Seeking a better country...

I was supposed to go six, but felt pretty well, so added some distance.  My son came with on the bike.  We were lazy, and drove to the creek, avoiding .8 miles of tough climb.  Then we ran north on Shoreline trails into Farmington.  I forgot the garmin, but we were out for 85 minutes. 

I squeezed this run in between work and choir--out and back from work to 5600 W.  Pancake flat, southerly crosswind in shorts and a t-shirt.  I might have liked a long sleeved shirt.  My left toe started hurting, like a pulled something or other, between the toe and the ball of my foot.  It's a bit stiff this morning, but it seems like nothing more than the litany of aches that arise.  I've added quite a bit of mileage, and this week is a long week.  Next week is a stepback...Maybe I should switch things around.  My training plan dictates 4 runs of 20+ miles, with the first one coming up on Sat.  Maybe I'll scale back to three...I don't know.  I'll have to see how things feel.  I don't want to start wimping out.  Of course, a real injury would be far more disruptive than dialing things back a bit.  The classic conundrum. 

Home to Parrish, to Legacy trail, to Pages and back.  Everything worked.  Overall pace: 7:30.  I think I'm tired from the uptick in mileage the last few weeks.  I'm looking forward to a stepback week.

7:48, 7:29, 7:14, 7:34, 7:28, 7:27, 7:15.  I went to sign away my taxes, (refund is coming...maybe 6 kids isn't too many) and ran home.  It rained/snowed the whole way from Compton Road in Farmington home.  Since it was so raining, my shirt got pretty wet, and I noticed again that wet shirts and sore nips go together like peanut butter and jelly.  Ouch.  If that wasn't bad enough, the wind cut through my warmup pants like a knife, and, well, let's just say I felt pretty cold.

3.15 with my son, then 3 to finish up.  Fast miles were 7:00 and 7:20.  I know, they aren't that fast, but they are below marathon pace.  Besides, running 6 miles after shoveling 6 driveways worth of cement this morning is a pretty good accomplishment in itself.  I have more than a little dread about tomorrow's scheduled 18 miler.  Ugh.  I just dropped an ugh.  I'm on a horse.

Ugh.  This run is too long to list splits.  Overall pace was 8:10.  My sister came and met me for the last 8 miles.  Endless running along the Legacy trail.  Coming back, we jumped onto the Rio Grande path, past a road closed sign.  A half mile later, we saw why.  There was a huge ditch for an irrigation project.  I don't recommend long jumps after 18 miles of running.  I cleared the distance, but got a bit muddy on the landing.  Oh well.  Oh yeah, at the beginning, I was looking for different paths to tread, and ended up running down some gravel road, that led to nowhere, except wetlands.  I had to climb over numerous gates, through barbwire fence, and skirt the borders to keep dry, and then backtrack through the auto auction to get back on track.  Moral of the story:  Stick to the plan.  I ate gu (gag, almost tossed it) at mile 16.  I think it helped.  Running just gets more and more expensive.  Props to Shannon for coming along.  2.5 hours post-run, I feel all right.  No joint soreness, just tired muscles.  I'm looking forward to step-back this week.  52 miles is a lot for me.