Sevens

I'm up to 7 miles now! Saturday we ran in Encinitas at Moonlight Beach. It was a really nice area. The weather was perfect. Though it was cold at first, the sun came out and got a little warmer. No need for a jacket. I probably should have left it in the car, but I was freezing in the morning.
I walked mostly with my mentees. Kinda ran back and forth between them. 2 of them could only do the 5 mile route, which was totally fine. I didn't want them pushing themselves too much. And then the other mentee I have did the remaining 2 miles with me. She's good company and keeps a great pace. I can run ahead of her to do my interval training, but she keeps up with her walking pace. Long legs help though. :)
I ended up running past the boat houses in Encinitas. I remember reading about them, but wasn't sure where they were. So it was kinda cool. And I had to take a picture of course to show everyone.



I figured out what the blister problem was. At first I had thought it was the socks, but it couldn't have been really. They were the same brand of running socks that I used last year. Coach Dave had made mention of the fact that my shoes seemed a little small when he checked where my toe was. But the guy at Road Runner was really sure about the fit. I mean, they are the knowledgeable one and I totally didn't think about checking the shoe size of last years running shoes. Turns out, that was the problem. My shoes were too small. A half size too small. When the guy measured my feet, he said that I wore 6 1/2. So a 7 would be good. They seemed to fit fine and they were good up until I started to get to 5+ miles. My feet swell.
Unfortunately, it was 2 weeks after the 60 day period that RR gives you to return your shoes. So I wasn't sure if they would take them back for an exchange. I figured I'd give it a try. Especially since after the run on Saturday, my feet were KILLING me. The blisters on the tips of my toes were getting worse. And going downhill made it excruciating. I actually walked slowly down the hill to try to avoid hitting my toes with the tips of the shoe.
Anyways, after some convincing, the guy at the register reluctantly agreed, but said that this would be my only time allowed. That was perfectly fine with me. I now know what size shoe to get when I need a new pair. I have yet to take them out and break them in, but tomorrow is a new day. Monday. The start of a new week.

My best friend, Jesi, is coming for a visit this week from NYC. Really looking forward to seeing her. I'm planning on getting her out there training with me. At least get her to walk with me. She says she can't run. Her birthday is Friday, Oct 16th and we're going to Disneyland. I'll get TONS of walking in there! :) Should be a fun day.

Wednesday is going to be crazy busy. I have to drive up to Seal Beach and pick up Jesi at her grandmothers. I'll do it early in the morning so that I can be back in time to make it to practice at 6pm with TC. Jesi can hang out at the bay while we run. She did say she wants to be at the beach as much as possible...

Awesome Mentees

So I finally got to meet my mentees, well almost all of them. They are super nice. I have a family I'm working with. A husband and wife duo. They are too cute! The wife has Crohn's, which almost took her life last year but she's doing great now! And I'm so proud to have her and her husband as my mentees. They are starting out as walkers, but in the future, they want to be able to work up to running. PERFECT! I can do that! I can get them there.

Our group training was in Encinitas this time. I've never run up there. It was a nice run/walk. We ran along the coast highway. I think we did about 3 miles in just shy of 45 minutes. Not too shabby. I got some good advice from one of the coaches we have about walking. Since walking, I've found that I've been using totally different muscles and the pain I've been having on my shins (not shin splints) is completely normal. It means that my muscles are working to get stronger and eventually the pain will go away. That's good news. And I got some good stretching suggestions for my shins. Yay!

Oh, I almost forgot...I ran for a while too during the training - for about 8 minutes! It was awesome! I'm working on stretching those lungs out. I still haven't called the acupuncturist yet, but I will. I think probably some time this week.

There are 2 of us walking mentors. Me and Jake. I found myself at the training in between the fast walkers and the slower ones. I think my walk/run intervals will be good. I met a couple new participants who just joined our team on Saturday morning. Both walkers. One is the fast walker (she has long legs) and the other is more my speed. Not sure which of us mentors they will be matched up with, but I'll be very happy to have one or both of them.

I have one more mentee who Jess said probably won't train a lot with us as he is part of Team Fusion (a large group of people from a company who joined Team Challenge). But I hope to meet him soon. At least I can support him via email or phone.

I took today off from training. Back to the streets tomorrow.

Hope you're all having a great Labor Day weekend!

The Power Of 3

So I've been matched up with 3 mentees. I have not met them yet, but I'm hoping that they will be at the training on Saturday in Encinitas. I'm looking forward to being able to help them and answer all their questions (or at least the ones I have the answer to). Tonight/tomorrow I'm supposed to introduce myself via email and remind them to come out to the training on Saturday, make sure they're out there starting to fundraise and "sell" how much fun trainings can be! I can do that. :)

Ugh! This weather sucks! It's so hot, even at 8:30am! I'm good with high 70s low 80s, but high 80s and feels like 90s, does not give me motivation to run or even walk. I guess I'll have to get up earlier. But I'm doing it! Yay me!