Went for a run with Erik at our favorite lake today. It was an absolutely perfect day for a run; the weather was wonderful -- not too hot or too cold, & there was a nice breeze.

As usual, I'd set my iPod+Nike to a lesser amount of mileage (4.5 mi) than what I'd actually thought about doing, fully expecting to run 6 mi instead. The funny thing is that once I'd hit the 4.5 mi marker, I knew that, not only would I be running the 6 mi, but that I would probably be running even further. I was feeling good today, so why not?!

(This "wait-&-see" approach to running has worked marvelously thus far, consistently paying immense motivational dividends, so it makes perfect sense to continue this strategy. As long as I'm not increasing mileage too quickly from week to the next, this is a perfect viable approach.)

Then, I weighed the pros & cons in my head, & decided that if I was going to run more mileage that it should be 8 mi instead of 7, because that'd make a weekly total thus far of 13, which was clearly unlucky. ;)

But seriously, I knew I had it in me, & furthermore, it was really important to start building the miles again. I've been topping out at around 6 mi runs lately, & knew it was time to start doing more. My goal is to do 6-7 mi runs during the week & then get to the point where I'm back to doing 10-14 milers on the weekends. Once I get to that point, then I'll take the long runs to even greater amounts, & will also toss in some speed work on the track.

My schedule's been really, really busy, so this gradual approach of augmenting my training in phases is the smartest realistic strategy to ensure that I keep running & moving forward in my training. Pretty soon, I'll toss in some pushups, situps, & squats, but for now, my main concern is just getting out there & getting the mileage done.

At this point of my training, I'm not focused on speed (I could care less right now about that!); it's all about building mileage. Once the legs & lungs get re-acclimated to covering the distance, then I'll start tossing in all the other "whistles & bells." :) Better to take this approach than to do too much too soon, both in terms of distance & in the amount of workouts I'm doing. This strategy greatly helps to keep training manageable, as well as to preserve overall life-balance. Better to make slow, gradual, consistent progress than to take shortcuts only to backtrack & pay later.

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One of the things I love about this route is that it's nice & shady in the summertime. There are plenty of trees. And that certainly helps to make increasing one's mileage a whole lot easier!

While I was running, I noticed the beautiful patterns that the shadows of the trees made on the pavement. There were some rather striking, camera-worthy images of geometric patterns formed by the shadows of branches & leaves. Wish I'd have brought my camera along!

These are the moments when it feels like "Murphy's Law of Running." When I see something of great beauty, my digital camera & mobile phone camera are nowhere to be found! :)

At some point in the future, I plan to rectify that issue with the purchase of a tiny pocket-sized camera. ;)

So, all in all, I'm very proud of myself for running the 8 mi. This is the longest distance I've run over the past few months of training, since the 16.37 mi training run back in March & my half marathon in May. Yay!

As far as mileage is concerned, it's only onwards & upwards from here, baby!