Training Run

Ryan and I are going to go to Disney tomorrow after work (we both get off around 2pm) because we want to see the Christmas lights and watch the fireworks. Since normally my longer outdoor run is on Friday, I had to switch it up and move it to today. Thankfully we finished our small group for the semester last week so I had the evening to be able to run.

Tonight's run I was racing a few things:

1. Bathroom Break - Today my co-worker ordered some of my favorite food (CHIPS AND SALSA) from the Mexican restaurant downstairs. Normally I eat pretty bland food before my runs (apples, granola bars, PB&Js, oranges, etc), so I was slightly worried how all of the spice would do. There are quite a few port-o-potties along my route (since I run along the beach), but THANKFULLY I did not need one! I did taste the salsa a couple times with a burp here or there (I know, I am quite lady-like), but all-in-all the chips and salsa sat fine in my tummy.

2. The Sun - Normally my longer runs outside I try and do on Fridays, which is when I get off at 2pm, so I have a longer time before the sun goes down. I didn't take a lunch break today, so I took off work around 4pm instead of 4:30pm - but still, the sun sets pretty early around here and I was racing to finish before it disappeared. I was able to get back to my sidewalk portion of my route by the time the sun was hitting the clouds around the horizon.

This was the sunset once I finished. It hadn't completely set, so I think I can say I beat the sun!

3. The Rain - A storm rolled in last night and has been lingering around. The dark clouds were threatening for most of my run, but the waterworks decided to hold off - whoo hoo! I actually heard that SD County got upwards of an inch of rain last night and that the mountains got up to 18 INCHES of snow!

I know this isn't a picture of the rain clouds, but they were ugly, so I took a picture of the Christmas lights at a nearby hotel that my car was parked by. (And you can even see the sunlight in the background - so I DID beat the sun)

4. My Garmin - I was actually planning on working out in the gym today, so I hadn't charged my Garmin since my run last Friday. I was down to my last bar of battery (it actually beeped at me a few times during my run reminding me I had a low battery), but I was able to finish before it died completely.

5. My Time - I have a 10K on Sunday (which is 6.2 miles for those of you who aren't sure) so todays 6 miles I wanted to do fairly relaxed. When I looked at my time for the first 2 miles, I realized that I was under 9:30 per mile and my legs felt great. I decided to see if I could finish my 6 miles with an average time between 9 and 9:30 minute miles. From the looks on my Garmin I hit right about 9:06 per mile - not too shabby - which hopefully means I will be able to run sub-9 minute miles for my race on Sunday.

Before it shut off due to lack of battery charge.

All-in-all I think I beat everything I was racing today :)