With day 47 in the books, I’m pleased to sit down and jot down a thought or two.
How did I do?
I ran my 5K as I intended! I took 34.5 minutes, for about an 11 min/mile pace.
So I think that’s pretty impressive. I still have three weeks to go to remove 4.5 minutes off the time. It won’t be easy. But I have some strategies in mind. I ran the whole distance while keeping an avg 161 bpm heart rate. I’m proud of this. (Note - I warmed up and cooled down outside of the workout session.)
Diet was good. A lot of vegetables. And I did plenty of more walking throughout the day.
Highlight of the day?
The run of course. For many reasons. The weather was good. A beautiful Dutch morning. But one thing in particular to highlight was that I bumped into another runner along the way. When I started my loop back towards my house on the dike road, I crossed paths with another runner. He was already running in the direction I was about to turn towards, except he instead took to the bike path I was running on. So he ran on the bike path as I ran on the dike, in the same direction (towards Hekendorp). It was fun to spot him across the field that separated the levee road and the bike path. I could track my progress relative to his. I could tell he did the same because on two occasions we waved at each other a few times and then reconnected when the bike path and dike road came together again on the other side. (This end is where I typically start on the bike path, at the beginning of my run). By now I have run at 2.5 out of 3.12 miles, so I’m getting tired. But he waves and smiles. We cheer on one another. He starts to walk, and I pass him. Hey may be done, but I’m not. I may never see him again. Serendipity is great.
How do I feel?
I feel good. Progress feels right. I’m exceeding my expectations at this point. Have to keep it up, keep growing!
We’re 13 days away from returning. In other words, 13 days away from weighing in. Oh boy.