Run, Run, Run!

FYI : The last post was intended to post the 25th at night so when I say yesterday in this post I do mean yesterday. :)

Challenge of the Week #2 Update: Going well, I wasn't expecting this weeks challenge to be too difficult seeing as  I've always loved green tea. The challenge is not walking straight to my Kuerig when I wake up in the morning! Which I will admit I did this morning...but instead of another cup of coffee when I got to the office I swapped in my green tea :)

Not the most appealing photo, but I'm sure fellow tea drinkers can appreciate this view!

Last night I challenged myself to not only beat my mile time but also increase my mileage to 2 miles without stopping. So I headed out to the NCR Trail (which by the way is beautiful and a great place to run/bike/walk) after work, laced up my running shoes and got to it!

My first mile was much less painful that it has been my past few runs. Unfortunately my first mile time was slightly slower than normal. It was only a 3 second difference but it was a little disappointing seeing as it felt much easier, I was expecting 5 seconds faster in my head. Any how, I didn't let it discourage me during the run and instead used the disappointment as motivation to complete the second mile.

True story: I always imagine people giving themselves pep talks in their head. You know the ones coaches give in movies or those motivational picture quotes show online? Well I'll admit...I totally did this yesterday! I was coming up the last stretch of my second mile, feeling dead, legs burning and in my head I thought

"You're not stopping. It's not much farther. The only thing

that can make me stop right now is myself. ...am I really

giving myself one of these pep talks? ...all that is standing

between me and finishing this mile is myself. ...hey this

is kinda working. Okay pick up my feet and get there already!"

 And in the end I ran 2.02 miles in 20:23 :] Not mad about my time one bit! Not only was this the first time I'd ran more than a mile at once in a few years, but I hit my goal and it felt great!

The rest of my night my excitement and pride followed me around while I made dinner and then went shopping for some fun 21st birthday gifts for a friend.

Dinner included: Whole grain pasta, grilled chicken and roasted butternut squash topped with a light shredding of cheese

Not going to lie, I'm excited for the leftover squash for lunch today!

How far do you normally run on a cardio day?

Do you prefer to run outside or inside on a treadmill/elliptical?