I must say, I am quite happy with the progress I have made this week. Just six days ago, I ran for the first time in a long while with my friends, and it was an extremely challenging event. The main issues were I had not consumed nearly enough water and it was tremendously hot out. I’m not sure how long that run was, likely between 5 to 6 miles, but it was the hardest run of my life due to those aforementioned factors combined with not having trained in long-distance running for years. Something deep inside me realized that if I really want to be fit, I need to be able to run long distances easily. So I began training the very next day and achieved a mildly respectable 1.49 mile distance at 8:28 mile. I ran two more times before seeing my friends again yesterday for another Baltimore City run, which went far better for me.
Most importantly, I drank a lot of water before running, which alone made a huge difference. Frankly I think I could have performed well that first time if only I was properly hydrated. It was also a lot cooler out, and the previous training runs I did certainly helped. In any case, this run was absolutely amazing. Strava measured this run at 6.74 miles with a 9:08/mile pace, and it didn’t even feel that hard! Compared to last week when every step felt so challenging and I wondered whether I could even finish, this was a smooth, very enjoyable journey. The scenery was also a lot better, as we took the forest trails of Baltimore (which I didn’t know existed) and through the Johns Hopkins campus. We also went through an alley with the best alley art I have ever seen; we had to take a short break there to get some pictures (see below). Running in new places exposes you to beauty that can’t possibly be anticipated. I am very excited to continue training and see just how fast and far I can go.
