The first few days of spring definitely did not disappoint in Lake Tahoe. Although it is now raining outside. Not sure what that is all about. We don’t get any snow all winter and now Mother Nature wants to give us some precipitation the first weekend of spring. Whatever. No complaints here. Anyways, beautiful weather means great runs outside! It was also Spring Break this week, so no school for me. Although, I have to say that Spring Break doesn’t have the same glamor as it did in my undergrad years. Now, it’s just no class for the week but work and everything else continues on.

With the nice weather, I did a 4 mile run this weekend which I know doesn’t seem like a lot, but it is the furthest I have run without stopping in over a year. I know with persistence that same 4 mile run will one day feel like a warm-up, like it did in the past, but for where I am right now with my fitness, it is a personal victory. Time to party! Just kidding. I’m still on the wagon getting some healthy habits in order, but I did celebrate in my own little way.

I bought myself a new running watch this week! I have never had a fancy schmancy running watch with more than a timer and lap feature, so this is a new-fangled-gadget to me (as my dad would say). It even has GPS! Now, I am not sure how well that GPS will work on the trails in Tahoe, but I will soon find out when what snow there is, melts. In the meantime though, I am looking forward to using it in town to keep track of pace and mileage. Long gone are the days of mapping every single run in gmap-pedometer. Yes!

After doing some research, I settled on the Garmin Forerunner 15. I elected not to purchase the accompanying heart rate monitor or footpod to track treadmill runs (as the reviews for those weren’t so great), but I would love to hear from any of you that might have this watch or had a Garmin in the past. What do you think? Pros? Cons? So far, it seems pretty simple and easy to use, and I am looking forward to taking it for some test runs next week. Not related to functionality, I like that it isn’t super big and bulky like some other GPS watches I looked at. And added bonus… it matches my current running shoes! Can you tell that I like that color?

Speaking of runs next week, I am looking forward to hitting them hard after this past week felt pretty good. As frustrating as it can be, it is also fun in the early stages of getting back in to running to feel yourself progress. What once were really hard runs, are now enjoyable. As a recap, here’s what this past week looked like for me.

• Monday 3/16 – 3 mile run with the dog, which means lots of periodic stopping to sniff. Toward the end of the run, she almost got attacked by a wolf dog, it was seriously part wolf, so that got our adrenaline pumping. Strength routine after run.
• Tuesday 3/17 – 2 mile run on the treadmill before work.
• Wednesday 3/18 – Rest day, but I did have a nice 2.5 mile walk on the golf course with my mom after work.
• Thursday 3/19 – 2.75 mile run on the golf course with the dog. The tables were turned from the wolf dog incident on Monday and this time, she almost got a cat on a leash, followed by a yappy bichon. First of all, who walks a cat on a leash? Secondly, she doesn’t like little fluffy dogs. Not sure why. Jack Russells will be Jack Russells. Strength routine after run.
• Friday 3/20 – 2 mile run on the treadmill before work.
• Saturday 3/21 – 4 mile run in the morning. Perfect, cool weather and felt pretty good.
• Sunday 3/22 – Rest, but 2.5 mile walk on the golf course.

I’m ready to hit next week running (literally). What is on your agenda?