Training Run 2 - 2.5 Miles

Oh. ehm. gee. what an amazing day for a run!!! 71F, sun shining, crystal clear blue skies, the perfect little breeze to keep me from overheating...yes. amazing.

2.5 miles is not a lot of distance to cover when you come from a perspective that includes a history of daily 6-8 mile runs. you learn to see it as a warm-up, the distance in which you find your stride for the rest of the day, establish your breathing, and find that zone where you can just lose yourself. those longer runs are wonderful because you can solve all the world's problems in an hour and walk away exhausted and satisfied. 2.5 miles is like foreplay cut short. You're just starting to really get into it, you're hot, you're breathing harder and starting to sweat and really feeling ready to take it a bit farther...and then you cross that distance line and you're done.

That said, today's 2.5 mile run felt like an accomplishment. My stride loosened up just enough that I felt a bit more fluid, and despite the additional half-mile, it felt much easier today. I cannot go so far as to say that it came naturally -- and it's funny how this set of movements that used to feel so natural and blissful is now so foreign and forced -- but it was less awkward than on wednesday's run. I finished my run in just under 22 minutes (and it's difficult silencing that perfectionist in my head screaming through a megaphone that i used to finish 3 miles in 21 minutes, but whatever), and improvement already seems achievable. I'm admittedly nervous to bump my mileage beyond 4 at this point, but I have more than 2 weeks until the schedule calls for it.

As a good friend of mine would say, onward.