Today's blog post brought to you by the first time I've washed my hair in a week!

I didn't say it was pretty... just that it was clean.  And yes, that is the best title I could come up with.

Today's run:
Couch to 5K Week Six, Day Three (extended edition!)
2.94 miles/41:10

I went on an exciting adventure today... I went for a trail run!  Yeehaw!  I decided that since I was seeing today as a fresh start and a clean slate, that I ought to do something to commemorate the occasion.  Plus, I wanted to see if running on some nice dirt would be a little more kind to my joints... the jury is still out on that one since my knees and right ankle are not thrilled right now.  I also ended up going a little further accidentally, but it was great because I almost got to 3.1 miles, so I've got some idea now of a realistic time goal to try for when I run a 5K again!  All of that aside... it was kind of a tough run (there seems to be a trend developing here...) and I admit that I didn't follow the plan for the day exactly. According to the Couch to 5K program, today was: "Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2-1/4 miles (or 25 minutes) with no walking."  Yeeeeeah... about that.  The body said no. 

I just started reading Jeff Galloway's Half-Marathon: You Can Do It last night and he swears by his "run-walk-run" method, where you take planned walk breaks during your runs.  He has recommended running and walking splits based on pace, and according to what I am tending to run these days, he recommends running for three minutes and then walking for one.  So when I started to get tired and unhappy in my run today, I just started taking walk breaks.  Sometimes I followed the intervals that he suggested, and sometimes I just went with how I felt.  It may have been "breaking the rules" of the Couch to 5K program, but I have to admit that it honestly felt freeing.  I was giving myself permission to do what I needed to do for my body regardless of the program.  And I think the run-walk-run method is really going to work for me, so I'm planning on incorporating it into my training.  Galloway swears that you can get all the endurance benefits of your runs and cut your chances of injury by including walk breaks... and he's pretty good at this whole running thang, so I'll take his advice.

Highly recommend!  It's also the only reading material I have the brainpower for right now.  Well... that and my old Nate the Great books.  Did anybody else read Nate the Great?  Totally off topic, but they were kind of the bomb.  Any boy who loves pancakes is my kind of boy.



In other news, my fabulous package from Mission Skincare arrived a few days ago, and since the sun decided to grace us with its presence today, I actually got to put it to good use!  I tried the Rejuvenating Face Moisturizer Lotion with SPF 30 pre-run, and post-run, I used the Refreshing Foot Therapy Cream. So far I'm really enjoying the Mission products.  I love that they are cruelty free, and they really are good products.  I'm picky about face sunscreen, but I'm also super protective of my skin, so I use sunscreen every day.  This one was great and didn't smell all sunscreen-y.  The foot cream also smelled really lovely - I'm not sure if it "protected, revived, and refreshed" my feet as promised, but it smelled nice and rubbing it into my sore feet immediately after my run did feel pretty great!  Now I just have to rope D-Money into doing it for me when he visits this week...

Really, I just like bringing David up so I can show off all the adorable pictures of us in Disney.  Do you like how we're in two different climates here?  I need a lot of layers to hang out with this boy.



I would recommend the Mission line to anyone who has thought about it - I am really impressed so far, and the prices are reasonable for good quality skin and sun care.  Plus, they donate quite a bit to charity, so your money is going to good use.  That being said, I may do a wee little Mission giveaway if I can hit double digits of my followers!  And yes, that is a shameless attempt at getting more people to read my blog.  Forgive me.  I was in marching band in high school, I need to be popular someday.

In other news, I weighed in for the first time in two weeks this morning... oh boy.  Apparently when I fell off the wagon, I also ate one of the horses driving it, because I managed to gain four pounds.  In case you're wondering, yes, that does put me well over my goal weight and unless I can get that weight off in the next two weeks, yes, that does put my job in jeopardy.  Fiiiiiine.  I'm back to tracking my points and eating my vegetables.  And I'll hide my new friends...


... hide them in my BELLY!  HA!

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