Water, lots of water

Last week I was going to start running more.  I was also going to start hill repeats on Saturday, the first Saturday of February.  Well, I did run 3 days last week, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, however, my mom and 2 of my sisters and I went for an all day shopping trip on Saturday and I didn't run.  Which means I didn't do hill repeats on Saturday either.  I did have a good trip with my sisters and my Mom, and I got some really cute clothes (that unfortunately I have to wait for spring/summer to wear).

One of my favorite things to shop for is shoes.  I am a shoe-aholic, I admit it freely and proudly.  I tend to buy most of my shoes with my closest sister (closest in distance and relationship), so I was super excited to go shoe shopping on Saturday.  Well, I didn't find any shoes I liked.  One pair was too small in my size and (of course) too big in a half size bigger.  I like heels, I like the way I feel in them and I like the way I look in them.  Whenever I can't find a pair of heels that I like, I think that I should buy some flat shoes because I don't have very many and I could use them, but then I feel like I'm "wasting" my money when I do that . . . it's so dysfunctional (my thinking).  Anyway, when I was unable to find heels, I ended up buying a pair of hiking boots.  It was hard, but I did want them anyway, and they were on sale, I do need to have them if I'm going to continue with my goal of hiking this year . . .

So running, I ran 4 miles last Tuesday and 3 miles on Thursday.  Neither one of them was anything special to write about.  =)  On Sunday it was raining.  It was raining a lot, and had been raining for several days.  We were under a flood watch (I wasn't in danger of a flood, but the lowlands in my area and the rivers were).  I didn't really want to go for a run, but I figured I needed to.  Especially since Sunday was the Super Bowl and I planned to eat a lot of unhealthy, fried food.

So I told myself I'd run 5 miles, and that would be good.  Well, as it often does, while I was running I changed my mind.  I decided to go a different route, incorporate my long run route into my regular 5 mile run route and make it 6 miles so that I could run by the river and see how high it was.  Well, when I ran down the big hill to the low lands, I ran into a lake . . . literally.

I tried to pick my way through some grass and blackberry bushes, but I ended up with one foot sinking into the water.  Thankfully it was only one foot, and I didn't notice it too much (probably already wet from all the rain/puddles/water I had already run through).

I got to my turning point and decided to not turn and add some more distance.  At this point I had no idea how far I was going to run, I was kinda thinking it would turn out to be 8 miles, but I didn't know for sure. 

I did run by the river, but it wasn't as high as I've seen it before.

Even the creek that is normally dry was flooded and "raging."

I ended up with 7 miles, which I was okay with, and it turned into a very good run, even though I was wet.  I definitely like that distance, almost anything between 5 and 10 miles is great. 

I kept very good track of my food during the Super Bowl, even though it was high calorie and not good for me, I stuck to serving sizes and logged it as soon as I ate it.  I still managed to stay under my calorie goal with the added running calories.  =)

I ended up with only 12 miles last week (that doesn't count Sunday because that is this week).  =)  But I do plan on running tonight, Thursday, hills on Saturday, so we'll see how many I get. 

When I was running hill repeats a few years ago, they totaled about 3 miles, but I haven't run hill repeats in almost 2 years (well, I ran a lot of hills last spring to train for the San Juan Half, but not just repeats), so I'm thinking 3 miles is an awful lofty goal.  It will probably be a lot less.