End of the 2nd Week

It's Friday, which means that it's the end of the 2nd week of training. This morning before our run I signed up for a 5k that Susan and I are going to run together next Saturday morning. We ran 2 miles out and back this morning, and this time we had shorter (one-block) stops, although we were almost stopped permanently--some idiot wasn't watching where he was driving his Christmas-tree-air-freshener-colored car and almost hit Susan and me. But it's ok, 2 guys were standing outside Paris Cafe and saw it, so they preceded to cheer us on by yelling "Train it girls! Train it!" It gave me the encouragement I needed for a good burst of energy. I have heard that the crowds at half-marathons and marathons are pretty loud, so hopefully that will be the case and will provide some inspiration. It helps and changes your thinking from "Why the hell am I doing this?" to "Hell yah, I am a badass!"

It was very humid (although not sunny, thank goodness), so it was a little harder to get going. The first mile went well, and Susan assures me that the first half mile is always hard. We are getting tired of feeling sweaty and stinky all day at the office, so we are trying to figure out a new time to go running. Some of the guys training for their triathlon run at night, but I am more of a morning worker-outter, so we'll see how that goes. Susan and I want to run early enough that we can shower again before work. I am just trusting the tidbit of information that I read on a running site that said the earlier and more you sweat during your run, the more "in shape" you are and the more quickly your body becomes accustomed to the heat and other factors. Considering how gross I look when I am finished running, I should be in pretty damn good shape!

I am still doing pilates, which is good because I love it, and according to Runner's World, doing exercises like pilates that strengthen your core muscles is supposed to help you during your training. My pilates instructor worked me out really hard yesterday, so I'm a little sore today, but I'm looking forward to a lake weekend. In an ideal world, once I get more into the rhythm of running I will be able to run at the lake, but for now I am just going to relax and "recover."