The Long Run

7.09 mi, 58:55, 8:18 avg

Some easy miles in the light rain.  Looped around the neighborhood, out past the golf course to Trinity Blvd on the grassy shoulder for a bit, then down a side street before turning around home.  Picked up the pace, 7:47, 7:40, and 7:10 for last half mile.  

Walked Stella and then ran her for a little bit (just over half a mile and enough to get me over 7 for the morning).

For the month of July I stayed on track for 2,000 miles.  Starting to seriously think about a plan for NYC marathon.

I cooked dinner for Jessica and Aubrey last night and Aubrey walked Stella to one of the parks (about 0.7 miles), Stella listened really well to Aubrey despite being 10 pounds heavier.  She had wanted to see Sammy but I had just taken him back to Jenny's house since they were back from their Texas trip to see her dad (he hasn't been doing well but the visit really helped perk him up and the boys were very mature and helpful).

5.15 mi, 42:32, 8:16 avg

Solo run in the neighborhood (well, except maybe about a mile with Stella).

4.14 mi, 36:59, 8:56 avg

Mostly an out and back run to Trinity Blvd.  On the way back, my garmin died after recording 2.34 miles at an 8:56 average.  Pretty sure there was 1.8 miles left to go as I've run this route quite a bit, so I think it's a pretty good estimate and I'll assume I averaged about the same pace as the first part of the run but most likely I sped up a little bit.

Not a lot of miles today, but it all adds up.

9.22 mi, 1:17:04, 8:21 avg

Left my house about 7:45, ran to Longleaf where I said hi to Karen and Lynne, and then Daisy showed up to ride with Lynne.   The first mile felt slow and clanky and I had no idea how I'd be able to keep going, but the feeling passed and it would turn into a good run overall.  I stashed my gatorade and then ran up the bike path, over and just past the bridge a little bit before turning back.  I picked up the pace on the return trip and held it the rest of the way home.  Humidity was still down due to Emily sucking up the moisture, certainly didn't feel like a late start run in August.

So grateful for the lower humidity and the good run that evolved from a bad run because I decided to stick with it.

6.3 mi, 50:40, 8:03 avg

First, I ran with Steall for about 1.1 miles, running about an 8:40 pace.  We ran up and down the street so I would be there when Jessica left for work and say goodbye.

Next, I ran out and back to Trinity Blvd via the golf course for another 4ish miles.

Finally, I did 6x25 second strides with each one under a 6:00 pace and the last one just under a 5:00 pace

13.62 mi, 1:57:48, 8:39 avg

I ran on the Starkey Park bike trail out to the Suncoast trail.  I was supposed to meet Daisy at 6:45 but was about 10 minutes late.

Started off kind of slow with thoughts of not being sure how I was going to run very far at all.  Slowly increased my speed.  At about 3 miles I started running into people who were turning back from their 7 mile run.  I saw Daisy, stopped and said hi and then continued out to the 4 mile water stop.  Saw Stan there coming back from his 10 mile run.  It was getting hotter but the cloud cover was holding up keeping most of the direct sun off of me.   

At some point my garmin fell off - strap had been partially torn and finally broke through the rest of the way.  Picked it up and put it in the pouch on my handheld water bottle.  So, for the rest of the run I couldn't really look at my pace unless I was stopping.

Made it out to the Suncoast trail and stopped at the water stop (about 6.8 miles out altogether).  Turned back and tried to hold a steady pace.  Stopped at the 5.5 mile water stop and chatted a little bit with the park worker filling up the water jug.  He was telling me about how he had moved down here from Pittsburgh after quitting his job up there, letting go of things that didn't matter so he could come down here and enjoy life.  He told me to fill my water bottle from the jug he was about to swap out because it was colder (sounded half filled with ice, so nice and ice cold).

So, the rest of the run was good although a little bit of a struggle.  Last mile was just under 8:00 pace (which I did not see until after the run was over).

I ran into Lisa who was out on her first ever 50 mile bike ride (beating her old longest ever of 33 miles).

Happy overall with the run, feeling accomplished that I managed once again to get over 40 miles for the week and that I didn't turn back when I didn't feel like going on further.

(wore my old brooks launch shoes which I had already "retired" but like them better than some of the other shoes I've got currently especially for long runs - especially the new pair of Brooks PureFlow.)