Another week down, another 64 miles in the books. This morning concluded the training week with a 12-mile long run at the same beautiful bike trail as last weekend. But this morning I had some company!

In high school, I would run at practice with the boys’ cross country team. The top 4 varsity boys and I covered many miles together, dozens of track work outs and lots & lots of long runs. With the amount of hours we spent running together all over town, we bonded pretty quickly. We were “The Five.”

Four of us are running for our university’s now, each in a different state. But during the summers, I have my old high school running buddies back! We each follow different training schedules per our coaches, however a long run on Sunday is pretty standard across the board. This morning, 4/5th’s of The Five reunited for an EARLY morning out-and-back on the Santa Ana River Trail.

(Who needs an ipod when you run with these guys?!)

Unfortunately only two of us made it the whole distance; our pace has definitely quickened since high school. My friend Matt and I covered 12.1 miles in 1 hour, 27 minutes (approx 7:15 per mile). All before 8:00am. On a Sunday. I sense a nap coming soon…..

This upcoming week’s training is not much different from the last two weeks, just increasing some mid-week days for a grand total of 68 miles. I plan to take full advantage of having 4th of July off work to get in a good one at the park!

One notable exception to this week’s schedule is the “Upper Body Weights” at the gym….I usually use free weight/dumbbells or machines, but want to start working with my dad to incorporate bars for chest, shoulder, tricep and back exercises. Coming from a girl who couldn’t bench press the (45 lb.) bar when I first got my gym membership, I think it’s important to try new exercises and challenge yourself! I’m still working on the pull-ups…

Now it’s Sunday afternoon, 106 degrees outside, and I’m done with exercising for the day. Sounds like a good time for frozen yogurt to meeee ;)