Pre-Spring Run

Tomorrow is the first day of spring.  It's still quite chilly, so it doesn't exactly feel like it.  It was cloudy and cold as I ran this morning.  I decided to run with Kelley at the Ironton Rail Trail.  Now that it is getting manageable outdoors, she can get out there and run more with her baby.  It's only been a few months since I last saw him, but he's getting big.

Kelley was happy because she never runs the whole loop there by herself.  We met at the lower lot and then started off heading through the boring, crappy section first.  That meant running through the neighborhoods to finish up.

Because of the cold, I had tights on.  I also put on a jacket and lightweight top underneath it.  I started with gloves and a headband, but they came off.  It was in the 30s during the run.

Having company was great.  I like running alone, but when running as many miles as I do, that gets hard after some time.  Being able to chat made this go by fast and I don't see Kelley as much as I used to when we were training together regularly.  She kept commenting about the pace being too slow for me, but I didn't care at all about pace.  I don't run fast that often.  Most of my runs are still only around 8 minute miles.

The first mile today was an 8:44 and we followed that up with an 8:46.  I enjoyed the fact that I didn't bother looking at my watch until somewhere past mile 3.  Miles 3 and 4 were run at 8:30 and 8:34.

I let Kelley be friendly and say "hi" to every runner or walker we came across.  It was too early for me to be too friendly.  I had to stop twice for phone calls from work, but I caught up to her quickly.

As we were going through the neighborhood and nearly finishing up, apparently this old lady said something like, "that baby is going to be cold" and shook her umbrella at Kelley.  I was trying not to pay attention to people, so I didn't really even notice or hear what was said.  I guess the lady didn't see that Kelley had a clear plastic cover over the stroller.

I was happy that we were nearly done.  Then, I realized that we parked in the lower lot and not the upper one.  That meant an additional half mile or so to go.  At least we had a nice downhill finish.  Mile 5 was an 8:54.  I actually stopped when the loop was done, instead of running an extra 7/10 of a mile to even it out.

It was good to get the run in and the miles went by quickly.  My quads felt significantly better than yesterday.  I had virtually no soreness at all.  I'm not worried about mileage too much right now.  I'm just getting out there and running.

I wanted to run in the afternoon too.  I need to start running some double sessions and build my mileage back up, now that spring is coming.  It was raining all afternoon and still somewhat cold, so I didn't bother to.  Maybe tomorrow I'll run twice, although the NCAA basketball tournament is starting.  I will probably be somewhere in the morning.

5.29 miles - 45:50 (8:40 pace)