to run long distances.

I shouldn't complain about yesterday though, since today was significantly worse. I was exausted by mile one. I stopped three times for water and made a friend named Beverly, who invited me into her house to cool off quickly. I love nice people. You know, I've never understood those runners who carry their water bottles around with them until today. That is no longer a lame or dumb thing to do. But, despite the fact that my body hates me right now for putting it through that long, toasty, humid hell at 9AM this morning, it will thank me later this summer. I'm sure of it. Tomorrow is a day off. Man, I am so excited for that.

Day 18

Before my run I checked out some road races in the area. There's one in Philadelphia on Sunday to benefit Melanoma research which I might run in. That was enough to get me pretty pumped up for my eight miles. I ended up running them a whole minute faster on average per mile compared to last week, which was awesome (ignoring the fact that last week was close to terrible. I ran in the middle of the day- a mistake, definitely, but since I had hydrated adequately, I think I ran alright. Nutrition has been off though. I'll work on that.

Day 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

To be filled in

Day 9

With any luck today's run will have tired me out. It was only six miles, nothing extravagant, but the pace was very good. In fact, I was about 25 seconds faster per mile than Tuesday's long run. I'll admit it, I did try to go fast, but I wasn't pushing myself real hard. At the end I was, but in general it's good to finish fast- if you always finish a run fast you'll have the mentallity to finish a race fast. It was a hilly run and a slightly cloudy, not too hot day, which was also nice.

Tonight's an early night for me- have a plane to catch before 8AM tomorrow.

Day 8

Today was another successfully under-9-minute-mile-pace day for me. On average. To be truthful, my first two miles of my 4 miler were at 9:15 pace. I think there was somewhat more uphill than downhill on the way out, but regardless, I must have really picked it up during the last half of the run because my pace ended up being 8:47 per mile by the time I finished.

There were a lot of middle and high schoolers out waiting to catch their buses, and, having them around, I really worked on my posture, which probably improved my speed. Tomorrow's agenda: 6 miler, last run of the week.

Day 7

Wow, I'm cold. It's been a cool day today and rainy. I put off my run until early evening, and now, post-run and still in damp clothing, the shivers are setting in. I was going to settle for a pace similar to yesterday, but I blazed through my first mile in just a little over 8 minutes. By the second mile I was somewhere around 16:30 and of course, that last mile was almost all uphill. So I decided to fight. I love the feeling of speeding up a hill with great form. Although my breathing may be audible from some good ammount of feet away, I could care less. I feel so alive, pushing old air out and bringing new air in, air that will allow me to work harder and go faster. There are no doubts in my mind today. I felt strong.

Day 6

I meant to do a really early morning run but decided to take it easy after waking, seeing I had gone tobed late. As it stands, it's 10AM now and most teenagers I would suppose are just waking up, so I guess I couldn't have started my 6-miler that late. It's a cool morning, about 65 degrees, and there were very few clouds in the sky. The sound of a jackhammer pierced the morning. After just the first mile I could definitely feel the effects of my fast-paced run yesterday. Despite this, I was determined not to go slow. No sirree. I did the Stoney Road Hill route, which takes me into Jamison and back, and it was enjoyable. Only in the last mile and a half did I really try to fight, really work hard so that I would maintain that "under 9min/mile" pace. I ended up back on my property in a little over 52 minutes, having met my goal with room to spare: my pace was 8:43. It feels good to be meeting these little goals. I wonder what the rest of my summer will bring.