This is - ouch! - the best run - ouch! - ever - ouch!

Yesterday afternoon I was depressed. Much to the thanks of my stellar training diet, I was drained of energy, feeling crappy and in an all-around bad mood.

I knew, too, that some runners in the group had done the weekly Back Cove 5K on Wednesday and wouldn't be attending Thursday night's run. It was the perfect out. If I didn't show, people could just assume I was resting after an evening of record-breaking speed runs (or, at the least, that I jog-walked Back Cove).

But at the last minute I pulled out the dreaded running shorts that are still a little tighter than I'd like and went to the group run.

I'm happy to report that not only did I run/walk 4 miles - it was actually my best run yet! Thanks to the inspiration of Anna (who is also training and who runs in the same pace group) we opted to head out strong and taper off the running times - we ran 10 minutes - walked two - ran nine - walked two - ran eight...you get the idea.

It was a brilliant idea - and we managed to improve our pace this week to a 11.5-minute mile (from 13 last week). Woooiiieee!!

Unfortunately, the lure of my running shorts overshadowed a painful reminder of running in shorts in years past: THE CHAFING!

Halfway around Back Cove the skin on my inner thigh was rubbed nearly raw - and I was tempted to run "peed pants" style. But remember the hardcoreness!

I went four miles, dangit, and wasn't going to let the burning of raw flesh stop me!