I did it!
I high-fived a fellow runner!
My “Praise Your Fellow Runner” mission started back in October. Since then I haven’t written much about it but I have continued to give huge grins, thumbs up, and “great job” encouragement to every runner I pass.
But I was still working up the nerve to go in for the high five.
The stars must have been aligned on todays run. Tate and I had already passed this one women a few times (more on that later) and she had given an open smile in response to my grin so I had a hunch she would be receptive.
As we approached each other I worked my way into position. Then I gave her a heads up by putting my hand up a few strides ahead of time and…
CONTACT MADE!
The best part was, she high fived Tate as she passed him just after me!
I did a little victory dance and proclaimed to Tate, “you don’t know how happy that makes me!”. His response? “You don’t know how much I love you because that makes you happy!”.
It was a good run.
We did the Monticello-Saunders Trail, which is an awesome 4 mile up and back (you may recall it from Thursday’s post). At the turn around point Tate and I had the following conversation.
She said: Sometime I want to run this route twice. I think it would be an easy 8 miles because your last two miles are downhill.
He said: Want to do it today?
She said: Kinda, not really.
He said: Let’s do it! Come on, what else do we have to do?
She said (reluctantly): Alright…
A mile later we stuck a compromise. We decided to turn around and head back up a 1/2 mile from the parking lot.
This was an excellent idea because
- 7 miles seemed like a more reasonable undertaking given my milage lately
- I did, in fact, have other things to get done today
- The first 1/2 mile from the car is the steepest!
I was a little overdressed but overall it was perfect!
The 7 miles took us 64 minutes and that includes a few minutes of walking on the second time up.
My pre-run strength and Pilates workouts came courtesy of Exercise TV. Both workouts were super straight forward (a little boring) but challenging.
The 10 minute Pilates routine can be found here. It is definitely an intermediate workout. It’s fast paced and challenging but nothing more than the basic 6 or so Mat Pilates moves (very few variations).
The 20 minute strength workout can be found here. Although the workout is kinda boring, I did really appreciate the trainers language and explanations of exercises. I am going to start using the cue to “blow yourself away from the floor” when doing a push-up in my classes! It’s a great reminder to exhale during the exertion and provides awesome imagery to help make it a little easier. Also, his “baby biceps-big biceps” (or something close to that) curl is killer! You’ll have to do the workout to find out for yourself. 😉
Dinner time! Happy 5th night of Chanuka!
Gracefulfitness 
