May 6th run
Distance: 3.11 miles (5K)
Time: 40:10 minutes
Pace: 8:02 min/km
Calories: 316

I like running on the rubberized track - it’s mindless running, just round and round. Unlike the cross-country trail, I don’t have to look out for uneven ground or holes or sandy areas or muddy areas, and I don’t have to run uphill and deal with the physical and mental toil of the hill. But other mental toils exist at the track. Right now it’s the track and field season and LOTS of student athletes hang out at the track. There’s something very intimidating about “running” in the midst of hungry-looking athletes in training.

Anyway, I had planned to do a 2-mile run/walk at the track. I walked all the way to the track only to be faced with a group of training students. I did get on the track, walked a whole circle (or oval) and decided I couldn’t possibly run here so I proceeded towards the cross-country trail. I still see athletes on the trail but at least once they past me they disappear! So I set a distance of 2 miles on my iPod, and using my interval timer watch, did a run-5min: walk-1min thing. When I reached 2 miles, decided to push for 5K (3.1 miles). I’m thinking of setting a 35-min 5K goal for my next official 5K run, not even sure if that’s realistic. That would mean I have to run 1km in 7 minutes..no more penguin shuffle or tortoise crawl.

May 8th run
Distance: 5K
Time: 41:56 minutes
Pace: 8:21 min/km
Calories: 316

The cross-country trail is great too. It winds around corn fields, a tiny river, some houses, many trees, a football stadium, softball field (ewww), and just lots of grass. My dad would love going for his walks here. I’ve seen squirrels, chipmunks (really!), rabbits, deers, and birds. Running on the trail also strengthens the ankles as the muscles adjust to the varying terrains.

Today, I didn’t even bother going to the track, just went straight to the cross-country trail. This time I set a distance of 5K on the iPod and then realized I had forgotten to wear the interval watch, so using the Nike+iPod as a guide I just ran 1km walked 100m and repeated that. I wanted to try and do the 5K in under 40 mins - have to somehow pass that 40 min barrier. At 1.86 km, I bumped into Mary, my fellow small group member. We stood around chatting about the cross-country trail, exercise schedules, running in water, swimsuits and self-image issues. We parted and I continued on my run realizing that I won’t be able to go under 40min after that chat-break. I’m surprised that I completed the run in 41:56 minutes. I’m sure the chat was longer than 2 minutes and the run today really felt like the tortoise crawl.

Sunday:
I drove Susan, Mei, and her parents to the Philly airport early Sunday morning. Mei’s parents came from Bintulu for Mei’s graduation on May 21 but they are here early so they could travel around before heading home. And Mei is taking them to Texas (of all places!). At first I was worried that it would get hot without the A/C, but fortunately, it was a very cold morning so the car was comfortable all the way. The journey was smooth except for one request for an emergency pitstop but to my surprise there wasn’t any rest area along the highway. So we had to make an exit and found a gas-station not to far off. When we finally arrived at the airport, Mei’s dad commented that I must have driven to this airport many times since I seem to know my way around It was my first trip there but I did study the google map and directions carefully.

Recorded car data after my trip to and back from Philadelphia airport:
Distance: 140 miles (225km)
Time: 3:04 hour
Average speed: 45 mph (72km/h)
Gas mileage: 25.8 mpg (miles per gallon)(11km/L)
Engine temperature: 200F (93C)
Outside temperature: 57F (14C)

Monday:
I dropped Sonja off at the nearby bus station 10 minutes away. She’s on her way to Newark airport to fly back to Slovenia.

All these trips sending people off is so exciting. Soon I’ll have to find someone to drop me off at the bus-stop too.