A quick run in the park

I finally got off my butt and worked out today for the first time since Wednesday. Rachel and I took off for a run around Plantes Ferry Park in Spokane Valley - I clocked about 35 minutes of run time and made it around the perimeter of the park about 2.5 times. Nothing spectacular, and certainly not the 10 miles on the training plan for today, but sometimes you just have to take what you can get! Plantes Ferry is a difficult place to run because of the short grass - with your regular training shoes you just sink! And it's quite slick if there's any sort of moisture at all. But it's a fun place to go for an easy run because it's so large and so pretty, and the hills provide great training opportunities.

Once again this week, life got in the way of my training goals. This happens a lot in my life - it's not that I don't value training and my goals, just that there are a lot of other things going on right now. BUT, at least "life" was mostly fun stuff this week!

Matt and me in the stands at the Gonzaga game.

Thursday's plan of a yoga class and some cross-training was dashed suddenly Thursday afternoon when I was given a pair of tickets to the Gonzaga vs. St. Mary's game! Those of you in Spokane know - you never turn down free basketball tickets. Matt and I hit up the game and really enjoyed ourselves, and obviously did absolutely no thinking about workout opportunities!

Me with Shalane Flanagan.

Then, instead of my 10-miler today, I hit up the National Cross Country Championships that just happened to be held in my city! As the picture above proves, I turned into a total fan-girl and tracked down Shalane Flanagan (who killed the competition and is the national xc champion for 2010!) and asked her to take a picture with me! Not every day you get to talk to an Olympic medalist after watching her race.

So basically I've been having a lot of fun and getting a lot of inspiration to get my butt in gear and jump back into training! I may never run a 25 minute 8k like I saw a few runners do today, but it's certainly an inspiring image to keep in the back of my mind while putting my miles in on the treadmill.