Here's the map of my run. When I hit the five mile mark, I just turned around and ran the route over again.
Whew. I'm beat!
Not as bad as I thought I would be though. I imagined myself after a 10 mile run having to lay down with ice or a heating pad. It really wasn't all that bad, but I didn't really meet my time expectations either.
I started the run at 6:00 a.m. It was 17 degrees outside, and a toasty 67 inside. At the last minute, I decided to bring a water with me, which now I blame that water bottle for slowing me down (gotta blame something!).
The first couple miles I was clocking 9 minute miles, which isn't all that great, but it's decent. At the beginning of my third mile I had to stop and tie my shoe. By the time I reached the fourth mile, it was looking like I was getting close to 10 minute miles, which for me is pretty slow - but I was taking it really slow and cautious. I wasn't sure how I'd feel come mile 8.
The one thing I learned about this run, and I should have know - but never eat cabbage the night before a big run. No, there wasn't any pit stops needed, but I did feel a knot in my stomach and I kept thinking of that second helping of cabbage i grabbed last night at my moms annual jigs dinner.
The water was helpful, I read just before the run on the net, that water you drink as you run you immediately sweat out. It sort of game me an extra boost, but carrying the bottle sucked. I had it in my hoody pocket, where it was bouncing against me as I ran. So, then I carried it, which was a little bit better, then eventually stuffed it in my pants pocket.. as you can see, I was pretty annoyed with the water bottle situation.
After the 6th mile I felt pretty decent, I was trucking along at a decent pace, and any pains I had at the beginning of the run had gone away. Midway into mile 8, I realized I was 15 minutes-ish away from a 90 minute mark. I picked up my pace the rest of the time. At about the 9 mile mark, running at this faster pace, I felt a strange feeling, nothing bad, but i finally felt my body saying, " dude, what the hell are you doing to me?!"... I wasn't in any pain, but my breathing was a little off balance because I was going faster. I kept up the pace, maybe sped up a little more, trying to make up some time. As I crossed Monroe St. for the last time, heading back into my neighborhood, I checked for cars about five times. I realized I was in a daze, and I wanted to make darn sure there were no cars coming. I remember thinking.. ahh, so that's why they mark off areas for runners in a long distance race. I can see being so focused and in that hazey zoned out mode, that looking for cars would be a hassle.
My last half mile went pretty quick. When I got to my road, I kept my eyes focused on the little red Honda Civic the whole way down the road.
I finished in 93 minutes and 30 seconds. According to my trusty wrist watch. Maybe more, or less considering it's not a stop watch. That's a 9 minute and 33 second mile.
I suppose it's a good starting point for me, and something to work at. I just started doing speed workouts, and I'll continue doing them through the summer. The other day I did 3 miles in 21 minutes - 7 minute miles. I know I couldn't keep that pace up, but they say speed runs help the long distance run.
So, how do I feel? Not bad at all. I'm drinking a water, eating a banana and actually freezing my ass off. It's kind of cold in my house now that my body temperature is cooling off.
I'm sure this was a pretty boring blog post, but I wanted to ramble about my first semi-long distance run while it was fresh in my head. All in all, it was a success, and I'm going to keep training for a longer run!
