Rollin' THUNDER

Windy. I felt good during this run up until about mile 9. My right achilles tendon started to hurt a little bit. My sock didn't fill up with blood today, thats a good sign. The blisters are feeling better and not bothering me at all. Hopefully this achilles pain goes away before tomorrows run.

10.27 miles. This was the first run in a long time that I felt like I was holding back to try and be around a 7:40 pace. My actual pace was 7:30, and that felt fairly easy for the majority of the run. My achilles felt good the entire run. It was sore this morning, and I was contemplating riding a bike or going swimming today just in case. I planned on doing a 2 mile loop to start this run and I would gauge how it felt. If it was good, Id keep going, if I was concerned I would stop and hit a bike. It felt fine. My blisters are also healing up nicely and there was no blood in my socks after the run.

This is a blister I had a few years ago. For some reason I only ever get blisters around my right big toe.

Both my phone and weather.com said it was 33º when I left. So I dressed like it was 33º . It didn't take long to realize that it was probably more like 43º , and I was too warm. I just dealt with it. After I had been home for about 5 minutes, my wife got home from the grocery store and asked how my run was. I said "hot". She said "I bet, it's way warmer than 33º out there". Currently both my phone and weather.com say its 39º , but while I was running I saw several people walking and carrying their coats in their arms. I doubt they would do that if it was under 40º .

After my run before I ate or drank anything, I got on the scale. I was 161 lbs. On December 31st before I went to the bathroom before bed I was 191 lbs. I know I can't compare the two because they were different times of day, dehydration, and an empty stomach, but it was still nice to see that my hard work is paying off.

Yesterday I dragged my feet and kept putting my run off. I had to do some repairs on the apartments, and they didn't go nearly as well as I was hoping. By the time I was done with those it was past 9:30 pm and I was frustrated, so I didn't go running. WHAT A WEENY! I decided last night that I need to go running first thing in the morning so I don't let anything else get in the way, including my laziness.

Today's run went pretty well. I felt like I had a lot of energy. I got to a part that had a long hill. It wasn't very steep, but it was pretty long. I wanted to try and run it at a faster pace, and at a minimum not let my pace drop below what it was when I started the hill. I did it very easily. Hopefully tomorrow's run will be just as good as this one.

I was a little worried about this run because of the blisters around my right big toe. I have found the easiest method of dealing with them is to sterilize the area and some tools, pop it, and cut the skin off. It hurts for a few hours afterwards, but it makes running easier than running with blisters. I had cut a blister off yesterday, so it was fresh, red, and kind of painful when I walked. Plus I had a couple more that were a few days old, so they were a little sore, but not too bad.

I woke up at 5:45, ate a banana, bread with jam, mint chocolate gu, and about 8 oz or gatorade (about 400 calories). I made 12 more oz of gatorade and put it in a bottle. I placed a peanut butter gu in my pocket, a bottle with water, my gatorade, an espresso gu, and a chocolate outrage gu on the bumper of my car.

I started at about 6:30 with a 5 minute warm up, then ran for about 20 minutes away from my house, then headed back home, ate the gu in my pocket (peanut butter) about 2 minutes before I got home, chased it with about 4 oz of water and 4 oz of gatorade, grabbed the next gu (espresso), then headed out for about 25 minutes, and repeated the process (last gu was chocolate outrage).

I was really pleased with this run. I didn't feel like I was pushing myself in order to maintain my goal pace (7:40), and about half of the time I was having to tell myself to take it slow and easy and not force anything.

25.51 miles in 3:15

5 minute warm up- .62 miles (8:01 pace)

3:05 run- 24.33 miles (7:36 pace with my watch running during 3 water/gatorade breaks and a bathroom break)

5 minute cool down- .56 miles (8:53 pace)

After the run I took off my sock and there was a nice orange goop in between my big toe and 2nd toe. It had the consistency miracle whip. I will have to make sure to keep it clean and dry the next couple of days.