A Beautiful day for a Lakeshore Run!

Today, both my husband and I woke up a little sore, but nothing that would stop us from slipping our shoes on and heading out to our planned running spot: the lakeshore. It's an old time favorite, which I don't get to run anymore since we moved from the lakeshore (aka a few blocks from the lakeshore) and into our humble house in Logan Square. We were planning on an 8 miler today, but with our soreness, we were just going to play it by ear and let our bodies tell us when to stop. Yesterday was the first time I took the stroller back into my hands for the full (save the first 10 minutes) run and I think I had some muscle wasting while I was on my running hiatus. It's amazing how taking a short break off will effect your endurance and strength so quickly. My calves were sore this morning, but throughout my run I was mainly fine and actually felt fine afterward, so I was a bit surprised feeling them this morning.
On the lakeshore, it was absolutely gorgeous. It was really hopping! Two different races; one ending (a half marathon) and starting (a warrior dash). I've never been a competitive runner, which I guess means, I never felt motivated to sign up for any races. I have a few friends that run races, but aren't really daily or regular runners like myself. However, today, as we were kind of thrown into the mix of these races and hearing the announcers from the warrior dash give their excited cheers and speeches kind of gave me chills and really felt some kind of comradery.  If I'm not running with my husband (and the babies don't really count yet), I really enjoy the isolation of running and being able to zone into your own thoughts, etc. I guess I always saw that running in a race, you would feel stressed and pressure to really do your best and then there's the fear of failure (not getting that PR or at worst, dropping out of a race from an injury). Well, with that being said, I know my husband has it in him to want to eventually do a race. He's actually already signed up with one through his work. His pace is getting closer to mine, so I do foresee entering a race together before the summers end. We'll see.
As my ankle seems to be holding up with these longish runs, I may start to throw in my speed training (which I do on the treadmill in my house while the babies nap/sleep at night). I'll start out with just a mile at a 7' pace or so and hopefully work my way up to a 5k. I'm not too sure I can maintain a 7' or so pace the whole time, but maybe I'll try negative splits. It would be nice to get a sub 25 minute 5k under my belt. I really get tuckered out at a miles end at that pace though. Whew!
I also proposed to my husband (assuming he won't be ready) for him to come along for my next 13 miler on the lakeshore. I suggested he could run as long as he can with me and then the rest of the miles he could either hang out with the babies at a park or bring his roller blades along and skate with the babies while I was running beside them. I don't think I want to push the stroller when doing my run though, because it does slow me down and suck up  my energy and I really would like to work on my time (hoping to get a 1:55 in by the end of the summer).

After our run, we let the babies out of their confinement to roam around in the "clean" grass (you never know what is in the grass at the usual park we go to). They really loved it and our daughter, Madeline, tried to escape to the path every time we set her down (we may have a future runner on our hands?).

 Here's the babies roaming around the stroller (aka "the beast"). Evander, our son, likes to push the stroller around in the grass and also chew on the seat belts. Not quite the nature boy, as of yet. Madeline, our daughter, is off exploring (she's usually the clingy one, so it's always nice to see her independent).

Still running with my ankle wrapped, to be sure. This morning I accidentally wrapped the wrong foot, so I was running with both feet wrapped. For some reason, I thought this was hilarious.