Because I'm just so excited . . . !

I posted this on the One Year Challenge blog, so the Weeks 7 and 8 thing might not make sense. Basically, we try to do at least one new thing a week. Week 7 lasts until Wednesday, February 18, because we started on New Year's Day, which was a Thursday.

For the rest of week 7 and all of week 8 -- I'm so excited about this -- I want to get my mile time down to 7:45 or less! The Army assesses a person's mile time (running) when said person enlists. Based on this time, the recruit will be assigned to a "sustained running ability group," which is basically a fancy name for a 12-week workout regimen based on the starting mile time. On the elliptical, I run about an 8:00 mile, and I was really excited to see the requirement to get into the fastest guys' group was 7:00. At my very best in high school, I could run a 6:58 mile, which was really slow compared to all the runners lapping me. (It really happened . . . at Regionals. I got last place. Very embarrassing.) Granted, that was a long time ago, and it took months for me to get into shape. And I was competing, which always gives me a little kick. But still. Yay Coach Rick. :)

Anyway, after looking at my mile time, I would have been placed in the guys' slowest running group, and the workout regimen doesn't really look like much of a challenge. SO! My goal for this next week and a half is to cut down my mile time by 15 seconds, so that I can make it into the next guys' group. That way, at the end of the training regimen, I'll be able to run a sustained 7:30 for 20 minutes. That's a tall order, but I'd rather have that challenge than running an 8:15 for 20 minutes. I can already just about do that. And I think a 20-minute 7:30 is feasible. Anyway. Here was a bunch of track mumbo jumbo for all you runners and ex-runners. But seriously, I'm really stoked. I have the opportunity to get in better shape and challenge myself. Plus, especially since the Army's basic training requirements for women aren't all that tough, I think this would make boot camp a lot easier. :)