Turkey Boy and Picking Up the Pace

First things first, here. Below you will find a picture of Silas and me celebrating his first Thanksgiving. Please note that I bought product and styled my son's hair into a kickin' faux-hawk, which made him all the more irresistible. He was adorned in a quite adorable Thanksgiving outfit, replete with a turkey bib that was promptly covered with a variety of foods that his eager mother stuffed into his mouth. Such foods included mashed potatoes (which were repeatedly gagged and spat back out onto the turkey bib), sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, cool whip, and gravy. The boy seems to love his pumpkin pie, so he's a chip off the old block in that regard.

All this talk of food makes me feel the need to jog. One might think that because I met my goal at the Turkey Trot my running days are over, to which I emphatically reply, "Hell-to-the-no."  I have several vague goals in mind for my running future, and they include both (probably at different times) a faster pace and a longer distance. I want to be on the next Claire's Crew in Minneapolis, and if that means running a 10K then so be it. It will just have to be done. But in the meantime, I said to myself, let's try to pick up the pace a bit. I discussed with BJ what might be an acceptable time to cut down to, knowing that I wouldn't be able to run the 3.1 mile distance if the pace goes too far up. We put our heads together and decided that I would run from our house to the park and then around it one complete time, which should equal roughly 1.1 miles, and that I would complete this time in 13 minutes. Now, I'm not all gadget-y like some people I know, so I have no iPhone or what have you to keep my pace for me. What this means, my friends, is that I was stuck blindly guessing. Of course I took off way too fast and was already having difficulty by the time I reached the park (.2 miles people, really). So then I slowed down a bit, and Tex (my ever-faithful running partner) stopped to take a poopie in the park (let me be clear here that Tex is a dog). As I finished with picking up this mess, I noticed a lady going by in the same direction, and she was jogging at a nice clip. I thought to myself, stay behind her and try to keep up with her...that can be your steady pace. Of course, one thing I know about this lady but neglected to fully realize in that over-zealous moment is that I know this lady is in the armed forces. Well, needless to say, she promptly left my ass high and dry, even though I was running faster than I was when I had originally set off. Soon my goal was just to be able to see her in the distance, and this was abandoned and later reclaimed as she came jogging around and passed me on the other side of the park, going the opposite direction. I sarcastically consoled myself that at least I could still see her.  Anyway, though my pace was inconsistent, I logged that 1.1 miles in 12 minutes, 10 seconds. I plan to try this again this weekend, and I will again resist the urge to use a gadget...

Happy weekend, everyone!