Run #102

This was a great run! Longest ever, both time and distance. Yeah! I felt good. Wasn't sure how I was going to hold up during the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the run, but really got in the groove at about 45 minutes.

I think the pace (11:56/mile) was acceptable considering the humidity; it was faster than my long run last weekend, by 20 seconds a mile. I was glad to have my Camelbak.

Also, a particular part of my right leg (up near the hip) has been bothering me, and yesterday I found the tight spot with my foam roller, and got it worked out. It felt so much better during today's run! My left leg had some aches around the knee/IT band, but nothing bad at all, and they were the types of aches that came and went instead of getting worse. As I get more used to longer runs, and continue to strengthen my legs, I hope to have fewer of those twinges.

My time was a less than 10% longer than last week's long run. But my distance was over 10% further. In general I like to stay under that 10% increase but I didn't even know how far I'd gone until I got home. If I'm still feeling good next weekend, I'll probably either map out a 7.9 to 8 mile route, or run for about 1:35. At this point I think I could probably slowly run a 10 mile race as a one-time thing. I'm not planning that, but it's fun to think about what I probably could do. Instead I'm hoping to gradually work my distance up so that by fall or winter, 13.1 won't be a problem. (Hey, that's "only" 5.56 miles longer than today's run!)

Thinking of distance is somehow less daunting to me than thinking about time. I know that at my current pace, I'd have to run for about 1:07 longer than I ran today, to complete a half marathon. Whew, that sounds like a LOT! But 5.56 miles...that sounds doable!

7.54 mi, 01:30 (11:56/mile)
77 degrees, 81% humidity. Started warm-up walk just after 6; was done with run a little after 7:40. Few clouds. Sun was in my face some at the end of the run, but it wasn't bad; the sun was still low and not too hot.