So as you probably imagined, I abandoned my goal of running a mile every day in March. I made it till St. Patrick's Day, then mistakes were made and the whole goal went kerflooey like a falling souffle. Once one day had slipped by, then two, it hardly seemed worth it any more.
But that's rationalization for you. I did dust off my running shoes on Friday, when my friend Luther invited me to run the Crystal City 5K. He's a Crystal City Friday 5K aficionado. I was a little more leery after my grim run in the rain last year, where as you'll remember, I was passed by pudgy black Labrador. But I decided to give it a go and run again this year.
Here we are - thanks to Luther's best gal Michelle for the photos!
This time, I tried to set attainable goals for myself to keep my spirits up. I'd pick someone in front of me, then see if I could pass them. Woman running with a puggle? Passed 'em. Kindergartener jogging? Totally passed her. Mom pushing a double jogging stroller with two juice box-drinking kids in tow? Nope. That woman was a beast. Finally at the end of the race, we were neck and neck, then at the last turn she clicked up a gear and sailed away, leaving me in the dust.
Luther looks a lot happier than me while running...
Look, he's skipping!
It's not apparent in any of the pictures that my feet ever left the ground.
This time turned out to be way more fun and less painful than the last 5k I ran, and yet, I was one minute faster last year. Oh well, give or take a minute, who cares? It's good to get out in the fresh air and earn that day's smores latte... I might run the 5k again at the end of this month!
And if you are the type of runner who is inspired and motivated by fancy athletic clothing (ahem), you have to peruse Nike's new tumblr: http://madebynike.tumblr.com/
All I see lately is neon and uber bright running togs, but this line of Nike women's training clothes are all downtown muted greys and mauves and blacks, almost reminiscent of Alexander Wang? It's the type of stuff that Division 1 athletes turned Vogue staffers would wear to Pilates.
