As you know, I have signed up to run the Disney World Princess Half Marathon. There is a group of military spouses here in Newport (Jessica, Natalie, Elizabeth, another Jen, Charlotte, and me) that have all signed up to run it. Jessica dubbed us the Newport Princesses (we even have a Facebook page).
Today was our first group run. We decided to meet up at the base track. We are all at different stages of training. This allowed all of us to get our workouts in at our own pace, but still be together. Plus, we decided to go out for breakfast afterwards. Good plan.
So after an early morning of coffee, laundry, and emptying the dishwasher, I hopped in the Jeep and headed across the bridge to meet up at the track. As I pulled into the lot, the ladies were saying that the Naval Academy Preparatory School (NAPS) and Officer Candidate School (OCS) formations were out on the track and we should find somewhere else to run. Luckily, before we left, they marched off and a few other runners could be seen making their way around the track. We stayed. We all set our beep-y watches and off we went.
We are all getting into or back into running. The Disney race is our group goal. We have also signed up for other races (5Ks, 4 milers, 10Ks) along the way. I'm pretty sure that I was the only one stupid crazy enough to sign up for a half marathon in October. I have had to accelerate my training.
Jessica was running three for her long run this morning. My plan was to run with her and be done; get up tomorrow and do five for my long run. We had a good three mile run (interrupted by colors which was patriotic and a nice break), but I started thinking that it would be so great to add two miles on to today's run and just have tomorrow OFF. I asked Jessica if she minded. I told her I could meet them at the restaurant when I was finished. Nope. They would stick around and wait for me. Princess friends are like that. So as Jessica peeled off for her cool down walk, I headed out to finish up my run.
I was running with music today. I have a pretty good mix on the iPod. There are pros and cons to the music. The biggest thing in the plus side is that running in circles is boring. It's not as bad as a treadmill, but a close second. Music makes it more fun. Another plus is the fast songs. Fast songs are great as long as you want to go fast. I did a fast interval and felt great. The song for the next interval came on (another fast one) and I said "Oh, hell no!". I couldn't hit the next button fast enough. On the down side, the beat dictates the run more than how you are feeling. A couple of times today I found my self running to the beat, but I knew I could go faster. Try running against the beat of a song--not an easy thing to do. That just tells me that I need to pull some of the slower songs. That means I am making progress.
Once I finished my last lap, we all took a cool down lap together. The Royal Procession made its way around the track. I didn't do the royal princess wave to the NAPS/OCS kids, but I thought about it.
Today's run: 5 miles. 1:02:42 12:32 min/mile.
What are you doing for exercise today? Want to join us?
What are you doing for exercise today? Want to join us?
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