The post I wanted to make LAST Tuesday

But first, thanks to Siobhan who works at Blogger, I got to see pictures of cute little babies when I logged in! Hey, it makes my day a little brighter. :D

Anyway, the announcement, dah-dah-dah-DAAAAAH! I ran 4 miles straight today! ^_^ I also did a total of 4.5 miles, but I've done that before with stops and starts. Today was my first straight-up 40 minutes (actually a TINY bit less; I ran a few minutes here and there at 6.2 instead of 6, so I shaved about ten seconds off my total time), 4-mile run! It was on a treadmill, I still have yet to equal even 3 miles straight outside on the trail out there... But I SHALL! I took a little mini-break, doing a little walking and also letting myself stop entirely to get some more water, for about three minutes before doing the last half-mile at varying speeds. I did it mainly between 6.0 and 8.0 with the bulk of it in the middle of that, and it took about 4:30. :)

It was especially nice after yesterday's workout, which was not BAD per se but was so disorganized that I really felt I got almost nothing accomplished. I just didn't have a real plan; I thought I would try one of the Winsor Pilates DVDs that EmLit gave me, but the first was outside my fitness range and the second was actually, believe it or not, a little too light for my liking. I also tried warming up with a Zumba DVD but I don't feel like it got me sufficiently "het up" to actually have burned many calories. But it did get the blood flowing, which was important. In the end I just did bits and pieces of different things, including around 15 minutes of the "Advanced" Winsor Pilates DVD - that is the easiest one of the three I got, the other two were Maximum Burn and I couldn't do 'em yet - that were challenging but I didn't have the time or patience to do the entire 50-minute workout.

I thought then that I would do the Crunch Pilates workout again, and put the DVD in, only to decide instead to do Day 3 of the 100 Push-ups challenge (that's right, I hadn't done it yet... well, they did say "at least" 1 day in between, so no rule said I *couldn't* do it four days after Day 2) and what with the 120-seconds in between each level I realized I wouldn't have time to do the Crunch.

But, you know, I do usually work out 7 days a week, and I don't HAVE to. So having a relatively light workout, while not entirely satisfying to me, isn't going to push my fitness level into the crapper or anything. ;)

I also want to add that I was very pleased with myself on Sunday! Due to a visit to my grandmother I didn't have time earlier in the day to work out, and later on I felt tired and just lay down and read for a while. Later, though, I felt bad; I *want* to work out both days of the weekend, especially because I know this weekend will be touchy on Friday and Saturday (due to the wedding I'm in). It occurred to me that I could potentially go at night, after putting the kid down to bed... so I did. AND? Best part? Wait for it... I decided, since the night was cooling off, to run the parking lot outside. It's just about a mile all the way around, with some really good hills. I did a full three times around! :D

So I just want everyone to know that I'm awesome.

Okay, seriously though, in the face of my last outdoor run where I couldn't even manage 2 miles, this was terrific. I wasn't worrying about speed but I did fine anyway (about 9:30 or so to get a full way around; I honestly don't know the exact distance but since part of it is downhill I think that accounts for some of the speed) and the hills did NOT kill me. In fact, on the half that wasn't uphill I was even able to regain a slower breathing pace! I am in so much better shape than I thought I was after last week's Bad Run.

I know I sound really braggy. But you know, it's just a real accomplishment for me, and I'm really proud of it. I am working hard and I love seeing it pay off. And since I have no idea what the future may hold, and this might be the extent of my achievement for a while, I'm going to celebrate it. :)

For the record, I totalled 5 miles, walking and running, today with a time (not including the 2 minutes or so when I got off the treadmill) of 52:25.

Oh, and also for the record, I did manage those 63 pushups for Day 3. And now I hurt. :P