Saturday, 11/15/08

Today I ran 10 miles with a time of 1:26:52.

This was a terrific run, and a very encouraging one given both the time I finished in and the time of day I did the run. I did this run at just after 7 AM, when there was still an early-morning chill but not too much, and before the sun was going to fully come up and overheat me. I made sure before I left to stretch my calves a lot, to the point of taking a brief hot shower before I left to loosen them up. Needless to say, it worked.

After the first 3 miles, my calves did noticeably tighten up, but I took a walking and drinking break then and massaged them until they were loose again and then ran with no problems the rest of the way. I'm confident that if they tighten up during the marathon, I'll be able to do what I did today and keep going.

Also, the actual run was great. There were the standard aches and pains that come with running that long of a distance, but nothing severe. There were some gorgeous things I got to see due to running that early, such as the sunrise and a flock of birds making beautiful patterns in the sky. And I felt very strong throughout; I actually felt strong enough to sprint the last mile, which was exhausting but felt great and gave my cardiovascular system its first real workout in a while. As you can see from the time above, I was able to run at a steady and quite fast pace for the whole run; my goal was to run in under an hour and a half, and I was able to pull that off nicely.

So, a triumphant run for me today. I got a lot of concerns I had, like running in the morning and my tight calves, figured out. My body felt strong and fast at the end. I got to practice walking and drinking without losing much time at all. Now for a couple of days of rest, and then a stepback week next week. Sounds good!