Day 15 - 10 K

I'm back to running again! 10K today. You would think a 10K is easy after doing a couple of long distance runs but it's not. Steve and I always talk about how the shorter distances are more difficult because:

We don't mentally prepare for it. Meaning, we're not sweating a 10K or a 5K so we just run out the door and then we realize that it sucks. We tend to go out too fast and we're hurting by Mile 2. Also, we think "10K, that's no problem. That's less than an hour." BUT, it can feel like a long time when you're not mentally ready for a 10K run. In a run that is over 10 miles, we start thinking about it before we run out the door. We pace ourselves to run a tad slower in the beginning and then we pick it up after a couple of miles, followed by an even faster pace at the last few miles to have a strong finish. So basically we have stored the proper amount of energy from the beginning so that we can finish strong and feel great.

However, in these short distance runs, we do stupid things. The NYE 4 mile race we did a few weeks ago would be a good example. We were running so fast to keep up with the front runners for the first 2 miles. STUPID. We are not fit for that. Our mile paces dropped significantly for Miles 3 and 4. Our overall pace was still fine but we were exhausted after 4 miles. We were sore that night. We woke up sore the next morning. This is after 4 miles. Not a marathon. The half marathon that I did the following week was a treat compared to the NYE 4 mile. It was more than 3x the distance but the proper pacing made it so much more enjoyable. Anyways, this is all common sense but what do you think we'll do for the next 5K? STUPID THINGS of course.

After I ran this morning, Steve and I went into the city to meet Jason and Debbie Cohen's newborn son Avi. AWWW, what a gem :) Beautiful boy. It's great to see Jason and Debbie as parents. They are our "cool friends" that live in the city and they want to raise their family in the city. I aspire to be like them.

Jason, Steve and I all met 12 years ago at UUNET (my first job out of college). Since then, we have all been good friends. Jason has a great zest for life. He is one of the main inspirations for my travels abroad. He first went backpacking in 2002 through Southeast Asia and Australia. Then he and Debbie both left their successful careers to travel through Central America and South America in 2010. They rented out their place, traveled for 6 months, and then came back to the States when they found out Debbie was expecting! What a great way to start a family! I need to talk to Steve about this plan :)

Jason and Debbie are great friends to me and Steve. They always give us great traveling tips and ideas. Jason and Steve also have a shared passion for real estate so they are always researching and exploring new opportunities. Jason and Debbie also know us very well so we just go over to their place, make ourselves at home and relax. Yesterday, I walked in the door, Jason had a Mountain Dew and Sour Patch Kids waiting for me..... it doesn't get any better than that.

Things, I'm grateful for....

1. Good times with the Cohen Family. Now they are a Family of Three. So happy and excited for them. Their son has really cool parents :)

2. Bridal Expo - very overwhelming but glad we saw a Photo Booth. I've seen these at several weddings so I wanted to show Steve. He loved it so we definitely want to get it for our wedding.

3. Acadiana - Great dinner. New Orleans comfort food. Nice way to end the weekend.