I had a really good run last Saturday. I run by myself almost all the time, mostly because I run before work, and that usually precludes company. There aren’t too many people as crazy as me that like to get up at 4:30 AM and run 5 miles. 😛
On Saturdays, though, I have a group of three women that I’ve run with on occasion in the last year or so. I met one of the women, Ann, through hockey, because her older son played with my son Jamie for a couple of years. I was just getting into running when I met her, and she was already on her fifth marathon, so we always had fun chatting about running. Through her, I met Toddra, and the three of us ran together a few times before I invited them both to participate in my relay team for my second marathon last year. We had a great time, and we all signed up to run the Detroit women’s half marathon in September 2015. I actually ran with Toddra alone a few times during our training, because Ann was on vacation quite a bit. Toddra is a lot of fun to run with because she’s really funny!
Earlier this year, Jen was added to the mix. She is related to Toddra, plus she lives down the road from Ann, and the three of them run together quite a bit. Over this past summer, they invited me to join them several times, and we became a running foursome. I do love my solo runs, but I will admit that having friends to run with, especially on an early Saturday morning when you’d much rather be sleeping in, is a great motivator.
This Saturday was a prime example of that. On Friday afternoon, Toddra sent out a group text asking if anyone was planning to run the next morning. Ann was at hockey in Chicago (lucky girl!), but Jen and I were in. It was funny, because I had thought about sleeping in a little, since the first item my Saturday schedule wasn’t until 1 PM, but, as usually happens with this group, one of us had to be somewhere super early, so we had to be done by 7:15 a.m. One of the things I like about this group is they aren’t afraid to run early.
Of course, I don’t usually say that when I’m rolling out of bed at 5 AM to meet them at 6 AM. When I arrived at Toddra’s house, I told her that I hated her, since it was her idea. 😉 But once Jen got there and we got going, the time just flew by. I forget when I’m running by myself how much I enjoy the company of others, and how much faster the time goes by. Troddra prefers to go slow, and do several walk breaks, so our average pace was about a 12-minute mile, but it was a nice, comfortable run, and it allowed me to carry on conversation with them easily. We all have kids, and we actually all have a fifth grader (Ann, too!), so we have plenty to talk about!
My plan for Saturday called for a 90-minute run, but the last 10 minutes of it were to be at “tempo pace.” Toddra only wanted to run about an hour or so, so we did an out and back they took us back to her house, and then Jen and I went out on our own. Jen is kind of crazy; she agreed to run with us, knowing that I was going to put in a 90-minute run, even though she was planning to run a half marathon the next day! I tried to talk her out of it, but she said, “I haven’t been following a training program for this race since I started, so why should I change now?” More on that later…
After we turned around at Toddra’s house, I asked Jen if she wanted to run the tempo lap with me for the last 10 minutes. She said that would be fine, and asked me what the pace was. I told her it was a 9:45–10:00. Then I asked her what her normal “easy” pace was when she was running with Ann (Ann is quite a bit faster than me, and I know that Jen runs with her quite a bit). She said that when they’re running their easy runs, it’s usually around 9:30. I laughed and said, “Ok, yeah, you’ll be fine.” 😛 I asked her if she would be my pacer, and she seemed hesitant, but I told her that it would probably be like walking for her. 😉
She agreed, and when we got close to the halfway point, we turned around, and then I counted down until we had to start running at tempo pace. I told her that she was going to be in charge of conversation for that 10 minutes, ha ha, but although she did chat a little, I think she just wanted to allow me to focus on my run, so we were pretty quiet for the last five minutes. She asked me my pace a couple of times, and I kept her updated. We were doing pretty well at around a 9:55, and then all of a sudden I was at 10:00, so we sped it up some. We ran back to Toddra’s house, where our cars were, but then we ended up having to run past. I hate that! But Jen was a trooper, and just continued to run with me while I pushed myself. It was surprising how hard it was to run that pace after running 80 minutes prior. Jen seemed like she was effortlessly keeping up though, and I think I might’ve actually been holding her back. :-P. As we hit the 8:30 Mark, I told her I wanted to finish strong, and we sped up until we finally were able to stop right at 10 minutes. I ended up with a 9:51 pace for that lap, and I was really proud of myself. I thanked Jen several times for sticking with me and pacing me. She acted like it wasn’t a big deal, but I assured her that I would not have had as good a run if I had to do it by myself. And I know it’s true! Running with a friend really is a great benefit, especially when that friend is faster than you and can push you to excel.
On the way home, I headed to the river to get a picture of the sunrise. Not that it was actually rising at that point. 😉
Then I headed home, but on the way, I saw a beautiful scene that I had to get a picture of. So of course I stopped, turned around, and went back.
I was pretty excited about that picture. 🙂 More on that later…
Saturday was a pretty cold morning, in the upper 30s when we first went out, and by the time I got home, I was freezing. I was so cold, in fact, that I went upstairs and crawled into bed, pulling as many covers over me over as I could. And then I proceeded to take a two-hour nap! I hate it when I do that. I am way too busy to be taking a long nap, but I guess I was just tired. When I woke up, I had to run down to Monroe for an errand, and then I headed Downriver for JJ’s hockey game, which unfortunately they lost 7-5, but JJ played very well and he even had an assist!
After hockey, it was my biweekly grocery shopping trip. Does anyone enjoy grocery shopping? I sure as hell don’t! But, those damn kids expect to eat and crap. 😛
Once I got home, we had to quickly unload the groceries, and then I took JJ to the end-of-season bonfire for his football team. The coach of the older boys’ team always has a bonfire after the last game of the season, but this year the season ended on an odd day, so he pushed it until last Saturday. We had a great time, as usual, hanging out with all the families while the kids played football in the dark, but unfortunately, the only main dish they had was pulled pork. I am not a fan of smoked meats, so I basically only ate some pretzels and spinach dip, and then I had one and a half of the brownies that JJ had made. I promised I would get a good picture of the brownies next time he made them, but we were rushed for time, and I totally forgot.
Because I took a two-hour nap, and then rushed around for the rest of the day, I didn’t eat much. I managed to have some leftover chicken piccata when I got home Saturday night, but my calorie intake was still in a deficit, thanks to the 700 calorie I burned on my run.
Never fear, though, I made up for it on Sunday.
I actually didn’t do that badly on Sunday, but we had a short amount of time between a hockey game and a school open house, so that meant I had to stop at a gas station and get a Panini. I didn’t eat all the bread, but it did taste good. I haven’t eaten anything like that in a long time.
I woke up this morning and did my 60-minute run, which was about 5.3 miles for me. Then I weighed myself. And I was shocked!
Seriously?! I was convinced that my scale was malfunctioning, and I must have jumped on and off of it at least half a dozen times. I even went and got some books to hold onto and then weighed myself while holding them, and then put the books down and tried again, to see if I needed to “reset” it. But no, that’s what it said. I know that last week’s gain was due to the poor eating I did on that Sunday, but I really didn’t expect to lose 3 pounds in a week!
To back up the validity of this weight, when I put my pants on and did up my belt, I was shocked to find that I was on the last notch, and in my smallest pair of jeans, too! I was so excited, I had to get pictures:
So, clearly, not eating all of my calories burned on Saturday definitely helped. I have to remember this next time. I’m going to try to stay on this track, and be really mindful of what I eat. Right now, though, I need to get to bed, because tomorrow morning I have to get up super early for the speed work run that I’ve been dreading for weeks. I’ll tell you about it next time!
Thanks for reading!
PS: Check out what happened with my photo:
That makes my third photo on WeatherNation!
PS2: Jen ended up finishing her half marathon in 2:07! She said it’s not her best finish, but I think it’s pretty damn awesome. Faster than any I’ve run, and I’ve done it seven times!
