I *heart* Gilbert's Gazelles

Today was my first day back with Gazelles! I swear it was like coming back to school after summer break. I was actually looking forward to the 800m track repeats that were on the schedule. It was so wonderful to be back in running mode with the likes of Frank, Anne, Lisa, Jennifer, Farley (as I refer to her), Patrick, Cindy, Dennis, Marcie, Emily, Shannon and so many others that I’ve been missing over the last couple of months. It’s exciting and comforting to “come home” to my Gazelle peeps and I have to admit, it was great hearing the “Great to see you” and “Glad to have you back” encouragement. I think Coach Gilbert was even taken aback by the unexpected arrival of Sapp and Skud this morning! (even though he yelled at me for looking at my watch during one repeat) :-) This group has heart and it shows. Even when I was training for Dallas, a few of us broke away from the Gazelle mold since that marathon was so late in the season. While most Gazelles were recovering from Chicago and other Fall marathons, we were ramping up for Dallas. Therefore, a lot of the workouts just didn’t coincide. After the Dallas Marathon, I just needed some time to decompress and chill. Oh yeah, then there was that pesky shin pain which is no longer existent…fingers crossed.

I held my own with the group during repeats. Not wanting to push it, I just did 6 x 800 meter repeats. The first one was a tad slow at 3:36. The last five were a solid 3:20-3:23, with a surprise 3:17 thrown in at repeat #5. It was too fast and we all knew it. While, I had it in me to run one or two more, I just didn’t want to risk any pain or overuse injury AGAIN.

Today was all about just getting back out there and taking comfort in the fact that my fitness level is still there, even though my endurance level might not be. It was also also a reminder of why I love running with the Gazelles. It’s good to be back.

On a cool note, Richard dumped my Dallas Marathon information into the Motion Based software. He was kind enough to let me borrow his 305 for that race. It was so interesting to look at the data. It was, indeed, a well-run race for me! Check out the geek data below.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=1659&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=2045581