2015 Running Total Weeks 12-14

My last update was posted during our last week of school before spring break, and admittedly school wasn't the only thing I took a break from. I've been working on my longer runs and hills lately, in preparation for the Rock'n'Roll Madrid Half Marathon which is now two weeks away. I did get in a lot of solid runs though, and some of them could even be considered milestones. 

We took one of our Running Club students on her first 5K, but my GPS didn't start tracking us until we'd already run half a kilometer! 

The night before I left for vacation, I did a 10K that took me up a hill that, up until that point, I had not been able to run without stopping. I may have been the slowest person on the path that night but the victory I felt upon reaching the top of that hill gave me a renewed energy to finish the rest of the run strong.

On my beach vacation I ran along the beachfront path while my friend rollerbladed, both of us weaving in and out of "traffic."

Be jealous.

After returning from the beach I hosted a visiting friend and showed her some of my favorite running paths. 

I was really hoping to hit 150 km by the end of March so that I could be back on track with my personal goal of running 600 km in 2015, and I got so close! Instead of pushing it, I decided to let my body rest. I have no doubt that I will hit 200 by May 1!

These last three weeks have brought my 2015 running total to 158 kilometers!

2015 Running Total Week 9

This has been an awesome week for me in terms of running! I had been looking for ways to not only get back into my routine, but to really get my mojo back, and this week I did both.

It started a little over a week ago during youth group, when somehow a conversation with a group of my middle school girls turned to exercise and motivation. Not sure how they would react, I asked the girls if they would be interested in running with me after school a few days a week. They responded positively, but I was unsure whether they would actually follow through.

Turns out, they were actually pretty excited about running, so another teacher and I set out on Monday afternoon with three 7th and 8th grade girls. We challenged them to run two miles and they did it! Encouraged by their progress, I invited them to return on Wednesday.

You can only imagine my excitement when, on Wednesday, all three returned along with two new girls! Once again we ran them through town, covering a distance of two miles. After our run we went through stretches and rewarded ourselves with the chocolate milk that I had stashed in the staff fridge prior to heading out.

Encouraging new runners this week has been great for me, and a good reminder of how far I've come in the last few years. It's also motivated me to want to continue to improve. I'm exited to run with the girls again next week and am hoping that more girls join us!

I also did two longer runs this week, since I am still working on increasing my mileage for RnR Madrid. I explored a new set of trails with a friend today and even though we did take a few wrong turns, we found our way pretty quickly and had a great 10 km run. The only thing I didn't like about this path was the insane amount of hills. We were literally running up or down a hill for about 75% of the run ... a very small portion was actually flat ground! I guess as long as I stick with it, it will get easier each time!

This fabulous week brings my 2015 running total to 92.6 kilometers! 

2015 Running Total Weeks 1-2

I started running consistently again this week, our first full week back at school. After taking my hiatus following the #RWRunStreak and savoring the last few days of Christmas break, this seemed like the perfect time to get back into a routine. So, three days this week I hit the road after classes with two other teacher friends. I realized right off the bat that they are faster than me. It's not the first time I've been the slowest runner in the group. In the moment, it's pretty discouraging - always trying to keep up, always twenty paces behind, not able to participate in or even hear their conversation... not fun. But if I do it consistently enough, it also helps me become a faster runner. Case in point: last spring I had to really push to get my average kilometer pacing under 7 minutes/km on my daily runs. This week, I consistently hit a pace average of 6:45! If I can keep this up, it will mean good things for my race goals this year!

I think I am also well on my way to hitting my personal running goal, as well. I hope to run at least 600 kilometers in 2015, which averages out to 50 per month. I am a little behind for January given my hiatus during the first ten days of the month, but it's totally feasible to hit 50 before the end of the month.

Without further ado, here is my first Running Total update of 2015! Like my new badge?

Running Total: 17 kilometers