Getting Back on Top

What a great run tonight! Probably just a little shy of four miles, but that's perfect for getting back into the swing of things. I had a great pace and I don't feel sore anywhere. Well, except my right gluteus maximus... which is actually an exciting injury because it means my brand-new post-running lunges are doing exactly what they're supposed to!

Yep... <--- THAT glut. Haha.

Tonight was all about listening to my body. I wasn't blogging back in October when this addiction to running birthed itself, but you've got to understand that I didn't start out anywhere even CLOSE to the pace that I have now. I would run 4 miles so slowly that I was almost walking. Alejandro could tell you about it. I feel so bad that he had to run next to me; I was sooooo slow! But it was all part of building up. I knew that injury or not meeting certain run times would instantly cause frustration and contribute exactly ZERO to the chance of building endurance. You've got to get into a pace, you've got to get into a zone. Tonight I was listening to all my muscles so I didn't further harm anything that was still recovering from Sunday. Total success; systems are g-o!

Alright, be aware that tonight I'm setting a goal! I need to clock 1:37:00 at the Miami Beach 13.1 on March 6th. If I do that... I will automatically qualify for the New York City marathon this fall. Wouldn't that be crazy! It would also put me in direct alignment with achieving my ultimate goal:  clocking a 1:20:00 on the half marathon... but that's months and months away. So here I go: running faster and harder, and even running 13.1 or more miles before the actual race. The daunting part is that this all needs to be done in less than one month (yikes!). Girlfriend, you got it. Be unstoppable!

My mom was in town this weekend. On Sunday, we went biking in the Everglades. It took Erin, mom and I about 30 minutes to go only one mile - we took pictures of every single turtle, alligator, bird and fish that we saw. An old couple was walking the bike path and kept passing us. It was a little embarassing. Finally, after the mid-point lookout tower, we biked like MAD people back to the lodge. Nothing like 15 miles on a beach cruiser to stretch those quads out.  Good times.

This little guy came up out of the water to play with my bike. He looked so docile! I wanted to just jump on his back. Then I recalled Discovery Channel's 'Migrations' series and alligators (or were they ...crocodiles?) mauling the wildebeest calf's and decided to lay low.

PS - Thanks Erin for holding my bike while Fluffy here sniffed out my tire!