Change of Plans, Apartments, and Swimming?

On Monday I received an email from Active informing me of a few local races coming up this month. I noticed there is a 5K in Claremont on the 4th. Since I want to get an official time for this distance, I signed up. So I changed my training plan for Keep LA Running a bit to fit this into it. Nothing big. So to recap, this week consisted of 5, 4, and 8 mile runs, all kept within the mile-paces set up last week. Next week training continues as planned.

Also, I will be moving to a new apartment during the next few days so I'll get to explore a new area and make new routes. That's always fun.

Lastly, I've been inspired to begin swimming. Since I've never done this before, it will be a learning experience. I'm not sure how successful I will be, but I will do my best. I've been reading as much as I can regarding techniques, and lane etiquette. I think I will start this madness after the 11th. This should be interesting.

Week Recap

This was a very good running week. Did every run on my training plan and ran everyone in the morning. It's been a while since I've ran 20 mile in 7 days. I've very happy about having done this. However, waking up at 6am has proven difficult. I've been able to get started at 6:30 or even 7 but much later than that would be bad for my runs. The heat is starting to creep up and I much rather run in the cool mornings. A 6am start would be best. If I stay consistent with the early wake up calls I think they will become routine eventually and 6 won't seem sooooo early.

Next week it will be 22 miles, after that a short week finishing with Keep LA Running on Sunday, July 11th. Can't wait! It will be my first official 10K.

In other news, yesterday a few of my friends and I went to Santa Monica to wander around Third Street Promenade and the pier. We stopped at Ye Olde King's Head for dinner and celebration.



If you're ever in Santa Monica, eat here. GREAT atmosphere, service, and, of course, food.

Also, The World Cup is fully on its way. Its been an exciting 2 weeks where I've seen very good, soccer, awesome goals, and ,sadly, horrible officiating (What's new?). By now the USA, England, France, Italy, and Cameroon teams are out. My beloved Cameroon will do well one of these times. I will hold hope.

Time to relax and watch Argentina play Mexico! WOOOOOO!!!

7Miles. +1

Just got back from this morning's run. 7:30am is too late to start. The temperature was already in the high 60s and the cloud cover was nowhere to be found.

As I mentioned yesterday it was my first time running with someone as, or more, into running than me. I didn't know I was in for a surprise. Patrick is a Sub-4 Marathon runner who just finished his junior year of high school! His PR for his competitive 2-mile races is 11:50!! Needless to say, I was playing catch up the whole time. Thankfully he was gracious enough to stay next or only one step ahead of me. The first three miles were a bit difficult since they were a slight, long uphill but after that the decline began and I was able to maintain a faster pace.

Another thing I was preparing for was talking while running. Since this is the first time we've met (He's a friend of a friend and we've only talked on Facebook) I knew we were going to talk about all things running and whatnot. I found talking and running to be easier than expected. We chatted up and my breathing never became difficult, so that's a plus for me!

He's also into the five finger running shoes. I've read the argument that has been brewing for about a year regarding this new trend. We didn't really discuss why he was into them but I'm sure that's a conversation for another time.

We finished 7 miles in about an hour and five minutes. I accidentally hit the stop button as I was putting the timer away right at the start, so the time is just an estimate.

Running with someone else is very different from running alone but is something I now welcome a bit more. We're going to try to do this every week and I'm looking forward to see how it develops.