The Long Run

7.09 mi, 1:05:39, 9:16 avg

Ran with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood.  I felt a little bit better starting out than the average Monday morning.  I went the long way home a did an extra loop around the neighborhood.

Afternoon: 1.0 mi, 12:19

I went out for a run/walk in the late afternoon, playing aroumd with mapmyrun.  I decided to count it since it was a little faster than a walk.

AM: 7.21 mi, 1:00:30,  8:23 avg

Ran at Longleaf with the Striders, first time in quite a while.  It was dark but I had my light and the huge puddles from the weekend were mostly dry.  It did smell kind of swampy as well.   I started out feeling really slow (like 11 minute something pace kind of slow), but got a little faster, then stopped at the Aristida water stop and took a gel.  Went out a little more before turning back, averaging about 7:35 pace on the way back with fastest mile at 7:02.  Felt rejuvenated when I finished.  Had some of Clark's delicious coffee before heading home to wake up Thomas (well, maybe he was already awake before I called him).

PM: 1.8, 22:23, 12:26 avg

Run/walk with Stella around the neighborhood using MapMyRun

6.11 mi, 55:31, 9:05 avg

Ran with Joe in the neighborhood (no Jamie today).  We ran about 5.5 miles together and then when I got back near my house did a little more out and back to make it to 6 miles.  After the first slow, stiff mile, it was a pretty good run.

10.36 mi, 1:22:49, 8:00 avg

Finally, a good Thursday workout run!  Left my house and headed out to SR 54 and then to Starkey Blvd.  It did not look promising at first as first mile was very slow.  Stopped at the small church and dropped off my gatorade and took a gel.  Ran a little bit farther and then did 2 x 2mile repeats (I was wavering between tempo run and repeats so I opted for long repeats.

Paces: 1. 6:44 and 6:40, 2. 6:48 and 6:35

Did one mile easy between the faster miles.  Stopped back for my drink, ran easy a little bit and then did the last 1.75 miles at 7:30ish or faster pace.

Regained some of my confidence that I might be ok at NYC marathon.  Still some more time to prepare but it's coming up fast.

5.55 mi, 49:30, 8:55 avg

Ran solo from my house, running the t-shaped route to Heritage Springs and then to the other end of Robert Trent Jones Pkwy (sometimes referred to as running along the golf course).  Weather was nice. I used to get sick of this route but today it felt comforting and went by pretty quickly.

After yesterday's run my left achilles tendon was pretty tight and I had a slight hobble.  Expecting it to get worse I was pleasantly surprised that it got a little better (and was good for the rest of the day as well).

If I get a good long run in tomorrow then I'll be back in the 50's for the first time in a while.

17.4 mi, 2:34:19, 8:52 avg

Started my long run extra late due to watching the cross country meet.  Meet was originally supposed to be in Starkey Park but since the park was closed up until during the week they switched the meet to Anclote High School.  I thought the course looked a little confusing at first but it turned out to actually be kind of nice and good for spectators.  It was two loops with some of it on grass field and some of it through the woods.  The past two meets had been canceled due to the hurricane, so this should have been the 5th meet but was the third one instead.  The team had practiced this course twice during the week so they were all pretty familiar with it.

After the race started, I cut across to near the one mile marker where there was a time clock and I caught a rough split for Tom, about 5:59 (had to do the best I could looking across from where I was standing).  He was third place for Mitchell HS boys, after Zeke and Spencer.  Cut back across to near the start where the two mile clock was.  That split was 6:19 (total for the two splits was accurate, so 12:18 for the first two miles).  Then headed to the finish area, which was crowded, looked like 19:34 for the finish (official time turned out to be 19:35.50).  Very proud of  Thomas and all of his hard work. No PR for him today but a very solid race which can be better than a PR sometimes.

A little bit after the race I headed home and got my stuff together for my run, hoping to get 16 miles done.  I knew it would be a hot one.

First mile was slow and clunky (11:30ish pace again), next mile better, and then dropped off a hand held bottle on Starkey Blvd near the little church.  Continued north and was actually feeling pretty good.  It was about 80 degrees at this point with some scattered clouds and some shade from the trees.  I was just hoping to survive with somewhere in the 9:00's for pace (would be happy with anything under 10:00).  I tuned out my pace and listened to music.  I'd see the splits once I finished and they were better then expected ( a lot of 8:40's).

Made it into Starkey and decided to run to the first water stop which is at the 1.5 mile marker on the bike trail which would put me more than 8 miles out (almost 8.8 miles).  I was afraid there would be no water (if that happened it wasn't too far to the bike parking lot and a faucet coming out of the ground with ok water).  But, as luck would have it, the cooler was filled with ice cold water.  I drank one 12 oz bottle and refilled one more time before turning around.  I stayed on pace but also was draining my water bottle a lot faster than on the trip up.  I was looking forward to my other hand held bottle that I had stashed ( a 20 oz bottle about 3/4 full).   Made it ok and drank that one down (not very cold but not yet warm).  About a half mile away is a new Circle K.  Stopped there and bought a fountain drink ($0.79) - lots of ice and combination of Powerade (mango flavor) and mountain dew voltage.  I drank some and filled by big bottle back up. About 2 miles left to go home, which now felt easy with the ice cold bottle in my hand.

So, I made it, more than 16 miles and had a good mid 50's for mileage this week.

Got home and spent some time in the pool - but between the later run and time in the pool got a little too much sun.