Running Update

Running has been going pretty good lately.  No major break throughs or personal records or races to report.  Just the slow and steady progress of a continued effort.  Which in and of itself is a success at this point.  I've accepted the fact that I can only really run 3 times a week.  Any more than that makes me a little crazy (schedule wise).  And I've also been running outside in really cold weather for the first time.  Other than needing to get perhaps a pair or 2 of pants and some sort of decent long sleeve top to run in, that has actually been fine.  I tend to run in the middle of the day, so it's not too bitterly cold.  And once I get going I feel totally fine.  The coldest part is after I get back home and need to take a shower.  But it's not as bad as I thought running outside in the cold would be.

So my running stats... as much as I've been keeping track anyway.

On the treadmill:
Average comfortable pace:  5.0 mph
Fastest pace I can hold for 2 minutes without needing to stop:  7.5 mph
Typical run length: between 30-35 minutes
Haven't checked my mile since the last update.

Outside:
Longest run:  4.2 miles with an 11 minute mile average
Hills are troubling to my hip, but unavoidable outside.

Aches and Pains:
My hip has started hurting again (boo!!!!), but if I take some motrin after a run it goes away and leaves me alone.  I probably shouldn't be doing this, but I've decided to just ignore it and push through.  If it gets bad enough I'll do something about it, but while the pain is minor and manageable I'm just going to live with it.

Other interesting news:
I can maintain a "sprint" kind of pace at the end of my runs for over 2 mintues.  woo :)
I'm debating running a 10k on New Years Eve, but since that's Matt's birthday I think I'm going to skip it and do a 5k on New Years Day instead.  We'll see.
I entered the lottery for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in April.  Not sure I'll get in, but we'll see.