The Happy Runner is BACK!

Wow ... this is the longest I have gone without running in years!  Over two weeks!!!  And I can't even blame this on an injury.  However, I was doing something constructive which prevented my morning runs. (I have no excuse for not doing my weekend runs though.)  And I do NOT run at night!  I would rather get up at 3am than go on a run anytime after noon.  It just doesn't work for me.  But I'm putting those dormant 2 weeks out of my head and starting fresh!  And something exciting happened during the non-running period ... I got chosen as a running shoe wear tester for Brooks.  So cool! Because free shoes are good shoes!  :)  And here's how I got to be a wear tester ... Mom gave me this really awesome Brooks running hat for Christmas.

And after I got the hat I went to the Brooks website to see if they had any other Run Happy products and I saw a link to sign up to be a wear tester.  I was bored so I filled out the form and they contacted me last week and said I would be receiving a pair of shoes to test.  And they arrived yesterday.  I think they're cool.  They are called Pure Cadence.  Since they aren't being sold yet, I can't look up much information on them.  But at first glance, I would equate them to Nike Free.  Gonna be interesting because I have been running in Nike LunarGlide+ for over a year and they offer a ton of cushion and support.  But several of my running friends have been pushing me to go the Nike Free route because it will really strengthen my legs and eventually help me run faster.  Here are my new shoes.

And I went on my first run in them this morning. It was just 4 miles but they felt really good!  And I was pleasantly surprised with my pace.  I thought I would have trouble getting back in stride after so much time off but with little effort I was almost at regular pace.  Here's one happy runner after 4!!  Feels sooo good to run again!

Splits were 9:31, 9:08, 8:44, 8:44 (9:02 average).  Just nice to know I can still keep race pace even though it was only the last 2 miles.