Freethinker ~ Freerunner

Woke up at 5:45 and started hydrating.  I put a heating pad on my left ankle because it has been a little stiff in the mornings since the sprain in April.  It worked really well as far as I can tell.  I did not feel a thing during the entire run.  This as opposed to last Sunday's run that left me feeling a little stiff for the first two miles.  

This was an awesome morning to run as far as the weather goes.  It was 73 degrees when I left the house and it is now 82.  The slight breeze felt really nice.  I tried taking cool pictures of myself on the trail to show the countryside like one of my favorite ultra runners Catra Corbett is so fond of doing, but I could not seem to get the right angle while holding my iPhone.  I was also sweating all over my phone and having a hard time hitting the button on the screen to snap the photo.  I'm going to have to work on that, or I'm going to have to acquire a running partner to stand back and take the picture for me... LOL.

I'm just having fun for the next five weeks until marathon training begins again.  Not that I won't be having fun during marathon training, but right now I'm not as concerned with exact distance and pace.  I think I'll buy myself one of those spiffy Garmin watches for the summer season's marathon training this year.

I ended up finishing the 10 miles in 1:37:03.  I ran a pretty challenging hilly trail near my neighborhood.  Average pace was 9:42.  

I almost didn't go running tonight.  Alisha and I finished off a 9 hour work day, came home and didn't feel like cooking.  We stepped out to grab some food at a local taco establishment.  I love the food, but it's not the best running fuel especially right before a run.  I waited about two hours before running.  It was 10:30 when I left the house.  

I ran 5 miles at a pretty brisk 8:00 minute pace.  The temperature was 87 with a heat index of 93.  We here in the mid-west are currently under an excessive heat warning.  It is a strange feeling to be running that late at night and feel like it is about 2:00 PM on a hot sweltering summer day.  And since the humidity can be quite high in Oklahoma, I'm usually dripping with sweat sometime around my second mile. 

Total time: 0:40:12

Average mile: 8:02

Splits:

8:29

7:58

7:57

8:07

7:39

The temperature was a really nice 73 this morning just before sun up.  

Time: 0:55:50

mile pace: 7:58

Splits:

8:09

7:31

7:51

8:02

7:58

8:25

7:54

Easy four miler this morning.  My left foot / ankle has been feeling really good as of this week, but my left inner lower leg is feeling a little sore.  I've been icing it after runs this week.  I may need to decrease my mileage, as I fear it could be the start of a stress fracture in a worst case scenario.  Hopefully it is nothing.  

Time: 0:31:22

Average mile pace: 7:50