Recharged

 I had a pretty crappy run on Wednesday, so I was a little cautious but optimistic about my run on Friday.  I decided to do my favorite run.  It starts at my Grandma's house which my kids love, since they love to hang with my Grandma.

I started pretty slow and easy and took a lot of pictures of the wildflowers in bloom and this old granary.  It has always kind of freaked me out a little although it has never been in use in my lifetime.

 The grain trucks would have to BACK up that long wooden ramp.  I started driving that kind of truck when I was 13, except all I ever hauled was big round bales. The thought of backing up that ramp gives me the shivers.  Do you see how far it is down if you get a wheel off the edge? 

There were so many wild flowers blooming, including this pretty little daisy.

I kept the first 6 miles pretty slow which was easy since most of the way was slightly uphill.  Here is a collage of pictures I took on the way out.

I decided to push it on the way back and see how the legs were feeling.  I kept the pace 10-20 seconds under goal marathon pace for the way back and felt GREAT! It felt like my reset button

I felt so redeemed after the crappy long run this week.  Hip is feeling good, legs feel good and next time I will wear sunscreen.  I might have got a bit of a sunburn on my arms and shoulders.  At least I had sunscreen on my face!

Then I took the kids to the park in town for a playdate.  Overall a great day.

This morning I got up and started running before the sun came up and was suprised by how much get up and go my legs had.  My warm up miles lately have been 9:20ish pace.  This morning it was 8:30ish so I threw in some intervals.

400s x 6 at 6:10 pace
800s x 2 at 6:40 pace
400s x 2 at 6:25 pace

and a cooldown.  Felt great, loved watching the sun come up and felt AWESOME.  Even though I wanted to keep running I called it a day a 7 miles.  So hopefully my long run this week will go a lot smoother than the last.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!