Zombies, Run! Season 2, Mission 43: The Final Countdown, 5 Miles

5.06 miles - 1:25:57 hours - 16:58 min/mile

Another long run done! I set the alarm for 5:15 this morning, so I'd have time to get ready and drive to the park and be running by 6 AM. And I did! The sun was already coming up by 5:30—I think for the next long run, I might try getting up at 5 AM and see if I can get to the park before 6. It was nice and cool when I started, but already getting hot when I finished. Not too bad, though, and I felt fine. Drank about half my water bottle and ate one gel. I decided to try eating the gel very slowly, just taking a small bit on each running minute, and stretched it out over most of a mile, to see if that was any easier on my stomach, and it was. Still prefer the blocks, but I think I have one more gel left over from before, so I might as well use it.

Mile splits were 16:32, 16:20, 17:08, 17:18, and 16:59. I ran the uphill loop first, so the first mile was uphill, second downhill, third down and up, fourth uphill, and fifth downhill. Slowed down about a minute between my fastest downhill mile and my slowest uphill. Not too bad. Still, as usual, wish I could get my pace down nearer 16 min/miles, but also, still, running well and feeling good.

I'm planning a schedule that will get me ready to do a half marathon in early October, although I have no plans for specific races yet. I was looking at various races online, and found a couple of likely ones. Bakersfield has a marathon and half marathon on November 18. Advantage is it's close, and the half has the same time limit as the full, 7.5 hours, so I could easily do the half.

Another possibility is the Death Valley full and half marathon in December, which I just went to check the date and found is already sold out. Oh well, maybe next year! I love Death Valley, haven't been in years, so that's one to keep in mind for later. There were a couple of other trail races that looked interesting—one in Griffith Park, and one in Joshua Tree. And there are the old standbys, Long Beach (although I may have other plans that weekend), Honolulu (they have a half marathon on April 14 if I don't feel up to the full in December), and the other SoCal races, if I can get my pace down to a 3.5 hour time limit. Well, early days yet.

As for today's mission, spoilers below!

SPOILERS

Runner 8! NOOOooooooooo! Man, I didn't see that coming. At least she died a hero. She was a double agent after all! And the major knew and deliberately let herself be sacrificed to get Sarah on the inside with Van Ark—what an intense couple of missions. Two more missions to go in Season 2.