After Saturday’s run, I was sore. I was sore on Sunday and on Monday, but this morning I woke up and I was cured! I only had slight pain above my left knee. When I went to run late this afternoon, I ran hard. For the first lap–2.2 miles– I was floating. I didn’t feel the ground. I had sunglasses on, so I felt like I was watching a movie. Someone else was running, sweating, feeling pain. Not me. I knew I was making great time. I made myself take a walking break after 15 minutes. Because I felt so strong, I was afraid I may overdo it. After that, it was lap two. I started to feel my legs cramp up during the walk, and when I began to run again, I was going much slower. I felt pain in my knees, my shins. I felt the sweat and the sun beating down. But I continued on. By the time I was rounding out lap two– the final lap– I regained my strength. I finished the 4.4 mile course in just 36 minutes. I ran 8-minute miles! Let’s see how I do tomorrow!
I decided to run my three miles today at the park where I first started my marathon training. It’s been more than a month, and I wanted to see how much I’ve grown. When I used to run Cannon Park, my right foot would fall asleep during the first mile. Today, it didn’t fall asleep until the very last mile. The park is still difficult to run because it is so small, but I felt much better about finishing the run. It’s so much easier to run and see the sights only once, instead of getting board seeing the same scenery over and over again. Nevertheless, the run went very well.
It’s hard to even call this morning’s run a “long run”. We are following Hal Hidgon’s marathon training schedule, which puts a 5-miler on the map for today, and it was an easy run. Easy because all the elements were in place–the weather was MUCH cooler, breezy conditions, enthusiastic morning runners at Forest Park, and we’ve finally adjusted to getting up early on Saturday mornings.
After our typical morning “flush” at the Visitor’s Center, Lindsey and I ran together for the first mile, then Lindsey took off a little faster and ran her interval training. I just ran straight through non-stop. There were times when I would pass her up, then she would pass me up right afterwards. She finished a few minutes before I did, but I was really happy with my run, and the weather conditions were perfect. Temps in the mid-70s, breezy wind, and a familiar course. I remember back to the first time I ran Forest Park, I could barely run it. Now, it was a non-stop jog, and I feel like I’ve built my endurance up quite a bit in the last 3 weeks.
After the run, we took my sister Ellen and my neice Erin to Six Flags St. Louis, where we dumped $250 into a typical day’s worth of expenses. I haven’t been at the park in over 10 years, and it’s quite the rip-off. They nickel and dime ya every chance they can. It’s so worth traveling to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. A 3.5 hour trip there will still be less expensive than Six Flags St. Louis. At Holiday World, the drinks and parking is free. Those 3 things at Six Flags St. Louis added up to $65. I’m just going to stop here before I really rip Six Flags St. Louis a new one.
Conditions: 73 degrees, breezy.
Results: today: 5 miles; shoe miles: 47; time: 51:35; pace: 10:18
Thoughts: The cooler temps was such a relief! I almost felt like I needed a jacket!
What I’ll remember the most: Not dying for water at the end. We drank out of the water fountain at the Visitor’s Center and didn’t even touch our own water bottles.
After 3 weeks of upper 90s to 100s, the temps were downright chilly! Ha Ha. Actually the high was around 90 today, which allowed me to run in the evening, instead of after dark. Lindsey was in town Thursday night, so we ran in Fenton Park around 6:30. The weather was cooler, the park was filled with activity, and I was able to easily run 3 miles non-stop. I wasn’t even out of breath after the run. 10 degrees cooler and less humidity certainly help the run. I was really getting frustrated with running late at night, because I had a hard time settling my body down after going through that type of high-intensity workout.
Conditions: 85 degrees, overcast.
Results: today: 2.8 miles; shoe miles: 42; time: 29:16; pace: 10:27
Thoughts: Overcast and cooler temps. I’m looking forward to the Fall.
What I’ll remember the most: Running with Lindsey on a weekday.
I had such a nice time running my 3-miler. It wasn’t too hot, and I decided to run next to Patrick. We ran the entire course non-stop. At the end, I wasn’t even out of breath. There were soccer and baseball games going on all around the park. It was nice to run and see so much activity. My knees hurt right off the bat because I had run so fast the day before. Patrick and I wanted to keep running, but we knew were were supposed to take it easy this week.
