Today was day 6 – a 3 mile tempo run. I went out on my own and ran at Glenmore Reservoir. It’s a beautiful day out there; the suns shining and there’s a really nice breeze. The trail was packed with runners, walkers, bikers and roller bladers. Saw lots of dogs (one weird looking one) and a squirrel greedily running away from other squirrels with a full corn on the cob. Kids were having their sailing lessons at the club and the park was packed with kids already playing!

Despite having an awesome run today, I have lots of these days too! ->

Thanks to Runkeeper (awesome app) + a friends advice to track it, I have an accurate time – YAHOO! I completed the run in 29:11; with a pace of 6:05 min/km, not my best, but certainly not too bad and I’m happy with it. I’d love to get my pace down to 6 minutes, or less if possible but it will take some time. I did enjoy the tempo run; it was interesting to focus on breathing and adjust everything – I had never been that aware before and can certainly see how it would benefit a runner.

So needless to say, I really enjoyed the run today. It was nice not pushing a stroller and despite not being an evening run, I found it fairly peaceful. However, at one point I was in competition with a woman who didn’t want me to pass her. At first I thought it was just my imagination, but then my coach came on over music to tell me my pace had changed by 10-15 seconds, meaning that I was trying to pass her, but had to keep speeding up. Why do people do that? First of all, I gladly move to the side if I know someone is behind me and wants to get by; secondly, it wasn’t a race. It was so awkward! I knew she meant serious business though, because she was wearing one of those running belts. At any rate, I awkwardly passed by.

I’ve been keeping up with the pre and post-run stretching – definitely helping me but my left shoulder is killing me; not sure what type of stretch is going to help it – anyone have any ideas? My legs feel pretty good and not as sore as I thought they would be after this first week of training; one more 3 mile run tomorrow and I’ll have successfully completed week 1 – YAHOO!

Now…off to enjoy the sunshine. Keep the feedback coming – love hearing from everyone!