Week 3b, Day 3 - Changin' It Up.

Today was a good 3 mile run with lots of changes from my usual MO. 

1) I went into SW Portland in the area around Alpenrose Dairy with a friend.  It was a different kind of run for me b/c this particular area is much 'hillier' than what I'm used to.  Around my home where I usually run the hills are much more of rolling hills which gradually go up over about 1/2 mile or so, then gradually down over 1/2 mile or so.  However, today's hills hills were fast & furious!!! UP UP UP followed by DOWN DOWN DOWN.  I actually kind of liked the hills and was pleasantly surprised how they didn't seem particularly challenging.  It was hard work, but only took a minute or so to climb, then they either went down or evened out.  Also, being able to see the top of the hill was only 50 feet away rather than 1/4 mile really helped with my motivation to GET THERE!

2) Today's run was running with some friendly faces. I've never really liked running with other people b/c it always felt like there was more pressure to run faster AND chat at the same time... which I generally find to be extremely difficult and usually just burn myself out quicker and then feel embarrassed.  However, my friend was pushing her toddler in the stroller while I just had myself, so we ended up running a nice easy pace!!  (Lilah was home napping with Grandma watching over her - Thanks MOM!)  It was a good thing my friend had her son in the stroller or I probably wouldn't have been able to keep up with her, but being sans Lilah allowed me to feel independent and powerful.

3) The last difference with today's run was that I had absolutely no idea where we were going and most of the time was completely lost and turned around.  It was fun being in a new location where I didn't know where the mile markers were or how far we had run.  It was like a little adventure around every turn :) 

Somewhere between the hills, good conversation and constant adventure, the run really flew by.  I could hardly believe we finished so quickly and when we looked at the clock, we had done the 3 miles in about 32 minutes - with stroller, hills and all :)

So, in conclusion:
Good adventurous run with good friend at nice pace with good conversation and non-threatening hills.  YAY!