Fall is here!

I had a fantastic run today!  It's simply gorgeous here...in the 70s, so a little bit warm, but the leaves are changing and the sunlight has that rich, golden quality that encapsulates fall!  Today was the final run of Princess training week 2, 3 miles.   I had originally planned to do this run yesterday morning, but my legs were so tired and sore during my run on Thursday that I decided to take an extra day off.  This turned out to be exactly what I needed, because my legs felt fresh and strong through the whole run today!  No cramping or seizing up.  They did get tired near the end, but I was really happy with the workout.

I ran the first 1.75 miles without stopping.  I have been getting a little bored with my usual route through the neighborhood, so I thought I'd spice it up a little today and take a trip down the nature trail.  It was really nice and shady back there, but then a bug flew in my mouth and I spent a couple minutes coughing and hacking and feeling generally grossed out (I can't stand bugs).  But I got over it, kept running, and got my 1.75 miles in under 20 minutes!  The nature trail comes out at the end of my street and then there's a pretty steep hill leading up to my house.  I walked up the hill and took a short break at the house, my sweet hubby brought me a much needed drink of water!  After my little hydration break, I walked a little longer for a total of .25 miles of walking, and then started running again.  As soon as I started running my legs felt tired and my breathing was a tiny bit labored.  I set out with a goal of running .75 miles before my next walk break, but I started feeling like I was barely going to be able to make it to .5.  Somehow, though, I pushed past .5 and then even harder past .75 to make it for a whole mile without taking a walk break!  I took another .25 mile walk break and finished the run with a last .25 mile run.  The last run was good, and I steadily increased my speed at the end--it was really nice looking at the graph of Toby's data and seeing that line steadily incline at the end!

So I finished 3.5 miles (.5 of that was walk breaks) in 40:22!  Even though it was really hard work during the last leg, I really enjoyed this run!  If the weather had been just a tiny bit cooler, it would have been an absolutely perfect fall running day.

Tomorrow I'm trying my first yoga class at Gotta Yoga University!  I'm excited and nervous...I hope I can keep up with the pace of the class and I haven't signed up for one that's too hard!  I suppose if it does turn out to be too much for me I can scale back to the beginner's class, but I'm ready for a challenge!