Long Run No. 2 ... The Book Incident!

Saturday - 4 miles

• 4.01 miles, 50' 16" minutes, 12' 32" min/mile average pace, 128 BPM average heart rate
• Splits;
• Mile 1:  11' 50"
• Mile 2:  12' 11"
• Mile 3:  12' 56"
• Mile 4:  13' 08"

Today's run was not a terrible one but it certainly was not a great one. First off, I finished off my granola yesterday and didn't make it to the store last night. So all I had for breakfast was my yogurt. I didn't think that it would be too terrible but it was. Secondly, I am not comfortable with running while holding a bottle of water. Usually, this isn't a problem as long as I am well hydrated the day before a long run. Apparently, that did not happen yesterday.

I started my workout with a 15 minute walk. I felt good so I started to run at a pace that I thought was really slow but apparently it wasn't. At the end of the first mile, I didn't feel too bad but I wished that I could drink some water. The Florida sun was shining brightly this morning. It wasn't crazy, super hot but the humidity was definitely up there. I actually started longing for the days when I was a lifeguard just so I could jump in the pool at the end of my rotation. I learned a valuable lesson today for when I become a mother, which is not in the foreseeable future. Piece of advice for all mother and fathers who strap their kids into a jogging stroller and take them with you while you get your weekend long runs in: Please do NOT give them a hard back book (or any type of book) to read while you run. Inevitable, they will get bored with it and chuck it out of the stroller. Unknown to you, this book will likely hit another runner, such as myself, who happens to be going the opposite direction. It was a good thing the mother wasn't wearing headphones so that when I called out "one of them dropped their book", she actually heard me the second time. Shortly after the book incident, my iPod told that I was only halfway done with my workout. Now I really wanted some water and I was starting the hate everyone that was holding a bottle of water while running. About halfway into mile 3, I saw it ... a water fountain! My dilemma, of course, was if I should stop running to walk across the street just to quench my thirst. My thirst totally won out and I actually did the smart thing and headed for the water fountain. Of course, once I reached the water fountain, I ended up drinking too much water, which I quickly discovered when it started sloshing around in my almost empty stomach. At this point, the yogurt I had for breakfast was being jostled around and didn't stay settled in my stomach. I continued running just trying to maintain my stride and hoping that my stomach would stop. Soon, my iPod told that I only had 1 mile to go, I found a safe place to cross the street, which is where the sidewalk is shaded. I did cool off a lot after I had some water but the shade really helped out too. At long last my iPod told me that I had completed my 4 mile run. I was shocked to hear my stats. I thought I was going much slower than I actually was. I guess I still need to figure out my pacing after all. I also plan on getting a hydration belt and one of those handheld, strap-on water bottles before next weekend. I also disappointed with my heart rate during the first two miles because it was way too high for a long run. Hopefully, I can figure this out before my mileage really starts to increase.

On another note, my sister is officially starting her own "lifestyle change" tomorrow. I am so excited for her especially since I know how good it feels to get your life in order and to really start living a healthy, happy life. She has her plan in place and I have decided to participate as much as possible. I have been doing this by myself since February and it really sucks trying to do this alone and watch everyone around still gorging themselves or being very inactive. So first things first, we weighed and measured ourselves this morning. We haven't taken our "before" pictures yet but I am sure that will happen soon enough. I know that it is a little late to be taking my "initial" measurements but this is for moral support and I really want to see what my progress will be over the course of my training. I just hope that my sister has as much success as possible and she really sticks with her plan. We are planning to weigh ourselves once a week to check our progress. We haven't decided how often we will be measuring ourselves but it will either be every other week or once a month. I will post the results as they come in but I am saving the "initial" stuff for the very first post.