I am glad to have January out the way.  The Winter themed classroom decorations have been swapped out for hearts galore in celebration of Valentine’s Day.

February also brings increased mileage for Nylia’s KDF mini marathon training.  We were happy to have perfect mid 40° temps to hit the pavement for the Norton Sports Health group run.

Before we switched from treadmill to outdoors, I knew a proper fitting shoe would be essential for her training.  We went to Fleet Feet for a gait analysis.   My guess was correct.  Nylia needs a stability shoe to correct her overpronation.

She tried on some Mizunos which were ugly and had no color to them.  She sampled some NB that were kinda blah.  The third pair, Saucony (sock-a-knee, not sa-co-nee) Glide 7s were the mosty comfy.

I’m glad she was able to experience a proper shoe fitting.  The sales rep even threw in a couple complimentary Brooks t-shirts. 

An outdoor 4 miler was quite the challenge for Nylia.  She quickly learned how much harder it is compared to the ‘mill.  We met up with this lady named Julia who was doing run/walk intervals.

I was the only one with a watch so I paced Nylia and Julia for 2 minute runs with 30 second walks.  They both finished in reasonable time for beginners.

The pace was more like a speed walk for me.  I didn’t break a sweat.  No endorphins released.  While Nylia showered, I hit my favorite route for a swift 4 miles at a 7:49 pace.  Total of 8 miles with sore abs from Friday’s spin class.

Being a trainer is a tough job.  I had to find that balance of sensitivity and firmness.  I’m sure I was not Nylia’s favorite person this morning.

Besides her weight loss motivation for wanting to run 13.1, I would like for Nylia to be active for a lifetime.  It’s just something about us runners.

Check out what my girl Kels wrote on The Blonder Side of Life about some positive attributes of runner chicks here.

♡K Lou♡