Toss Up

Soooooooo today was my first run outside since I made the exciting decision to try my hand at running. As I have stated below, I've been running for about a month now, with my max distance being 6 miles so far. I am registered to run an 8K on Sunday and I am petrified. I need to get used to running outside vs. the TM and today was my 1st stab at that since I was lazzzzzzzyyyyy this past weekend. My official route ( as laid out by Google pedometer) was supposed to be 3.1 mi. But I had to make a small detour due to a sidewalk closure and I ran on the outside of the "loop" that I am calling 3 mi midtown run in the box on the right hand side of this page. If I had to guess at how much extra I ran, I'd say 0.3 mi is about right. I finished this distance just 4 minutes slower than I run 3mi on the TM at a 0% incline. I think this is pretty good, considering it was longer than my usual run ( at least by a definite 0.1 mile) and that I had to stop at countless traffic lights ( some for 45 seconds each!!!). I did not carry a watch, but used my IPod to time it out. I ran from 7pm - 737pm and I am pretty sure I did 3/4 of the run but 722pm! I definitely went out too fast, and when I was conscious of this ( not too often early on), I slowed down. Being sooo nice out here in DC though, everyone downtown was eating and drinking outside, including several dozen GORGEOUS boys, so I ran very fast from about 19th and M, down 21 to L and from 21 back to 19th and L. I guess it all evened out in the end, but gosh my throat is/was soooo dry. I am fairly confident this was from sucking wind during the 1st half of the run, but I also did not carry a water bottle or a camelback pack, and having run on the TM only, I am used to swigging water whenever I want to. I am going to try this again tomrorow and try to slow dowwwwwnnnnnnnn. I might even opt for a different route tomorrow that takes me down to the Nat'l Mall where there are water fountains.

Race in T minus 5 days....ahhhhh!!!!