Geez, this week has been hectic. I've been writing this post for 2 days now. I wanted to share with you my awesome 6.5 mile run on Sunday.

It was cold on Sunday morning, so my running buddy and I bundled up and headed out. Last week we discovered a trail that goes on the back part of the park we usually meet at every Sunday. This trail was awesome! Clearly marked by our lovely town's parks and rec department, and we never even knew it was there. Our first mile was spent in awe, learning new turns and enjoying the new scenery. At the end of the trail, we continued on our usual route out of the park. We chatted as always about everything. Our life, our upcoming and past races, what happened during the past week. I told her how I started concentrating on my strike to see if it helped my knee during my runs. She told me about working on her dissertation for her doctorate's degree. (Wow! I'm so proud of her for getting her advanced degree). We chatted, and we ran.

At each intersection, we decided how much farther and where we were going to run. She wasn't feeling her best, so I wanted to make sure she had a good run. She told me she wanted to keep going. We kept on running and running picking a new route about every block. It was great. We hit our turnaround point and we were feeling the humidity. We had already shed our gloves, and I had shed my headband. I finally had to shed my warm layer. I couldn't believe it. It's January, at about 45 degrees, and I'm running in a tank and my running tights! It was chilly but great. We did a basic out and back, following the route we took out to our turnaround point.

When we hit the trail portion, she suggested I go ahead and pick my pace since I was feeling really good and pain free. At first I was going to, but then we crossed the paths of unexpected walkers. I thought of SUAR's cousin, Sherry Arnold, who's disappearance has rocked the running community. I felt it best that we run together for our safety, despite it being early in the sun-filled morning. Once we got closer to the end of our run and the more populated park, I decided to sprint the last 0.10 of the run. I felt awesome with only a couple of knee twinges. I haven't ran like that since my last soccer game in November. Woohoo...I felt like I was flying!

I know I pushed my running buddy on the last of the trail because I picked up my pace, and she kept right up with me. We're both in training for our respective half marys next month, so we needed to work hard. Next week we're attempting a new 9 mile route!

I rode this runner high until yesterday afternoon! I really don't know what exactly contributed to a great run. 8 hours of sleep, my new ovo-vegetarian diet, my cross training with P90X2, making sure I got my weekday runs in, or even remembering to wear my knee brace. It could have been everything combined, but I don't care! I love that awesome feeling after an awesome run. It totally makes all the bad and painful runs completely worth it!

Picture credit: www.agirlwithnonames.com