Since Sean and I passed on riding the Katy today due to the weather, I decided that it was a good day to get in my 18 miler. Was somewhat intimidated since that would be the furthest I would have run since October 2007 (Mount Dessert Island Marathon). Besides, the only alternative was watch the Chiefs game. Nah, better make this a productive day.
The first half mile was on the clock and I began the J word for the last half of mile one as evidenced by the 15:02 split. The remaining splits as follows, if you care to be bored: 11:41, 11:26, 11:29, 11:15, 10:49, 10:24, 10:49, 10:40, 10:40, 11:19, 9:57, 10:59, 11:19, 12:17, 13:00, 11:41, and mile 18 in 9:33. As Rob will attest, this course is endless rolling hills on Prairie View Rd. Clear past 112th street!
I started running into some knee issues around mile 3 and the discomfort was to the degree that it played with my mind (a small toy). It didn't subside and I knew I wouldn't be able to get in the planned 18 miler. At mile 4.5 it was bad enough that I was pretty sure I was going to have to walk back home. However, I was by a tennis court with a porta-pottie. I made a deposit and made a decision to try to at least get to my five mile mark. I began to run slowly and didn't feel any discomfort at all! It was gone! Amazing to say the least! I guess eliminating the extra weight in the porta-pottie made all the difference.
I continued my run with a goal to average somewhere in the 11:00 per mile range for the 18. My total was 3:24:17 with an average of 11:21. It would have been a little better if miles 15 & 16 were not such a struggle due to some challenging hills plus my hips started to bother me to the degree that I just had to stop in the middle of the hill and stretch the hips a little.
After pretty much suffering through miles 15 & 16 I had to decide if I was going to just jog/walk two more miles to get in the 18 mile goal or see what I had left. I decided to test myself in the last mile with 1/3rd of it being uphill. After topping the upgrade, I just pushed it. I looked at my watch and I was staying in the 8:10 to 8:30 range for the last 2/3rds of mile 18.
Can't tell you how good I felt about today's run! I now have two and a half months to get in a few more runs of 18-22 miles and some speedwork. I'll be ready for Dallas!!!..........Mike
2 comments:
Way to go, buddy!
Mike,
This is just a stunningly good run on a hilly course! Well done! Out by my farm, I can only average 11:OO miles in the hills! Well done! --Bill
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