Best Day Ever!

This past Friday was amazing for so many reasons:

1) I had the day off as the beginning of my week-long Mid-Winter Break :)

2) It was GORGEOUS!! 50+ degrees outside and sunny

3) Outside long run - in a tank top!

I haven't done a long run outside since 6 miles, so I was thrilled to get back out there. I didn't wear a hat or mittens, only wore one pair of pants and wore one less layer on top - it felt great. The route I take is a huge rectangle from the house. 1 mile east, 1.5 miles south, 3 miles west, 1.5 miles north and 2 miles west back home. Simple, mindless and almost all on dirt roads with no cars. By mile 3 I was so hot, I took of my jacket to just my tank top - I would have never guessed that it would be nice enough in February in Michigan to cut out that many layers! The sun was shining and there was no wind at that point.

Definition of sexy:

Around mile 5, I passed a woman walking and she was so friendly - with a big smile, she said, "look at you go, great job!" It totally made my day and kept me on a high until mile 7. The last two miles were brutal however. Not because I was tired or my left knee was hurting (although my IT band was a little sore), but I was running into the wind. It was so hard to move! Once I got back into the city limits and to sidewalks, it got much better and I was able to complete the entire 9 mile run feeling great.

Once I got home, I felt like I had at least one more mile in me, which is a great feeling to have after a long run. This is my longest at-home training run ever!

My other excitement for this run was that I used Pandora on my cell phone for the run. I don't run with music outside at all - I like to be aware of my surroundings and just take it all in - but just having music on low, without ear buds, was great. About 5 miles of the run are on dirt roads with no traffic, so it kept me from being bored. And I started a new station called "Black Eyed Peas" which kept me going with all the up-tempo music. Lots of fun!!

I can't wait for it to be spring so I can do this all the time :)