5 miles!

I made a pact with myself before bed on Friday. If I woke up and saw even one molecule of rain I was blowing off Philly Fit and sleeping late. I was not motivated nearly enough to run in the rain.

Since it was pouring when I went to sleep I thought I was off the hook. I almost didn't even bother to set the alarm.

Guess what? When I woke up it was dry as a bone outside. So I got dressed (reluctantly) and set out for Valley Forge. About five minutes into the ten minute drive the misty drizzle started to come down. Should I turn back? I very nearly did but then I decided that was embarassingly wimpy even for me so I kept on going.

I made it to the park just in the nick of time because they were heading out for the Betzwood (flat) trail just as I pulled into my parking spot. My new friend from last week was there too so I was glad I'd have my new running partner to stick with for the 5 mile run.

Things were good and we made it about two and a quarter miles before we stopped to walk at the big downhill slope that was covered with mud. (There was misty drizzle coming down). The second half of the run was a little more difficult -- we walked back up the big hill and then ran most of the way back. I think we too two short walking breaks. We made it back to the starting point in 58 minutes. That's really slow but I don't care to much. It was good enough for this early in the training plan.

I felt fine afterwards. No problems with the IT band or anything and that's my biggest concern at this point.

Sunday is a rest day and then Monday I'm supposed to do 30 minutes. That doesn't seem to awful but Tuesday's 40 minutes of hills seem a little scary. I may concentrate on the marathon schedule and do 30 and 35 minutes instead.

I'm thinking of heading to the running store on Sunday to see if I can get some cool, comfy new shoes and get somebody's opinion about shoes for running vs. shoes for the 3-Day.