My first 6-miler

Having been talked into running a 10k this Sunday with my running partner, and having never actually run that far in my life, I decided it was time. Today was the day. I honestly had no idea what to expect and my hopes were not high. Glass was not looking half full to me one bit. Gotta work on that. Up to today, the farthest I had ever run without stopping was 3 miles. I've done interval work up to 5 miles, but nothing over.

My RP (running partner) and I met at the hospital, fiddled with our Nike+ 's for a few, then set off running. We've discovered that running from the hospital is good, first because there are no log trucks trying to wipe us out as there were on our other route, plus if we pass out we're close to the hospital. Seriously.

RP ran a full 6 miles last Saturday without me, so she knew she could do it. I felt decently good until about the 2.5 mile mark, at which point I was struggling to keep up with RP. She was just booking today! I wanted to check our pace on my iPod, but it was tucked into a pocket on my rear and awkward to get out. I finally told her I really had to walk for a minute (note: at the farthest point from the hospital, not good). We walked for a few seconds and then tweaked our running ~ tried to slow our pace, but lengthen our stride. She always has to remind me to get my arms out of my armpits, too, as I tend to tuck them higher and higher as I run. So, arms down, close to body, longer stride, slower pace. This worked pretty well as we headed back toward town. Miles 4 and 5 were doable. We walked one more time because it was that or roll me off the edge of the road into the ditch, but when I tried to wimp out and walk again a half mile later, RP wouldn't let me. I started to focus on the next tree, then the next mailbox, then the blue truck, etc, until we finally made it.

All in all it was pretty successful, I think. I was miserable in the middle ~ miserable! I kept wondering why on earth I was doing this and how the heck did I ever get tricked into thinking I like to run? But the end... oh, it was so worth it! Even with the spurts of walking and the adjusted pace, I set a new mile record for myself of 10.39/mile AND I burned like 800 calories. Par-tay!