I finally ran this week

Well I finally ran again today, it was my first run since Sunday. According to my training plan I missed two runs but I'll make one of them up tomorrow. Let me explain why I missed my runs.

I'm currently working on my BS degree in Computer Science. Since I work full time I'm only taking a couple of classes a semester. This semester has been a pretty tough one for me. My classes aren't bad at all. It's just that I slacked off a tremendous amount this semester. I just couldn't get myself to do my homework when I needed to. I had a paper due for my history class last week but I didn't get it done. I went to Lincoln over the weekend so I didn't work on it then either. So every evening I wouldn't let myself go run until I did a certain amount of work on my paper. And well, I hardly touched it which meant I didn't run. I finally got it done tonight and turned in and I finally got a run in this week.

One of my major goals this summer is to improve myself so I don't have semesters like this in the future. It is really stressful going through school the way that I do. It would be so much easier for me if I would just work on stuff a little bit at a time instead of saving everything until the last minute (or after that) and doing a crappy job on it. I do think running will help me with that.

Well I stuck to the plan and ran an easy 1.5 miles tonight. I found a calculator on RunnersWorld.com that told me what pace to run based on one of my race times. I did a real quick look for the calculator but I didn't find it, I'll post a link to it later. Anyway, the calculator said I should run my easy runs at a 9 minute pace, so for 1.5 miles I should have about 13.30. Most of the training I've done the last few weeks has been on a treadmill so I haven't had to worry about pacing myself. It was a perfect night to run tonight (and the clubhouse closes at 11 so I couldn't have used the treadmill anyway) so I ran on the bike trail outside our apartment. I was pretty worried about pushing myself too hard since I haven't ran for awhile and I like to run hard so I was constantly holding myself back. At the halfway point I was a little fast, 6.15 so I eased up a bit more on the way back and ended up with a time of 13.12. Really I'm a little surprised that I was that close to where I should be because I've never been real good at pacing myself. I'm sure that will come with time though.