Sunny Days...

Sweeping the clouds away. Or dreariness, or sadness, or whatever sunlight clears for you. Today, was a beautiful crisp morning, and it was great for a run. Since I started therapy, I was told to not run further than I can without pain. That is fine with me, as long as I get to run. So, I set out to run only 3 miles, and knew I wouldn't be disappointed if that is all I ran. I also downloaded a new app for my iPhone, the Nike Run app.

 I planned on using it, and although it was only my second time using it, I have to say how awesome and excited I am to run with it. (As a side note, I really have no idea how to do things other than have it start and stop and play music, but that's all you need right?) Anyway, when I chose it to start the run today, it said that 3.5 miles was going to by my distance goal. Ok, fine. Let's do it. The day was too nice and I felt good running, so at 1.75 miles I kept going. I turned around at 2 although the Nike app did not know it. Anyway, I kept running, and when the app said I was close to the finish (remember it set itself at 3.5 miles) out of no where, Shalane Flanagan came on my phone and told me to keep going. Wow! Tell me that's not motivation. Anyway, I kept pushing along and finished the 4 miles absolutely pain free. I am excited.  When I finished the app, some guy came on and congratulated me for my fastest 5k run. Well fastest documented by the app. I am excited to see how it continues to motivate me and reset it's mileage each usage.  I enjoyed that I can connect it to facebook and receive encouragement during my runs. This will come in handy when I start doing my long runs as I train for my upcoming Half Marathon. I haven't tried it yet, but I am also wondering how many of my facebook friends will actually encourage me?!? I guess I won't know until I try it.
I also think its awesome that I can play music as I am utilizing the app. This allows me my tunes without obstruction the sounds around me. I think this will make my running safer, especially as I do my long runs and sometimes have to run on the streets. I don't usually listen to music on short runs, so as my runs get longer this will be a great tool. That and a completed playlist, which I am working on. Don't get me wrong, I will probably go back to using my Garmin in the winter months when I wear less layers, but in the meantime this is an awesome substitute. That, and since I am running the Nike Women's Half Marathon, I guess I should really know something about Nike running.
But, before my run even began, I wanted to capture this day in January. Here are some of the photos...

So, my matey's, I hope you have a great pirate afternoon. Enjoy your weekend, I think it will be a great one!