Week 1 of 18: 6 miles in 1:04

I've been slacking on my blog entries, so a once a week recap is what it's come down to.

I forgot how much "fun" I have balancing my hectic schedule and training- this week it came to light.  I got in two early morning workouts before work i.e. waking up at 5:30 to get to the gym in time, and was beyond beat by 10pm both nights.  Insert some meetings and a social life and bam, when would I run?!  

Finally broke down and bought a GPS watch, the Garmin Forerunner 110:

I'm totally cheap when it comes to exercise stuff, but again it's a learning curve and I've realized I can't be so "cheap".  When I first started running I broke my foot and had turf toe after wearing the wrong sneakers (the clearance sneaks).  Cotton anything is a no go-- blisters, chafing, riding up, and being soaked in sweat are never on my to-do list.  Running is referred to as a "cheaper" sport in comparison to any sport requiring all of the above and then some.  That being said, please tell me what sports require a monitor to track time and distance that are in the $200-$500 range- yes exactly, there are none.

Now that I've explained how cheap I am, let me explain the above purchase.  My longest organized run was my half-marathon aka 13.1 miles.  Training for this maxed out at 10 miles, so I was able to go to a 3 mile park and run 3 loops and then some for my longest run.  Given that my marathon training tops out at 20 miles- I've come to realize running 7 loops of the same scenery will drive my crazy.  So I can just run and run and this gadget will tell me how far I've come!

Finally got my long run of the week in this morning.  Woke up at 6am to run- again you've got to be some sort of crazy to train for a marathon.  I can think of 10,000 reasons why I shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning- but then again you only live once.  I want to be old and have absolutely no regrets and never want to think I "should've" done that and didn't.  So call me crazy (and I've gotten it a lot already), it's a huge compliment. :)

I got to the park at 6:45 and set out on my 6 mile run, with my new watch!  I wasn't expecting anything crazy, but prayed I could do 6 straight without immense pain.  I really enjoyed having my pace calculated (not my current pace, but my average- it'll do for now).  It still made it clear I run the first 3 miles too fast, maybe I should sign up for a 5k and "test" my speed.  I ran 6 miles in 1:04 averaging a 10:30 pace, which I was happy with. 

What I learned today: 

• GPS watches are awesome
• Cotton wicking mid-quad shorts ride up
• Ear buds fall out no matter their price- sweat has a mind of its own
• Ipod arm bands stretch out
• Lack of water the night before can derail a run
• ITBS is no joke

Yippppeeeee week 1 of 18 done.  17 to go!!! C'mon November 18th :)