Week 10: Fourteen miles

Whew! Okay, it was long and got pretty tiring at the end, but it was done, and in fact, it went pretty well.

I started out this morning at 10:13 am from my house, feeling pretty good after a good night's sleep. I was horribly tired and bad-tempered yesterday, and remained worried about doing 14 miles today, but was relieved to find that when I got up this morning, while still somewhat grumpy, I did feel strong and awake enough to do the run.

So off I went. I ran down my road to Highline, where I made the first change from the last time I did a long run through town -- I kept going up Dennison instead of turning on Highline. There was a frontage road along Dennison all the way to the high school, where there was actual sidewalk, so it was easier than running on the shoulder along Highline. When I got to Dennison and Valley Blvd, which I figured was about six miles, I called my mom on my cell phone to have her come and meet me at Curry, my halfway point, to fill up my water bottle. Which she did. So I had plenty of water the whole way, another advantage over the last town run.

I turned right on Curry and ran to Tehachapi Blvd, then left on Tehachapi past the Kmart, then turned left on Mountain View to head back towards Valley. Partly, this was to add another mile to my run so I'd have less to do once I reached the park, and partly it was to avoid running on the part of Valley where there was no sidewalk or bike path. It worked pretty well -- I still had to run up Valley to Tucker and beyond, but until they open Red Apple Road, there's no other way to get to the park than Valley, so I had to come back to Valley eventually for part of the way.

Running up Valley Blvd was hard -- uphill, uneven shoulders, lots of traffic. It's where I really ran out of steam last time. This time was easier, but still no fun.

When I reached Golden Hills Blvd, I turned right, then made a detour to my mom's house to use the bathroom before heading down to the park. I ate a bowl of popcorn for dinner last night, and it was working its way through me, until I decided I'd better stop. That was a relief! My mom's couch was tempting, but I passed it by and hit the road again for my final four miles.

Mom walked with me for a little ways to show me a better way to get to Woodward than going down Golden Hills Blvd. Just one block over, on Angel, was much less traffic on a little residential street. When I started running, she headed back to her place to finish something she was cooking, and I continued to the park.

Along the way, I smashed my left big toe for the third time on this run -- first, I tripped on an uneven part of the sidewalk on Valley, then tripped again on uneven shoulder, and now I bashed my toe right into a big rock! Ow! Fortunately, I'd cut my toenails short before the run and my toe wasn't banging against my shoes, so I was fine for the rest of the run, but my toe is still sore. I hope the nail isn't injured and it heals up before next week's run.

I was pretty dog-tired by the time I reached the park, but still managed to do four loops for my last three miles. I'm sure I slowed down some, but I did keep up with my run/walk intervals right to the end. I finished at 2:18 pm. Subtracting five minutes for the pit stop at my mom's makes it just about exactly four hours for the whole run. That's just over 17 minutes per mile. A little slower than I'd like, but I think I was keeping my pace pretty well up until the last three miles or so, which is where I really slowed down.

When I was done, Mom, who'd come down to the park and walked a loop herself, drove me back to her place, where I did my ab work and stretches and had a yummy late lunch, then hung out for a while until she drove me home.

I feel pretty good now. I was really hungry by the time we ate, but I had two GUs and most of a pack of Sport Beans along the way, and it seemed to keep my strength up. I'd probably have done better if I hadn't eaten that popcorn last night. I'll have to remember not to do that any more.

All in all, I'm pleased. I wish I could stick to my 16-minute-mile pace for the whole run, but the important thing is that I finished it without getting overly worn out.