It was a nice crisp, cool, sunny morning... perfect for a long run. I headed out with the only goal to get in 20 miles and do some of those on trails. I headed to the south end of town were there is a park and some trails that head off into the desert. I ran 5 miles to the trails and averaged around 7:45, then started off road. My trail quickly turned into a wash that ran through the desert. It was very rough running and I miss stepped once enough to scare myself. Even though it was not too hilly of running I was only able to average around 8:50 for those 6 miles off road. I was very happy to be back on the smooth road surface even though the next 3 miles were very steep up and down hills... averaged around 8:00. At the 14 mile mark I was feeling pretty good and decide to run the next 5 miles at marathon pace... averaged 6:43. I took mile 20 as a cool down mile nice and easy, 8:40. Total run 20 miles AP 7:54 Running off road was fun and scenic and made the run seem shorter than usual, but I need to find a real trail to run on next time so I don't hurt myself. Just running through a wash was not easy. Oh yeah, I got a few running gifts for Christmas: a Nathan Hydration Belt (I used it today and there was absolutely no bounce. It's the best hydration belt I've ever tried.), some running socks, a gift certificate to RoadRunnerSports, a couple running novels, (Once a Runner and Marathon), and a fitness ball. Very fun!
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