They see me rollin'

I'm quite excited today because I finished a hilly four mile run in 43 minutes! The trail is more commonly used by bikers, and I had no clue quite how hilly it was, but somehow I busted it out. It makes me hopeful that on a flat course, I might be able to get my 5k time to under 30 minutes. However, I realized I have been using my Nike+ for the past little while un-calibrated, which probably means I'm quite a bit slower than my Ipod is telling me. I try not to think about it though, because that means I'm even further away from constantly being able to run under 10 minute miles. Alas. I think on my Thursday run, I'm going to start trying to incorporate fartlek into my training so I can build my speed. I'm also looking for a good hill nearby that I can use for training. So far, I haven't found anything that suits my need. The search continues... :)

In more good news, I have my next race determined. I'm going to run the Port to Fort 6k in Baltimore when I go up to visit grad schools in April. I have some good friends running in it too, so it should be quite fun! I'll hoping to locate a 10k to run sometime in late May/early June too, so I can increase my distance for my 1/2 in October. So far away, but yet so close...

Getting back on my feet (literally)

Well, after jumping back into running, it's only taken me three tries to get back up to running a full 5k. In the past week, I've ran the 5k distance three times - managing to lower my time each try. Now, I've got my 5k time right around 33 minutes (before my injury, I was closer to 35 minutes. Woohoo for the 2 minutes lower!). I'm hoping in the next few months to eventually get my 5k time near 30 minutes. We'll see though. I'm also trying to find some races to run in the future to give me something to strive for. I know I'm trying to do a 1/2 marathon in October, which sounds crazy to me running that far. However, with 6 months to prepare, I think it's manageable. Ask me again in October though. :)

Besides running, I'm just waiting for results to come from graduate schools where I've applied. I'm not a patient person, so the waiting is KILLING me. Hopefully, I'll know around the beginning of April or so. Until then, I'll run out my frustrations... if it will ever stop raining!

Phoenix

Hello, hello! I know it's been quite a few months since I've posted on here! There are lots of reasons for this - I took on a second job (now I'm working 60-70 hours a week), I applied for graduate school, I took the GREs, and I've moved. However, the main reason I haven't written in my running blog is that I unfortunately haven't been running. A few short weeks after my triumphant marathon relay, I was doing an easy 5k and somehow threw out my knee. Thus, my running came to a screeching halt as I recovered. Sadness. :( I never knew how much I grew to like running until I wasn't allowed to do it anymore.

However, I have risen from the ashes of grad school applications, work, and injuries to return to running this week! Woo-hoo! I have been on two easy runs - 1.5 miles and 2 miles respectively - which were nice. I wanted to go further, but I don't want to push myself too fast. I told myself that when I first started running this summer, I could only run 5 minutes before having to stop. So, if starting over the second time I can already run 1.5 miles without stopping, I'm doing pretty good. It is a tad crazy how out of shape you can get so quickly though! Anyway, I also splurged and went to a running store and got fitted for high quality running shoes. Now, I figure I'm definitively stuck running. :)

I was planning to go running tomorrow afternoon, but apparently NC is supposed to get slammed with snow??? In March??? Crazy weather! Anyway, I will try and do a better job now of keeping back up with the blog! :)