Ten weeks to go!
That’s not so daunting, except that those 10 weeks include runs that are, well, longer than the long run we finished this week. Which was really long.
According to Mr. Higdon, our week was supposed to include:
- Monday: rest day
- Tuesday: 4 miles
- Wednesday: 7 miles
- Thursday: 4 miles
- Friday: rest day
- Saturday: 15 miles
- Sunday: cross training
I was in Wisconsin on Monday with time to spare, so snuck my first 4 miles in up there on the trails through the marsh – one of my favorite places to run.
It was, of course, absolutely beautiful. Mid 50s, sunny and dry. What a great run.
I met Ginger for a very early 7 miles on Wednesday morning. The weather was surprisingly cool for Florida – low 70s. We took it easy and made a few loops around some local parks. Boring, but we got through it and I was home by 6:15 am. Yup, that was an early one.
Friday, I got out early for my final easy 4 miles. For whatever reason, I have a hard time running by myself lately. This 4 miles felt like 10 and I couldn’t wait for it to be over. I guess they can’t all be easy. I’m starting to lose steam a bit and need to get my mojo back.
Saturday was our longest run to date: 15 miles. We were on the pavement by 5:45 am and did our usual north route through the beautiful waterfront neighborhoods of St. Pete. Then, instead of running along the brutally hot waterfront like we normally do, we did our north loop again which kept us mostly in shade. It was breezy, somewhat cool and we ran it really strong.
We took water/fuel breaks at mile 5, 8.5, and 12, then pushed those last three miles pretty quickly. Adam took the lead and I kept his pace with Ginger behind me. We’d abandoned all conversation and had to really focus on pushing through those last few, but we all did it and we’re all amazed by it.
Sunday, I woke up sore and tight. Time for a foam roller, I guess – or a sports massage.
This week hit pretty high miles (30 total) for me – and there’s plenty more to come. Week 9 is an easy week – 4, 7, 4, then 13 on Saturday before we jump back up to 17 in two weeks. Starting to get nuts.
