Sunday, February 8, 2009

7 on the 7th

Running is one of the easiest activities to pursue...all you need is a pair of running shoes (well, may be not even that) and some time. Of course, it's nice to have cool running gear and really neat to have a supportive online community of runners to sustain you and keep you company through long, lonely runs.

Which is why I jumped at Run to the Finish's idea of 7 on the 7th Virtual Race. Run 7 miles on Feb 7th; any time, anywhere.
My plan these past few weeks has been to inch up the mileage 1/2 mile at a time, to avoid the risk of injury. But, by Thursday, I was up to 5 miles and thought, why not? I would have attempted 6 months on Saturday anyway. Why not an additional mile?

As it turns out, I felt very very lethargic on Saturday morning. I had had a week of little sleep, so I woke up at 11 am, and had I not signed up for this, I would have just gone back to sleep.

But once I got myself out of bed, I was eager to get started. This would be a stress test...I had not run 7 miles in more than 2 months. I had planned to run at a nearby park, but didn't want to waste time driving to the park. Scenic runs would have to wait. The temperature was in the low '40's and breezy...thankfully, there would be no frozen body parts today.

My target time: 1 hour 10 minutes. Relatively conservative. I started slow, and was able to increase my pace a little as I ran. I felt a little creaky, as is to be expected after an injury. But I enjoyed myself and was able to complete in 1:08:40. Not bad at all.

I clicked a few pics of my regular route. Nothing spectacular...in fact, it looks more picturesque than it really is. But I love running in the familiar comfort of my neighborhood. I took these pics this morning. Yesterday, most of the neighborhood was still covered in snow.



The local park


My favorite spot...a little brook


Hope you are all having a lovely weekend. I am off the the gym for a swim (ha, I'm a poet!)

12 comments:

Lindsay said...

too bad there are no over-priced race photos! ;) great job on your 7-miler and beating your prediction time!

RunToTheFinish said...

look at that you didn't even feel like running and then you beat your expected time! So glad we could all push each other this weekend.

Aron said...

awesome job!!!! way to beat your predicted time and great pics too :)

X-Country2 said...

I love pics of where people run. Looks like you have a great route.

Mel-2nd Chances said...

great job on your run! especially considering you didn't want to run to begin with! I will have to catch up on some of your posts, i thought i had you in my reader! Sorry! :)

Anonymous said...

Nice job on the 7! I love looking at the pictures of others routes.

BeachRunner said...

Way to go! And I love the pics.

Heather said...

Great job on the run! Your route looks nice - especially because there is NO SNOW!

Erica said...

GORGEOUS! Love the pics of the run...looks like you have a nice route :) Glad you got your run in and beat your target! You rock!

lauren said...

nice run! and I really enjoy the pictures!

Unknown said...

Wow great job on your run!

Unknown said...

Love the pictures. Great job on the run.