This morning I got a text from a friend who was supposed to meet me to run early. She couldn’t make it because her son was sick. Suddenly I thought about how nice it would be to just go back to bed. It’s VERY easy to justify sleeping in to a mom who:
1.) didn’t get to bed early enough to begin with and
2.) woke up 2 times during the night to nurse a baby.

Then I remembered all the reasons I needed to run early:
1.) For starters, this was the BEST time for me to go today. John had a commitment later so this was my window of opportunity.
2. ) I have 2 upcoming fall Half Marathons and Full marathon in 6 months and I need to be building a solid base NOW.
3.) I am still trying to lose weight and exercise is a big part of my caloric plan.
4.) I will feel good the rest of the day knowing I have already exercised.
5.) And the kicker— my clothes were already set out and ready to go. All I had to do was put them on…

And so I went. What a beautiful day for a run!! The weather was warm but I didn’t mind. I wanted to run my 4 miles in a negative split. That was my goal. A negative split means running the second half of your run faster than the first half. A perfect negative split means every mile gets a little faster.

Mile 1- 8:16– I was wondering if I should have gone out a little slower…
Mile 2- 8:11– Halfway there and felt pretty good- absolutely NO stress fracture area discomfort.
Mile 3- 7:45– I was starting to get tired but knew I just had to hang in for one more mile.
Mile 4- 7:17!! Yeah, I was moving! To start off this last mile- “How Far We’ve Come” by Matchbox Twenty came on my ipod and it is a great running song. My pace picked up and I was just coasting. When I finished I looked down at my watch and I still had some extra time before I had to get back so I decided to do a cool down mile to get in 5 miles. In total, all 5 miles were in done in 40 minutes so not bad for my first 5 mile run. My goal for the marathon in January is to average just under an 8 minute mile so that’s basically what I did today- just for 21 more miles! I’ve got 6 months to get there- and I WILL get there!

Yeah, my face was bright red when I got home but I didn’t care- it just feels good to be running again! I also made sure to stretch and use my foam roller… I am ALL about injury prevention these days!

Abi got this shirt for her birthday from my in-laws. I LOVED it so much that I actually bought one for myself. Who knew Target had such cute running shirts for under $8?!

~Tia