Friday’s run was one of those easy 6 mile runs in the Hansons Marathon plan, which I have been using to prep for a half marathon in April and also to see if I could manage the training and mileage required to run a marathon this Fall.

During the run I had a chance to think, which for me can be dangerous.

No, Friday’s run itself was not a problem and I actually got to enjoy the time outside in the sun, with decent weather for January in Maine. I even got to test the Beacons on a variety of surfaces and was surprised at how grippy they were. Now I wouldn’t wear them on any gnarly trails or anything, but they were decent on sanded ice, wet gritty sand and regular roads. Plus they were comfortable for the entire 10K and when I wanted to pick the pace up during the last mile – I did.

Today’s run was another scheduled easy run and since I did the 6.0 miler yesterday, I planned on 5.0 for today.

I could have probably could have run outside, but once I got to the gym, I decided that the treadmill was going to be easier and got on and set it to an easy pace for 4.0 miles. When I got to 4.0 miles I decided that I wanted to do some .1 strides at a faster pace. I may have gotten a bit carried away and ended up doing 8 of them.

They just felt good and the Beacons didn’t get in the way like some other trainers have when I pick up the paces to the I’m going too fast speeds. Then I did a half mile cool-down and walked for another half mile.

So far I am very happy with the way the New Balance Beacons have performed on easy runs and the faster paced strides that I did today. Just need to keep putting miles on them.

I did get to think some more and am pretty sure that I will be making a few changes to my training plan next week based on what I have been thinking about.