January Recap, 3 Mile Day, Garbage, and Appreciation Challenge

According to my running journal, in January I've walked 12.36 miles (this is basically my warm ups and cool downs) and ran 53.64 miles in 10 hours 11 minutes 12 seconds (10:11:12. I seriously giggled like a kid when I saw that). Anyway, I should have absolutely no problem hitting 600 running miles in 2012 if I keep up this pace, especially since I'm planning to start upping my mileage. I'm already tentatively training for a 7k in March and I'd LIKE to be able to do a half marathon by the end of 2012, though that's completely up in the air. No matter what, I'm really enjoying my runs right now. Now that I've started to look at the runs themselves as enjoyable, and not just a means to an end, I'm noticing the feeling of strength in my body (and mind) during runs. I've had a lot to think about this month and contemplating big things on my runs seems to be helping me keep my calm.

Excuse the blurry. Silly camera.

Today's run was an easy 3 miles. The temperature didn't get up to 50* like the weathermen were saying, but it was around 43* and cloudy when I went out (still awesome, though). Since the temperature was borderline and I didn't feel like dirtying my last clean long-sleeve tech shirt (I don't want to do laundry until Sunday!), I pulled out my nifty new Pearl Izumi thermal arm warmers. Finally I got a chance to try them out! :) It was weird knowing that I only had to run 3 easy miles today since I've been running 4 miles so often lately. Like I said the other day, I'm tentatively training for a 7k in March instead of just working towards a 5k. It'll be interesting to see how much this difference affects my 5k time for the Winterfest 5k next weekend (maybe a new PR?). Back to today. I decided, once again, to pace myself by feeling and to only look down at my Garmin when I heard it beep for each mile. I REALLY don't want to jinx it, but I think I'm getting halfway decent at this! My first mile was 11:33/mile. The second was 11:14/mile and the third was 10:43/mile. Total run was 3 miles in 33:29.5 (that's a 11:10/mile pace).  

There is ONE THING that bothers me EVERY SINGLE TIME I run outside. Garbage on the side of the road. It isn't so bad inside the village limits of our little community, but JUST outside limits, in the township, is HORRIBLE. Can't look down without seeing paper, cigarette buts, and cans. Every day I want to go home and come back with 2 garbage bags - one for garbage and one for recycling - and just walk that day's route all over again. Actually, I could probably double the amount of aluminum I turn in for cash at the recycling center at the end of each month. And, believe me, you can tell the difference between something falling out of an old garbage can and something that was thrown out of a moving car (usually beer cans around here). It infuriates me that people do this and that other people ALLOW this crap to sit in their yard. Have these people no pride in their lawns? Knowing this area, if I DID ever go out and start cleaning up the roadsides, someone would probably call the cops and say I was stealing or trespassing. Ugh.

Amanda at Run To The Finish is hosting a 30-Day Appreciation Challenge this month and I finally decided this morning that I would participate too. {HERE} is her intro to the challenge and {HERE} is today's post on the kickoff. Since I don't do as well with challenges where I can't set up mathematical spreadsheets to track my progress, I'm going to be loosely following the worksheet Amanda has posted in the kickoff post. For every day, I'll be completing a "Self Appreciation" and a "Who I Appreciate" prompt. The worksheet doesn't have as many self-appreciation ideas as days for the challenge, so I haven't decided if I'm going to stop after I've run out, recycle, or work on some of my own, but I have 3 weeks to think about that.

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~February 1, 2012~

Self Appreciation:

I love my ... eyes. They're technically green, but there is a ring of gold on the inner-most edge of the iris and the shade of green changes kind of like a mood ring. Sometimes it looks more gray, sometimes more blue, and sometimes vividly green. They're seriously one of my favorite parts of myself. :)

Who I Appreciate:

A little corny, but I'm appreciating the crew of Ghost Hunters/ The Atlantic Paranormal Society tonight. Wednesday is new episode night for GH and it's always a welcome mid-week break. Plus, I've had some experiences of my own and hearing other peoples' stories makes me feel not so alone. Also, Jason is always posting pics and videos of his 3 Aussies on facebook and twitter and they never fail to make me smile! :)