better than medicine?

after getting out for yesterday's 5k while not feeling so hot, I wasn't sure what today would have in store.  Took some Nyquil last night, in bed before midnight, alarm clock first buzzed at 6:20am. Snoozed it once, then hopped out of bed; I must either really like running, or my group.  Had some multi-grain Cheerios, a cup of coffee and headed out to meet the group.  I was greeted with a bunch of hugs, and in the group's usual fashion, a bit of bugging and teasing.  Off we went.

Today's run had a very different perspective.  Before my injury, and before starting my heart rate training, I was usually at the beginning of the group, sometimes looping back to lessen the gap, or trying to re-find the group after a few of us at the front would get directionally challenged.  ☺

With my focus now on heart rate and staying in my zone 2, I found myself at the back of the group, but in perfect pace with 3 of the group members that I never usually run with!  The pace was conversational, which never happened before! I always felt like I was dying, and had difficulty getting out a sentence without breathing really hard.  At about the 14k mark, 2 girls dropped off and headed back to the store, while me and another continued the route.  She was starting to get pretty sore by about 20k, so we slowed down a little, and skipped one of the loops towards the end for a total of 23.4 km.  They were all so impressed that I ran as far as I did, and was smiling at the end, and I stayed disciplined enough to maintain a slow pace.  They all thought it was weird that I was running with them, but figured I'd take off and speed up at some point, but I didn't :)

Now, my ear isn't aching, sinuses are clear, throat isn't sore, and I feel great!  Yay running!