Still running...

So the last time I posted, I was two weeks into training for the Army 10 miler. I ran the Army 10 miler about 4 weeks ago in 1:39:13. That's a pace of 9:55 min/mile. I am happy with that considering I followed a beginner's training program and my training runs were definitely not that fast. My longest training run was 10 miles and it was on the tow path/cc trail where the majority of my long runs have taken place. Both trails are pretty easy and flat. It was a good race, good weather and I ran strong. I struggled in mile 8 which is typical from last year, too. However, mile 10 (the last mile) was my strongest at a 9:14 min/mile pace.

The weekend before the Army 10 miler, I ran a tough 5K in McLean. It was a very hilly course and my time was 30:40 and pace was 9:53....not much better than my pace over 10 miles in the Army 10 miler. That shows you what a difference some difficult hills and humidity can make.

I'm not currently training for anything and am trying to decide what to do over the winter months. Today I ran around my hood for a total of 46 minutes. Lately I have been going out to run based on time and how I feel and not necessarily mileage. I still very much enjoy running, but it doesn't hold the same status it used to. I used to design my day around my runs, but now it's harder to get motivated at times. I am considering trying something different, but I say this each winter and inevitably I continue running. I would like to focus on my strength training, so instead of running most days of the week, I will probably shoot to run 3 to 4 days a week and then do strength/yoga on the other days. This is just me thinking out loud for now...