8 miles before sunrise

All day yesterday, I was excited to go on a bike ride after work with Mike and Lily. 

If I could have gone back in time and told the April 2011 version of myself that, it would have sounded like the equivalent of "I really can't wait to go to the dentist and get a cavity filled without Novocaine after work". 

I never thought I would get to the point where I was comfortable on the bike, much less look forward to bike rides. That's not to say I never get nervous or scared anymore, especially on those downhills, but things have massively improved.

We rode 14.5 miles in an hour and ten minutes. Our pace was super relaxed, we really just wanted to chat and unwind rather than push for a tough workout. With a twenty miler and a speedwork session that nearly killed me already under my belt for this week, I was loving that plan.

But, sadly, that plan came to a screeching halt this morning. Just 8 hours after saying goodbye to my exercise buddies last night, the alarm was going off for my tempo run this morning.

I left the house at 4:35, got to Lily's at 4:50, and we got 8 miles in before the sun was even up!

It was a bit of an adventure finding runnable, safe streets with shoulders in Lily's neighborhood. We both forgot our headlamps. The street lights did a pretty good job for the most part, but there were some scary dark parts.

Good news - we got some sprints in (avoiding cars). Bad news - we had to slow down sometimes due to not being able to see the ground.

Our six tempo miles were: 9:00 (up a hill/super dark and couldn't see), 8:33, 8:49, 8:44, 8:43, 8:26. Lily is awesome at pacing, and I was so glad to have her pushing me the whole time. It's so easy to slow down by yourself, I love having the accountability of a running buddy. I was proud that we attacked all the hills and really didn't slow our pace too much on them.

Check out those guns! That's what .62 miles of swimming in a tri gives you. You don't need to train for it or anything, don't worry.

Three of my favorite things: spending time with my family, going to weddings, and being overly judgmental for no good reason. Three things happening this weekend: traveling to my hometown to visit my family, going to my friend Emma's wedding, and going to my high school reunion. As always, you do the math.