Where's the Donuts?

Slept in a bit and did the Manette-Warren bridge route with the extension down around Lions Park. Shook me out of my rut, I haven't done that one since last summer. It's especially nice on a day when it's 50 and bright and sunny out, I even wore shorts for the first time. 

Legs felt rested and loose, I started out with a quick pace and kept it up without too much effort. Ran the whole thing right about 7:15 min/miles, a few with some hills were a little slower.  48 minutes total. (I bought a watch this weekend so that number is accurate. 15 years or so of running and I've never worn one before. Not once. Now I can know my splits, or at least develop some of the same obsessive-compulsive traits as most other runners. So I've got that going for me.)

Morning treadmill run.  The sun is rising earlier now and I thought about running outside, but I'm in a rut that I enjoy. It's still February, after all, so a warm room in the morning feels good. Started at 8/min, worked down to 7:13 by the last 1.5 miles. Felt a few little aches and pains in my feet, but the pace and effort was no problem. I did forget to wear my new watch. This will take some getting used to. Luckily the treadmill has a clock: 38:06.

supernova -- 135

Quick morning 5 on the treadmill. Started at 8 min/mile and worked down to 7 min/mile by the last one. Felt fresh after a day off, though I didn't really need to skip yesterday. I'm getting used to the treadmill now, even a five-mile run zips by pretty easily and I like focusing on the pace and my posture when I run indoors. Did it in 37:45.

supernova -- 140

I skipped yesterday's run because I hardly slept at all Thursday night, I felt bad about it all day but punished myself a bit today to make up for it. Early morning run on Beach Drive with Ernie and Mike, out to the seven mile marker and back. Not quite far enough to get the sunrise over the Sound view from Manchester, I'll have to save that for after Moab. We did see a car rammed into a light pole though. Wonderful morning for a run, sun came up and it's all clear skies, a few of the Slugs were even wearing shorts. The weather must have thrown us off our pace though, because we were pretty inconsistent on the splits. I think Ernie was kind of pissed about it (although very good-natured and joking around the rest of the run). The goal was between 7:05-7:10 miles, here's (thanks to the new watch) how it really shook out:

7:20, 7:20, 7:05, 7:01, 6:50, 7:15, 7:05, 7:05, 7:11, 6:55, 7:01, 6:36, 6:48, 7:11

The effort was really easy the first seven miles, I noticed our miles near and under 7 but it didn't bother me. A few of the faster miles on the way back I could feel myself pushing to stick the pace, but never felt that we were over-exerting ourselves. Felt really strong coming in through the finish, just held back a bit on the last mile because of the complaining. These guys have been running together for 8 years, so I figure they're ok being snippy at each other. Secretly, I was pretty happy with the miles under 7. My legs are sore now, I'm exhausted because of Thursday night's lack of sleep and staying up a little too late last night. I'm going to go play basketball for awhile to work out the lactic acid, get a little cross train. Shouldn't have a problem getting to bed tonight.

supernova -- 154