I got my 10 mile long run in this morning! Greg got up early and left before the boys were even out of bed to get his miles in so I could leave by 9 a.m. The weather has been beautiful (for runners) and I enjoyed temperatures in the lower 70s despite running from 9-11 a.m. in August!
I decided to run an out and back route that I ran a lot for my first half marathon training but haven’t run since. So many memories! The place where I saw Greg pulled over with energy gel and half a banana for me because I’d texted him that I was so hungry I didn’t know how I’d make it home. The place that was my turn around point for my first 8 mile run, the turning point for my first 9 mile run. The little water view, now so close to home, that at one point in my couch to 5k program was the very furthest I had ever, ever run.
Rather than aiming for specific mileage, my goal this morning was just to run for 2 hours and see how far it got me. No stopping the watch, not for walking/gel breaks, water breaks, stop lights, anything. Just run out for an hour, turn around, run home. If I hit 5 miles before an hour was up, I could turn around. I made it 2 minutes under an hour and headed back.
There are some high traffic intersections where I had to wait, but I was also taking it pretty slow. I did go out with friends last night, and had an AMAZING time, and maybe drank some tequila and came home after 11 p.m…. so 10 miles easy that felt good the whole time was just right.
Next week, maybe I can do it faster…
Running after a fun night out can be a little challenging, but taking it slow and just enjoying it without trying to set any pace records makes it so much more rewarding. It’s good to revisit old routes and go past markers that used to be so far when we first started running, but are now the quarter markers on a medium distance long run! I was meant to do an 11km long run before church this morning, but woke up to pouring rain – I don’t love running enough to consider running in the rain, and especially not winter rain! So I’m heading out in about an hour (4pm) as it’s now a glorious day – not sure how I’ll go as I always do my long runs first thing in the morning, before any food, but as I skipped my 4km run yesterday morning, I have to get out and move! I will take your attitude of taking it as slow as I need to and just enjoying the scenery.