Take it Off Monday: What I Loved About Last Week...

Last week was a GREAT week! My students stayed out of trouble, meaning no crazy 10pm meetings at the residence hall, meaning I actually got to go home and stay home at the end of the day! It was great! I got to enjoy Family Dinner Time with no dreaded thoughts of driving back to campus to have serious talks with students about decisions and consequences. No, instead I got to make a delicious home cooked meal of stir-fry (I used the terriyaki sauce that I make for my Baked Terriyaki Chicken recipe and poured it over stir fryed veggies and chicken yummmm!) and hang out with my little family of four and laugh and laugh and then laugh some more....

Love it! I also got to stay on my 10k training schedule, as challenging as it has become!!

On Tuesday, I completed an easy 3.5 mile run, it was so easy in fact, that I don't even remember doing it. I think I was merely focused on the daunting 4.5 mile run on Thursday. On Wednesday night, I carefully crafted my route using imapmyrun.com. The route came out to be about 4.6 miles, but when I ran it, it was more like 4.76 miles and I was pretty exhausted walking in the door and rushing up the stairs to get ready for the work day!

On Saturday, I damn near completed a 10k! 6.11 miles in 82 minutes to be exact! I'm not going to say it was easy, because it wasn't, and I'm not even going to say it was fun, because I would be lying. But what I will say, is that I really pushed myself mentally and physically. At mile four, when I saw the course was going to continue instead of turning towards the YMCA, I hit a wall. I slowed my pace and pouted. Yes, I pretty much whined.  It took me almost a quarter of a mile to accept that I wouldn't be back at the Y for another 2 miles and by then I had let everyone else who wasn't having a meltdown pass me by and I was alone, on a street I didn't want to be on, jogging at the pace of a snail. I had already contemplated trying to cut through a wooded area just to get back to the Y when a trainer came up on me. Somehow he knew just the right words to say to encourage me and help me carry on... the joys of group training! So, I made it back, though I had my doubts, and then I realized that this was good, I had almost completed a 10k! My Type A planning personality could rest easy because I now knew what 6 miles felt like and I won't be surprised on race day!

Family and fitness coupled that with some nice, sunny weather and that is what I loved about last week!!

This week, I haven't even looked at the training schedule, but I am predicting a short run, followed by a long run, followed by a longer than expected run!

Have a fit week friends!