Week of Running

Wow! It has actually been a week since I last blogged -- oops! The last time I wrote I talked of the setback with my leg. Well, it has gotten better but some soreness is still there.

I waited until Tuesday to run and did an easy 4 miler at the 1/2 mile track near the gym. The run went okay. I could tell I had a little longer of a layoff, as it was a bit harder than it should have been. The calf was a bit sore still so I decided not to do speedwork the next day.

Wednesday I ran 5 miles at the same track at about an 8:30 min/mile pace. The calf didn't bother me at all and I felt a bit relieved with the race about a week and a half away.

I skipped Thursday calling it an off day and ran a 4 mile tempo run on a the treadmill on a rainy Friday morning. I kept a slight incline until 3 1/4 miles and kept a moderate pace (for me) of 8:19 minutes a mile. A little sore in the calf again but felt like nothing to worry about.

I debated for a long time about how far I would go Saturday. It is a run that is a week away from the 10K run and I didn't want to go too far. I also didn't want to undercut myself and lose out on some valuable training. I finally mapped out a route of 7 1/4 miles that went through a nearby park.

The park was especially bustling that day with an antique car show, regional soccer tournament, and a "Dudie Burger" festival. You probably don't know what a Dudie burger is. Years ago someone in Tupelo bought an old train car and made it into a fast food restaurant. It was called "Dudie's" and their specialty was a dough burger made with beef, flour, and water. I think they fried it in grease so it is not the healthiest thing in the world but it was pretty tasty. Although they sold for only a nickel, all of the McDonald's of the world put them out of business in the early 80's. Now they have a festival once a year where they cook them up once again. (I went later in the day with the fam and ate two of them! They now sell for two dollars.)

The run Saturday went GREAT! It was a little hard around four miles but I felt really strong the last mile, sprinting over the last 1/4. I felt a little sore Saturday and today but not as bad as last week.

I am both excited and nervous about the upcoming race and will blog a lot about it this week. I hope everyone else had a great week!