Six miles!

Today's run felt REALLY good. As I cruised through the first half of it it was very obvious how much progress I've made in the last month or so -- up until now it has felt like I'm running farther but not running any better. But today everything felt smooth. I've been able to push the pace on the treadmill so I know I'm doing something right, but that hasn't translated to a measurable improvement in road runs. This morning I felt like I was going fairly easily but my pace was better than my first sluggish 5k by a long shot, and I finished the 6 miles in about 59 minutes. I was feeling so comfortable that I kept having to remind myself to walk -- I'd overshoot my four minute mark by up to a minute. I didn't take my last walk break, but if I had kept the breaks up I could have managed a few more miles, I'm pretty certain. And I was very cheerful while I was running -- I must have looked like a loon out there, grinning as I jogged!

This week I just have 30-minute runs three days, and cross-training on Thursday, though I'm not sure how I'm going to work those in. And two weeks from today I'm supposed to run 7.5 miles -- I have NO idea how to manage that when I'm in Poland! (Especially since they don't have miles over there, anyway.) But I've finished five weeks of the program, so I don't want to quit now -- only 23 to go!