It's raining again, or should I stay still. Therefore just went up to the All Saints gym after work to get a bit of a workout in.

Ran a mile on the treadmill and that was a bit tough. Then walked to round out 20 minutes of a workout. Not an overly intense workout, but some good cardio nonetheless.

Woke up early again with all the best intentions of running before work, but again the warm bed and cuddling of the kitties won out.

Had Anna again tonight, even though just went last week. Since Bill's gone, why not get an extra session in. Also wanted to get to the off weeks for my every other so it didn't coincide so directly with my monthly friend. Tonight we talked about what I wanted to do in training for the upcoming races. I said my legs were OK, just good workouts would be fine, but would like to work on upper body and core. Therefore she talked about how we'll work on muscle groups that correspond with the movements my arms make while running (front to back swinging), and really work on some strength that way, vs other arm/shoulder exercises (like flies and out to the side as that won't help the running). Therefore that's what we did--lots of shoulders, biceps, and triceps. Finitely will feel this a bit in a few days.

Had my HRMA Spring Conference today (won a $25 gift certificate so that was cool), then met Mom for dinner. It rained most of the afternoon and was still raining after dinner. Thought of going back to All Saints to workout, but just wasn't interested. It was raining pretty hard in the evening, so I definitely wasn't going to do anything outside.

Therefore today was a nothing day. :(

Woke up early this morning to run before work, but just couldn't get motivated and the bed was so warm and cozy.

Just went to 20/20/20 tonight, and it kicked my butt. We did some kickboxing moves for the 20 minutes of cardio and I really broke a sweat. This is the first time I broke a sweat at one fo these Synchronicity classes. Then we did some good weight work for the next 20 minutes. Left this 60 minute session feeling like I got a good workout.

Bill had to fly out again this afternoon, so we did our quick little mile neighborhood run midday.

Ran just 1.00 in 8:53. Felt like it was a little slower as I was doing it, but I guess it wasn't too bad.

Today's another Saturday and the weather is OK (a little chilly, but not too bad). I got to the Panera parking lot about 6:20am, a few minutes later than I wanted to, so I set up to do about 3 miles before the group was to arrive. Knowing Bill was out there, and thinking he'd finish down Newman, I ran up Emmertsen to Spring first. Right at the corner of Spring and Newman I actually met up with Bill and a new runner, John, with perfect timing. Finished about 3.1 getting back to the parking lot. That was a really hard 3.1 for some reason and my legs are really wobbly. I really thought about just calling that a day.

But as the group started to arrive, I thought I'd set out to do at least a few more. We were running Panera 2 and I set off with Ken and Ben. Told them I would be running as fast as normal as I was stuggling a bit. Ran about 2 or a little more with them, then had to slow up a bit. Got to the back of the trail loop and thought about cutting over on the shortcut, but then thought I should just do the long route and I could just slow down a bit. Then as I continued over the next mile or so, I was getting passed by nearly everyone, but I just kept running.

As I got back to the driveway by Chipotle, I was just passing 8 miles. I was feeling OK, so I thought I'd try to push for a bit more. Some of the girls were just ahead of me and went north on that little road and over towards Emmertsen again. I remember from the first part of my run that from my car to the stop sign behind the grocery story at Emmertsen, it was a 1/2 mile. Therefore I pushed myself to run to that stop sign and back--ending the morning with 9.1 miles--my longest run yet!

Did that 9.1 in 1:22:44, which is a 9:05/mile average pace. The first 3.1 (by myself mostly) was 9:09 average pace, the second 3.1 (some with Ken) was at 8:43 average pace, then the last 2.9 was at 9:23 average pace. Definitely was slower at the end, but not too bad overall.

Bill came home today and I knew he would need to run when he got home. We decided to run relatively right away after getting home and get it done before dinner and relaxing. As we got changed, I really did not want to go. Bill told me I didn't need to as I would be trying to run longer in the morning, but I was already changed and I knew I should go. These 10-15 lbs I want to lose aren't going anywhere if I don't do something about it. Also, a 10 mile or half-marathon isn't going to be easy--just do it!

Ran 1.02 in 9:02 (8:50/mile pace).

Knew I was having dinner with Mom tonight then a hair appointment, I knew I should get up early and run before work. Luckily it's warming up so getting up and running was in 30+ degree weather.

Ran 1.01 in 8:45 (8:41/mile pace). Pretty good for not having done a "1 mile" neighborhood run in the morning in a while.

Had an appointment with Anna today so I knew that would work me. She did an exercise right from the start that really was tough--push up with feet up on the Bosue. Push up, go 45 degrees to the right, push up, back to center, push up, 45 degrees to the left, push up, back to center, repeat. Wow, that one was really, really tough. Having the feet up that 9 inches or so really put a strain on the core and the lower back/side muscles. Then we did lots of other core and arm exercises, with at least one quad/hamstring one too. Although a few were really tough, it wasn't an overall tough workout---good, but not where I'm going to be too terribly sore this week. That's good for me as I really need to run long this Saturday as I haven't done so in 3 weeks.

I had a job fair in LaCrosse today, so I was driving out and back same day making for a very long day. Because I didn't get to shop at the Outlet Mall yesterday, I wanted to stop at Johnson Creek today. It was already after 6:30pm by the time I got there, but I decided to stop and just limit my time. I got home about 8:30pm but was ancy after driving all day and felt like I really should just hurry to get ready and get a mile in to get out some energy.

I guess I really was in a hurry to get done as I did 1.01 in 8:10 (8:03/mile pace). Wow! I think that's the fastest "1 mile" neighborhood run I've ever done.