New car and a few runs

Wow, I haven't made a post in over a week! I have been out of town a few days, away from blogger world, and I have missed a couple of runs this week. Not important training runs, but the mileage runs.

Sunday was my long run. I hit a new distance, 12 miles, woohoo! This was actually a pretty significant run for me, which should have its own blog post, but I just didn't have the time to do it. I decided that I was going to run the CDR course, complete with the 5 miles of hills. Until this run, I had done all my long runs on flat ground, and I had done the 5 mile hill portion by itself on a separate day, usually running it with Andrew. So, I needed to incorporate them both together in one run. With the race being less than 4 weeks away at that point, I needed to see if I could manage the distance and the hills. I had to work that day too, so I decided to run the 12 miles before work, at 5:30AM. I have never gotten up that early to run before, I mean it was still dark for the first 3 miles! It was actually kind of scary, running all alone out there in the dark in the wee hours of the morning. The sun finally came up when I started up the first hill, and I felt a lot better. I was running at an 11-12 minute pace from the start, and surprised myself by keeping an 11:30-ish pace on the hills. I will be happy if I run the hills at that pace even during the race. I don't want to wear myself out on the hills and not be able to finish. I handled the hills well and ended up back on flat ground. At about mile 9 I was wishing it was over, lol, but I kept going. Every muscle and bone in my legs hurt when I finished. I stretched my legs a little when I finished and they felt much better. At work, I was fine and my legs didn't bother me at all.
Running stats:
Total miles: 12 miles
Time: 2:15:35
Ave pace: 11:15 min/mile
Ave HR: 164
Calories burned: 1435

Monday and Tuesday I didn't run at all. Eric and I were on the road, looking for a car to buy. We actually ended up in Lancaster, PA, which is 6.5 hours away from home. I had planned on running Tuesday, I even took my running clothes with me. I woke up Tuesday morning and started getting dressed, then realized I forgot my running shoes. I was soooo mad! So, I missed a 4 mile run that day. Wednesday, I got up early to run a quick 4 miles, then we went to Ashland, KY all day. I ran it in 42:38 with an average pace of 10:37 min/mile.
Thursday I ran a 9 mile tempo run. I ran a 1 mile warm-up, 7 miles at a 9:35 min/mile pace, and a 1 mile cooldown. I ended up keeping a quicker pace, which surprised me. I ran each mile a little faster, with the exception of the last tempo mile. It got really dark and I had to come back over the bridge again. I just didn't have the strength in me to run it any faster. My splits: 10:42, 9:35, 9:32, 9:32, 9:27, 9:24, 9:23, 9:38, 11:26.
Thursday's running stats:
Distance: 9 miles
Time: 1:28:44
Ave pace: 9:51
Ave HR: 172
Calories burned: 1064

I had another steady state run scheduled for yesterday, just 3 miles. But, I had to work about an hour and a half away and didn't get home till 9:00. So, I missed another run for the week. I'm planning on running this evening, probably about 5 miles. I have 13 miles scheduled for tomorrow, so I don't want to wear myself out this evening.
So, you guys are up to date on what happened with me last week. Sorry to be away for so long!

This is what I missed my run for.  My 2006 Subaru WRX STI.  I love this car :)