Marching to the beat of a different mandolin

I've decided to kind of loosely stick to a running training plan to up my mileage, trying to do 3+ miles three times per week, adding distance on my Saturday runs.  I probably won't do that this Saturday, though, since I have a 5K race, and I think I'll probably not keep running when it's over.  But I measured the distance (using mapmyrun.com) of the loop in the park behind my house, and found it to be .22mi.  I was hoping it would be more like an even quarter or a third, but whatever, 14 laps is 3.08mi, and it's more or less flat and I'd be very unlikely to get lost.  Mapping a real 5K or longer course through my neighborhood is tough, because none of the streets are very long, so I'd have to memorize a lot of turns and whatnot.  14 laps is easier, and I don't mind the boringness of it, really.  I guess I'm like my dad that way.  He walks laps in his neighborhood every day, sometimes as many as 20 laps through the .67-mile loop of his neighborhood, meanwhile there's a nature reserve RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET with miles and miles of beautiful trails.  Heh.  Anyway I did my 14 laps and clocked in at 28:22.  Granted, it was .02mi short of a full 5K, but it was still 1:28 faster than my personal best 5K time of 29:50.  I'm guessing the last two hundredths wouldn't take me too long.  But it was a flat course and the weather was ideal for it, so I'm not expecting to beat this in my race on Saturday.  But anyway it was a nice run.  I'll probably do more training in that park when I feel like being outside.

After my run, Z and I rode our bikes around the neighborhood a bit.  We had an early lunch and then went to the matinee showing of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.  I liked it, but it's not exactly cinematic gold.  Steve Carrell and Keira Knightly are always wonderful, and they were a pretty good match on screen.  The plot was all kinds of predictable, though, and there were a few instances of wtf? that never got addressed.  I imagine some deleted scenes probably clear up a lot of those questions.  But anyway it was cute and funny.  Great for a Monday afternoon date.

Today I'm up early to go to my 3rd Weight Watchers meeting observation.  This one is an at work meeting, so it'll be a little different from what I've done in the past.  After that, I have an early afternoon session with Ertan.  I definitely feel like my biking has brought my overall fitness level up a few notches, but on days where I bike or have long runs, I do far less weightlifting, and as those days increase in frequency, my weight training is really lagging right now.  Maybe one day there will be enough hours in the day and I will be superhuman enough to do two hours of intense working out every day, but I don't think that day is coming anytime soon.  For now I'm focusing on improving my cardio endurance.  It's going well, so I won't complain.