First run post Urban Bourbon.  Distance:  5.4, Time:  55 minutes, Pace:  10:09

Sunday I felt okay.  Knees were screaming at me when I went up and down stairs, but fine other than that.  Definitely no running for me that day!  Monday I thought about running and ended up doing a two-mile dog walk, then a three-and-a-half mile dog walk.  Probably a good choice, though I think I could have handled running fine.  I just didn’t feel like changing clothes.  Yes, I can talk myself out of running with hardly any effort.

This morning I met a couple people from my women’s running facebook group.  We met at 8am at the Big Four Bridge, went over to Indiana, then down to the Falls of the Ohio and turned around.  A bit over 5 miles.  The weather was perfect.  When we began it was 45 degrees, with the sun starting to come up and very little wind.  5 miles in before 9am!

Piece of toast, one cup of coffee.  Capri length tights, tank, long sleeve tech shirt.  I was a bit warm by the time we got across the bridge, but we weren’t going that fast and we were in the shade a lot, so I was mostly comfortable enough.  Glad I left my jacket in the car though!  Blue shoes.  2min/30sec intervals.

So now that my running goal has been reached, I need to decide what the immediate and long-term future is for me.  There is a series of short races close to home in the winter months called the Polar Bear Grand Prix.  I’ll probably sign up for them.  Then the Triple Crown of Running (5K in February, 10K at the beginning of March, 10 miler at the end of March) I will definitely do.  Already signed up for the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini Marathon (end of April) and the Indy Women’s Half (in September).  I really like the half marathon distance.  There is a half on St. Patrick’s Day that I may consider doing too.  So I think I will continue to run three or four days a week, maybe two 4-6 miles and a longer 8-10 miles.  Something like that.  I want to keep running as long as I’m feeling good and if I always have a race to look forward to, I will keep it up.