Moving Right Along

On Friday we headed up to the lake and had a great time visiting with Aunt Kathryn and Uncle Tom. On Saturday someone did the old Folger's coffee switcharoo and presented us with, perhaps, the best kids in the world. They slept until the unheard of hour of 7:40! We spent the day playing outside and Grace even had her first swim in the lake after we convinced her the lily pads were not stinging jellyfish. Luke is continuing to love being on the water but we really need to work on the whole life jacket thing. The weather was amazing and it stunk to come home to a blazing hot house.

This next week is going to be a busy one. On Friday we have the 4th of July parade here in town. Our house is along the route and I can't wait to see Luke's face when all the fire trucks roll through. His head will pop off! Then we hop on the back of the parade with our decorated bikes and head up to the town square for some hot dogs and lemonade. Hello small town America! After gorging ourselves on hotdogs we head up to the lake for a super long vacation (2 weeks!)

This weekend I got in 2 great runs. On Saturday I was scheduled for an easy 45 minutes so I just puttered around the lake roads. The bugs are really bad and really annoying. I felt like a king fu runner trying to constantly swat the bugs away from my face. I'm really going to have to load up on bug spray next time. Or something. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

I began Sunday's run with some trepidation because Sunday is long run day. On tap was 11 miles. I really do enjoy running at the lake but the hills are just so. . . . . hilly. It really feels like you're either going up or down and not a whole lot in between. I told myself just go out and give it a try. If it gets too hard and my legs really start to ache, head back. I was pleasantly surprised with how well they hung in there given the terrain.

I ended up doing a little over 10 in something like 1:50. I wore Tom's garmin to mark my miles and keep an eye on my splits. On my long runs I don't push the pace but I also don't want to slack off. I usually aim for around 10 minute miles. I was consistently hitting 10:20 miles which I was really happy about for 2 reasons. The damn hills had me working hard and I was consistent. Damn consistent. This is an area where I struggle-I tend to be all over the place on my miles so I was really happy to see those numbers.

My last three miles were interesting because I felt my legs begin to pick up the pace. I didn't want to slow them down because I was curious to see where it was taking me. I wasn't breathing overly hard and my legs felt great. The last three came in at 9:43 miles. I'm liking those times. I felt a little something across the top of my left knee off and on. Not sharp pain, just some aches. Tom said it sounded like a patella tendon thing and to keep an eye on it. I'm not concerned because it eased up over the course of the run. But, I do need to be careful as I add on the miles. The last thing I want is an injury.

My legs aren't sore today, just a little sleepy. I wanted some extra sleep this morning so I'm going to hit the TM while Luke naps today for a really light jog just to keep them loose. Everyone is super crabby today with a late night return so wish me luck my head doesn't pop off at some point today. . .