High on Running

I just returned home from my second running class and it was great!! I don't know if it's because I'm a little high on endorphins now or what, but I feel great. Today we probably ran about 5 miles, or maybe 6 miles, but it's always hard to gauge how far we've gone. More importantly is the fact that we ran hard. We ran 6 x 600 yd intervals at a pretty fast pace. I was psyched that I got faster for each of my first three times and then was able to hold my pace for each of the last three times. I ran 2:02, 1:59, 1:54, 1:54, 1:54, 1:55. I was proud of myself that I was able to keep pace for each of them and I even felt like I could run another one when I was done. I also love the way we have nice, long, slow warm up and cool down runs before and after each run.

Today I was a little worried about class b/c of my experience over the weekend with the collapsing lady(see previous post) and b/c it has been so hot and humid lately. But today I made sure that I stayed hydrated and didn't eat food that I knew would stick with me too long. I also had a Gu prior to running and then had a Cliff bar right after. I felt pretty good. In fact, I would consider doing this class again soon, but doing twice a week b/c I think I could get even more out of it.

I'm really getting into this whole running thing lately. I know that this is silly to be realizing now, but I have been running more lately than I ever have in my life and as Sara has pointed out, I now have a serious hobby that I'll probably have for life. I just picked up a copy of Runner's World magazine the other day and now I'm getting even more excited for the marathon to come. But in addition to that, I'm also getting excited about getting into running more seriously and decreasing my race times over the next couple of years.

This weekend, on Sunday, I'll be running a five mile race in the park. I'm hoping that my two speed classes will have a positive effect on my time and that I could maybe set a five mile PR. I haven't run that many five mile races, so it shouldn't be too hard to do. This will be my fourth race of 2008 which, having already completed my volunteering requirement, will bring the number of remaining races to still needed to complete to 5. I signed up for two in July, I will run the Poland Spring Marathon kick off, the marathon itself (duh), and that will leave just one more race to run in order to guarantee my entry into the 2009 Marathon . . . YES.

In terms of my overall training, I need to really run full weeks for the next three weeks. I need to run at least 5 days per week and run at least 20 miles per week. This will mean that I'll be really ready for my first week of official training in July when I begin ramping up with 22 miles per week that week. I'm pumped.