Some Personal Running Chatter

Yesterday I ran 11.16 miles around my neighborhood at a 9:05 per mile pace. This was much faster than my tentative performance at the LifeSouth half-marathon and reflects my usual comfortable pacing (between 8:45 and 9:15 per mile). My original intention on this run was to see how far I could go, with 16.74 miles being my ultimate goal. But the humidity was high at 83% and I generally didn't feel as energetic as I would have liked. Still, I accomplished the fourth longest distance I have run since 1975.

The reason for the funny-sounding distances like 11.16 and 16.74 is that I designed a very good course through my subdivision and the neighboring one, after which I measured it on MapMyRun to be 5.58 miles long. When running longer distances (like yesterday), I run multiple cycles of this course in order to give me an opportunity every 5.58 miles to pass by my house and drink some Gatorade for a few seconds. Ultimately, I want to do five cycles, giving me the marathon-plus distance of 27.9 miles. But that is still a ways off. Alas, running longer distances consumes time, and the fact that my workplace has changed my schedule to report in an hour earlier each day cuts into the time available for me to run and recover.

One of my problems may be due to the fact that I tend not to eat a reasonable breakfast, possibly causing my energy level to be relatively low during yesterday's run, as well as during that LifeSouth half-marathon. So I will start, especially on "running days", forcing myself to eat something more substantial on those mornings. Also, I'm debating whether to go ahead and find some new shoes that reduce the stress (and pain) that long running seems to produce on my feet and ankles.

As far as planning out future marathons to participate in, the only viable one I see in the near future is the Knoxville Marathon, to be held on Sunday, March 28. But I would first need to secure Saturday the 27th off from work, no automatic deal. And I am still not yet in shape to run that distance. But having something specific like that placed ahead of me would definitely serve to mobilize my efforts more sharply! I should know by this weekend whether or not I'll be able to get time off to run in Knoxville, a city that I already thoroughly dig.

One other thing: after yesterday's long run, I experienced no lingering pain or cramping in my feet or legs. I had been surprised at my relatively fast recovery following the LifeSouth race on February 14, but this recovery was astounding! A very good sign, indeed.