gretchen says

Another busy weekend, but I managed to get out first thing (well, after a bowl of oatmeal) this morning, between a day of working out of town and an afternoon of birthday partying.  Today, I even went on a different route. I live in the flattest neighborhood in Bangor, I think, and at this point I am not looking for hills and challenges like that, the biggest challenge for me is just learning to run. My neighborhood is like an outdoor treadmill, but I like it. I've been doing loops of my neighborhood, in my comfort zone, the same loop we use to walk with the whole family after dinner. I figure if I were to collapse, I could gasp out my street name and the people in my 'hood would know where it was (most people don't). Today I veered right instead of left, and  tried a whole new street, which was interesting, because in my usual route I have figured out what houses I usually run by, and what streets will likely be the end of a running segment, so while I'm not watching the clock, I kind of am. Going a new way took away those expectations, and I'm still not sure if it was good or bad, BUT, I did the whole day of W3D2 again, no stopping!

I've also added a link to my data that I've been recording using Google Docs, because I am a giant nerd. You can totally tell which days I took Ingrid with me.

It had been a week since I ran, a combination of absolutely miserable weather and work commitments for both me and Dave. Because I am still nursing but not pumping, my window of opportunity is to go between Dave getting home and dinner, which can be tough. It’s not feasible for me to go right after work and delay picking up the girls, because it would not be comfortable, so for now I try to find that 30 minutes when I can. The ungodly weather doesn’t help, and I’ve worked the last two Saturdays out of town. I kind of wish I were more of a morning person and able to get up at five and get it done, but not feasible in the current state of the household. 

Anyway, because it had been a week and because I hadn’t been able to get through the very last run (3 minutes) without needing to walk in the middle, I decided to redo week three. I’m not training for any one thing or race, I am just trying to learn how to run. While it was raining, the weeks rain had made the ground slimy when it met with the fallen leaves and tree buds, and it was SO humid, I felt gross in my fleece. I’ve been wearing long pants, a short sleeve shirt (both poly wicking stuff from target’s c9 line, cheap, but works) and a fitness fleece from LLBean, because this has been the spring that wasn’t. I have an armband for my iPhone as the weather warms, but for now I’m just sticking it in my pocket, and I already know I’ll miss being able to look at the screen and fiddle with the controls. Yesterdays run found my app not playing my music (and looking at my data, it didn’t record a run pace at all) so I was fiddling to get something to listen to, and it will be annoying when it’s on my arm, I think. 

But anyway! I did it. Every second of week three, day 1, even if it was a repeat week. 

It took longer than I planned to get to day 3, work, weather, family, etc. (excuses!) But I did it, today. I still had to walk in that last 3 minute stretch, so I think I'm going to redo week 3 until I'm back on my W/F/Sun schedule. I want to get that whole workout done as planned!