Running in Circles

Since last I wrote on Monday I was only able to get a 3.2 mile run in on Wednesday and a 4 mile run in today. Today my run was different from any other I have completed as of yet. This time I ran in circles. I decided to abandon my trusted and well-worn neighborhood route for a seemingly endless circle of running.

The “circle” is actually a loop around part of my neighborhood and a completion of one loop is equal to a mile. The loop begins and ends at my house and that presented another challenge for me, as I would have to pass my house 3 times before my four miles were to be complete. The key component of my old route was that once I reached my house I was finished with my running for the day. I never had to pass my house. Today I had to pass it three times, but there was a motivating factor.

Last week David decided that he would run my usual route and when he returned, he commented that the route included a bunch of hills. Now I had noticed that the route was not totally flat, but I did not think that would make that much difference in my pace. I was just trying to follow a route that would not require me to pass by my house. He recommended that I try out the loop route just to see if I found it a bit easier. Well, today was the day that I decided to take him up on that little idea. (Oh and by the way, he finished my original route of 3.2 miles hills and all in 22 minutes. Must be nice to be a runner.)

I headed out and finished the first loop in 11 minutes. I felt pretty good at this point and I was very much enjoying the flatter terrain of this circular route. Surprisingly, running in a circle was not nearly as boring as I would have expected. In addition, I did not feel the pangs of wanting to give up each time I had to pass by my home. I continued and completed the 4 loops and thus 4 miles.

At the end of the 4 miles my watch read: 49:03. This puts me at an average pace of a 12.25minute mile. It wasn't a great improvement of pace from previous runs, but I did notice that I was not nearly as tired at the end of the run. I even felt as though I could have continued for another mile or even two. I think the lack of hills helped with this feeling of strength. Improvement is a constant goal and I hope to shave time of my pace as my training continues. I am also looking to move to 5 miles by next weekend.

I am following the great Jeff Galloway’s marathon training advice via his book Marathon!. I did a little research about marathon training and his name kept coming up as the guru of all that is marathon. After finishing his book and finding out he has completed well over a 100 marathons in his lifetime I would have to agree that he must be doing something right. He highly encourages taking walking breaks during your runs. (30 seconds-2 minutes) I found the book to be encouraging, practical, and very schedule oriented. We all know how I love to plan things out and follow a schedule. He even schedules the run time and the walk break time!

The best part about his book is that although he is an accomplished athlete he addresses all runners and non-runners alike and describes the aspiration to run a marathon as admirable and most importantly totally and completely possible. He sincerely wants to share his passion for running with everyone. He has seminars and workshops and I found myself wanting to attend one. Can you imagine me the non-runner going to a seminar about how to become a better non-runner in a runner’s world?

I will have to get up very early to get a run in tomorrow as we have a busy day ahead of us. Always focused on the next run…it feels like I am running in circles.

Quote for Week 9: If you want to run a mile, then run a mile. If you want to experience another life, run a marathon.