Lucky #13

Wow, has it been a crazy two weeks!! 

Summer has begun which means so have the beautiful warm days reaching into the 80's; mosquito's at dusk; cold drinks in your hand; camp fires and fireworks.... I LOVE IT!

The past two weeks in NoBo have been pretty great too!  I'll admit, my workouts suffered while I was in Pennsylvania last week.  And I was pretty nervous this past Wednesday at our group workout.  I went over to the Westside to run with my fellow 13's.  {Oh yeah... I'm officially in the 13:00 pace group!  Kinda exciting!!!}  

So, back to Wednesday.  Yep, the workout was pretty challenging... but it was the kick in the butt that I needed to have... and grateful it came early in the NoBo session.  HOMEWORK is important.  I had to learn it last session in 5K and hopefully I can stay focused now moving on.
This morning when I completed homework with Pina, 2.5 miles went by way faster and easier than 2.0 miles on Friday.  Crazy!  I don't understand it at times, but I know keeping up with the Homework and HYDRATION will be the 2 H's I will hold near to my heart these next two months ahead!
The heat and I have this love/hate relationship.  I love that Rochester is finally being rewarded from the disgusting winter we just had... but I'd like to 'call off the reward' for only just an hour as I put on my sneakers'.
Running in the morning has really helped.  Pina is still excited to meet me at the end of my driveway so we can hammer out a run by 7am!  I am so happy we've been able to get into a good routine! 

Saturday's workout at Mendon Ponds was pretty good.  We've now advanced to running 2.5 miles and walking 1/4 mile before and after.  I really like having PACE groups and a leader too.  It's that constant visual aspect of  controlling your speed without always looking down at your watch. 

Each pace leader has been upbeat and has had great stories to share during our run.  On Wednesday, Dawn talked about how we were running so we could eat cake.  On Saturday, Jessica's singing and her positive attitude helped us the entire way, even up the hard hills! An "uppertunity" she'd say!  And opportunity to become STRONGER as we suffered through 10 seconds of pain!

What moves me today? Pace leaders or Pacers... whatever the technical term is.
I consider these pace leaders as my "mini finish line".  Towards the end of the workout, they push me to catch up and stay parallel with them so we can finish together. Even if I have to sprint, (like I did today with Pina at our morning workout) I'm there next to them and I know I'll be done soon.
Happy Monday, Cheers to a great week!