Last year as I was pondering what I should do for my 40th birthday I thought running 40 miles would be appropriate. Since I have really cut my mileage back a lot this year I decided that running 40 miles in one day would be foolish and irresponsible. I guess wisdom is one of those things that comes with old age. Still wanting to do something somewhat significant I opted for a 40 kilometer run. Not quite as impressive as 40 miles but still decent mileage. I haven't run anything longer than 18 miles since the marathon last year so run 24.85 would still be a stretch and I wasn't 100% sure I could do it. Not wanting to disrupt the regular daily schedule too much I got up at 2:30 a.m. and headed out the door. My plan was to run slow and stay comfortable the entire run (kept the pace between 8:30 and 8:40). Speed wasn't a concern at all, I just wanted to get the mileage in. Legs were a little tight to start but felt fine once they loosened up. The run was quite uneventful. Most of the run was very peacful since there were virtually no cars on the road. It was nice to have a few hours of quiet time. I only took 1 GU and 24 ounces of Gatorade and never felt like my glycogen was depleted at all. Keeping the pace slower seemed to use a lot less fuel. Ran the last mile with Becky. Felt so good after I finished, I thought maybe I should have attempted the full 40 miles.
Best part of the run: NSL city recognizing that it was my birthday and leaving the bathroom at Hatch park open just for me. The run would have been very much different if it were not open.
Worst part of the run: I did a huge loop through south Davis county and my mileage ended at 24.75. I was shocked that it was that close to where I wanted to be but disappointed that I had to tack on the extra 0.1 after passing my house. | 