Running the Roads

Yesterday, I had a plan on how to tackle the lure of Halloween candy. I was focused and determined to get through it. Once we finally got the kids to bed shortly after 8, I threw everything out the window with the promise of working out for an extra hour the next day.


This morning, I woke up, put on my gym clothes, got Maddie dressed, got my gym bag ready, got Maddie's gym bag ready, and then sat down to update our monthly calendar. As I wrote in "November 1" I realised that Maddie's 9 month check up was this morning - there goes that plan! I decided that this is an opportunity in disguise and that I should take advantage of this beautiful Fall day to go for my first outdoor run.


Maddie fell asleep on the way back from the doc's and so I left her sleeping in the car as I got all my gear ready for the run. I counting on her to keep sleeping through my run since it was getting mighty close to her lunch time, but I didn't want to put it off until after lunch for fear of talking myself out of it.


With my iPhone strapped on and tunes blaring, I successfully transferred Maddie to the stroller without her waking (no easy task in itself!) and hit the road. The first few minutes were, well, awkward. Running outside in the cool crisp air while pushing a stroller is NOTHING like running on a treadmill. Five minutes into it I was heaving and my lungs were aching. Oh boy, good thing I have a couple months of lung conditioning before the Resolution Run!


The run itself was a sad sight of running, walking and being really out of breath. I did, however, continue to push myself and as soon as I felt recovered I picked up the pace again. I started to figure out my tempo around the halfway point and fell into a nice rhythm on the way back. 


About a km away from home, I remembered that you're supposed to lock the front wheels of the stroller to keep it from swaying side to side. Duh! Once locked, it was certainly easier to control one handed and it allowed me to focus more on my form. I sprinted to the last major intersection before home, and then walked the rest of the way to cool down. 


I checked my watch as I stepped foot on the driveway - 44 minutes. Yikes! I have a friend who walked a 5K at 8 months pregnant in 50 minutes, so I'm about 6 minutes faster than a pregnant woman... Awesome...


My goal for the Resolution Run is to cover 5K in under 35 minutes. Right now, I can run 5K (with a bit of walking) on the treadmill in about 37 minutes. Today's experience has shown me that I have some work to do, but I'm hopeful that like most fitness goals, you can improve your speed/strength/stamina very quickly with a little perseverance.


Tomorrow is Cate's turn for a morning appointment so I will be hitting the roads once again to get my sweat on. Let's hope for a better show so I don't embarrass poor Maddie in front of the other babies we run into on the sidewalk.