Week Seven...

On Saturday, May 4th, Mindy surprised us with a trip to the Presbyterian Church on Ennis Street to run the "Run the Quay" 5k course for the first time! This was our first attempt at the 5K route, and we were all a little nervous and excited. I had been doing so well that I thought I'd do a pretty good job. I was all pumped up.

Unfortunately, we took off like it was the race itself, so I didn't do my 5 minutes of warm-up walking. I ran the full first mile without having to stop to walk!! I was so proud of myself! That's almost a 1/3 of a 5K! :)
Then, after a 2-minute walk break, I started running again, and ran up the hill to Angier Road. Up a HILL! Again, I was psyched! Then it happened... shin splints! Ugh! I hadn't had any trouble with shin splints up until then. I don't know if it was pushing myself to run a whole mile without stopping, or if it was the run up the hill, or if it was the lack of a warm-up walk, but I was pretty much done for. I walked at least another mile until Megan Sardeson caught up with me. She was suffering from shin splints, too, so we walked together until we got partway up Aiken Parkway, and then we were feeling better, so we ran the rest of the course together.
I was really disappointed in the whole morning. I felt let down and wondering if all the pain and muscle exhaustion was worth it. :(  I was told to ice my legs for a couple of nights and take it easy, which I did. Thankfully, there hasn't been a reoccurence of the shin splints since then.

Luckily, Monday's run was better. I ran three 6-minute intervals with only 1.5 minutes of walking in between. I also was able to run the whole second loop instead of having to stop in the middle! On Tuesday at the track, Mindy had us run two 1/2 miles with most of a 1/4 mile loop after each, and then 2 1/4 mile loops with  a 1/4-mile walk after each. Those 1/2 miles (2 laps plus) were killers, but I made it! My other neighborhood run that week was pretty good, too. Consistent, not phenomenal, but just enough to keep me going! :)

The other huge deal for me that week was that I was at a race planning meeting and I heard from three runners -- who I highly respect -- that they all use a running method where they run 5 minutes and walk 1... for entire races! One of them runs marathons, and he runs 6 and 1! It never occurred to me that you could run entire races in intervals like that!! So, going forward, if life is throwing me a curve ball, I can run 5 and 1 at the very least and make it work!