It feels great to run again

It's been about 2 weeks since I last posted. It has also been that long since I put in consistent runs. I've been doing a lot of training the last couple weeks, just not the type of training you're thinking of. Instead of training on the roads, track, & trails, I've been doing Army training in the woods. It's been fun, busy, and tiring. No showers for about a week, a few hours (3-5 hrs) of sleep a night, sounds of heavy weapons and artillery, and MREs (Meal Ready-to-Eat) for daily chow..... the fun Army life.

Well, enough of my Army life. This is a running blog. I got out this morning and couldn't believe the weather. Mid-60s... wow! Perfect running weather. I keep forgetting that the fall season is just about here. Since I only put in about 25 miles over the past 2 weeks, the plan this morning was to go for an easy 7-8 miles. I ran on the Cape Fear River Trail, which was filling up with walkers and joggers. It was nice to see people out getting in their exercise. As I stepped off I could feel that the legs were fresh but a bit rusty. The CFR trail has markers at every half-mile, which would give me a good idea of pace. I came across the first mile in 6:54 and thought it might be a little off. I was expecting to hit mile 1 somewhere around 7:05-7:15. The 2nd & 3rd mile was 6:50 & 6:40. Feeling good, I ended up running 4.5m out & back with the last couple miles at 6:00 pace. I was under 60 minutes when I got back from the trail so I ended up running a little more to get to an hour. When my watch read 1 hour I decided to run a bit more to get to 70 minutes. It was a wonderful feeling to run again.

The picture above is the second page of the 2006 Freescale Austin Marathon results book. It was cool to see my picture in it. In fact, the results book has 5 different shots of me in it. No, I didn't pay the camera man. It just must have been my luck day (this was the day of my marathon PR - 2:38:18). The runners behind and on the side of me are the elite females runners. I was able to run faster than all but 4 of them.

Today's Run: 1:10:20 (10.7 miles - 6:34 pace)