My New Shoes!!!

 The Dirty ones are not new, I bought them somewhere around February or March this year and I have used them about 3 or 4 times now. Yesterday my two new pairs of shoes were delivered, the Pumas Spectana 1 and my new pair of Brooks Ravennas! I have yet to try either of them out, but tomorrow I go and run with Shari and her group, so I think I might try the Pumas since my old pair are Brooks Ravennas (I know how they feel). I have a race this Saturday, and it will be difficult to decide which ones I should run in, I am just extremely excited to have them!!!

Yesterday - Running with Shari and group

   After noticing my complaining on facebook about how much I couldn't wait for Jump Start to begin, Shari invited me to her running group on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. I was a little nervous to say the least because I am very quiet and shy, but the ladies were awesome and nice, very talkative. We ran 4 miles, I made a friend with a lady named Marie though she pronounces it like Maurien almost I think. She stuck with me around mile 2 and the rest, we probably walked for 2 or 3 minutes for .4 miles because I told her about the pains I have been having lately so she didn't want me to hurt myself. I had a great time and can't wait til next Thursday and especially Jumpstart now, Marie and Shari and them will be doing marathons next Saturday while I am doing a 5k. I just purchased two new pairs of running shoes, I think my Ravennas are aging and that might be why I have been have a lot of aches and pains. One new pair are Ravenna (again!) and the other pair are Pumas, they have good reviews so I figured I would try them and rotate my shoes during runs. I think our time was around 45:00 minutes.

John James Audubon State Park

    I am so glad I got up this morning and went running, not just running but I went to John James Audubon Park and ran on the Back Country Trail(BCT); from Warbler Road to the BCT trailhead is .5 miles, the BCT is 1.6 miles before it reaches the midsection of the Wilderness Lake Trail which is a total of 1 mile, so .5 miles to the trailhead that reaches back to Warbler Road then .25 miles to the parking lot. So I would say it was a total of 2.85 miles with me probably running 2 miles and walking around .8 miles including the first .5 miles. I took photos and worked on catching my breath, I am still new to trail running and these trails aren't for beginners. Here are some photos;

Getting over the Hump

     I am beginning to wonder if I will ever get past 3 miles a run, if it isn't my IT band, it is my knees, if it isn't them then it is my foot. I just can't seem to push past this 3 mile barrier, not even with 3 miles being my long run once a week. I went for a 2.36 mile run on April 7th, but must've forgot to log it, my knees were hurting afterwards but my foot wasn't really. Yesterday evening I went for a 1.20 mile run at Howell Wetlands, partially boardwalk and trail for 13:05 minutes so I am putting it around 1.20 miles though I can't really map it. I didn't feel pain really, but it was very humid and I was sweating bad. I am determined to get past this stupid barrier so I am just going to keep running, May is coming very soon and Jumpstart will begin and hopefully with their much better scheduling and 10% increase, I can get past 3 miles.