Week 2 Begins

So week 2 of training has officially begun! Monday's are typically supposed to be rest days, but I made a little switch up this week. I knew that I would not be home before dark tonight and did not want to run on the treadmill so I made tonight my rest day. That meant I had to do an easy 3 miler yesterday. I brought my running clothes to work yesterday and got a run in before returning to do some more work. I have decided to pack running clothes for work whenever I know that I need to run that day. I was able to stay at work late yesterday and get my run in before dark. I followed one of our cross country routes that we run on long run days. The first mile and a half is a slight incline, which you really notice when you're out alone. That meant that the way back was a slight decline and my half mile splits were much quicker on the way back. I decided to turn my splits back on yesterday, but I was not going to let them guide my run. I actually ended up running 3 miles in 27:19, which is a 9:06 pace. I think that there were many factors that contributed to an easy run turning into such an awesome run. I run so much faster when it's colder out and I was hoping to avoid the snowfall that had been coming and going all day. I also run faster when I am alone because I get bored more easily and have no one to talk to. I also ran right at the end of the work day so that alone speaks for itself. So I would definitely say that the week of running is off to a great start. I have headed into week 2 of training with no real goals other than to get my mileage in. I do not really care about splits or pace times or speed workouts. I do not care how fast or slow each run is this week because I am just focused on following my training plan and ending week 2 with an optimistic outlook on this whole marathon thing.

26 miles complete in 3:56:39 and only 200 days until conquering 26.2 miles!