Saturday = FAIL ... Sunday = Success

What an interesting weekend!

Saturday

I woke up at 4:00AM to meet some friends for my "Easy 13-15 miler." For some reason, I just wasn't feeling it. I was trying to get my mind and body into the run, but I just couldn't. The goal was to keep all of the miles under 9:00. The first mile came around in 9:13. Though a little upset, I kept going. We ran the next mile in 9:33. The worse part was that it wasn't easy. My stomach was hurting and I was basically sleep walking. Heading to bed at midnight probably wasn't my smartest move, especially after an entire week of 5-5:30AM running. I guess I'm not super woman after all. HA! All I could think about was heading back to bed ... NOW! I said my goodbyes to the group, ran back to the car and drove myself home. I was back in bed by 6AM and didn't wake up until 10:30AM. Guess I needed that sleep after all.

Total run: 3.27 miles in 30:15

The worse part about quitting is that I felt guilty all day long. Luckily, David had to wake up early to go fishing on Sunday, so there wasn't any temptation to go out and indulge!

Sunday

Since I was running solo (everyone else actually ran on Saturday), I decided to sleep in a little. I'd take my chances with the heat and humidity. Plus, David and I didn't think it was that safe for me to run in the complete darkness by myself! So, I got to Ballast Point right at 6:30AM.

I was determined to have a better run ... all splits under 9:00. My schedule said easy and said 13-15. I knew I wanted to go closer to 15. So, I headed out on Bayshore. I had actually eaten breakfast this morning (not typical) and was carrying my new Nathan Handheld Water Bottle. Immediately, I hated the water bottle. It was heavy and awkward and I just felt very weighted down. I know ... very silly! But, I'm not used to holding a water bottle while running. Since I left a little later than normal, though, I knew it would be important to stay hydrated. A couple of times, I felt like turning around to take the water bottle back, but I kept going down Bayshore and then headed over to Davis Island. Davis Island was shaded, too, which was very nice! A little after an hour, I decided to turn around. I was extremely happy with my splits and was nervous that they would eventually slow down. My goal was to stay easy ... but, everytime I thought I was slowing down, I'd look down and be running an 8:20 pace. Oh well. I'll take that!

I kept hydrating about twice a mile. I took a gu at 60 minutes and at 90 minutes. Since I carried my water bottle, I even ran and took my gu's. No stopping today!! :) Well, I did stop once ... briefly! I'd bet it was less than a minute total. At mile 7.77, I found a water fountain and my bottle was almost empty. I stopped quickly to refill.

On the way back, I saw dolphins. There were 5 of them!! Unbelievable.

14.25 miles: 2:00:59

Splits

8:46
8:36
8:32
8:28
8:33
8:31
8:32
8:28
8:23
8:27
8:33
8:28
8:26
8:15
1:53 (7:32 pace) .25

I was so happy with this! After a quick stop by Starbucks (YUM Vivanno Smoothie) on the way home, I headed downstairs to the condo gym to work out my upper body and core. I've had a very productive morning since ... maybe a little too productive. Let's just say the entire house is spotless. Naptime now! :)