Went to try out the airport loop this morning. Several problems immediately became apparent; some I could fix, some I couldn't:
* Still summerish on the first full day of fall. Temps in low 70s and rising; felt warmer with full, bright sunshine.
* Left my water bottle in the car; realized it after two miles -- too late to turn around and go get it.
* Legs refused to loosen up. It's like they're on strike until fall weather actually shows up.
* And, worst of all, I discovered that the bulk of this loop is on Zero, which has no sidewalks and no shoulders. So it was either get run over or semi-trail run through the unmowed grass and hope I didn't break an ankle in an unseen hole. Wound up walking most of this just to protect my ankle.
Wound up taking about an hour-40 to run/walk what I estimated at 8.75 miles. The loop as laid out on mapmyrun.com was 9.3, but I cut off some stuff on the other side of the freeway and just turned back onto Phoenix at the first opportunity. Also stopped the watch for a while on Massard when I meant to hit the lap button, so probably 6-7 tenths went unrecorded.
You may now initiate autumnal cooling. That is all. | 