Welcome! I’m Caroline
follow me
Subscribe By Email
Search The Little Things Blog
Follow Me On Bloglovin’
Categories
Archives
This past weekend I did my first official training run with friends. I’ve raced with Melissa plenty of times over the last three months, but we’ve never really just gone on a run together before. With 50 minutes on the schedule for Saturday for Team in Training , Melissa, Marci, and I headed out. The night before, we had a sleepover, and stayed up far too late watching TV. We knew it was a bad decision at the time, but none of us was that tired.
Amazing sunset, right? It was raining during sunset, and the colors were unreal.
Our “we’ll leave at 7 am” plan was a wash, as I was the only one up and eating at that point. We headed out about an hour and a half later, and it was already hot and humid. I brought my handheld with me, and I plan on doing that for all my longer runs until it gets cold again.
Melissa took us on the route that she normally runs, and it was fun to mix it up! I really enjoy running with Melissa, as we’ve hit a really good pattern in our running. We must have subconsciously aligned our strides, because when we run side by side, our feet hit the pavement at the exact same time (I noticed this around mile 4 of our run).
I’m sure that this run would’ve felt a little tough by myself, but with these girls it was an absolute blast. We were laughing and making jokes, which was great. I’m also really impressed with how good I felt on the run, especially since six days previously I had run an unplanned and accidental half marathon! By the end, I was feeling strong, which I was pleased about. We ran about a 10:45 pace, which is about 45 seconds per mile faster than usual for me, even in races. This was surprising and especially exciting for me!
The entire run, as we got more and more hot, we talked about Coke Freezes from down the street. When we got back and were stretching (and planking!), Melissa’s husband went out to pick them up for us, which was really fantastic. We took them down to the pool, as we were anxious to cool down!
We were the only ones down there initially, and were so energized from our run (awesome pace, and Marci went the farthest she’s ever run before!), so we decided to have some fun. I haven’t run and umped into a pool in years (maybe at least a decade?), so we spent about 20 minutes jumping and twirling through the air into the pool. It was honestly one of the best ways to cool down from a summer run!
Cooking family dinner later that day
So- moral of the story. Train with friends in the summer to keep you motivated, use Coke Freezes as post race fuel, and cool down by jumping into a pool! I think that’s my ideal summer running plan 🙂
What are coke freezes? Are these like slurpees? What a brilliant idea – why have I not thought of this? I only wish I had a pool to jump in to.
Yes- like a slurpee or a snow cone in a cup. They are fantastic, especially after a hot workout outside!