Red in the Face

I felt really gross this morning when I woke up. Just super sweaty...I know you all want to know that. So, I took a shower rather than diving into exercise. I knew this would mean I would most likely put exercising off until later in the day, but I worked out rather late yesterday too, so, as long as I get all my time in, it's good.

Well, I started exercising at 8:00pm! My mom realized that she consumed more calories than she intended to and so she was going to bike them off. As I returned a friend's bike just yesterday, I wasn't able to bike with her, so I decided to run with her! That's right. I haven't run in about 8 months, but I decided to give it a go. For those of you who may not realize. I may be in good weight shape, but I'm not in good running shape. Regardless, I did pretty good! I ran just over 3 miles without stopping or walking and averaged a 10-minute mile. Excellent, if you ask me!

My mom got really concerned halfway through the run because my face was really red. My face is always red when I run; in or out of running shape. So, that didn't concern me. I did feel like puking when I finished, but I was never in danger of passing out. The picture above was taken after I finished my run, to demonstrate my red face. I know I have crazy, semi-crossed eyes...that may have been from the run too :)

When I returned from my run, I gave myself a few minutes to recover, then performed the stretching pilates DVD with Trudie Styler. This way, I didn't have to consciously stretch after my run! I hate going through the motions of stretching before and after a run, so this was a fun way to do that.

After that, I did the "Hip Hop Abs" DVD to offset my deficit of exercise on Tuesday. Now, I just have 15 more minutes to make up for that lost day...

Going the Distance

Wow. So, during my run this morning, I missed (or rather forgot) my landmark for turning back. I was mapping out so many different options this morning on Google maps that I just could not figure out where it was that I had planned to make the half-way point.

So, long story short, I ran almost twice as far as I was planning. 3 miles turned into 5.5 miles. It was a gorgeous morning for it though, despite the fact that my running partner, Baxter, had to stop on three different occasions to do his business. And a bug also flew into my eye.

Baxter in his run-with-Rachel backpack.

I was quite impressed that Baxter didn't slow me down as much as he usually does. But perhaps that's because I was slowing down too, the more I realized and became daunted by the fact that I had long missed my landmark.

I even forgot to stop my chronograph when I finally got back, but it took me about 55 to 60 minutes to run the 5.5 miles. Which means my mile average is somewhere between 10 and 10:54 minutes. Not too shabby for my first run in almost 3 weeks.

Pain Tracker:

• left hip joint was pinching at beginning of run
• right knee/thigh was tight mid run
• right heel felt bruised near end of run