Week 5: Rounding out the week with a 15K

This morning, Raj, Alex, Mia and I piled into my Rav4 and drove north to Bellingham for the Fairhaven Runners Waterfront 15K (9.3 miles). It was a scenic route, fairly flat, with some great views of Bellingham Bay. Alex and I ran together the entire way, with Raj and Mia waiting for us at the finish line (which boasted the best post-race food-fest free for all I have ever seen!). It was nice to get out of Seattle for a day and substitute my usual uneventful long run with something festive.

I can't believe how much 3 months off from running has set me back. We passed the 10K mark at 1:16, a full 9 minutes slower than my Mercer Island 10K race back in March (which included 3 huge hills). We plugged along the entire way though, walking only briefly at miles 7 and 8, finishing the 9.3 miles in 1:55. It was a fun run though and I'm glad we drove up for it.

Week 5 marks the 1/3 way point to the Philadelphia Marathon. My knee is doing much better now that I'm off the treadmill. Still sore after today, but that's to be expected after a 9 mile run. It's hard to believe that I'm almost running the length of my longest training run for the Vancouver half-marathon, and I'm only half way there! In the coming weeks I'll be increasing not only my Saturday runs (next week is 11, then 12, 14, 16, and 18), but my weekday "short" runs to 4/5/4 and eventually 5/8/5. Now that the days are getting shorter I will need to come up with a better plan for doing 3 outside weekday runs per week. I may need to start running in the dark, which I am not thrilled about.

78 miles down and counting.