Great run tonight!

I am heading out to New York City in the morn so I met up with one of my running group pals to get a run in tonight instead of our usual Wednesday night run. We met around 6:00 PM and enjoyed the beautiful 80+ degree Charleston day- sunshine, blue skies, and a nice coastal breeze. Of course, the bridge was absolutely packed (where were those people on those cold, rainy winter nights in the dark?!? Ha ha) so we opted for a 6 mile loop through the Olde Village of Mt. Pleasant, including an out-and-back jaunt up the pier by Sullivan's Island. Sailboats in the harbor, snowy white egrets, bright blue water....

Breathtaking.

That is all I can say to describe the views!

We used to run this route on a weekly basis during the winter and I am sad to say I had never seen it in the daylight until today. I will DEFINITELY be back! We finished up with a run through Shem Creek- one of my favorite places in Charleston. People were still out kayaking in the creek and enjoying happy hour right on the water.

My weekly mileage goal is 25-30 miles this week and I will scale down next week getting ready for the KDF Half. My race calendar after that is up in the air... I think I might try to keep my weekly mileage up for a couple weeks and enjoy some of the cross training activities I have gotten into lately... biking, kayaking, and swimming. It is a shame to not swim more as I have plenty of water to choose from- such as the clubhouse pool in my neighborhood in a pinch or the ocean which offers more room... and waves :)

On a strength-training note- my arms were KILLING me today. One of my work friends (who is now running Chicago with me!) asked me to take her around the weight room at work and show her how to use the machines. I spent about 2 hours on Monday showing her the ropes, proper technique, how to adjust the machines, etc. In the process, I did two full circuits of weights, abs, and did the bike and rowing machine to loosen up after my 9 miler on Sunday. Damn... I was sore! It made me motivated to keep the routine up as soreness is a good sign :) I am going to try to do that circuit at least twice a week and continue my make shift on-the-road plans of pushups, dips, and free weights when I need to fill in.

Overall, I feel great! I feel motivated...I feel like I am seeing results... and I feel healthier!

Cheers to that :)