Week 7: Ten miles

Made it to double digits! Yay!

This week I ran from my house to my mom's place -- 9 miles by my truck's odomoter -- with an extra 15 minutes around the house before I started out to make the extra mile.

This was the first time I've had the chance to run distance instead of time, so I could see how I was doing on keeping my pace. The first six miles or so were right on pace, but once I hit Highline Rd, things started to get difficult. There's not much of a shoulder on Highline, so I was running through a lot of stiff, prickly weeds and uneven ground at the side of the road. It was also uphill most of the way. I started slowing way down, skipping run intervals just to keep going. I picked up the pace a little at Tucker, but ended up walking the last mile up Valley Blvd, and it was really hard. I even got kind of dizzy when I stopped to wait for the light to cross to my mom's place.

But I made it! Mom and a couple of her neighbors were out by the side of the building, waiting for me, and cheered me in. That was kind of wacky and fun. I rested a bit on mom's couch, then did my ab work and stretching, and mom fed me lunch and drove me home.

The whole run took about 3 hours, which averages out to about 18 minutes per mile. I'm a bit disappointed -- I'd hoped I could maintain my 16-minute-mile pace for the whole run -- but I made it, and that's the important thing. Next time, I'll try going down Valley Blvd instead of Highline. Should be less of a hill, as well as better sidewalks for running.

This was also the first time I increased my total mileage by two miles in one week. Up till now, it's been one mile a week. We increase two more miles next week, to 12 miles. But next week, I'll be running in San Francisco, with the group up there. I'm looking forward to running in my old city.