THIS WEEK IN RUNNING // WEEK 3

Another week in running on the books! (Make that the blog, actually!) Three days, a new 3-year mileage personal best, and some really great runs. 

SATURDAY // 10.2 MILES @ 9:12 MIN/MILE

TO BUCKTOWN AND WITH NRC ON THE 606

Last Saturday Nike switched it up and had everyone come to their Bucktown location. I'm so glad I read their website carefully because I often totally miss those sneaky kinds of details. When I woke up, I decided to run the 3.5 miles there, and feeling warmed up once I was there, I chose the 9:00 min/mile group. A few months ago when I ran this pace a  I totally fell behind, but not this time!

Most of our miles were sub 8:45 min/mile, which is usually really hard for me, but last Saturday it felt surprisingly comfortable.

Once we got back, Nike had an impromptu Saint Paddy's Day party. They even had a keg! I hung around with a bunch of the people I ran with and had some clementines and a beer to cool down as we stretched. Shortly after, Joe met for a delicious brunch at Dove's in Wicker Park. 

SUNDAY // 2 MILES @ 9:12 MIN/MILE

SOLO TO NAVY PIER TO SEE THE SUNRISE 

Joe left really early (aka: 5:15 am) for his surgery rotation and since I woke up then too, I figured I should catch the sunrise. I wasn't planning to run, but when I realized I could get a little farther out to see the sunrise from Navy Pier, I decided to run. Sunrise at Navy Pier. Whoa. If you ever plan to visit Chicago, you must put a sunrise from Navy Pier (or the Oak Street Beach) on your to-do list! Depending on the season you might have the entire place to yourself too!

TUESDAY // 6 MILES @ 8:22 MIN/MILE

NRC SPEED RUN

3.5 miles at tempo pace (~8:15 min/mile), three 800m repeats (~7:15 min/mile). It was so hard and so fast, but I felt so strong. I feel like I never say that for workouts. It was the perfect end to my week in running and is already making me feel more confident about the Shamrock Shuffle 8K coming up next Sunday.

TOTAL // 18.2 MILES