Week 1; Day 3

Last night's run went well, overall. River and I went 6 loops for a total of ~1.8 miles.

Normal warm up loop for 5 mins, I tried to push myself to walk faster that the past two times. I felt like I did but we still completed the loop in about the same time. While I was walking I actually wanted to run - I was looking forward to it. My legs felt like they could go faster.

Came back into the house to stretch. Kinda weird that it feels like the "warm-up" wears off by the time I stretch so I'm not sure if I should just be briefly stretching before the warm-up or keep doing it afterwards. anyone know anything about this?

When I stretch, river gets right up in my face since I'm down at his level. Dogs of his breed are sometimes said to be "velcro dogs" because they like to be right with you at all times. Before I met him I wouldn't have given this much credit but it is so true. He puts his face as close as possible to my face and wags over and over while I'm on the floor stretching. He doesn't usually lick but he gets so close I can feel his whiskers brushing my chin or cheek. I let him do it (it's only annoying if I'm already annoyed at something else and want to be left alone) it's hilarious :) Most of the time he's a OMGPLAYNOW dog, not a cuddle dog, but if I sit on the floor he will usually come right up and try to sit on my lap.

Anyway, after the stretching I grabbed his leash (still clipped onto him) and we went out for our jog/walk. **I jogged all 8 times for the entire 60 seconds each.** Around the 4th or 5th time it started getting really tough and I started thinking about cutting the jog times short, but I didn't. I think I was going slightly faster than I did when C was with me (day 2) but not by much. On the 5th loop, I ended on the 60 seconds of jogging, which took me right past my house and on to the start of the 6th loop. I didn't want to stop cold after a particularly hard 60 sec jog so I continued on around for the 6th time, past the 20 min time, at a slower walk than the warm-up.

This one was really tough for me but before I went I was looking forward to it and after I went, I felt good. Now I have two days "off" and I'm wondering if I should repeat week 1 next week as well. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable upping the jog time quite yet.

My legs were pretty achy last night and this morning. I still haven't had any unusual knee pain, which is my biggest worry. Ever since last night's jog/walk, a muscle right near my kneecap (on the left side of my right knee) keeps twitching. It feels weird but it doesn't hurt so I guess I'll just ignore it. My back is pretty sore today but I don't think that's related to the running.

Not going to quit yet! ;)