Yesterday, I met with four other members from the running group at the Bloomington Rails Trail to do what is known as a cut down or negative split distance run. Our goal was to run seven miles and to have each mile be progressively faster. I felt pretty strong the first 3.5 miles:

Mile 1: 8:38
Mile 2: 8:17
Mile 3: 8:15
half way point: 29:14 (8:21 pace)

After that I fell apart. I was running pretty strong still for another half mile, but my legs started to feel like concrete and I got this incredible side cramp (probably lack of proper hydration), so the rest of the run took me about 40 minutes. It varied from jogging to walking. My pace for the second half of the run was about 11:25/mile.

So what is the point of all this? The point is to know your limitations and respect them. Push yourself. Don’t be afraid to go beyond the boundaries laid out for you, but respect yourself. Listen to your body, mind, and heart. If you do this then you can not go wrong. I would have loved to run the second half of my run in the same form of the first half, but sometimes we have to take a step back so that we can continue to move forward. Now that I know what my “current” limitations are, I will know how to adjust for my next cut down run. I also know that as I continue to train and lose weight that I will be more likely to maintain that 8:21/mile pace from yesterday. Regardless of the time, I was happy o finish and sometimes just completing the task is the most important thing.

Here is our route:

After only a little while, we spotted this little tiny puppy with big adorable brown eyes. I think at the time they were calling her “moo moo” or something like that, most likely due to her spotted tongue!

Five years later, she is still a huge part of our lives. She is a beautiful chocolate Lab-Sharpei mix. She has the wrinkles and attitude of a Sharpei, but acquired the speed, agility, and smarts of the Labrador.