Sunday Shout Out - Week Four

Four weeks in, already? Time has been flying. I cannot begin to tell you how thankful I am to do this in Clayton's honor. His experience has changed the way I think about many things in general. I feel a tiny bit guilty that I am getting all kinds of joy and personal growth from this process. I am getting in great shape, met some awesome friends that I get to run with once a week, every day I wake up feeling full of life, I am more thankful for things daily, etc. The list goes on and on. It is incredibly rewarding and humbling all at once. Plus, I am having FUN!

Donations this week:

Amy is a partner at the law firm where my husband is also a partner. He and Amy are the superstar recruiting duo for the firm. Amy is beautiful and always fun when I have been around her. I knew her husband, Gary, back in the day when I worked for the law firm. I always called him "The 401k Guy".  Thank you both so much for your generous support. Makes me smile!

In other news:

Yesterday flew by! I didn't even update my mileage as I typically do on Saturday. Here is what the rest of the week looked like:

Thursday: 4 miles (plus .25 warm up and .75 cool down)
Friday: REST
Saturday: 6 miles (plus 1 mile cool down)

The team run on Saturday was quick. I ran with my normal group and it caused me to rethink my tempo run from last week. It must have been rough Thursday because I had been puny and sick a few days prior. And I was on a treadmill. And by myself. We did our six miles on Saturday with an average 9:30 mile! I was beaming afterward - it felt so amazing! I am so thankful to have a great group to run with. We're all in the same boat and they make the time fly by. That said, perhaps I am selling myself a bit short on what I can run.

Speaking of tempo runs, I am going to ask my friend Kat's future husband (hi Darrel! Hi Kat!) if he would do a guest post here about the science behind the tempo run. He had some great information that he posted in the comments section and I am sure his information would help anyone else who is interested. To me, the "comfortably hard" description is similar to the Rate of Perceived Exertion chart. Charts and descriptions confuse me because when I think I'm working hard, chances are I am just being a wimp. As was proven with what I thought was a tempo run not being far off my long run mileage time. I am much more able to understand the science and/or the range my heart rate needs to be in.

Saturday was truly awesome and makes me look forward to logging all sorts of miles with my new friends. Go Team! Here's to a great week to everyone. Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!