Who can run 5 miles? I CAN!!!!!!!

Yep, I ran 5 miles...last night...all by myself! I STILL can't believe it. I was talking to hubbie about it all last night and I am sure he was like "yea yea yea" after the 1st 3 times I mentioned it. HA

But I did it...my 1st 5 miler. And dare I say it was EASY. Yeah I know, weird. But it was. Here are the details. It was raining yesterday afternoon but I didn't care. I was going to run anyway. When I got to the parking lot, only about 1/4 or less of the lot was full....this lot is normally jam packed and people are waiting for spots. Not today...b/c of the rain. But it wasn't heavy rain....and it wasn't drizzle, but wasn't heavy. And I thought "what the heck...I won't melt, I can run in the rain." And the good thing is that the park is well shaded so parts of the road were not even wet b/c of the massive amounts of trees covering the road area. Some people were even walking around with umbrellas at times when the rain was barely coming down. I thought that was silly...but I figured they were trying not to mess up their new perm or blow-out. lol

So off I went...planning on TRYING to run the 4.5 miles I was required to do last night. It was nice and quiet and I didn't pass many people. And I only passed maybe 1 or 2 runners...mostly people with dogs. So I did part of one loop....ran down a side "street" to another park where the up and back to there is about .4 miles...then I went back to my loop...finished that and was at about 2.3 miles. So then I did the loop again!! adding on about another 2 miles putting me at 4.3. And these two times I ran the loop I ran the opposite way I normally run, so in reverse. And I like it better....there is only 1 BIG hill instead of what I consider about 3 good sized hills the other way. So I think this is my new way to run this loop for now. So I finished the loop for the 2nd time...and as I was finishing that loop running over the gravel, I turned around at the end of the gravel path and went back down it and back again (adding on another .2)....then I went back into the park for about 3 minutes out and 3 minutes back in (adding on about .5 miles)....then I ran through the long parking lot and up a path on the road and back for about 5 more minutes (probably adding another .3 or .4). And that was it.

I ran a total of 1 hr and 5 minutes!!! I could not believe it! And honsetly, I know I say this a lot...but I could have kept going. I bet I could have easily done another 10 minutes...it was so great! I was so proud of myself!! And ET, it was all I could do not to call you on the ride home!! lol But I saved you an annoying call from your crazy runner friend. LOL

So, 1 hr and 5 mins....I normally run an 11.5 min mile, and mostly it is a 12 min mile when hills are involved...yes, I am slow. So 5 miles at 12 mins a mile totals to and hour of running...and I ran an additional 5 mins....so maybe another .3 (b/c at this point I was slowing down). So maybe I did about 5.25 or 5.3 miles or so?

WOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can see 6 miles in the fiture and I am thrilled.

NOW, when I got home, my left knee, which never gives me problems, was feeling funky. Actually it was the little area just below my kneecap. So JUST to be safe, I iced it...with a bag of frozen cauliflower. HA Hubbie thought I was a little nuts but it felt good. Today when I bend it I feel a little "something" in there but I think it will be ok. And the amazing thing? My legs don't really hurt at all (knock on wood)!

YEAH!!! I am ready to go back out again, but think I will wait till class on Thursday. Rest does a body good!