2+ Minutes

Kid's Dash before the race began!

This year's Independence Day run in Ridgefield was so FUN!

It's amazing what a little training can do - the hills haven't changed, but my attitude toward them did. I didn't train much on the hills, but I did do more than I ever have since we started doing this particular race. So, that is a good thing - straight away!

There really isn't a lot to elaborate on besides the fact that I felt better and really enjoyed my time on the road. I was hoping to run faster than my time from the first year we did this. But who am I trying to kid - I'm older and more tired now...Bahaha...but I did manage to cut more than 2 minutes off my 2012 time! So I'm totally stoked about that!

Oh, it seems that there was a change in the registration/line-up of the parade entries this year. Just getting started there were already parade entries lining up at one end of Main Street just before heading down the hill and out of town. Not a big deal right? Well, on the way back...there was minor chaos at the same spot with the 40 et 8 Loci passing and then stopping behind some other entries and some yahoo guy driving a red pick-up and getting very much in the way of the runners, but not so much that we couldn't pass by him. Not sure why there was a change, but at least they were not in town yet...so running down the middle of main street was fair game!

The one that that does mess me up year after year is the 4th of July banner that is strung across main street. You would think that once you see that banner that the finish would be right there...NOPE...that's at least another block away. The thing about this course is that you can see the banner and where the finish is from a 1/2 a mile away. And when you are hot and tired and just want to STOP, it's a little disconcerting to see the finish! It takes a while to get to the blocks where the businesses start too. The finish straight away has got to be the LONGEST of any of the runs that I have done - except for one of the Shamrock runs - but at least that finish was going down hill and there were people lining the route that made it a little more intersting.

Like with most of my runs, it feels so good to stop running, but keep moving. I had such a blast this time though...so much fun! I miss running with Tom and I'm hoping that he'll be cleared to run sooner than later. We'll find out at the end of the month. However, if he is cleared to run, we'll have to find someone else who is willing to rise at 5am and be our rolling support while we are running!

Next up - Every Girl's 5k on August 18!

Running in Ridgefield!

To prepare for the Independence Day run in Ridgefield I gotta train on some hills! The good thing is that there is a sub-division not far from our house that - when done as a loop - has a couple of good hills.

So far I have gotten out once to do some hill training and actually felt alright about how many loops I did - two in one direction and one going the opposite which was good because it gave me a chance to run up a long not so steep incline. The total distance of the loop is about 2.7 miles and my first time out I managed a decent time/pace. Which was a nice surprise considering that I haven't tackled this particular route for a few months.

If I continue on my regular training schedule of Monday-Wednesday-Saturday then I only have 3 training runs left before run day next Thursday. My goal is to run under 40 minutes!

Here's to learning to like hills as much as I'm enjoying running!