To the 5s

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving (or weekend for my non-US readers). I celebrated my Thanksgiving with my family in my hometown. There was talk of doing the local one mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning but when the morning dawned chilly,gray and rainy I was the only one brave (read: crazy) enough to go outside.

I skipped the Turkey Trot as it seemed silly to me to deal with driving and parking for one mile when I could easily head out the door of my parents' house and run further than that.

Of course, in my string of forgetfulness, I left my Garmin on the charger at home. At first I figured I'd just run "naked" and not plan a route or worry about time. I'm not quite that zen yet, though, so instead I mapped out a 5.5 mile route but still didn't worry about time.

The hilarious thing is that as I was running through cold, gray, drizzle I heard a car horn honk. I turned to see two of my best high school friends who were also in town to visit family waving at me as they drove by! I'll defend my hometown against anyone who says it's a small town but I guess it kind of is. But I like it that way.

Seeing my friends put some pep in my step and although I have no idea what my time or pace was for the run I know I pushed it hard and came home sweaty, damp, and ready for turkey!

On Sunday I joined some running group buds for another 5.5 mile run. We originally planned to run 8-10 miles but none of us were really feeling that distance. Instead we took it easy (average 9:40 pace not counting the bathroom break). Too much turkey, I guess.

Tonight I plan to run another 5.5 miles. I like that distance. Short enough to squeeze into a busy schedule but long enough to make it feel like you did something. Five definitely makes me feel alive.