Update

Well, it's been a week since my race and I am only just getting to blog about it.  Sorry, but this week was nutty with a paper to write, collecting and distributing my own students' end of term paper, along with writing lectures and reading for my own classes.  The next two weeks will be even busier as I write the final exam, research and finish a paper on Lyndon B. Johnson, get ready for a killer final exam in my Civil War class as well as continue to write the rest of the semester's lectures.

Anyways, as I stated before, last week's race was an awesome experience.  I finished in 85 minutes (13:51 minute mile) which was right where I a) expected to be and 2) a comfortable pace.  I had a lot of fun running with the crowds, there was a lot of community support, and my parents came to watch me start- that was awesome.  All in all I'd call Springtime Tallahassee 2011 a success.

Oh, and yes, I tried to recreate last year's outfit but I couldn't find my hat!

I took a few days off and relaxed back into my groove.  I took a 3 mile jog at a very slow pace yesterday, zumba today, and I'll go for a faster run tomorrow.  Everything else is going well.

One thing I did realize during this race was my pace, yes I'm slow.  I get that.  But there are some things I can try to do to increase my pace without working too much harder.  The first being my stride.  I don't know if you can see it in that picture but I have what some would call a "closed" stride.  Meaning there is not a lot of distance between my feet when they are furthest apart.  No, I don't have any measurements.  So my 'goal' for the rest of the month is to try and not work on quickening my pace but to actually try to lengthen it.  That's harder than it sounds.  For starters: most people have a natural gait, mine happens to be short.  However, it's been my gait for almost thirty years- that won't change immediately.  Second: it will take constant awareness and evaluation.  I will not be able to 'check out' while I run because as soon as I do my stride will fall back into its own rhythm.

So, that's the goal for the rest of the month.  We'll see how it goes.  Also, Whittle my Middle is still going fine.  I kind of slacked this week on all of my workouts so I let that kind of slide too but yesterday I experienced a re-commitment and am enjoying my sore abs.

Enjoy your weekend!