Perfect day for a run

As predicted, today was the perfect day for a run! It was 50 degrees, sunny, and breezy. And it was indeed a shorts day! There was still some wind when B and I headed uptown, but it felt great. We averaged a 9:11 mile and both felt really strong. My knee had been giving me a little trouble lately after runs (not during, thank goodness) and today it felt pretty good. It's about a 1.25 mile walk back to the apartment so that helped stretch me out, and once I got home I spent a good 15 minutes stretching while sipping on my Trader Joe's chocolate soy milk. I followed that up with a PB&J and had a random, thrown-together dinner of whole wheat penne, asparagus, mushrooms, tomatoes, chicken and parmesan (and dessert of frozen yogurt and cookies...) -- all that really hit the spot and was just what I needed after a tough run (especially the frozen yogurt! Love The Lite Choice).

I feel like the faster pace is becoming more natural since I can speak more easily at the quicker pace. B is a great running partner, and keeps me chatting and even laughing -- makes the run go by so quickly! It's been really encouraging for me to have a running buddy whom I think of as faster -- as I've said before, she definitely pushes me in a good way and it's been nice to see myself getting faster and feeling good while doing it. Thanks B!

Here are our splits and map from today:

Pretty good! The map is nothing new, but I'm thinking I'll take B north next time and see where we end up!

I had an interesting experience last summer when I ran uptown instead of downtown: I had a long run planned and decided to go uptown through Riverside Park (so pretty!) and thought I'd see where a path I didn't usually use would take me. Turns out it led to the Boat Basin, and before I realized where I'd ended up I was running through someone's buffet lunch. Whoops! And then I couldn't find my way out! I ran in a couple of circles, sort of wishing I could take a second to grab some of the buffet food (somehow I don't think that I'd fit in -- no one else appeared to be sporting running shorts) but finally found my way out. You never know where you'll end up when you run up there! I'm looking forward to running up there again soon -- who knows, maybe next time I can really embarrass myself and end up running through a black-tie event.

What's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you while running?