Back to normal

So, everything in life was back to normal yesterday. I knew it within the first 5 minutes of our daily 5.30 am walk. Lights were back on in houses and cars were nearly mowing us down (even though I wear a bright white hat, Brent's new arm reflector, my gloves and shoes are reflective, etc.) The a-hole around the corner who insists on starting his car remotely (resulting in a series of very loud pre-6 am honks) was back at it and the world was spinning back on its axis. It was cloudy and back to the 40's after our gorgeous near 80 degree day. And even better, everyone was back on the interstates. BLAH! The county we live in has THE highest rate of job growth in the country and in the top 75 fastest growing counties in the US, and although that's pretty cool traffic has become a nightmare. We're fortunate to work just 2 miles from work - but it takes us about 22-27 minutes to get there!! I'd go postal if we worked in downtown N-ville (19.5 miles away). It's truly insane. We can't take the interstate (for obvious reasons pictured above) so we take a series of side roads, which are pretty slow as well. On one of the main side roads they're about to build a 100 acre shopping complex which includes Target, a movie theater, and possibly Kohls as well as some other major retail stores. This is great and all but not a help AT ALL to our terrible rush hour traffic. We could totally run to work faster than drive - I just need to figure out how to strap my laptop on!! With all the garb I normally run in it shouldn't be much heavier!

Last night I ran 5 miles on the treadmill. It was chilly and dark and I am SO sick of the darkness! Pips and I walk in the dark in the am and Brent and I run in the dark in the pm and I'm really over it! It just seems so depressing. Today was beautiful again (60's) so there was no excuse for us not running outside (in the dark). I ran in a long sleeve tech shirt and shorts - perfect!! We ended up doing 6.1 miles in an average 9.29 pace. It really felt slower than that to me. We did the same route on Monday in 9.27 avg pace, and it felt much quicker. I think it's the difference between day and dark. But there is hope - weatherman Jeff Ray said by March 12 daybreak will be 6 am versus our current 7 am. That means the sun would at least start to be up during our morning walks.

All of the mileage I've done lately is starting to really amaze me. Last month I tackled 169 miles!! Strange things are starting to happen - I'm much less sore after long runs than I used to be. Even my achy feet aren't so achy anymore. Don't get me wrong - my legs are tired and ready for the taper to really kick in next week. It takes me a good mile to really get in the groove, but a lot of the aches and pains when I first started increasing my mileage are gone. Best of all a lot of my stomach issues are disappearing! I used to have a lot of trouble with GI discomfort during & after long runs, but it seems like my body may be getting used to it - or maybe I'm fueling better with the shot blocks and gatorade. Whatever it is I rarely have stomach upset after a long run now and I am SO happy about that!! It makes the ride home from whichever park we run at much more comfortable!!!!!! Yeah!!

Have a great Thursday!

Exercise-
Tues - 1 mile am walk with Pips, 5 miles on the treadmill
Wed - 1 mile am walk with Pips, 6 miles outside (running)