Jodi's Running Blog

When I was on my high school cross country team, I usually ran 5k’s between 22:50 (which remains my PR to this day) and 25 minutes. Since that time, I have never broken the 25 minute 5k, and had determined that it may not happen again. For some reason, though, I had this magical moment today where I thought it was to be.

I had every intention of skiing today for exercise, but on my way to Summit Central I got caught in the middle of a winter storm. When my car began sliding on the road, and my visibility was next to nothing (I won’t go into further details here), I turned around and drove back to Seattle. I was thinking about how the combination of skiing and running this winter had really brightened my mood during an otherwise chilly and gray atmosphere, and how I do feel that perhaps *this* is the best shape of my life. Upon arriving home, I decided today’s workout was going to consist of a 5k, and I would run it as quickly as I could (at a speed maintainable for 3.1 miles). I used the treadmill in my condo’s fitness room to get the distance exactly right. Granted, the indoor temperature was an ideal 65 degrees and it was flat the entire way – but I finished in 24:04!!! Talk about shock. How did that happen? My first thought, rather than being proud of myself, was that the speed on the treadmill must be broken. I don’t think it was, though – I’ve been using it off and on for months and it has been consistent.

24:04 – a slightly better than average time from my high school running days. Except it happened today! At the age of 27, I still have some running spunk. I’m eager to run in a local race, to see if I can repeat the time outside, on random inclines in a different temperature.

So now I’m *really* excited about running, and wondering what I can still do.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Winter Olympics managed to fire me up again about running. After a couple of weeks of consistent workouts, I have created a new goal for myself, something I have wanted to do for years but have never actually made it happen: I would like to run a sub-50 minute 10k. My most recent 10k’s have brought times of 52:02 (Cooper River Bridge Run, 2002), 59:41 (Cooper River Bridge Run, 2003 – not a great race day), and 52:35 (Salmon Days Rotary Run, 2005). My accounts of these races are documented on my website. I think consistent running, pacing, and a good race day could finally lead to breaking into 49 territory in the 10k. Now to choose a race…spring is on the way, and road races are not scarce on Seattle weekends during the spring and summer months.

I have been running outdoors mostly as well, trying to better train myself on the natural inclines of the area. I trained for the Salmon Days 10k last October mainly on the treadmill; now, I’m reserving the treadmill only for those days when the weather is particularly nasty. However, it is nice to know exactly how far I have run and to be able to split my miles precisely.

On a slightly different but similar note, I recently received a free issue of Runner’s World in the mail, a magazine to which I used to have a subscription, but allowed it to lapse due to a lack of time in keeping up with all of them (Runner’s World, The New Yorker, JAMA, Neurology, Newsweek). However, I have REALLY enjoyed reading this issue and am considering a subscription (which, I imagine is the reason they have sent me a free issue, so their marketing is working). It is certainly motivating.

Happy running!