The Long Run

9.16 mi, 1:14:44, 8:09 avg

Ran in the neighborhood, delayed start a couple of times and didn't get going until 7:45.  Sluggish the first mile and then pretty good after that.  Three water fountain stops to cool off.  Last mile 7:11.

Will try to get 2 or 3 more miles in tonight.

PM - ok I did it

3.07 mi, 24:23, 7:57 avg

Out and back to the golf course water fountain.

1:10:52, 9.1 mi, 7:47 avg

Ran at the Y with the Striders.  Warm and very humid but this was all before the sun.  Warm up first mile at 9:06, then the rest between 7:22 and 7:50

8.67 mi, 1:06:05, 7:37 avg

Plan called for 6 miles @ 7:00 pace.

But, it was very warm and humid this morning, partially due to me not getting out the door soon enough.  Toyed around with moving today's run to tomorrow but that doesn't seem to work out to well except when it's for a reason more beyond my control.  Also, feeling a bit sluggish during warm up.  So, I bargained with myself.  I decided I'd do 2x3 miles.  Also, would see how I felt after the first mile and if I could hang onto that pace the workout was on.

And so, after 1.5 mile warm up I started out and it wasn't that bad.  Felt like I could do it.  First mile was good, second came and went and the third mile looked like it was going to be a success.  Water fountain was about a half mile away from where the third mile would end so I figured I'd keep going, then the second half would only be 2.5 miles.

But, after the water fountain stop I realized I wasn't doing so good.   Got going anyways but then called it off after a half mile.  Slogged through the next mile but it turned out it wasn't that slow (8:22), and finally decided to finish up the last mile.

So, splits were: 6:54, 6:55, 6:55, 6:57, 8:22, 6:50

Got to keep hoping it's the heat acclimitization and the miles will get easier.

8.1, 1:08:41, 8:28 avg

I ran with Cynthia and some with Dixie.  Started at 5:30 at Longleaf.  Warmed up for about 2 miles.  My garmin started flaking out and said I was running a 3:30 pace, so I've had to do some estimating about what I really ran.  But, I fixed the problem by power cycling it and then it seemed to behave.

After the warm up did 10x1 minute intervals with one minute rest.  Ran into Dixie after the third one and then he joined us for the rest.  After getting back, headed out for about another mile and a half to hopefully get over 8 (garmin distance was 8.87 which included the flakeout section).

Felt much better today than yesterday - starting out just  before dawn makes a huge difference!

9.07 mi, 1:13:18, 8:05 avg

Ran in the neighborhood, kind of warm out but I think I've pretty much adjusted to it by now.  Slower start at 9:45 and typical faster last mile at 7:14.  Good run overall.

20.06, 2:40:23, 7:59 avg

Except for a slight glitch, this run couldn't have gone much better.

Met up with Beka, Andrea, and Dixie at 5:00 in Longleaf.  Beka and Andrea are both training for same race I am - Chasing the Unicorn in mid August in PA.  Dixie was along to see how far he could go.

We started off from the parking lot and headed inside the neighborhood so I decided to ditch my fuel belt since we'd be back to the same spot in about 3.5 miles.  After starting again needed to catch up the ladies so first mile was a little faster than planned (8:05 instead of 8:30).  And then the next few miles were right about 8:00.

Grabbed my fuel belt and a swig of gatorade from my car.  I could see the ladies on the trail not too far up ahead and was about to pick it up to catch them but then saw I had dropped my ipod that had been on my fuel belt.  Thought about getting it later but then afraid maybe I had droppped it someplace it might have gotten run over.  Ran back toward my car just as another group was starting out.  Dixie decided to switch groups so he went with them.  I finally found my ipod and it definitely could have gotten stepped on if left on the ground where I dropped it so glad I went back.  But, now all alone I decided to drive ahead to Diane's house where they'd be going, and then run towards them until meeting back up.

It worked, and soon intercepted them with Jolene now with them, and soon we picked up Melanie. 

After that, the run was pretty steady with most miles right at 8:00 or up to 10-15 seconds faster.  I had one extra mile to finish once the rest of the group was done so I just did a short out and back by myself which ended up as my fastest mile at 7:13 pace.

And then, time to head up and finish up packing followed by about 11 hours in a car (to be followed up by a second day in the car of 11 hours!)