Keep up the great effort doowackie
 

3 miles of continuous running is quite an acheivement. You be in a very elite group of Americans. While 95% of Americans will be trying to find the closest parking spot because they can't walk from the back of the parking to the fast food restaurant.

Pam

Thanks!

Haha I see that all the time. People will sit and wait for someone to load up their car and drive away just so they don't have to walk an extra 20 steps.

I like to take advantage of the nice weather and park far back from the grocery store.

Running and me are in love
 

Just finished up an 8 race series (Jan to April - a race every two weeks). A friend had encouraged me to join as a way of improving my strength.
What a great, fun way to train really. I definitely got stronger and faster (as did the one person I "picked" to beat each race)
It was also great to see many of the same faces out for each race.
Highly recommend doing this as a training technique.

Next goal is to get my stretching increased and work on getting iron abs (well, at least some abs ;))

Hey sfkd,
That does sound like fun! What part of the country do you live in?
That also sounds like Skypilots normal training plan without the organization of a series :p He is a racing maniac!
We have a trail series in SoCal that I have wanted to do for several years, but I just can't seem to commit what with all the other winter activities.

So I am guessing that you never did catch your target?

Yah, I'm a racing freaK! :D

It is actually part of motivational strategy.

I ran a 10K yesteday. I reasonably expected to finish at about 52:30. I ended up finishing at 59:50!

I was bummed out until I saw that my finishing place was exactly where I would have wanted -- 66/140 or 47%.

It was over 90 degrees in the sun. The first hot day this year. I had trained in 45 degrees weather during the week. The heat and humidity kicked everyone's backside.

Thus, I finished the last half of the race barely running and walking portions.

For the newbie runners -- there is no shame in running slow or walking for portions of your runs. The body is smarter than the mind.

Hot weather can really sap the stamina
 

Good job on finishing your race Skypilot. Going from 45 to 90 is a real shock to the body, you are lucky you didn't cramp up.

after running consistently since january - i FINALLY made it past the 4 mile mark this week! i hadn't been able to make it past 3 miles for the last couple of months. and on monday, i ran 4 miles straight for the first time in my life. it was amazing! i felt so strong and so in charge of myself! it was incredibly empowering. and to prove to myself it wasn't a fluke - i ran 4 miles again on wednesday. it was a mental block that i finally made myself break through.

The run was good, I've done it about once a week since. I'm up to about 30 minutes without stopping, but I think I need some new shoes. The ones I've got are cross trainers and although very light don't seem to have quite the right support. I'm not really new to running, more like "born again". In college I ran about 2 miles/day, always for exercise never for speed or competition. But alas between 3 children and a very bad knee I got out of the habit. I've been working up to it again though and have vague notions in my head of running a 5K sometime this summer. My DH runs on the tread at the gym and can run 3 miles easily enough, so maybe I'll put the bug in his baseball cap and we'll go together.

I'm cracking up about people intentionally running up and down hills. Around here we don't have much option, it's either hills or the track out at the high school.

Well done Kathryn!
 

I totally understand that awesome feeling you're having. May you have many more! For me it was breaking the 60 minute running barrier. Like you, I felt like I could conquer anything!

Almeeker, I definitely recommend new shoes if you have knee issues. I think it was old or poorly fitting shoes that gave me some minor, but chronic knee problems a couple of years ago. It took me a while to connect the dots between what was on my feet and what was going on in my knees.

My knee issues were caused by a bicycle years and years ago, not my current shoes. My current shoes seem to be causing issues with my feet more than anything. The shoes I have are more than 6 months old and I've been using them for a one hour workout almost daily. So it's time to replace them even if they are perfect, which they aren't. A friend of mine gave me the name of a good shoe store that specializes in running shoes, so I might hit it this weekend and see if they've got the answer.