Three's a Breeze ... not really

Not sure why I choose that title for this post. The phrase, "the third time's the charm" was what I wanted to say, but it didn't make sense as I was trying to say that this week I was able to run 3 times this week. Then I threw a rhyme in there just for good measure. ANYWAY, as the weather is slowly and surely (well maybe not that surely) warming up and with my first running event less than a month away I had to start running 3 times a week. Monday was the first run of the week and it was a dreary and very blustery day. The first 2 miles of my 4 mile run the wind was blowing right in my face. To make it worse, much of it was uphill. After recovering from the strenuous first 2 miles, it was a welcomed change to have some tail wind for the next mile and no real wind the last mile. However, I'm blaming the wind as to why I only averaged a 9:30 pace. All in all it took me 38 minutes.

Day 2 or Wednesday, I went out again. A nicer day with little to no wind. I was feeling pretty good. I could tell I was running better and had better all around feeling in the mechanics of my running. My feelings were correct as I got home and saw that I ran 4 miles (4.02) in around 34 minutes, which is an 8:27 minute mile pace. The best pace time thus far.

Day 3 (Friday) I had to bump up my miles to 5 so that I could get ready for my first 10K of the year. I had mapped out a good course that brought me home real close to 5 miles (5.05) However, I guess I didn't realize that at the beginning of mile 4 brought me running in front of a graveyard. Which isn't a big deal, but I didn't get out until much later than I had anticipated (around 9pm when I passed by). So it was dark. I'm not sure why, but the town didn't seem to think that this little stretch of road needed to have street lights. I suppose they thought, we can't have the dead disturbed all night with annoying street lights. I mean how could they sleep with a constant beam of light shining on their graves? To keep it light as I ran past, in my mind I started singing Michael Jackson's Thriller. "Cause this is THRILLER! THRILLER night, and no one's gonna save ya, from the beast about to strike ..."

After surviving the darkness and the graveyard, I finished my run with a time around 45 minutes, an 8:54 pace. not too shabby for my first 5 miler. I'm hoping this will go down the next week and my body gets more familiar with a 5 mile run. So this week will be only 5 milers and then I'll bump it up to 6 miles for the next 2 weeks. The week after that I'll run one 6 miler and then a 3 miler and then I'll run the 10K. I should be ready by then and my goal is to beat my time of 56:39 set last year. Gotta Run.