Sunday, March 22, 2009

My first 18-miler


Today's run technically belongs to week 11 of my training program. I normally rest on Sundays, but I am in the playoffs with my intramural basketball team and we had a game on Saturday. We had a good game and beat the alumni team from Emory I had 7 points, but had to go 5 of 6 from the free throw line because my 6 foot 7, 300 lbs opponent kept fouling me. This run would've been mile 39 of that week - my highest weekly total ever.

Well I needed to get the run in, but convinced myself to do the run in the morning. So, I woke up at about 4:30 AM, ate a bowl of Grape Nuts and was out the door at 5:15 AM. The only problem was that it was still really dark out and I had no idea when the sun was supposed to rise. I solved this dilemma by running along the major roads in my area for about 12 miles hoping that the sun would peek above the horizon enough to light the way on my rural running road. The plan worked and I entered the far end of Beaver Dam Road 6:55 AM with enough sunlight to not run into a deer unexpectedly.

I ate a Clif Bar today for energy on the road. I gave me energy, but it is a brick. I mean I nearly broke a tooth trying snap off a piece. My legs felt pretty dead from mile 13 on, I could not put in the strides I planned on at that point. So the stats for my run were:

  • Total Distance: 18.01 mi
  • Total Time: 2:51:33
  • Avg Pace: 9:31 min/mi
  • Detail: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/2689229
I also got my Nike+ 500 mile club milestone. I complain often about my Nike+ and do prefer the data I get from my Garmin, but I like the milestones in Nike. They really make you feel like you accomplished something.

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