A good run: finally

A rare non-solo run. I should run with people more.

After about three weeks of wanting to quit running, it's finally clicking.

I've been a mess the last few weeks. I was sick, tired, and had some work stress.

And it's actually been a week of good runs. Culminating with one of the best runs I've had in awhile.

I had planned on running the Chick-Fil-A half this year. It was my first REAL race one year ago. It got me hooked on my running journey. I wanted to run the 10k again and see how much better my time was compared to last year. But the race was canceled. But there was a 13.1 mile group run in its place. I had a 12 mile run on my training plan so it was PERFECT.

I found a friend to run with and had a plan.

The week of the weather started looking bad: 90% chance of rain. And I really wanted not to run in the rain. But the weather looked rainy all day, so it wouldn't make sense to do it later. I wasn't doing 12 miles indoors. And I had plans to run with a friend, so I showed up. (I was really looking for a reason not to.)

And it was a great run. Despite everything.

• I'd planned to go to bed early the night before. My husband had to work nights so he was getting ready when I should have been going to bed.
• I spent an hour trying to find an arm warmer I didn't even end up wearing.
• I set my alarm for 5:15 for a 7:15 a.m. run (to get up, do the pet chores and get there early enough for parking.)
• Matt came home at 4:15 and woke me up. (I was in the middle of dreaming about the evil vampire from Underworld, which I'd seen about 3 minutes of on TV that night).
• So no sleep and it was raining.

Also, I never know what to wear on runs.
• Waterproof Nikes + Feetures socks.Shoes were great. Puddles were the problem at the end of the run.
• Lululemon crops
And then I didn't know if I should wear a tank top with arm warmers or a short sleeve. Probably not a long sleeve for 53 and rainy. When I ran the trail half, I got too hot in the long sleeve, and I don't want the weight of a wet long sleeve shirt.
Last minute I threw an Eddie Bauer rain jacket on every my singlet anyway. It wasn't even running clothes, but it was raining. I got hot in the jacket after about 2 hours, and dumped it at the 3-mile water stop. I figured I could tie it around my waist. And that if I dumped it, it would immediately start pouring and I'd want it. But the jacket kept me dry during race announcements and I'm glad I had it the first mile. I think the first mile was the rainiest.
• I wore my singlet over a short sleeve shirt and then dumped the short sleeve after 6 miles. I usually run in shortsleeves or long sleeves in 53 degree weather but wasn't cold running the last half in a tank. And that turned out well. I wore a hat which was soaked at the end.


The run
My training plan was a 12 mile long run. 10 easy miles (8:55-10:04) + a 15 minute strong finish. So my plan was to do the 12 miles and walk the mile back to Fleet Feet as my cool down. I also wanted to not rabbit the race and run my miles too fast and burn myself out in the first half. So I started slow—towards the top end of my paces. And slowed myself down every time I was running too fast.

Mile 1: 10:07
Mile 2: 9:55
Mile 3: 9:22. I found myself purposely slowing down and running back towards my friends.
Water stop at mile 3 was at a busy intersection that took forever to get a light to cross.

New sections of the greenway

New section of the greenway

Mile 4: 9:09
Mile 5: 9:10
Mile 6: 8:46
Halfway stop to change shirt and get water. Course went back to Fleet Feet.
8:43, 8:37, 8:42 (water stop here), 8:25. Honestly, I didn't realize I'd sped up for miles 7-10. I was chatting with Cathryn and didn't look at my watch. The two guys running with us were breathing hard so maybe I should have realized.
I told my group my training plan so they wouldn't wonder WHY I was speeding up after mile 10.
Mile 11: 7:33: Oops this is race pace. So I dialed it back
Mile 12: 7:48 Better.
Then I was done. I walked a few steps. And then realized I felt pretty good and if I ran back I could finish a half marathon in under 2 hours on my watch. So I jogged a cool down. 8:47 a mile. And then the course measured short, at least .2 short, so I ran some more so I could get that half marathon time on Strava.
For a total time of 1:56:20. Though Strava counted the elapsed time (with traffic stops, water breaks and waiting on friends).

And my legs totally weren't dead after this run. This is only the second time ever I've run more than 12 miles. My trail half was awful. This run was so good I ALMOST get why people do half marathons. It made me think maybe I'd run a half—not at race pace, but that pacing a 2 hour half for a friend or something might be nice. This run was so good, it reminds me why I run. (And it's about time I had a good run!)

The miles flew by. I wasn't dead afterwards. I did run into a sign jumping over a puddle in mile 11. I didn't realize I'd hurt myself until I took a shower and my arm stung. Oops.