Let the sun shine!

I can't  believe the change that one week makes. From running with double layers, hat and mitts to single layers, and almost warm enough to simply run in a long sleeve shirt. Today's run felt like Spring was upon us, and the warm breeze on our face was an absolute blessing.

My father-in-law is visiting, so we took the opportunity to get Grampa to babysit so we could fit in our long run. Tyler wanted to show me this path he has taken in the past that includes a fair amount of hills. We started slow and had to marvel at how quickly the snow was melting all over. We could see people on lawn chairs outside, chatting with neighbours, while kids played outdoors happily. I have to say that stepping on snow on one or two occasion was almost blissful. With each step I felt like I was crushing the snow out of our way and making it go away for ever.

We continued our path to the big hill that Tyler wanted me to try. Past the hill was this isolated path that went on for about a kilometer with no one in sight. We were surrounded by fields, all was quiet except for the sound of our shoes hitting the ground. The sun was majestic and I was really happy that we had gone out.

As we continued our run, we increased our speed gradually. My legs felt ok, except for some tension in the heel, which is either caused by my shoe or the uneven pavement (the latter, I'm guessing). My knees were feeling some tension. I hope it is simply a sign that the muscles are working and they are getting stronger, not a sign of injury.

We finished the run with a small sprint which was lots of fun, except for the stitch I got on my right lung immediately following it :)

We ran just shy of 11 kilometers in 1.5 hours. It seems like the half-marathon is looking like a three-hour run right now....doesn't seem that great of a time, but I'm going to focus on just finishing it, not how long it will take. We still have 12 weeks to train, so lots of time to improve.