I just about died.

its true. I thought I was going to die right there in the gym today.

I am 9 days away from my first official race and still trying to decide whether to do a 5K or 10K. I’m leaning towards the 10K, just to push myself, but I still have time to decide.

I asked Janae (check out her cute blog!) for her advice on what I should be running to finish out this week and next. she gave me a quick little training plan.

today…called for 4 miles at a faster pace. and that’s exactly what I did.

quick side story. Hubby prides himself on being able to pass his physical fitness test which is 1.5 miles in 12 minutes. well…I’m sure I could do that too. I’ve never tried. its the running longer distance at that pace that I don’t know if he could do.

so…I’ve been averaging 9:20 minute/miles for my longer distances.

I did once push myself and managed a 8:45 minute/mile pace for a 5K (on a treadmill) but that was back before I got sick and had these fun little side stitches. and that’s the faster I’ve gone.

so when lil’ miss Janae told me to do a “faster” pace 4 miles…I thought…I’m going to shoot for 9:00 minute/mile pace.

did I hit it? no. but I came pretty dang close with 9:07 minute/mile pace. I ended 4 miles in 36:28.

I warmed up with a 0.5 mile at a 10:00 minute/mile pace…guess what happened??? side ache! OW! so…I stopped stretch out my side, rubbed it out and just went for it. my whole run I could feel it there, but it wasn’t bad enough to make me stop. I tried to focus on my breathing to keep it little and not turn into a huge thing. seemed to kind of work.

why I wanted to stop was I was exhausted. I was dying. I couldn’t keep up with myself, but I wanted to push myself. and push myself I did.

I did the first mile at 9:13 minute/mile pace.
the next 2 miles at a 9:05 minute/mile pace. I did have to slow down close to the end of mile 3 back to a 9:13 minute/mile pace. but that was probably only for 0.15 of a mile. then I bumped it back up to 9:05. I ran 0.25 mile at that pace and then pushed through a 0.1 mph increase every 0.25 mile.

I was so happy when the treadmill finally clicked over to 4.00 miles and I could hit that cool down button.

it’s a gorgeous day outside. I woke up not being able to decide if I wanted to run outside or in the gym. I knew if I ran outside, I wouldn’t be able to hold that 9:00 minute/mile pace and opted for the treadmill this morning.

I told myself I would take the pup for a walk to enjoy the weather and that’s exactly what we are headed out the door to do….right NOW!