Wiped Out

Today was my first 4 mile run, and it looks like I'll really be feeling it tomorrow, if I have right now as any indicator. After my 3 mile I felt pretty good. It's 7:30 and I'm ready for bed.

I figured that if I was bored on my 3 mile run last week, I would die of boredom before I finished today's run if I did it on the treadmill. After Perry got back from his run, I took the car and ran for the first time on the Alpharetta Greenway. It was really beautiful, and I learned that when I'm thirsty, grabbing a blackberry off the trail isn't the best thing to do (my salivary glands HURT with that anticipation of tartness). Even though it was later in the morning (11), the greenway was pretty well shaded and not too hot. It wasn't too crowded and I didn't feel like a complete beginner way out of my comfort zone. I learned that The Mighty Mighty Bosstones will last 2 miles and Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat will last me longer.

I was a little disappointed in my run, in that there was more walking involved than I would have liked in the first 3 miles. My fourth mile I kind of expected a bit of walking, but not so much in the first 3 miles (okay, maybe the amount I walked in the 3rd mile was kind of expected, but I couldn't even go half a mile without walking in the first 2 miles).

That being said, timewise I rocked. I felt like I was going way slower than what I do on the treadmill, so I was really worried at every mile. I was very pleasantly surprised:

Last Week This Week
Mile 1 13:22 11:14
Mile 2 13:22 12:42
Mile 3 13:22 13:04
Mile 4 --- 13:40
Total 40:06 50:40
Avg Pace 13:22 12:40

The pace I ran at today felt more like the 4.0 (15:00 mile) pace on the treadmill, so hopefully I'm gaining cardio and stamina faster than I'm sacrificing my times to an inaccurate treadmill.

I'm more than a little scared for next week's 5 mile run- I'm going to have to do it on Friday, since we're leaving for Myrtle Beach on Saturday, which means the treadmill : ( and the length worries me, too.