Week 20: Twenty-three miles

6:45 hours, 1:3 minute run/walk ratio

What a fabulous run! Man, I miss being able to run in Golden Gate Park, or, in fact, any park. The run just zoomed by. The running paths are smooth and easy, and the scenery is gorgeous, with trees and bushes and flowers and lots of wildlife. I even saw a coyote! Possibly two coyotes, or else the same one twice. There were water fountains and bathrooms all along the way. The weather was perfect, sunny but with a cool breeze. Probably no more than 70 F all day. I'd forgotten to bring my hoodie for the morning, but turns out I didn't need it. It was a bit brisk when I started at about 7:50 am, but I warmed up almost immediately and wasn't ever cold.

I never got really tired. My legs were somewhat sore by the end, and I'm sure I wasn't going as fast as I was when I started, but I didn't slow down too much. Kept up my run/walk intervals the whole way.

I started out at JFK Dr and Great Highway, by the windmill, and ran down JFK to the cutoff that goes diagonally across to MLK Jr Dr, then went up MLK to the other end, and back up JFK, with one loop around Stow Lake. I think that was about 8.5 miles. Then I ran down Great Highway to Sloat and back, which I think was about 5 miles. Finally, I repeated the MLK – JFK loop around the park, with two times around Stow Lake for a total of about 9.5 miles. If I estimated correctly, that made 23 miles altogether. That would be an average of about 17.6 minutes/mile, which is about right, considering all the many bathroom stops I made. I also stopped at the refreshment stand at Stow Lake after I'd finished my final laps around the lake for an ice cream sandwich. Very tasty and good for a final boost for my last few miles. Too bad you can't bring ice cream along with you on a marathon!

The only slight bummer is that I dropped my handkerchief when I was getting into the truck, so I lost it. It was one of my new ones, too. I hope someone finds it and uses it, rather than having it be ground into the pavement by tires. Oh well, it was only about a dollar.

I'd been wondering if I might run with the AIDS Marathon group this weekend, but they weren't even there. I now vaguely recall that they aren't doing a Sunday group this time, only Saturday. So it was never a possibility. But I had a good run on my own.

I wish I could run in the park for my 26-miler! It makes such a huge difference to have a nice place to run.