Saturday in the Park

Today I woke up, put my running shoes on, and headed to the park with my dear friend Kristal to tackle two miles.  The first mile we ran 40 seconds / walked 20 seconds.  When we got to less than a tenth of a mile to go, we ran until we reached the first mile.  Our first mile time (shown by my wonderful GPS watch):

We then went for our second mile.  We again ran for 40 seconds and walked for 20 seconds.  When we reached 0.87 of a mile, we ran until we reached one mile.  I am confident that our second mile run was about the same as our first mile run even though my GPS watch has it timed longer.  The reason I know it was better than this is because I kept my watch going while we took a restroom break. When we started after the break, the watch showed us at a pace of a 22 minute mile. We made up some serious time from the restroom break.  Our second mile time (with restroom break included):

I personally hit a rough patch in my second mile where I was getting a cramp in my side and my breathing was all out of control.  Kristal coached me through it and encouraged me to keep going.  I was so thankful she was there with me.  I love running with someone!  Kristal, this is for you:

I started thinking about how much I enjoy running with people.  Even though it is an individual thing, you can still incorporate others. Every time I have ran with a person, they have encouraged me and motivated me to keep going or do something I was not sure I could accomplish. I hope that I helped them in some way in return, and that I am not just a "taker." I mentioned in an earlier post that I bought the bible study Run for God to check out.  I got it while I was on spring break, and I literally read the entire book in one day.  I loved it!  It made me start thinking that maybe this would be fun to do - a bible study which would culminate in running a 5K as a group.  The book even encourages group members to train throughout the week together.  So, I am putting "feelers" out there...anyone interested in doing this with me?  I know Kristal is.  We even talked about having our bible study at the park and then doing a run after the bible study.  I know there are others out there who would be interested...make yourself known!  I also put an invitation out there on Facebook to see who might want to do it.  Here is what the book looks like:

Tomorrow is weigh-in day.  The truth of this week's non-tracking will make itself known.  Should I be nervous?  Probably.  I will let you know how it goes!