First 10k

On Monday I ran my first ever 10k with a time of 1:11:20. Considering the fact that only a couple months ago my average time to complete a mile was over 12:15, this was a huge accomplishment for me! The weather was around 34 degrees and I wore my Brooks shoes, Smartwool socks, Reebok running tights, a wicking short sleeve t-shirt from Target and an Avalanche Wear hooded zip-up jacket (that I got over half off at Marshall's! If you have a Marshall's check out their running gear! That is a post for another day, maybe.) with cheap-o stretchy gloves (also from Target) which I took off halfway through my run. I've discovered I tend to run pretty hot on my upper body and cold on my lower half, which is the opposite of a lot of runners I have talked to. I think next time in similar conditions I would wear a running skirt or shorts over my tights to keep my butt from freezing.

 I love these shoes!

The route I ran was on a lovely hilly paved trail by my house. I can walk out my door and down the road for a 5 minute warm up (exactly!) and then I am right at the trail. There are markers every .10 of a mile and I believe total it runs around 13 miles before connecting to other paved trails in the area. We have a wonderful trail system that is constantly being added to, and I love exploring new sections of it. This particular run took me from miles 10-13, which is currently the end of the trail, and back again, plus a little extra to make it a 10k. I couldn't believe over the course of 6 miles I only passed two people-a man hiking and a woman biking who zoomed up behind me and about gave me a heart attack since I hadn't seen another person for over half an hour. The trail starts off by some prairie and then heads down into a small valley and back up, winds around the local Nature Center and then down into a beautiful valley in the woods with lots of twists and turns to end up by a large river. There were brown leaves everywhere and although it was pretty, I can't wait until it snows to run that route again and take pictures of the trees and streams all covered in white.

 A barn and field I run past on what is becoming my usual route.

I was listening to the Zombies, Run! app on my iPhone and coincidentally it kept lining up with things that were actually happening during my run. On the mission I was doing I was running with another runner to find Professor Van Ark. We were running through the woods (which I was doing) up to his compound and right when we were able to see a foot bridge in the distance, guess what? I could actually see one too. Then when I was actually running across it, we were running across it in the game too. Beyond creepy when you are running by yourself, but I guess that is a given when you listen to an app about Zombies chasing you. Maybe that is part of why I made such good time?

I was trying out Clif Shot Bloks in Strawberry for the first time during this run and although they taste great, they stained the new cap of my water bottle when I drank from it after eating one, which kind of sucks. I don't feel like they work as well as GU, but it is probably a mind thing too. I'll probably try a few other flavors in the next couple of months to try to figure out what I want to use for my half marathon. Do I need a gel or bloks on a 6 mile run? Probably not, but I tend to not eat much before I run (I can taste it during my run if I do...eew!) and I feel like they really help. I don't use them on every run because that would get very expensive, but I'm trying to figure out which flavors I like so I don't bring a bunch I don't like on a long run where I actually need them. Vanilla GU is my current favorite and Blackberry GU is absolutely horrible. Never again!