20 miles @ 9:45/mi. Home to South Fork out and back solo.
I had a youth activity to attend on Saturday morning so I decided my best option was to do my 20 miler on Friday morning before work. I planned to leave at 5:30am and be done around 9:00am.
I chose to leave from my house to avoid wasted time driving to/from the mouth of the canyon. It's 3 miles to the mouth of the canyon and ~6 miles up to Vivian Park so I ran a little over a mile up South Fork until my watch showed 10 miles.
The temperature was in the low 50's when I left home at 5:33am. I just wore a short sleeve shirt. As I approached the canyon there was a strong headwind, but it wasn't too cold. The farther I climbed the canyon the colder it got. Running up South Fork my hands started getting numb from the cold.
When I stopped at the bathroom at Nunns park at about mile 6 it was nice to get out of the wind. I noticed in the mirror that it looked like I had a bloody nipple. It made no sense. I've never got bloody in only 6 miles, and I had taped my nipples as I do for marathons and I've never had a problem when I do that. The tape was still in place, and I felt no pain. I continued on, a little self-conscious of a bloody, bright yellow shirt, but I felt no physical discomfort. After the run I discovered it was a small pimple next to my nipple that was the source of all the blood. It didn't even sting in the shower.
As I started up South Fork from Vivian there was a fresh, dead skunk in the middle of the road. I wasn't sure it was dead so I tossed a rock at it from a distance to make sure. Shortly after I passed it I saw a small hawk diving towards me my head straight ahead of me. Just before it got to me it swooped up. As I looked behind me I saw it turn into the trees. On the way back down I felt like I was being watched and turned to my left to see a deer starting at me from just off the road. I said, "Good morning." It just stood there calmly and stared at me as I ran by. This was the same canyon where we saw a bull moose and 7 wild turkeys last week. Pretty cool.
Splits (up, headwind): 10:19, 9:52, 9:55, 10:20, 10:29, 10:47, 9:55, 10:35, 10:23, 11:49
Splits (down, tailwind): 9:07, 9:17, 9:18, 9:12, 8:20, 8:26, 8:44, 9:46, 9:46, 8:43
During the latter half of mile 20 I ran 8:22/mi down the Fast Half Mile on 2000 N.
Up: 1:44:24 (10:26/mi)
Down: 1:30:39 (9:04/mi)
Total: 3:15:20 (9:45/mi)
Given the uphill, headwind, and cold I'm okay with a 9:45/mi average pace. I consider finishing any 20 mile run a success. Feeling strong at the end is an extra bonus. I recovered quickly and had a good day at work. Maybe I should switch all my long runs to Friday morning. It was nice having Saturday morning free (even though I had a youth activity to go to).
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