9.5 miles and counting...

Yesterday marked my longest running day ever on the calendar - 9.5 miles! Normally, my friend Brita runs with me but she's taking care of her knees so they don't cause her future problems, so I was on my own. Andy started out with me, but he runs the entire time and I run/walk. Typically I will run 6 minutes, walk 1 minute, run 6, walk 1 and so on. This 6:1 ratio seems to be a really good fit for me - thanks to my oldest sister Kirsta who advised this (she ran the Original Greek Marathon in Athens a couple years ago).

The day was pretty clear for WA (meaning, no rain and you could occasionally see the sun) and the temperature just about perfect (around 55). We'd mapped a course around 9.76 miles and took off. A little more than 2 hours later, I arrived back at the starting position - tired, but feeling great! I managed to keep my 6:1 ratio through most of the run, doing one 8:1 when I was feeling great, a 2:1 on a hill, a 3:1 on a mini hill and two 5:1s near the end. All in all, I was very happy with how it went! I'm still overweight by about 80-90 lbs so the fact that I could get out there and run with the best of them was an awesome feeling!! In fact, when I got home, my body bugg that I wear to tell me how many calories I burn, told me that I'd already burned over 3,000 calories that day and it was only 2pm! I ended up burning around 4,700 for the day - the end result being that in one day, I lost a pound! Add that to the three I lost last week, and I've moved back into a weight category that I was over 10 years ago! Wahoo! My jeans come up and down on me without unbuttoning! Time to move down another size. That means I've gone down 4 pants size and 4 shirt sizes! It feels great!!

Today, it's sunny and is supposed to reach 67 degrees!! So, Andy will come out to the courts and play some tennis with me (my FAVORITE!!!)! Can't wait!!!