Week 6: Eight miles

2:13 hours, Miles 1–5 @ 2:2, Mile 6 @ 1:3, Mile 7 @ 1.5:2.5, Mile 8 walking

I did the Dennison from Highline to Valley, Valley from Dennison to Curry and back loop twice for my eight miles. I got off to a late start today, beginning my run at about 9 am, which meant I was out there in the heat. Yahoo weather says it's 82 F now, and it felt like 80 F when I started this morning. Plus there was very little breeze. I really must get up earlier on long-run Sundays so I can get out there before it gets too hot.

I did pretty well for the first four or five miles, but then I started to get really tired. I cut my running interval down on the sixth and seventh miles to try to recover a bit—while drinking extra water, and pouring water over my head every mile or so to try to cool down—and that helped, while not really slowing my time down that much. I decided to just walk my last mile, partly because I was still tired and that last uphill mile is always a hard one, and partly out of curiosity to see just how long a walking mile would take. It ended up just about 19 minutes, so it did slow me down a bit, but it probably would have taken 17.5–18 minutes running and walking, so I didn't really lose that much time. Averaged around 16.6 minutes per mile even with that slow walking mile, so I think it was a pretty good run overall.

I forgot to take my cell phone with me today, which was not a good thing, especially in this heat. I didn't have any serious problems this time, but for safety's sake, I should have my cell phone with me on these long runs, in case I collapse and need someone to come and get me. I think my new phone is small enough to stick in my waist pack, so I shouldn't need to carry it flopping on my belt. I'll try hard to remember it next time. I did remember to drink water at least every mile and eat my GU at four miles. Next run, I'll need two GUs!