ZOMG I RAN FOR 25 MINUTES FINALLY !!!!!1111

I finally did it! On a totally unexpected day. I last ran Tuesday. I planned to run Thursday, but my cold came back pretty badly that day and my nose was really, really stuffy. I came home and napped for awhile; when I woke up, my voice was nearly gone. No running that evening. So I planned to do it last night instead. But when I got home yesterday, I felt like I'd been hit by a bus and my stomach felt queasy. I was in bed by 7 p.m. and I slept through the night, until 10 this morning! So, um, yeah. No running then, either.

I did not feel 100% today, but both my respiratory system and my stomach were feeling better. So after spending the day laying around my parent's house and eating an "Italian Turkey" with fries -- it's like an Italian beef, but with turkey, and if you don't live in Chicago you probably don't know what that means, except Boulos might know, but I can assure you it is NOT a healthy meal -- I decided I needed to run around 9 p.m. I was getting sleepy and lazy again and really just wanted to fall into bed, but I did not want to get too off course with this and I knew I needed to get back out there.

I set out pretty certain I would be okay with a two-break run. I had no confidence that I might make a full 25 minutes. I'd taken more days off than I had in a long time, and I was certain that my less than stellar physical condition would make tonight's run super difficult.

However, I think the key here was that I paced myself much better today. I started out running slowly because I didn't want to push myself too hard today. And after awhile I felt like, hey, I think I can run for longer than I thought. After five or so minutes, I was thinking, um maybe I can do the whole 25? And that encouraged me to focus on not running too fast. I still made it around the track over 4 times (that is over 2.5 miles), so my pacing was just about right on. The last minute was tough, because I figured I'd end at just 2.5 miles and the 25 minutes took me a bit farther, but I did it! I even ran an extra 30 seconds or so to make it to one end of the track. Boo ya, 25 minute run!

I am so excited about this. YAY!!!!!!!!!! Soooo... what is the secret? Eating a fatty sandwich and fries and getting 15 hours of sleep? Um, yeah, that's not gonna happen every time. So, I'll just have to do my best. My next run will be Monday; hopefully I can repeat this and then I'll consider my next move. Should I move on to week 8 then? I don't know. We'll see.