by A friend’s post about keeping track of running stats made me take a look at mine for this last week. 13:54 total run time for approximately 60 miles. Hello! I was a little surprised at the mileage because I hadn’t really thought about it in those terms, just time on my feet.
Hills with Friends
Last night, I went to the informal 10-mile hilly road run again. What a fun group! Sometimes, you just get a group of people that gels, and this is one of those times. I think it is a big reflection on the person putting it together, , who brings a quiet sense of fun and bonhomie to a pretty tough run. And nobody’s there to be a speed demon, just to get some quality miles in with friends. So when the older, non-English-speaking lost woman stopped us for directions, of course two of the group walked her back to where ever it was she was trying to go.
When I did it for the first time last week, I was coming off of being sick and really, really struggled, especially at the end of the run (there is something sick about having to run back up Laderna Norte in your final mile and a half). It took me 2:11 to make those hilly ten miles. Everybody was quite nice about it, and several said that, surprisingly, it would be much better the second time.
So of course I came back this week. You’d think it would’ve been tougher, seeing as I did my long run on Tuesday and obviously had a high-mileage week. But NO–it was sooooo much better! I felt much more “in control” of the route and did a better job pacing myself on the uphills, which are, admittedly, a huge weakness for me. I was a bit slower on the downhills than usual, seeing as I was being quite cautious about banging my purple big toe nail (I was successful, and it wasn’t painful). We had a bit of stoppage with the aforementioned lost lady. And I came in at 2:08, whittling my time down just a bit but feeling much, much better overall. Success!
Gear Fail
Sad, geeky note: my watch is dying. I know this because it’s refusing to recognize “stop” and continuing to run, so need to get a new one before my race. This makes me sad because (total geekdom) I still have my Ironman Coeur d’Alene splits saved on it. I will hate to see them go; it always gives me a bit of satisfaction to scroll through and hit that final IM time.
