Longest run yet!

Yesterday was officially 8 weeks until the Peachtree Road Race on July 4.  That means it's do or die time for my 10k training.  I have an 8-week training schedule that I found online and it started last night.  Basically the plan is to run 3x a week with 2 days of rest and 2 days of light cardio.  Week one starts with a 1.5 mile run and each day's run increases by half a mile.  By the end of the schedule you're at 10.2 miles.

I've been running for a few weeks now, but not consistently.  I'm able to run 2.5 miles in 30 minutes.  That's not going to cut it when it comes to race day.  Last night I decided to take a longer route through the park, explore some of the new expansions of the park and run 3+ miles.

I'll start by saying that the additions to the Park are amazing.  There are separate large and small dog parks, each huge, new trails and a couple new grass areas complete with bathrooms, water fountains and privacy. The main areas of the park were pretty busy last night, these new areas were almost unused.  I am in the park multiple times a week and I didn't know the park went back that far, so I'm sure a lot of people don't.  I hope it stays that way for a while.  A picnic on Sunday sounds perfect... I'd love to have a quiet area.

Area 15 (top right area north of the Botanical Garden) is the expansion.  I usually run on the paths shown in the map, the new paths aren't even on the map, but they were fantastic. 

The run was pretty brutal, but when it was over I felt like I could have pushed for another half a mile.  Our 3.24 miles was done in 38 minutes.  Not fast by any means, but I did it.  Stephen was a great running coach, he wouldn't let me quit, he knew I didn't need to.  It's so nice to have someone who wants to run with me and push me to do more.  I've now run a 5k distance, I'm halfway there.  The longest run of my life.