The Chestnut Hill Reservoir on Feb 4, 2012

The Chestnut Hill Reservoir, from a hill on the Brighton side of the pond. That's Boston College off in the distance.

I just wanted to write in with this picture from my most recent run, and to celebrate a little milestone in my personal fitness project. I'm really lucky to live very close (less than 1/3 of a mile) to the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, which has a great trail around it for walking or jogging. In addition to being a beautiful setting where I don't have to worry about traffic, the best part is that the trail is 1.56 miles: two laps around it come out to exactly 5K.

Four weeks ago, I was able to jog around the reservoir once, jogging at a pace of about 7.5 km/h (~13 minute mile) without stopping. At the time, it was a major accomplishment! Brooks and I had walked around the loop every once in awhile, but before I started buying in to this 2FNS project, the thought of actually running the mile and a half seemed impossible. The last stretch of the loop was very difficult, but I managed to grit my teeth and finish it.

And on Saturday, four weeks and thirteen cardio workouts later (elliptical, treadmill, outdoor jogging), I ran my first ever 5K around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, at a pace of 8.86 km/h (~11 minute mile), without stopping. This time, I was still feeling great as I finished the first lap, and by the end of the second I was tired, but felt like I could have pushed a little bit more, just a little bit faster and farther at the very end. I was actually pretty surprised with myself, and that my hard work was getting me somewhere!

Again, I'm excited to have such a great place so close by: basically a sandbox to mess around in, practice with different paces, and chart my progress from week to week and month to month. This past week, I signed up for my first ever "official" 5K -- the 2012 B.A.A.  5K, which is the day before the Boston Marathon. I have 10 more weeks to keep training, and I'd like to get from Saturday's time of about 34 minutes down to 28 minutes, or a 9 minute mile.

With a great place to train and the support of the 2FNS community, I think I'm gonna get there!