I'm 25 and own a fanny pack

Because it takes slow runners, like myself, over an hour to run 6 miles, it was advised that we get hydration packs.

They might as well call them geek packs. I went to REI the night before our run looking for the coolest hydration pack I could find.

What I ended up with was a fanny pack that holds a water bottle.

Poor Matt is such a trooper, our pre-shopping conversation should have gone something like this:

W: Hey, even though it's Friday night, do you want to go to a store that you're mildly interested in to help me look for the least dorky looking fanny pack? Just as a heads up, I'm already pretty insecure about my running gear, so I'm going to be impossible to please."

M: Sigh, "OK"

It was pretty funny, once I was running along Burke Gilman I realized 90% of runners out on the trail had hydration packs... not to mention the other 10 gals I was running with.

So I guess it's cool to wear hydration packs, but I think I'm going to get a new one because mine only holds one bottle and it's pretty heavy. I might need the one with little bottles... I'll have to go shopping again :)


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Our run started at Gasworks Park and we were supposed to run to where our run began the week before then turn around and come back. The run was mostly flat. We started at a pretty fast pace for me, but most of us stayed together in a group. I think we did the first mile in about 11 minutes. Which is pretty fast for me. My heart rate was hovering around 170, which can be a little uncomfortable.

Around mile two I decided to slow down a little, I knew I still had a long ways to go. I ran mile two and three alone. Which was fine, I felt like my pace was maintable and I wasn't too tired, my hear rate stayed around 160. When I was about to hit the turn around point a couple of gals had caught up to me, so we ran together. I had the cliff shot blocks with me, so we took one at this time.

By mile 4 the blocks had kicked in and this seemed almost easy. My heart rate was still at 170, but it definitely took less energy.

Once mile 5 hit, I really felt a burst of energy and was able to really pick up the pace for the last mile.

I was super stoked that I finished on such a high note! It felt great to have run so far. I can't believe in 4 weeks I've already doubled the distance I'm able to run.

A couple of the girls and I were talking about how walking effects distance running. The whole point is to build your endurance, so is it better to run the whole thing, even when your pace is really slow? Or is it better to stop and walk for a second?

This round we had a couple stop lights and opportunities to stop for a few seconds, and I felt energetic by the end. I finished in an hour and 15 minutes. Which isn't too bad.

**It turns out this run was actually closer to 6 and a half miles.