Oh Deer!

Sorry about the terrible pun, but the highlight of my run this morning was certainly seeing a beautiful white-tailed deer no more than 10 feet from me. It was drinking in a small stream off the road to my left, and I didn't see it. It certainly heard/saw/smelled me, though, because it flagged its tail and took off. It was so lovely, graceful... and about 10X more energetic than I was feeling. A rough approximation of what I saw:


So, what can I say about today's run? The outside of my right hip (the muscle/tendon you can feel engage if you jut your hip out like a model) is really sore, and has been since my run on Saturday. I took yesterday totally off, hoping it would help, but it hurt on the run today, which is new. Usually it only hurts afterwards. I think I'll be icing that today.

My first 5K race is on Saturday, so I thought I'd run a 5K today and time it, to know roughly what I can expect on race day. With a few small hills, my time was 34:33. That means I was moving faster than a 12 minute mile, which is good, and I certainly went faster than I would've 3 months ago. I just hope that in the race I'm not last!!!! I also hope my hip starts to feel better.

I think Wednesday I'll go a bit longer (4 miles?), then a really easy short run on Thursday then my race Saturday. We'll see how it goes. I feel like if I go more than 2 days without running, I'll lose all my fitness and desire.

I want to take it easy this week because on Saturday after my 5K I am doing the local Relay for Life. I don't know at what time or for how long I'm walking yet, but I know I will need whatever energy reserves I have left after my race to do that. Therefore, I don't want to push it this week with my other runs.

On a slightly related note, my parents bought me a half-POUND block of a cheese I love when they were in Montreal yesterday. I am in heaven, but this cannot possibly help my running speed.