Change of Scenery

A runner friend told us that although he thoroughly enjoyed the marathon that he ran in New York last year, he's apprehensive about the one he's going to do in his hometown later this summer. In New York, he was a tourist, excited to see all of the different neighbourhoods; in his own city, he's seen it all before. Plus, he knows just how far it is from one point to the next, which can be discouraging.

We traveled this weekend so I ran in a new environment. Unfortunately it was much less enchanting than New York. The run (C25K Week 5 Day 1) was actually quite difficult, for a number of reasons. First, I wasn't on my usual turf, and it kinda threw me off. I made up the route as I ran, so I ended up doing some loops and doubling back in order to finish close to the place where we were staying. Which was a boring suburb. Second, I ran in the noonday heat, which was not fun. It wasn't even sweat-inspiring humid heat but just the feel of hot sunbeams on my head. Third, my husband joined me for the first time and he had no problem doing what it took me over a month to work up to. I shouldn't be surprised because he does other kinds of intense cardio (mostly hockey) but I secretly hoped he'd find it challenging and marvel at my running capabilities. He did indeed marvel and compliment me on how far I've come... but he also had no trouble keeping up.

Luckily tonight's run (C25K Week 5 Day 2) was very encouraging! We're back home so I went to my usual park and it was a cool evening. The 2 8-minute intervals were totally do-able.

So my first 20-minute running is coming up this Tuesday or Wednesday!