What a gorgeous weekend.

The weather was beautiful this weekend unfortunately my schedule did not live up to my expectations. As I mentioned in the post below we celebrated the engagement of my younger sister Friday night. I ate a lot of pasta, did not drink but I was up late, at least late for me. I am not sure if it was the pasta, the lack of sleep or a combination of both but I was in a funk Saturday morning. I was crabby and fatigued and disappointed because I knew that there would be no running or biking. I needed the rest and I was not going to get in my workout. The day was still very nice and it did not rain until later in the evening so I got to spend a lot of time with the family.

Sunday I woke up early and squeezed the long run in before church. I put no thought into pacing before this run so I did a little math during my warm up and came up with a plan. I would run the first three miles in 9:00 minute/mile, the next four at a 8:45 minute/mile pace and the final four at 8:30 minute/mile pace. That never happened. The first mile came in a perfect 9:00 minutes. The next was pretty fast in eight forty something and instead of regrouping and backing off the pace I went with it and ran negative splits for five miles. After that I ran a couple miles close to even splits and negative splits including some really good ones the last two or three miles. I felt comfortable enough to run twelve miles instead of eleven so I was pleased with that. The rest of the day I did yard work and played with the kids so I obviously was not feeling too sore.

The rest of this week will be interesting. Our church has challenged us to fight hunger and be more aware of how too many people in this world are forced to live. As part of the Celebration of Hope we are packing meals to feed ten thousand children in Africa for a year. Many people in the world live on two dollars or less a day so for the next five days we are eating like that is all we have. That means a cup of plain oatmeal for breakfast, beans and rice in a tortilla for lunch and a little rice, small amount of vegetables and an even smaller amount of chicken for dinner. The money we save will be donated to provide more meals for those in need. This is how I will be eating for the next five days so my running will certainly be curtailed. I hope to run three miles tomorrow, three on Wednesday and I should be fine on Sunday to run my pull back long run of eight miles.

12 miles in 1:42:44