Run Like a Girl

I have been quiet since the half marathon. A lot has gone on during the past week. Husband got a nose job last Wednesday and I got to play nurse. Then on Thursday, my birthday, I set out for an easy 4 miler with Prabir and 1.5 miles into our run I decided to body surf the sidewalk along Monument Avenue. It was the first time I have ever fallen when running.

Thankfully I had the brainpower to lift up my chin (saving my face) and not brace myself with my arms (preventing broken wrists). My knees and the heels of my hands, however, did not fare so well. I wanted to finish the run but Prabir insisted that we walk back to the Y and get my wounds taken care of.

Happy birthday to me.

My parents and brother visited for the weekend. Copious amounts of cake were consumed. All was well. But there was no running.

[I had a great picture of my birthday cake but blogger is being a b*tch and

won't upload it right, so use your imagination]

That changed last night. For the first time since the formal Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10k training team that I did two years ago, I ran with a running group.

Associated with the HERA Foundation's Run Like a Girl race series, a "RLaG" group meets every Monday and Wednesday at 5:30 pm in Richmond's near West End. You can choose a 4 mile or 6 mile route. I found out about the group because I have registered for the upcoming Run Like a Girl 8k trail run at Pocahontas State Park and received an email newsletters (which I actually read for some reason) that highlighted the group runs.

I was probably a little more excited than I should have been. The group runs in an area of Richmond that is far outside of my usual haunting grounds, so I was looking forward to learning some new routes. The run started at 5:30 pm, which is basically the perfect time for me. And I was just happy about the prospect of meeting some new runners and having a group of people around me who could push me and keep me accountable.

The 6 miler group last night ended up consisting of just 5 of us - 4 regulars and myself. I am terrible with names and do not remember anyone's name except for the leader, Judith. They were all great though! A few had just run the Shamrock Half or Full Marathon as well. 3 of the 4 were training for Boston!

As soon as we took off, I knew I was a little bit out of my league. These ladies definitely have a faster pace than I do, but I was mostly keeping up ... until we hit some monster hills in mile 5. I know that I slowed them down (average pace ended up being 8:30 - which a full 30 seconds faster than my usual) but they were very jovial and encouraging throughout the course. Even though the hills literally made me suck wind, I'm glad they were there... makes me realize how much I've been spoiling myself by sticking to the flat Fan and Museum district.

I will definitely be joining them again next Monday for more punishment and company. It will be really good for me to have to step up my pace and run on some tougher courses.

In other news, have you guys heard of these awesome Color Me Rad races? I actually heard of The Color Run first, but I can't go to the Washington DC race and was really bummed about it. Then I found out about the Color Me Rad series, which is coming to Richmond on July 21st.

Even though the date is in July and I hate running in heat (blech!), I am definitely signing up for this bad boy as soon as registration is open! If anyone has participated in one of these series before, I'd love to hear how it went. The only thing I'm kind of worried about it getting home without destroying the interior of my car!