Evidence says I'm getting faster

My slowest run this week was a 7:43 pace...and we said we were going to run an 8:00 pace.  And it was today, and Sunday's are supposedly my easy/shakeout day.  Have I mentioned lately how excited I am to have running partners who are pushing me?!

This week : 

M : 6.2 / 7:35 / 390 ft

T : group 7 / 7:10 / 256 ft

R : group 9 / 7:36 / 554 ft

Sa : 5.1 / 7:21 / 292 ft

Su : 5.6 w/Ben / 7:43 / 243 ft

total miles : 32.9

Monday I wandered around til I knew I had at least 6 miles.  Tuesday I told the group I wouldn't mind running on the Creeper Trail as long as we made it a fast run, so we pushed the 7 miles.  Thursday Ben wanted 8 or 9, so I mapped out a loop for us and off we went.  A couple people pulled off the loop early because they weren't ready for the longer distance yet, but the remaining 4 of us stayed together until after 7 miles when the faster two started pulling ahead.  Ben and I finished the 9 together.  Saturday I enjoyed a nice hill push up to the top of South Holston Dam.  This morning Ben asked me to go for an easy 5 miler, so off we went.  We kept it mostly flat, but we ended up going a bit faster than easy.  

In other news, when I went to switch my orthotics from one pair of shoes to another before yesterday's run, I discovered that one of them was cracked the whole way through, almost the whole way across. Just bending it a little bit reveals a whole lot of daylight through the crack.  As upset as I was, they have lasted me faithfully for a year, which is about how long they are supposed to last.  And I can still wear them now, but it's only a matter of time before that crack grows big enough to snap the whole thing into two pieces.  I wore them yesterday, but today I went on my first run in 2 years without custom orthotics.  Thankfully, I had no tendonitis twinges.  I did wear the most supportive pair of shoes I have in my rotation right now (Mizuno Wave Enigma 5) and my newest pair of green Superfeet.  I am hopeful that my feet will be able to survive without the special support from the orthotics, but if not I will have to find someone here who will make me new ones. 

sidenote : Blogger doesn't recognize orthotic or tendonitis as words... It wants to change orthotic to orthodontic...and tendonitis to tendinitis.  Google says both are correct, but it makes more sense to me to spell it with the word tendon in it...

Also, check out this awesome rainbow I caught outside my front door on Friday!  The whole ROYGBIV was clearly visible and I could see the whole arch from end to end!  It was a gorgeous sight with the dark stormy sky and the bright colorful leaves and brilliant rainbow!  Of course the camera doesn't quite do it justice. 

 You can even see the rainbow in the tree if you look close