Life ain't a track meet, it's a marathon

I had to skip RE last weekend due to some family stuff, and didn't do a whole lot of running in the interim. I DID get up and run on Thanksgiving morning though. However, uh, that was the last time before Saturday. So instead of doing the 10 that I had on my schedule, I decided to just do 8. BUT! I moved up a pace group. That's right folks, I graduated myself from the 12 min/mile group to the 11:40 min/mile group. I know, I know. That is smokin fast. Try not to hate.

So, we set out, all 4 of us in our little pace group. I'm finding that I like the winter session of RE because the groups are much smaller than the spring and fall sessions. Anyway. We were just chugging along by the river in Parkville, having a nice conversation, and I was feeling good. It was probably 40 degrees, which is amazing for December. I didnt even need a jacket, just 2 layers. Got out to the turnaround, and it was just the pace group leader and I heading back. So we just set off at our own pace, we've got pretty similar strides so fell into a rhythm pretty quickly. We were just going along chatting it up, and her Garmin kept beeping because we were GOING TOO FAST. We were clipping along at about 10:45/mile! Now, I know most people wouln't be happy with going that "slow", but for someone me who, well, you've seen my race times, that was pretty good. And it felt good too. So, maybe there is hope for me to break a 30 minute 5K yet!

Sunday I was going to go to the gym, but had been out of the house all day so I just didnt feel like leaving again. So....I set up my trainer and hopped on that for the first time in, oh, since before IMFL. Man, I forgot how tough that thing is! I was laid out on my bike, getting into my grove, rockin' out to some JT (and maybe some old school Ice Cube - I mean, lets be honest. Is there any better song for spinning than "You Can Do It"? I think not. If you dont believe me, put it on your ipod and jump on the trainer. You'll see.) when drip, drip, drip, on my front wheel. I had sweat dripping off my forehead. And that was after like 15 minutes. I do NOT sweat. Well, not enough for it to be dripping off of me. So, I actually felt like I was actually DOING something for the first time in quite a while. I really miss long rides, so I'm looking forward to getting back out on my bike once it's nice out. Maybe this year I'll ride over to Lawrence and actually make it to Chipotle like I always planned!