7 on the 7th - A Virtual Race

Amanda over at Run to Finish has been throwing together some fantastic challenges to keep us motivated during the winter season. Yesterday she was the race director for 7 on the 7th - a virtual race! I had 10K on my schedule and I figured that I could probably bump it up a bit to run 7 miles. Why not?

It was cool in the morning but it was quickly warming up as the sun was out. After all of my complaining about the icy, slippery sidewalks in my neighborhood last weekend...I decided to run around my neighborhood. We've had some good sun to help melt stuff a bit so I was feeling optimistic that road conditions might have improved slightly. I was also hoping that after some ART my right leg would be feeling a bit more cooperative. And speaking of which, it looks as though a very tight right hip flexor is to blame for pretty well everything hurting in the leg. I guess it is all connected!

As I got moving things were feeling pretty good. I started off nice and slow and then wound up picking up speed throughout the run. The blue sky, the clear mountains for a backdrop...it was absolutely amazing out there. There were still some slippery portions out there - so I apologize for any lawns I walked on. Seriously though, these people should not have let the ice build up on their sidewalks! It was a lot better than last week though. I had no expectations for a time or pace since my neighborhood is pretty hilly. No matter what though, since my house is at the top of a hill it always makes for a tough ending to any run and I was huffing and puffing up the final hill pretty well.

When I first started this running thing I was doing the Jeff Galloway run/walk approach. I started out at 4:1 intervals...moved to 9:1...to 19:1... I've also been working on cutting out walk breaks entirely on longer and longer runs. So yesterday I ran 7 miles, no walking. Good stuff!

Anyhow, final results for my 7 miler? 1:11:17. I'll take it!

Thanks for putting on the race Amanda!