Update

So here is what has been going on with the running. We have been following Hal Higdon's program pretty closely, and I feel like I am getting a little better with every run. I think the last run I talked about was last Wednesday when I ran 3.39 miles in 44:24 (13:05 pace). Thursday, Aaron and I mapped out a 3.1 mile (5K) course to try and simulate race conditions, and I finished in 33:36, which is faster than I have ever raced a 5K. It's not often that you run in training faster than you do on race date, so I think that is a pretty good sign.

Sunday, we ran a 4 miler on a little bit different course than we usually do, that included an out and back to the high school, and had a really good run. We were hoping to average 12 minute miles, and made a note of each half mile so we could keep track of our pace without having to kick at the end. We stayed a little ahead of pace (about 25 seconds) until we had about a half mile to go, when we noticed that we were down to 10 seconds ahead of pace. We finished strong uphill, clocking in at 47:10 (11:43 pace). All in all, a pretty good run.

Tuesday on the other hand, sucked. Aaron's first and last run choice was a 3.5 jaunt through hell. We were taught as kids that hell was an unbearably hot place where you spent eternity after a life of sin. Not so. Hell, it turns out, is a leg and lung punishing run up hill after hill after hill. Followed by running up a steep incline. And mile 2 seemed to be more of the same. After that, though, mile 3 was, yep, you guessed it. Hilly. On the plus side, the last 1/8th of a mile was downhill, so that was cool. We still ran an impressive (for me) 40:03, which turned out to be an 11:15 pace, which was pretty unbelieveable, because we had at least 3 walk breaks thrown in. So apparently, we were running too fast for the rest of the run!!

After that mind-numbing (and body destroying) trip, I was ready to call off our 2 mile speed run we had planned for Wednesday, and just run a couple of easy 13-14 minute miles for recuperative purposes, but I let Aaron talk me into running fast anyway. I felt terrible while warming up, and felt even worse for the first mile or so while running about a block behind Aaron. The last mile was downhill, though, so I tried to pick it up as much as I could, and then really kicked it in for the last half mile. The second mile I felt really good, and finished strong for a 19:36 time trip, a 9:48 pace. I'm not sure if I can maintain that pace for another mile, but we will find out in a week when we run the Renaissance Run in Midwest City.

I begged out of tonight's run due to soreness and general malaise, and I am pretty glad I did. I am still too fat and out of shape to run as hard as I did 2 days in a row. Right now, I need to surround the hard runs with restorative runs. I knew running fast last night wasn't a good idea, but I really wanted to know if I could run under 20, and luckily for my psyche, I can. I need to listen to my body a little better, though, to make sure I don't get hurt. I am starting to have little nagging pains now that I can't afford. Besides the knee, I am battling a little bit of groin pain all of a sudden. I probably shouldn't use the words "little bit" and "groin" in the same sentence. Maybe having a tremendous pain in my groin sounds better. Or massive. Massive sounds good, so lets go with that. Damn right.