Speed: Hotel recommended 5K at near race pace

Distance: 3.3 miles

Time: 27:26

Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)

Legs: ★ ★ ★ ★

Gut: ★ ★ ★ ★

Energy: ★ ★ ★ .5

Mind: ★ ★ ★ ★

Overall: ★ ★ ★ ★

Soundtrack: Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon

OK, the coolest things this morning - I was dodging coconuts on the ground in the dark while on my run!

There is nothing like getting out of single digit temperature morning runs and coming down to Florida where it was 61 degrees this morning to get you back on the road and back on the blog. Keeping up with my New Year's resolution, I am getting back to trying to blog out to all of you runners out there after all of my runs.

So I am down here in lovely Bonita Springs, Florida. I wasn't quite sure where this was initially, but it's beautiful. The Wikipedia page says it's motto is, "Small town charm, big bright future". It's on the Southwest coast of Florida and you fly in and out of Fort Meyers.

Our hotel is beautiful and my room is great. I am down here for the APGO Scholars and Leaders program, and for (that's right, my favorite conference of the year!) the Faculty Development Seminar. Of course there is the 5K this weekend, and I love this race too! Nothing like hanging out with a whole bunch of Running Obstetricians all in one place.

Today's run was perfect. I am just feeling so into it this year. My legs are healthy, the weather has been great in Connecticut, so I have stayed on the road, and I think that I am going to be able to get in some great runs and some great races this year. Today's out and back run was a recommendation of the front desk. It really is the quiet road that gets you down to the hotel from the main drag. Totally flat, and totally safe - except for the fallen coconuts and occasional rogue sprinkler! I finished the run in good time, and am ready for some learning.

I hear there are some beaches and trails to explore around here. I'll see if I can't get in an afternoon / evening distance run one of these days, and let you all know what they have around here. Until then, take care, take it easy, and keep on running!

Tempo: Five minutes easy warm up, then 12 minutes at half-marathon race pace. Four minutes easy, then repeat 12 minutes of faster pace. Finish with five minutes easy run cool down.

Distance: 3.6 miles

Time: 38:07

Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)

Legs: ★ ★ ★ ★

Gut: ★ ★ ★ .5

Energy: ★ ★ ★ ★

Mind: ★ ★ ★ ★

Overall: ★ ★ ★ ★ .5

Soundtrack: Limp Bizkit, Results May Vary

A very cool thing happened on this morning's run. I am starting to figure out my half-marathon race pace! This sounds simple enough, but really it hasn't been. See, all of this training has been through the recommendations of the Runner's World Complete Guide to Running magazine-book. Up until this point, the long runs have been at an "easy" pace. What had me nervous was that when I was running the faster paces during the tempo runs, they seemed faster, made me out of breathe, and was something that I didn't think that I could continue for 13 miles. Sure, I can do the distance runs on the weekends, but this is like at a 10:00 minute mile pace, and I am hoping to do better than that for the half-marathon in October.

Now, this may have something to do with the 5K faster pace that I ran in last week's Catsup & Mustard 5K, but I could feel this morning that the faster half-marathon pace is the pace that I like. I actually enjoy running at this pace more so than the warm up easy pace (the easy pace is the pace that I normally run on my long runs). Today for the first time, I can feel that with continuing this training schedule, I am going to get myself to a place where I should be able to run the 13 miles at my goal pace. So 1 hour 50 minute half marathon, you better watch out. I might just have this figured out... if I don't get injured. And really, I guess that's the point. Mixing up tempo runs, hills and distance runs keep you moving forward without having to run race pace all the time, thus avoiding injury. Man, I hope so!