11-miler

So, last night, after pulling all the hair on the front of my head off to the side in a Debbie Gibson-esque side pony tail (I drew the line at making crazy mall bangs, though -- once the side thing was done, I seriously couldn't continue with the bangs) we headed over to a friend's house around the block for Retro 80's Night. It was just past 11:00 when we got home (jeez, we're pathetic, but the Elder Child babysat for TDP DinoBoy for the first time ever, and we didn't want to leave them too long), and I decided that I just couldn't get up five and a half hours later to run. Just couldn't do it.

But TDP DinoBoy and the rest of the Scouts had to be at 9:00 AM mass, then we had pancake breakfast at the church afterward. And Hub had to take Elder Child to his hockey game at the same time. So I would have to run once we all got home. So that was the plan. I thought it might actually be better, because, you know, it would have warmed up a bit by then.... Yeah.

Holey FN Jiminy! Somehow, the first weekend of February turned into freakin' May. It was 76 degrees outside, with no clouds, when I was out finishing today's 11-miler. Let me repeat that. Seventy.Six.Degrees. WTF?? I ran an out and back, to the gym in the neighboring town south of us, so that I knew I'd have water available to refill the beltpack. I ended up finishing in a total of just over two hours, but I only have splits for the out and back. The first leg, I was headed into a fierce wind for most of it, and had to keep my head down and really push off into the wind to make any headway. That came out to 59:20 for just over 5.5 miles, for a pace of 10:47. Not too bad, once you factor in the 1 minute walking breaks at every 10 minutes. Then, I hit the lap counter so I could go into the gym, splash some water on my face and refill the water bottle. I also took a few minutes to stretch my lower back out, as I could really feel it tightening up -- I was swinging my elbows too far across my back and it was making me twist more than i shoud have. But then I hit the lap counter again and headed home.

The return trip felt easier, although the wind was now at my back and I lost the cooling effect of the breeze.

**Side Note -- DAMN -- Patriots freakin' scored a touchdown. Hate them. Grrr. Not that I want the Giants to win, either, given they beat the stuffing out of Tony R and the 'boys. But the lesser of two evils and all that...***

It felt easier, but it wasn't, apparently, since the second half of the run (same EXACT route, just backwards) took me 59:50. I really thought I was going to negative split it, but alas, it was not to be. No matter. Even with it being a good 5 seconds per mile slower, I still finished the distance I set out to do, and did it feeling strong and even throughout. And, did I mention how flipping hot it was by then? Yeah, so I'm pretty jazzed.

Not much else to report. I'm figuring out what my personal contribution is going to be for the Avon Walk -- I'm thinking I'm going to set aside a certain amount per mile covered between now and the walk date. Not sure yet.

Anyhow, gotta run -- with all the stuff going on with the boys this morning and the SuperBowl party this afternoon, I haven't had the chance to finish (or, um, start..) laundry for the boys yet. And I should try to find out what time my flight leaves tomorrow... Peace out, folks!