Archive for July 13th, 2008

OK, so it’s by .13 of a mile, but who’s counting?

Today was 19 miles. It wasn’t the easiest run because I chose to go into the trail system, which is much more rolling than my usual museum circle and all gravel. But I embraced the extra effort because it’s much shadier/cooler there and so beautiful, plus I just thought it’d be good to have some hills to work on.

Didn’t sleep much last night, as seems to be the way these days. I guess it’s inevitable with the long runs because I have to set the alarm so early to get out before the day heats up. I can’t wait for the weather to break so I don’t have to get up at 5am, like today. I wonder if my runs would be a little more energized if I was getting a full 8 beforehand. But enough sleep whining, let’s move on to hydration…

Last time I did the trail a couple weeks ago, you remember I had to take two handhelds because there was a very long stretch without water, but this time, because I went farther, I knew there was a water fountain at my turnaround (hallelujah!) so I only needed one. Still, by the end of the run I was high and dry. I take that back, not high or it would have been more fun…just dry.

I stopped twice to refill my bottle and how stupid am I? I refill the bottle, take off again and immediately take a swig from the damn bottle instead of the fountain at which I was just standing. I did this twice.

It was 74 degrees when I began and 84 when I was finished, so by the end I was dragging. I think I should have worn a new pair of shoes I have waiting for indoctrination. My beloved Inspires now have 301 miles and I had some aches and pains today, possibly due to the shoes. On the other hand, could just be that it was a pretty long trail run on a hot morning.

One of those pains, btw, was a shock of ITB weirdness. I never had this before so it was strange, like a shooting tingle exactly where the IT band is. It gave notice maybe 3 times in a 1/2 mile stretch, a hilly part of the trail, but then went away for the rest of the run.

Speaking of “went away”, isn’t it weird when you’re running and you’ll feel something hurt, like my foot was twingey at the start, and then you get all scared that this is going to mess up the whole run, and then it disappears and you forget you even had it a half mile down the road? Funny how that works. Good thing it does!

Pacewise, I didn’t succeed at going as slow at the start as I was supposed to. Or rather, taking full responsibility because it’s always within our control, I chose not to. I was feeling giddy happy because I was going on an adventure, kind of. Plus this mysterious white cat that lives a few blocks away but sometimes hangs out on the street crossed my path very casually (so cute), and then my favorite song was the first one to play even though my mp3 player was on Shuffle. Everything was an omen for a great run.

And the majority of it was. I managed to pick the pace up on the way back, but I was plain tuckered out for the last three. My avg. pace ended up being where it’s supposed to be – 9:37 (avg 10:00 and 9:13 as per Pfitz 20% and 10% above marathon pace), and that’s without stopping the clock for water refills. But I didn’t finish as prettily as last week, averaging the same pace. Of course, last week I ran on a flat road, so that might have something to do with it, too.

Anyway, it was a fun run, but the end was tiring and hot. I came home and weighed myself, I was 3 lbs under, so I should have had at least one, maybe two more handheld’s worth of liquids (20-40oz), evidenced by my greedy attack on the kitchen faucet.

Had an ice bath, which oddly enough doesn’t even make me chilly anymore, but not before some slight bitching at Nick because I was beat and unimpressed when he proudly told me he’d washed some pots, my reply being “yeah, I wish you did more of that”. I apologized afterwards and harmony was restored.

Now I’m off to a girlie brunch with Mimosas (yum) and then we’re going to the XPN music festival which should be great fun. Though I may end up sleeping under a tree.