Running for Jen

I woke up at about 6:00 am this morning and found myself ready to get up and go for a run.  Just to make sure that what I felt was real, I gave it another 15 minutes and decided to get up.  I am glad that I did.  I was out the door by around 7:00am or so, just as the sky was starting to light up.  It was cool, low to mid 40's.  I kept with the shorts, but did break out the gloves for the first time this year.  I had a pretty nice run.  I left the music at home and just tried to enjoy the run and fresh air.  I completed the 8.25 miles in an hour and a half, which obviously isn't great, but it was a bit better than yesterday.  The other nice thing was that since I was up early, I still had the whole morning ahead of me.  I actually took my dogs on a 2 mile walk afterward to get the morning paper.

I almost brought home a dog during today's run.  I decided to run after work so that I could sleep in.  I got myself out the door about 15 minutes after I got home from work.  I got off to a nice start and felt good.  At around the 3 3/4 mark, I ran into the little dog again that was out on its own a couple of weeks ago.  This time it followed me, stopped and just when I thought it was going back home, she turned around and ran towards me up the street.  I stopped to check on her and to make sure that she wasn't going to get hit by an oncoming car.  I stopped my watch and music and picked up the dog.  I carried her back up the street to see if I could find her home.  I found a neighbor that recognized her and he told me that she has been found by neighbors multiple times and told me where the house was.  I took her to her home, which I almost wished I hadn't.  The girl that answered the door didn't seem to care about the dog, but I did what I thought was right.  The little dachsund's name was Lady.  I have already told my husband that if I see Lady on her own again, she may very well be coming home with me.  After I took her home, I finished my run, completing the 8 miles in 1:24:06, my best time in quite a while.

I decided to run at the gym this morning.  I am moving away from those morning runs in the dark at least for a little while.  My gym finally has ESPN working again, which makes things much better.  My legs were a bit tired, but not too bad.

I was back at the gym after a day's rest yesterday.  I had to cut my run from 7 miles to 6 due to a meeting that I had this morning at 7:30.  I felt good and was at my 10:00 minute/ mile pace by the start of mile 3.

I was back at the gym this morning for my run.  I was a bit tired, but felt better once I started running.  It took me a couple of miles to get up to my 10:00 minute/ mile pace.  I was able to take the last mile up to a 9:50 pace, which felt nice.

I had a chance to sleep in this morning and I did.  I didn't get out the door until almost 9:00am, but it was worth it.  It was beautiful outside.  I love long sleeve shirt and shorts weather.  My hands were freezing for the first couple of miles, but they eventually warmed up.  I also went though all of my Kleenex since the minute it gets cold, my nose likes to run as well.  I felt pretty good outside of some minor cramps about halfway through and at the end.  I finished in 2:46:46.