Running Journal ~ day something and a half

Practice tonight was fun. We met at the UPS track and after a two lap "warm up" ran the stairs for half an hour to train those running the Nike course for the hills the will encounter. How fast you run determined what kind of a work out you got; so since i am in the slower group one person would run up the stairs and down then the next person would go and so on until it was your turn again. This allowed your heart rate to be challenged, but not stressed. The first set my muscles burned at the top stairs, but after my rest period I found it rather easy. So then I started taking the steps two at a time. Well, this inspired our coach to make everyone do that (sorry guys ~ especially those who had to run the steps 2 or 3 times before resting). That was also pretty easy so I decided to try taking two steps on the way down, which worked pretty well until the very end 10 steps that were too narrow to take more than one at a time. Those on my team thought about trying that one, but decided against it for coordination sake. After a few reps of that, I wanted to challenge myself to do two sets of up and down in a row. Oh man! About half way up the second time my legs started BURNING!!!!! I was a bit more cautious on the way down because my muscles were unstable. Suzie (the gal behind me) thought if I did it she should try it, so she did. Then our coach comes over and says "run two laps as a cool down" !!!!!! I'm cool coach, I am sooo cool I'm down right chilly! =0) Needless to say, I got a "nice timing" from Suzie about the double set. Her legs were also feeling like jello after that. How did I know it was going to be our last set???? =0) Oh well. We walked the first lap and then ran about 3/4 of the second one, walking to the finish line to "cool down" from our workout.
I like these Wednesday night practices. We do things I would not think about doing normally. And boy am I THANKFUL that the day did not get as hot as was predicted. It was only about 70 degrees with a cool breeze when I got there. Not too bad for running.
I still can't believe I am halfway to my goal! I feel like I still have so much to learn. Hmm...perhaps another season is in my future??? Only God knows at this point.
My bed calls to me...I will listen and obey. =0)
Good night.