Running Outside

This week the gym at school is closed for maintenance, so my roommate and I decided we would run outside on Tuesday and Thursday.

Note: We decided on only two days because 1) we were still kinda sore from Saturday, 2) it was 106F outside yesterday and the thought of not running in an air conditioned building made us frown, and 3) we are still feeling kind of lazy and decided that this week was our transition week back into working-out before the gym re-opens next week. (I'm hoping that next week the gym will offer classes, but since it is technically a break between semesters they probably won't. We will probably just run on the treadmill and do arms and abs... Damn, I miss spinning!!!!)

Anyway... I mapped out a 5K course around our apartment complex. (again... transition week. We'll get back to our longer runs next week. At least I will.) We waited until the sun was going down and it was only 88F before we set out. Right before we started I was beginning to dread the run, but then I remembered how excited I was about the run all day.

I'm not exactly sure why I was happy about running in the very humid air, but I think I felt inspired... like running outside was going to make me more of a runner. LOL. I'm not sure. I've also been reading many more blogs by fellow runners and my latest Runner's World magazine, so I suppose I felt inspired by all of them. One blog in particular (Just One More Mile) I just discovered yesterday, and I must say that the writer is truly inspiring! She came up with "Julyathon" last month and ran every single day of the month!!! And now she has started Augustathon! I figured that if she could run in the heat every single day, I most definitely could run two outdoor shorter runs in a week.

Anyway.... I thought that the run went very well. We went at a nice easy pace (probably around 12 min/mile). I enjoyed the outdoor scenery including the ponds with fountains and the setting sun. I said hello to a few people that we passed. lol.  I'm actually looking forward to Thursday's run. Hopefully the weather will be as nice as it was today (there was a nice breeze for a little while).

And next week back to more miles!!!