Final Group Training Run for Cherry Blossom

This morning was my last long run with the =PR= Cherry Blossom Training program.  There is one more week of the program, but I will miss next week's run because Rick is running the Reston Half Marathon. 

I left my house with a bit of trepidation this morning, wondering if I could - or should - complete the 11 mile-run I had on the schedule.  I've been having some knee pain this week when I go up or down stairs.  The good news is that it has been fairly mild and it is on both sides, suggesting it is more likely due to overdoing it last week (when I logged 21 miles, a bit of a jump from 16 the prior week) than due to an injury.  I took it very easy this week and was good about icing and stretching.  But it was difficult to leave the house, especially with the wafting smell of bacon coming from the kitchen.  Spoiler alert - when I came home 4 hours later, there was still bacon (and eggs!) waiting for me.  My husband rocks.

I was glad to see that both Christina and Karen were there this week.  I've run with both of them multiple during our training, but they've never been there the same week and had never met each other.  It was really fun to all run together.  We broke our run into a couple of smaller segments in case my knees weren't up to the full run.  Here is a picture of us at the 4-mile mark by "Difficult Run":

One of our highlights today was seeing these cool elliptical-type bikes.  We think this might be Coach Jessica on one of those bikes, but she went by too fast for us to be sure.  Coach Jessica is training for Boston and has a pretty cool blog: www.paceofme.com. 

We finished our first 8 and swung by the water cooler for a quick break.  Then we headed out for our last segment.  Christina and Karen were both on deck for 10 miles this week, but they said they were up to going to 11 with me.  It was great to have the company and encouragement and we did indeed make it to 11.  My garmin proclaimed a new record - longest run, 11.05 miles! 

Upon arriving home I was chilled and eager to jump into a hot shower, but I knew that icing my knees had to be my first priority.  So I strapped on the ice packs and ace bandages and caught up on some emails while I munched on some bacon:



 

 



After the hot shower I wrapped up in my compression capris and socks, and got ready for Freddy's track practice.  Just call me Coach Kim!  It makes for a long day, but a satisfying one.  And if I can move around enough this afternoon at track, I will earn my first fitbit 35,000 step badge.  Two records in one day.  Nice.