Never Enough T-Shirts

Survivor started today, and so did my "Survivor Fitness Plan". All it involves is getting on the treadmill for an hour every Friday (or Sunday for the re-broadcast) so I can watch Survivor on the Armed Forces Network. Since I live off base, I have British cable, and I haven't been able to find Survivor. Since I absolutely CAN NOT miss an episode of Survivor, I watch it at the gym on base.

I ran 6 miles on the treadmill, averaging a 9:05 pace. I ran between 9:05 and 9:22 during Survivor, and sped up to 8:something paces during the commercial breaks. The thing about watching Survivor at the gym is that I really need to focus on controlling my Survivor-related outbursts! ;)

I walked a half mile afterward, mostly so I could calm myself down after the person who I wanted to win the whole thing was first voted off!

The third Thursday of each month is 5k day at the running group. Only 3 people including me showed up to run, so I wasn't sure how motivated I would be to crank out a quick 5k!

The guy who was timing for the night asked me where I expected I'd finish and I told him around 25:00. The last 5k I ran in the states this summer was around 24:45 or 24:50 (over some hills) and I wasn't sure I would match that without the raceday adrenaline, people for "pacing and chasing", the crowd at the finish line, etc. They also usually do their 5ks with "handicapping" so in theory everyone finishes at just about the same time, but since there was such a small # of us, and since I was new, they decided to just let us all start together.

I didn't know the course, which was luckily just 3 3/4 laps, so I started out kind of fast in order to keep the other 2 guys in my sights and know where to turn during the first lap! I wasn't as concerned during the second lap, although I did stay pretty close, but started falling behind after that. The guy who was timing stood at the finish (different spot than the start) and told me, "One more lap". Of course I totally overanalyzed this... I kept thinking, "I wonder if he means one more lap once I get to the starting point and then back here to the finish, or if that means I'm done next time I get to the finish marker. Oh I really hope he means just get back here, but I don't want to get my hopes up and think I'm almost done when I'm not!" During the last lap, I had a big cramp in my right side that I couldn't breathe out (maybe from thinking too hard about the interpretation of "one more lap"...or maybe from the 5 fun-sized Snickers bars I had eaten earlier in the day!). So as I was coming around the 2nd to last corner, I was thinking, "I'd better see those guys standing around the finish line... I don't want to go around again!" Silly me, I could've just looked at my Garmin and saw that by the time I was at the 2nd to last corner, I was about 2.8 miles in!

My finishing time was 23:26 and my Garmin had it accurately measured at 3.1 miles. 7:10, 7:38, 7:56, and 0:41 for the .1 (7:19 pace)/average 7:34 pace! I don't know how I pulled that one off!

I don't know how far behind the other guys I was, but I'm guessing it couldn't have been more than a minute or a minute and a half. I was the only female to show up last night, and the timing guy told me based on their old times that I am going to be the fastest gal in running group.

By the way, did you know that Friday, September 18 is National Run at Work day? Too bad I don't have a job! But I will be running at the gym and watching Survivor! I'm a total Survivor geek and it doesn't come on my home cable.

I can't decide if I like the way my mileage looks so high because I feel kind of like I'm coming about it dishonestly! 6 miles of today was a run/walk with my friend. She is up to 16 minutes of running, her longest interval was 4:18 I think and her shortest was 3:27. She's come a long way from 3 weeks ago, that's for sure!

I felt really good running to her house and even knocked out an 8:09 2nd mile! But coming home I was feeling just a bit lazy, chilly, and my left knee was kind of creaky. I went on a new trail that I haven't been on before and was going to run a little further, but saw what I really thought was a tent set up in the distance. The trail is in a woodsy/field area and pretty isolated, so I decided to head home rather than get closer to the tent. I don't really think I had anything to be afraid of, but I'd rather check out the remainder of that trail sometime with a partner, or at least when somebody is home waiting for me and will notice if I go missing! :) My husband is coming to visit in just over a month, so maybe I can drag him out there!

4 miles with my new running group tonight. It was getting dark so we had to cut our run through the forest trails short. I really like the people in the group! Met 2 new people last night and they were telling me about places I should go on the coast... I am especially interested in the section of the coast where there is a colony of seals!! Neat! 

My Garmin wasnt ready when we started running, so my mileage was off, but one of the other guys had us at 4.3 miles. There is a timed 5k on Thursday that I will try to make it to. The guy that plans out the speed workouts said that there was only one other person who showed up last Thursday! But he said that the 5ks typically get more of a crowd. We shall see!

Ran with my friend this morning...she is really improving! On the last run we did last week, the total run time was 12:45...today it was 15:30! She ran for 4:05 straight minutes. I'm feeling very proud of her...on the first day we went out, I think she made it about 54 seconds. 

   I felt so good running the two miles to her house that I decided to push myself just a little bit. And on the way home, I decided to push myself too instead of just dallying around like I tend to do. I had cereal for breakfast this morning and a big glass of water when we got back to my friend's house, and my stomach felt a little weird, but it didn't bother me too much. I think I will try to make it to the running group tomorrow night, and I have plans to do another run/walk with my friend on Wed. 

mile 1- 8:40, mile 2- 8:00 mile 8- 8:40 mile 9-8:03