It has been far too long since I wrote a decent blog post
recap of my long runs. But lets be honest, after 8/9/10/12 miles the last thing
I want to do is focus on writing a post. I want to eat everything in my
kitchen, sleep for the rest of the day, and pop ibuprofen like it’s my job. But
instead, I have to be a grad student (i.e. all day group meetings, readings,
papers, endless projects, etc.), which leaves little time for blogging about my
runs. My own poor little blog has been very abandoned as of late, but I think I
can see the light at the end of the tunnel and soon enough I’ll have my free
time back. But for now, we’ll start with recapping my 12 miler from this past
Saturday. Important enough for it’s own blog post, written in my fleeting free
time, because (to-date) it is the farthest I have ever ran.
Lets start out by saying, the goal for the day was 11. I was going to run 4 miles by myself, then
loop back around to my starting point to meet Kelly, and together we’d 7 final
miles. I chose to do my solo 4 as a 2-mile out and back on my usual Rock Creek
Park trail (south past the Zoo, just to the Connecticut avenue hill). It was
not the most fun I’ve ever had running. Again, like a few weeks earlier, I had
it in my head that this was just my warm up. Hard to get into cruise control
when I know that my half way point here is NOT actually my half way point. It
kind of kills my morale. And it had been raining for like the past 24 hours, so
everything was puddles, puddles, puddles. I stopped for two short walking
breaks, and I’m going to blame it on my lingering migraine, but really I was
just lazy.
Back at my starting point, I met up with Kelly and we headed
out on our 7+ miles. The first mile-ish was a lot of walking. My morale was not
immediately boosted upon completion of my warm up, but I got into my groove
eventually. The way home, after my true half way point, was A LOT easier. Like
night and day. I felt like I was floating along the road. I had energy, my legs
felt great, my lungs were doing fine. We got back to the parking lot and checked
Kelly’s phone (which was tracking our mileage), and it turns out we overshot
our turnaround point a bit. My total mileage for the day was 11.76. But I’m
calling it 12. Close enough.
Over the course of second half I hate one mixed berry GU
(spread out over a couple of miles) and a bottle and half of water (I stopped
to fill up at a water fountain around mile 8). I really enjoyed the mixed berry
flavor, tied for first with the vanilla bean.
Another great accomplishment of this run was my outfit. I
wore shorts for the first time. Not like the first time in my life, but the
first time running. I normally stick with my running capris, and lately it’s
been cold enough for my thermal long pants.
 |
| Nike tempo track running shorts. Dark purple with teal trim and pink accents. |
But, wanting to test run (literally)
my race day outfit, I went with the shorts and thankfully the weather
cooperated. I was tugging and adjusting them for the first couple of miles. But
by the end I couldn’t even tell the difference. And, if I do say so myself,
they’re quite adorable. I’m a big fan.
So, all in all, it was a great long run. My last true long
run before my half marathon. On Sunday I’m running 8, which retrospectively
should take minimal effort compared to the 12. Hopefully at least. Just 11 days
until my race. I’m quite excited.
