Anniversary and Evening Run

Today was Jen and mine’s 3rd anniversary.  We took the kids to Ginza Japanese Steakhouse for some hibachi fun.  It was a nice evening. Paige had a great time.  Connor on the other hand did NOT like the sound of the knifes clanking and the sizzle of the cooking.  He kept wanting to leave.  Poor guy!  Afterwards we hit up our local Home Goods and Connor was back to his happy-go-lucky self.  He still loves to go “running” and it is so funny.  His arms do not swing the same.  His right side swings normally, but he flairs the left arm  out every time, yelling “running!”  We really need to get some video of it.

After getting home, watering the garden with the kids, and letting the massive amount of food digest for a bit, I then headed out for a 3.1 miler.  Took the familiar neighborhood route.  It’s been awhile since I ran this route.  I’ve been reading up on “evolution running” and “chi running” and so I decided to try their suggestions.  Mainly to shorten my stride length and increase my stride/min pace.   I must say, it felt weird.  I felt like I was running in place and barely getting anywhere. The increase in stride pace made me feel like I was running too fast, but the shortened length made me feel like I was as slow as a slug on a hot summers night.  Also, I kept the mantra in my head of trying to run smooth and not landing on my heels. 

I think it actually worked for me! I had a pretty decent time 30:14 for a 9:46 pace.  Even though I felt like I wasn’t going to hold out with the quick stride pace, I actually felt good the entire run and even probably could have gone faster.  I’m definitely going to have to keep working on this and see where it goes.  I hope it wasn’t just a fluke!