Day # 2: Baby Steps

We set ourselves a goal of 2 (non-stop) miles of running for yesterday's "short run."  This was sort of an important run because it was the first time Jarrod had put his running shoes on since we ran the Shamrock 5k over a month ago, and it had been a few weeks for me as well.  This was also our first training run, so it was going to determine our "starting point."  It was also an attempt (for me) to run longer without stopping than I ever had before.  Typically, I could go roughly 1.5 miles before having to walk for 30 seconds or so.  Not only did we RUN the 2 miles, we incorporated a pretty steep hill, ran through some muscle cramps, and finished really strong (ran as fast as we could for the last 0.20 mile)!  I think we were both feeling pretty motivated due to all the love & support we had received from our families and friends, and I can assure you that we both finished with big ole' smiles on our faces.  I think we felt like it was a definitely a good starting point.

Some notable differences: 
*By the 2nd mile I noticed that I had definitely found a "rhythm" with my pace and breathing. (I think this was a result of trying out some tips I had read about earlier in the week)
*I tried a new breathing technique (one of the tips I had read about online), long steady breaths in through the nose, out through the mouth, and I noticed that I felt much better overall throughout the run.  I was even able to breathe through a side cramp, which usually was my signal to walk.  Jarrod says he is still having a difficult time breathing this way, but he is not experiencing any sort of cramping or extreme fatigue, so whatever works?  (He will be working on regulating his breathing in the next month.)
*We took a friend's advice to incorporate some hills in our course and plan to continue to do so.
*We slowed our "typical" pace to try and go further.  We ran 12:40 mins, which we plan to speed up before race day, but for now we will be focusing on building endurance.

Here is a screen shot of our MapMyRun workout - Find us on there and be our friend to keep up with our progress!