4 miles

Happy Birthday to MCM Mama!  To celebrate her birthday, she created her own virtual race, "Mama Goes Masters".  To help in celebrating her 40th birthday, you had three options:

• 4.0 miles in honor of turning 40
• 8.25 miles in honor of the actual day
• 40K if you dare.

I choose the 4.0 miles.  Though when I had first signed up, I was actually considering the 8.25 miles.  Good thing I choose the four since my ankle tendon / soleux issue hasn't allowed me to run much in the last 2 1/2 weeks.  Even though this is a 'race report' in actuality, I didn't race it.  I had to force myself to keep it easy.  I did not want to risk re-injury especially since I have a half marathon (or full???) in the beginning of October with my sister and my mom.

I choose my normal 4 mile route, but changed it up at the end to avoid more hills.

My normal four mile route:

The 4 mile route that I ran for the race:

It was a beautiful morning.  The sky was just starting to glow in yellow and orange as the sun was picking out.  The temperature was an awesome 42 degrees.  I wore my black running skirt and a blue short sleeve shirt.

After a warm-up with some stretching, I started out.  How happy I was that my ankle felt great!  First mile beeped:  11:10.

A gray fluffy bunny hopped across the road.  Second mile beeped:  11:42.  I was surprised at the pace since I had walked most of the hill.

Today, I ran a bit on the sidewalk.  There's construction throughout town; adding a bike path that will eventually be 15 miles long.  With the road all chopped up, I didn't want to risk twisting any ankles.  Third mile beeped:  11:26.

I decided to change up the ending of my normal four mile route.  Instead of running more hills, I did a few laps around the track.  I don't think that I could have done the entire four miles around the track ... it would be like running on a treadmill for me; without the belt pushing me to maintain speed.  As I was approaching home, the mist was sitting along the tree line in the valley.

God is so good to me.  How beautiful He made this place where we live temporarily until we go home.  The fourth mile beeped:  10:34.  Ooops, got a little carried away that last mile.

4.0 miles

44:53

11:14 pace

This run bumped me over 500 miles for the year!