Ugly Toes

Normally I do my long runs as some kind of out-and-back. Occasionally, I run kind of a loop but it usually involves some form of out-and-back so that I don't actually travel that far (like last week with the track club). Today I wanted to do something different than my usual run up and down the bike paths because I'm getting a little bored with that. So I parked at the lake (getting there at 7:45 with no cars in the lot was quite a change!), and headed west to hit a section of bike path I rarely use. I then headed north, and instead of crossing the river to run on the east side, where the path is paved and part of the city bike path system, I continued on the west side so I could finally try out the unpaved section. It was pretty nice, except for the part where it ends - it's a very short but fairly steep hill that sucked to climb.

I then joined back up with the regular bike path and continued north. I'd apparently done a poor job "unhydrating" this morning, so I was relieved to see a portapotty at the grocery store. My next route was to run alongside the road heading east. I never run this way, partly because there is a giant hill. But for some reason, running up the hill sounded fun today. We runners have weird ideas about fun, don't we? The hill is steep, and just under a mile long. I think I ran up it fairly decently though.

The road I was on turned into East Circle Dr, which (as the name kind of implies) circles the east side of town. Once I got to the top of the hill, it was flat for awhile past the high school and then it dropped downhill for awhile. I had some confusion at the stoplight past the highschool - going south it had a no pedestrian crossing sign, which I figured meant that there was either a sidewalk or bike path on the other side of the road. So I crossed the road going west, and then crossed south. But there was no sidewalk or path or anything other than the shoulder. So I crossed east again, and just ran south on the shoulder. The shoulder was pretty wide, and there were very few cars so it was all good. Well, except for the roadkill raccoon (? I didn't look closely so I assume it was a raccoon) I had to pass by.

So I ran down ECD for awhile, and then reached the community/technical college, so I turned west to head back into town. Since I never go to that part of town/the college, I tend to forget how large the campus is, especially the many athletic fields. It took quite awhile to pass the college and then the hospital, but then I was back in an area with lots of houses.

As I headed downtown, I was surprised to see I'd barely gone 10 miles. Covering that much of town seemed like so much longer. I tried to figure out where to head next - I didn't want to head back north yet because I'd then have to run loops around the lake, and I didn't want to go south because that area of town isn't one of the better areas. So I ran through downtown and a few blocks west before heading north again. The last part isn't that interesting - I ran up a long, gradual hill followed by a gradual downhill. I followed the road for awhile, and then got back onto the unpaved path from the start of my run. I still had some distance to make up so I continued on the bike path instead of heading back over to the lake. When I got back over to the lake, I didn't have that much left, so I headed the direction opposite of my car. Since I had water and gatorade in the car and I was basically out, I didn't want the temptation to stop!

Overall, a pretty good run. It started out slower (9:20s) and then dropped to around 9 after the big hill (with some 8:40s and 8:50s). I had one slower mile that I can't tell if I just randomly slowed or if there was a GPS issue. I don't care enough to investigage. I was kind of nervous about running today, since I've never tried to do a real long run the day after a race. But my legs weren't sore at all when I got up this morning, and felt fine for running.

17.05 miles | 2:36:21 | 9:10/mi.

I had brought my extra fuel belt bottles with me, and had them in the cooler in the car. I had thought about running out 1/4 of the way and hitting the car 1/2 way to switch out my bottles. But it wasn't as warm today, so I just made it through with the 4 bottles. I did stop at the running store after my run, and bought 2 sets of the 10 oz. bottles so that I can carry more water at a time. I was kind of tempted by the rip-stop bottles that can be attached to the belt, extending your bottle carrying capacity. I decided to see how well the 4 x 10 oz. works for me before exploring that option. I'm also not sure how much actual room I have on my belt, but it's cool that I could maybe add bottles instead of buying a whole new belt.

I feel like I had a busy day. This afternoon, I took Molly out for some Frisbee while I did some weeding. We then moved into the front yard, where I weeded for over an hour while she hung out in the shade on her tie-out. I can actually tell I've made some progress on that side of the yard. After we came inside, I decided to go make some potatoes before they went bad. I don't really cook, but having gotten so bored with frozen meals I was inspired to go back through my cookbooks and find stuff to try. Last weekend, I made homemade (reduced-fat) macaroni and cheese, and Wednesday I made a vegetable pizza. So today, I made Herbed Roasted Potatoes. I hadn't planned on making anything else, but changed my mind and made Baked Ziti, which also involved making my own marinara sauce. Everything has turned out well so far! I still prefer baking, though.