Today, being the first day of 2009, I decided to get in one of my three long-slow runs before the Salt Lake Marathon. I was planning to run 23 miles, but it ended up being 24.5 miles, which took 3:49:41 to complete (9:22 minute per mile pace)--not a bad pace considering the traffic and the snowy sidewalks.
The Run: started at Big Cottonwood Park ran to 45th South and 5th East to Liberty Park to The Gateway (i.e., the last 8.3 miles of the Salt Lake Marathon Course) then up to the State Capital building to the mouth of City Creek Canyon to the University of Utah by way of 11th Avenue to Sugar House Park then back to Big Cottonwood Park.
Additional Info: did 200 sit-ups and stretched for 30 minutes before my run. I finished strong; that is, felt like I could have ran another 5 miles. Upper body remained strong throughout the run; therefore, my focus on weight lifting seems to be paying dividends. However, my legs were a little sore; probably from the four half-mile intervals that I did at 8.5x10.5 (i.e., miles per hour) the previous day on the treadmill. Also, the run up 3rd North to the Capital Building was brutal (i.e., brutal enough to give me second thoughts of wanting to take on the Ragnar leg in the 2009 Wasatch Back).
Miscellaneous: during my long runs there always seems to be at least one or two strange things that happen (this is one of the many reasons why I love running) and this run was no exception. While I was commencing my run in South Salt Lake, I spotted a young man that was screaming random swear words. He then proceeded to knock over one of those free-real-estate-newspaper stands and started slugging it before he ran into the middle of street (of course, into oncoming traffic), removed his Yankees cap and spiked it like a football. This young man finally picked up his cap, stumbled off, and continued with his profanity-laced language. As I ran past him (needless to say, on the other side of the street), I thought to myself that I’m glad I’m not a Yankees fan. | 