Come On, Just Rain a Little

Today was considerably cooler with thunderstorms moving through the area. There was light rain on and off throughout the early part of the day. At 1 pm, while hubby could stay home while the toddler napped, I thought I would get in the speedwork I had skipped on Thursday when my training partner had cancelled on me and hubby and I thought dinner out together sounded more appealing! On July 1, on the Heels and Hills fan page on Facebook, I had challenged all of the fans to get 30 minutes of activity at least 3 times a week all month. I couldn't violate that myself (I had run Tues and Sat, so needed to hit workout #3).

Doppler radar still showed scattered showers and light rain through the area and it definitely look like sprinkles would start at a minimum.

Wouldn't you know it that not a single drop fell from the sky during my run! So instead I had this horribly muggy run at 83% humidity and 80 degrees. It didn't feel much better than the runs on hot days have felt! 1/3 of the way into Mile 3 I begged out loud, "Please just rain. Even just a little. If it will rain, I'll even throw in another mile." Where is negotiation/bargaining in the 5 steps of grieving?

I did 3 miles with a minute and a half walk break in between to recover. My goal was to keep each mile under 11:00 (my goal race pace for the half marathon is 11:30s). This was another great test in my psychological game with running because I desperately wanted to walk the last 1/3 of each mile but managed to not only not walk but also to pick up the mile's pace by 10 seconds in the last couple tenths of each mile.

This was the first time in I couldn't tell you in how long that I ran two days in a row. My thighs and quads are so sore because I'm working on not shuffling my feet, and I struggled the whole time today to avoid the shuffling, with success but definite uncomfortability.

In the end, proud of my run today!

Total with walk breaks: 35:19 which is an 11:05 pace
Average pace without counting the walk breaks 10:44

Mile 1: 10:37
1 1/2 min walk recovery
Mile 2: 10:46
1 1/2 min walk recovery
Mile 3: 10:49