Week 24: MM + 3 miles

20:40 sec run/walk ratio
1:08 hours
4.36 miles
15.7 minutes/mile
Magic Mile: 14.2 minutes

Great run! I'm in Monterey again this weekend for a visit, so I did my long run from my friend's house up to the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail and along the trail. Went much better than last time I tried it! Of course, I only went a fraction of the distance. I thought I was scheduled for a five mile run this weekend, but when I fired up my app, it was only four miles, with one Magic Mile, so even shorter than I expected.

It's been a tiring weekend, and a hard one on my stomach, as I've been eating a lot of dairy when I couldn't find vegan options, which doesn't really agree with me anymore. I was up late last night, driving back from the city after an opera, and got up this morning feeling worn out and stomach-rumbly and head-achy. It would have been tempting to bag it, but I figured since it was a short run, I'd just take it easy and get it done, and I knew some exercise would make me feel better anyway. I got started around 9:30 AM, and it was already near 80 F with no clouds, but there was some shade on the trail and I guess I'm used to the heat by now, at least on a short run, so I carried on.

The hardest part was when I got to the street I needed to turn up to get back to my friend's house. It was uphill and hard going, but I was on my last mile, so I just kept plodding along. I admit I was glad there were traffic lights at the corners that sometimes forced a brief rest while I waited for the light to change.

I sort of outsmarted myself when I neared the end. The run had finished anyway and I was just walking it in, and I was trying to avoid the steep hill up my friend's street by turning up a less steep street that I thought was one block short of home, thinking I'd cut across one of the little side streets and hope I could avoide the worst of the hills. Turned out I was actually about three or four blocks short of her street, and some of the side streets didn't go through to where I wanted to go, and I ended up having to go all the way up to the street above my friend's street on some hills that were as steep or steeper than the one I was trying to avoid! I'd have been better off just to come back the way I went out.

Anyway, I do feel much better now, that run really cleared away the cobwebs, so I'm glad I didn't skip it. Even kept my time under 16 minutes for the whole run, even with the traffic lights and hills on the way back.