1:59:34.Wow what a great training run. Very slow going because it was hilly. I woke up to pouring rain - it had been raining most of the night (snowing in the mountains but just not cold enough for ours, since they are only ~5000 ft). Luckily, I am a great procrastinator so by the time I got started it was only sprinkling. 45F and wet is not too bad, but I really wasn't sure what to wear ... (shorts I knew, but top??). I ended up picking a short sleeve shirt because I wanted a pretty tight shirt that would not get too heavy in the rain ... then I thought, "what a perfect day for arm warmers!!". Yes indeed. It started raining pretty heavily again after the first 20 mins and so within the first hour I was soaked -- but warm and comfy. After about 9 miles it warmed up enough that I took the arm warmers off, what cool things they are! So, the run. It was super hilly. Since most of my usual long run venues are dirt roads or trails I had to pick something new for today. I decided to do my usual hilly Saturday run and then a ~6 mile loop that Dean had done that I haven't done before -- the finish is basically my uphill from the Pima College track. Pretty much every single mile of this run is up or down. The longest uphill segment is about 2 miles and the steepest uphill is about 1.5 miles. Nothing is too steep though - which is good since I hate downhills. I would say probably about 2% grade up down. Arthur Lydiard would absolutely love this route. Anyway - I felt pretty good, the last 2 miles were tough, but I ran them pretty hard and felt really good. Bernard Lagat ran an indoor American record for the 5K today -- Ann Pierce (nee Willard) and Shannon Rowbury also ran great races ... I love Track and Field! Nick Willis (NZ) won the mile in 3:55 after having hip surgery last year for an injury similar to our therapist thinks that Dean has -- so it gave Dean a little hope that he might someday be able to run again. Happy Sunday bloggers!
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