My Inaugural Bagel Run

Well, I *finally* made it out to a Howard Country Striders Bagel Run! I've wanted to go for some time now. In the beginning of my running life, I was super intimidated. Yes, yes, they claim (in bold font) that runners of all skills and abilities are welcome, but a girl's got pride! ;) Or at least she used to... I have come to the point where I am proud of my accomplishments and really treat running as an individual sport (i.e. I compare myself against myself), although running in groups makes it so much better (in my opinion)!!!

Anyways, Jess B. invited me to come out with her this morning, so I did! We set out to go 8. Since I had not really run any distance (except ONE treadmill session doing intervals) in the last 4 weeks (when I ran 8 with STB), I was nervous. I gave her the following conditions:

1) We go slow; and
2) We may need to walk some.

She agreed. And so did I! We met at 0645 (or 0650...whatever...) and the Bagel Runners take off promptly at 0700. We said goodbye to Jess's husband, Jeremy, as he runs super fast and we knew we wouldn't see him until he was well rested post-run (p.s. he ran 2 miles further than us and still whooped us...love it.). I ended up needing to walk a lot more of it than I would have liked (i.e. ZERO). However, I feel pretty okay about that decision. I am not training for anything. I burned a good number of calories and I hadn't run in a month!

Here are the stats (first by overall, then by walk/run breakdown) and this is a link to the route:

Total Distance: 8.05 miles
Total Time: 1:46:21
Total Calories Burned: 953
Average Pace: 13:13 min/mile
Average HR: 165

Lap 1 (Run): Distance: 4.69 miles; Time: 55:07; Calories Burned: 609; Avg Pace: 11:45 min/mile; Avg HR: 171
Lap 2 (Walk): Distance: .31 miles; Time: 6:36; Calories Burned: 30; Avg Pace: 21:16 min/mile (water stop included); Avg HR: 162
Lap 3 (Run): Distance: .48 miles; Time: 5:54; Calories Burned: 56; Avg Pace: 12:25 min/mile; Avg HR: 162
Lap 4 (Walk): Distance: .16 miles; Time: 2:29; Calories Burned: 15; Avg Pace: 15:36 min/mile; Avg HR: 167
Lap 5 (Run): Distance: .72 miles; Time: 9:12; Calories Burned: 78; Avg Pace: 12:49; Avg HR: 164
Lap 6 (Walk): Distance: 1.36 miles; Time: 23:06; Calories Burned: 126; Avg Pace: 16:57; Avg HR: 153
Lap 7 (Run): Distance: .33; Time: 3:54; Calories Burned: 39; Avg Pace: 11:52; Avg HR: 170

We walked to the water stop (between miles 4 and 5, closer to 5). It was my hope to walk a decent amount there and not have to walk again. That did not happen. I probably *could* have pushed myself to run more of it, if not the whole thing, but I am pleased with the workout I got. It wasn't easy and I feel good. I hope Jess is okay with it!!! She's awesome for walking so much with me! Also, at lap 6, we walked awhile because I was talking Jess's ear off which I wasn't able to do while running, so I intentionally took the break for some much needed (emotionally) conversation. I just love Jess so much! We don't spend tons of time together, but it is always AWESOME! She gets me in ways that a lot of other people don't or can't, thanks for that Jess!!!

Also, TAA was there! I did not see him even once which is not surprising since he runs like 6:30s, but like a good stalker/groupie I thought I should mention this fact. :)

Next workout: lifting tomorrow!