Sunday Runday: Good and Bad Influences

Work has been crazy lately.  Long days that continue well into the night when I get home and on the weekends. 

Which means my weekday running has been virtually non-existent.  There's no way I can even sneak in a quick 30 minute run with my current schedule.    I've gotten in a couple "after work" runs with Thatkid if I manage to get out of work by 5, but they're incredibly short due to time, heat and the fact that it is incredibly difficult to push Thatkid in a stroller up very steep hills in our neighborhood.

And so, to Thatboy's chagrin, I've been getting up around 5:45am on Saturdays so I can get in at least one run for the week.  Why so early?  Because it means I can meet up with friends at 6:30, and running with people is always a great motivator.  Sometimes too much so!

I tend to be fairly good at pushing myself and keeping pace, but also monitoring how I feel and knowing when I need to drop back.  A couple weeks ago I met up with some friends who claimed they were running 11:30-12 minute miles.  Which sounded like a good starting point for me.  And it was, I kept up with them for 3 miles, but was worried if I pushed it for much more I might be sorry the next day.  And so I waved them on and slowed myself down.  Turns out, we were going faster than they had planned, so those first 3 miles were actually under 11 minute miles.  Last week I was more successful in taking it easy.  This time my group was planning on 12:30-13 minute miles.  And we stuck with it!  For 6 miles. 

Yesterday I was pushed again.  I was planning on going out with a bigger group, but it ended up just being my friend NeighborRunner and I.  NeighborRunner is much, much, much faster than I am.  So before we started I told her to just take off, and I would meet her back at her car.  I didn't want to slow her down.  She told me she'd do the first 2 miles with me, and then finish her remaining 6 on her own.  I could really feel those first 2 miles.  Without knowing how close we were, I decided to tell her to go on without me when we hit the next stop light, which was coincidentally right when my 2 mile alert beeped.  I continued on for another mile before turning back the way we came.  Those first 2 miles? We'd done them in around 10:30/mile.  Yeah, that's why I was feeling them.  Part of me is proud of myself for still being able to hang for a bit, and part of me thinks "Hey stupid - you're pregnant, slow it down!"  Peer pressure is a powerful thing.


The reason NeighborRunner planned this little run yesterday was so she could hit up the warehouse sale at Running Skirts.  NeighborRunner is a huge fan of Running Skirts.  I think their clothes might make up most of her running wardrobe.  I tend to stick to just their skirts, but I am definitely a fan of those.  Nevertheless, I wasn't really planning on buying anything at their sale, because I doubted they would have their maternity line and it will still be a couple months before I'll be back in regular running clothes. 

I should have known better.

It started innocently enough, I can definitely use a new sports bra.  My old ones aren't as comfortable right now, since they have hook enclosures that chafe a bit.  So finding an over-the head one for the next couple months, for less than $20?  Into the bag it went.

Then all the shirts were only $10.  So even though I won't be able to wear this tank for a bit, it's a good investment, right?

And as long as we're tossing things into the bag, the running skirts were all 65% off, so it seemed silly not to get one of those too.  And now I have a fun new outfit to look forward to after all this baby nonsense is over!