Week 11: Twelve miles

20:40 sec run/walk ratio
3:29 hours
12.45 miles
16.9 minutes/mile

Another run I was worried about—the weather was forecast to be 90 F today, and I had twelve miles to do. But it wasn't bad. I got up about quarter to 6 AM and was at the park ready to run by 7 AM. Turned out there was a 5K run about to start—for a while I was worried about whether I'd find a place to park, or be able to run on the trails, but they were starting off up the uphill side, then going out of the park onto the road, and back the same way, so the lower loop was open. I ran my first five miles or so on the lower loop, running on the inside a few times for variety, and also going off up a dirt trail through the fields that took off near the end of the spur that goes out to the railroad tracks.

By the time I finished around five and a half miles, the 5K was over and I was able to do the upper loop as well.

It was fairly warm right from the beginning, probably around 70 F at 7 AM. I wore my shorts and a short-sleeved vee-neck tee-shirt—one I found in my closet the other day that I'd totally forgotten ever buying. I used my new hydration belt and brought water and a couple of GUs with me. I ate one at around 8 miles, didn't need the second one. I used about half of my water, part of it to soak my handkerchief and wipe my face and arms with it. I put my wet handkerchief around my neck like a bandanna, and that helped cool me down.

I was getting pretty hot by the time I was doing the second half of my run, and I knew I was going to be running a slower pace than I can do when the weather's cool, but I felt okay and finished without any problems. My right hamstring got a bit of a twinge, but nothing too bad, and I'm feeling fine now, just tired. So one more long run down!