Slow your roll.

This is what Dex was doing while I was doing my miles. 

So, tonight my awesome friend Brett and his even more awesome son, Isaac watched Dex while I ran a couple laps around Reid Park.  I was able to get 7 miles in during a time when I normally would have not been able to run (with Bri out of town) and Dex got to have the TIME of his life.  Paper airplanes were flown, soccer balls were kicked, ladders were climbed, and miles and miles were logged on tiny little toddler legs.  I love the Bendickson family; they are cool, generous, and loving friends.  I'm particularly fond of my friendship with Brett; he is the tech lead i.e. the smart equivalent to my role at my job.  Brett and I manage to have that Unicorn likelihood of a professional/personal balance, wherein the fact that we care so much about each other actually allows us to be more honest with each other professionally without compromising the personal relationship. Very rare and very important to me.

As for the run, it was pretty great.  My original approach was fairly cocky; "I've been out for two days, I'm going to blow the lid off this park" that faded pretty quickly.  I'm still not fully recovered and I was creaky and sore almost instantly.  More importantly, I started having arch pain in my left foot - giant red flags.  I decided to slow down and really, really think about my form.  I made a point to mid foot strike (by visually marching in my head) That's what I love about minimal shoes, being able to make those sorts of minute adjustments.  By really, really focusing I found that I was able to ditch the pain pretty easily, however the minute I started to get cocky it came back to remind me.

On the second lap (3.25 miles/lap) I felt way better.  I was warmed up and I was able to actually start flying.  I ended the run with an average 9:05 pace, I am definitely not complaining about that.  The only bad part is that sitting at home, my arches are hurting again.  I may start alternating running shoes between my old ones and my minimals for my longish runs or at the very least my pavement runs.

There were SO many people running at the park tonight.  I love that, such good energy.  Also, a really nice reminder...I find myself gaining in confidence as a runner, but it only takes one busy night at Reid Park to remind me how far I have to go.  There was this one woman of fairly average build, built a lot like me actually, but she was FLYING effortlessly - such an inspiration and a reminder that no matter how awesome I'm feeling, there's always someone to remind me that I still have places to go.  I've also decided to ease up on my "2 hour halfie" aspirations - I think I need to focus on finishing healthy, strong, and ready for the next race; rather than concerning myself what the giant digital numbers have to say at the end.  I think if I approach my training with this mentality, I will reduce the amount of recovery time between runs.

I do have an appointment with my Ortho on Friday.  I suspect I know all the things he'll have to say to me and probably won't like many of them, however we shall see.

K, need to tidy up, my Brian comes home tomorrow and we have a hot date.  Ready to have that man HOME!