Tartan Trot 10k

For the past few weeks I've been teaming up with fellow blogger/UF Grad/awesome person, Lisa, as we work towards our personal running goals.  Last month I set some goals for myself and I was worried about how I was going to stay motivated to reach them.  I want to get to a 10:00/mile for a 10k (a 5k first) and I want to run at least 10 miles each week for the full year.  I also set a goal to run one race a month.  Stephen doesn't share my love of races and finding time for both of us to run after work is hard so I was looking at doing a lot of this solo.

I joined a gym in December to stay in shape through the winter and to get a head start on my training for the Half Dome hike this summer.  It's been very helpful having a treadmill on these dark, cold winter nights after work.

I ran a 5k in January right by my house and posted a picture on Instagram.  Lisa did the same thing.  We soon realized that we had pretty similar running goals and I joined up with her and some of her friends who were already running together.  We're like our own little running club.  It's been great to have people to keep me motivated.  Even waking up at 8:30am on a Saturday to head to the park isn't too bad when you know you're meeting friends.

My first race, the February race, with Lisa and friends was the Tartan Trot in Dunwoody.  There was a 5k and a 10k.  Two of us ran the 5k and two of us ran the 10k.  We had a great time, even if it was 30 degrees at the start of the race.  It was so cold that after I took my phone out it's case to take a picture it stopped working because it was so cold.  I didn't have music or my pace keeper lady from my running app.

I ran the 10k and even with the crazy cold, the 2 awful hills and not having music or anyone telling me how fast I was running, I beat my previous 10k time by four minutes!  I finished the Tartan Trot in 1:05:17, that's a 10:32/mile pace.  Much better than the 11:00+/mile runs that I'd been running.

We have a 5k in March, right after my birthday and hopefully I'll be even closer to a 10:00/mile by that time.

We look like we're going for a run in the snow