The Long Run

11.16 mi, 1:34:13, 8:26 avg

Felt like an impossibly long distance when I started and of course it was a bit hot and humid.  But chipped away at the miles.  Ran around the neighborhood and up and down past the golf course finally finishing up running past my house until I'd get in enough miles.  Cooled off in the pool a little bit and as I left for work it began to rain again.  Running 11 miles on a Monday can be one of the toughest workouts.

11 mi, 1:31:40, 8:20 avg

Ran at the Y with the Striders, a few minutes late for 5:30 start.  Rain sounded heavy when I woke up but figured it might stop or lighten up.  I finished 7 miles before I had to head back home to wake up Andy.  Finished up the rest of the miles at home with an out and back past the water fountain.  But, on the way out my garmin battery died so I'm estimating the pace but I'm pretty certain of the distance since I've run the exact route a bumch of times.  More rain but not heavy, just enough to keep it cool.

10.86 mi, 1:23:11, 7:39 avg

Ran from my house to Starkey Blvd to run on the bike path.  Almost felt cool at first but the humidity caught up with me eventually.  Also, ended up dodging more puddles than I expected and the grass on either side was pretty saturated and spongey.  But, did the best I could and pretty much made my goal of 6:54 average for 6 miles (although did take one break to mentally regroup at 2.4 miles).

Splits: 6:52, 7:02, 6:45, 6:54, 7:00, 6:48

Pretty big mileage week and now I'm halfway done.

9.08 mi, 1:13:29, 8:05 avg

Ran at Longleaf with the Striders at 5:30.  At first it looked like hardly anyone was there, but because they moved the meeting spot to across the street and I was apparently in the group that did not check facebook the night before.  Bike trail has gotten even more flooded so all the run consisted of extra loops inside the neighborhood and none on the bike trail. 

Ran first loop with Michelle and Fernando, and then joined by Ben on the second loop. Third loop was mostly by myself.

Coffee had all leaked out of the pot so none left when I finished.

Run turned out better than expected, was afraid I'd be dragging the whole time.  Last three miles were all in low 7:30's and felt good.

20.02 mi, 2:41:28, 8:03 avg

This was a very tough run for me but also a great confidence booster.  Since Starkey bike trail and park are getting more and more flooded we ran in Lansbrook nbhd.  Met up with Beka, Andrea, Ryan and Jason at the Y down there.  They like to start out faster than I usually start out and I felt like I was struggling for the first few miles.  It was also 5:00 am, it's a Friday instead of the usual Saturday long run, it's warm and humid and I wasn't sure what route we were taking.  Seemed to zig and zag throughout.  I've run down here before but it was very dark and it was a new route.

We got back to the parking lot after just under 10 miles for drink refills and to start the second half.  Jason was only do 10 so he took off and Beka was really struggling and wanted to run alone for a bit.

So, I followed Ryan and Andrea as we headed across East Lake to another neighborhood where we were going to go straight for 2.5 miles, turn back and then head out again from the parking lot.  I felt a little bit better now that it was light and I knew the route but still trailed behind them until we arrived at the turn around, then I was running with them.  At 13 miles seemed like a long way to go still, wasn't sure how I'd keep going, but I kept on moving along with our small group.

At 15 miles I was getting ready to make my short speech about how I was going to stop and stretch and drop back for a little bit.   Instead, I took my powerbar double latte gel, waited for it to kick in and soon found myself out in front.  We had been hovering around an 8:00-8:10 pace, now we were around a 7:40.  Altered the route again so we'd be done by the time we got back.  Also, as we were returning, saw Beka again who looked like she was back and running strong.

It was a good effort and a valuable mental exercise in keeping on.  Hoping for some cooler temps (should be as it will be PA instead of FL) and a little race day magic in two weeks.

10.39 mi, 1:34:22, 9:04 avg

Since I did my long run yesterday, still needed an "easy" run today.  Jamie needed to do 18 miles and wasn't sure what route to talk and in desperation thought she might just run the close neighborhood 10 or 11 times.

So, alternate plan was for her to do a few loops for 5 miles, then she and Joe would swing by my house and we'd do an out and back to the Trinity Y where we could get some cold water and run back. 

Heard a good amount of rain at 5:00 am and was wondering if I'd get a text saying she wasn't running.  But, the rain stopped, I waited out front.  Saw Joe and then a few minutes later Jamie showed up after her 5 miles.  I led the way on a meandering course to the Y to get there just after 7:00.  Got there and headed back.  There was some very light rain that kept things cool.  Took it easy and felt good.

Biggest week for me in a while with some solid effort.