Speedy Legs + Inspiration

Wednesday I had the dreaded 1600 m. intervals on the schedule.  Of course we were under a wind advisory, because that seems to be the name of the game lately.  I decided to head to the gym.  Speed workouts are actually kind of fun on the treadmill.  When I started the run I was shocked at how great my legs felt.  I seriously felt like I could've BQ'd if I had tried.  (Ok, not at all, but you get the idea.)  I hope my legs feel that fresh and great race day.  Wowsers!  My iPod decided to putz out and me after my warm up mile, so I chose to sing Blink 182 - Miss You over and over in my head during my repeats.  

I did 7 miles in 1:02:29 for a pace of 8:56.  Average interval pace was 7:47.

Warm Up	1 Mi	9:39	9:39	9:39
Interval	1 Mi	7:47	17:26	7:47
Recovery	0.5 Mi	5:29	22:55	10:58
Interval	1 Mi	7:48	30:43	7:48
Recovery	0.5 Mi	5:25	36:08	10:50
Interval	1 Mi	7:52	44:00	7:52
Recovery	0.5 Mi	5:26	49:26	10:52
Interval	1 Mi	7:44	57:10	7:44
Cool Down	0.5 Mi	5:13	1:02:23	10:26

The once hated 1600 m. repeats are now actually --dare I say it?-- fun.  Oy.  When did I become a distance runner?!?!?!?!

Thursday night I headed out for an easy 8 miler.  Since it was late and already dark when I headed out, I had to run a pretty hilly route to run through a super safe part of town.  My legs were feeling the speed workout from the night before.  I ran to my old apartment and ran an old route from a few years ago.  I love the area of town because it is super safe and there's almost zero traffic, so I don't have to worry about dodging cars.  About halfway through the run, it started to rain lightly.  I've said it before but I l-o-v-e running in warm rain.  It was seriously such a beautiful run.

I did 8 miles in 1:15:23 for a pace of 9:26.

I have a list of things I want to do/need to do in my spare time.  Last weekend I finally got around to doing one of the things in the "want to do" category:  my inspiration board!  Over the last year I've been putting my race bibs on my refrigerator post-race.  Well it's getting a bit full, so I wanted to do something with them but to display them a bit better.  Behold the board.  :)

I have all of the race bibs from every race I ran in that required a bib, including 3 from high school (bottom left corner 2000, middle bottom, and the GREEN one from the state track meet my senior year)! As you can see I've done quite a fit of the races multiple times.  I also included some fun inspirational words/quotes/sayings.

Some highlights/closeups:

My favorite bib because it A) has my name on it B) is not boring and WHITE and C) makes me look FAST because I was in corral A.  Haha.  Also, Race Like a Girl....you know it!

Pace band for 3:40.  Someday. :)

I've had this Green Bay Cellcom Marathon ad cut out of a Runners World magazine for 4 years (hence the super old logo).  

Run happy. :)