Yesterday was the official start to the Pittsburgh Marathon training program for work. It was supposed to be a XT day, but I took my wife to dinner instead.
But, today was the first group run day at 5pm tonight. Only myself and a woman showed up, and she was planning to run inside. It was only about 35F out and drizzling, so I didn't blame her, but I had to run outside. The treadmill last week was too much for me, so I came prepared. The plan called for 2mi today for the Half program, but I wanted to go more and I was feeling really good.
Nothing fast, and it was a pretty flat route, but I was happy to see my 13:29 at the 1.5mi turn around (8:59 pace). It was a sloggy, slushy mess, but much more fun than the treadmill. I walked for about 30 sec before heading back. I took the trip back a little slower with the first mile in 9:09, walked for about 100m then jogged the last half mile in just under 9:20 pace.
Feeling good, no major pains or anything and I was happy with my faster pace than I've been doing last week on the treadmill. It was definitely freezing cold and I kept checking for BNS since I had forgotten to put some body glide on and was wearing a white shirt.
Tonight, I've got to nail down the races, put some $$ down on them and then go shoe shopping this weekend. | 