Looonnngggg Day

Me with Zorro. I'll be cat sitting at the end of May. :)

Just crawling in after my long but FUN day! :)
(Why does it show I posted this at 7:28pm when I posted it at 10pm?)

The Striders really do put on great training runs. Every single turn was marked today from what I could tell. Everyone's so nice, friendly, & helpful. This is one of my favorite training runs that they do. I actually missed not doing the FULL training run. :( My 12 miles that I planned turned into 11.07. ha! I got to Centennial by 6:10am. I ran over to the bathrooms that are usually unlocked. They were locked. We ALL ran down to McDonald's. Good Lordy!

It felt pretty windy as we stood around before take off. I was COLD! I had on my long sleeved Tom King 1/2 tech shirt, shorts, & gloves. I felt good but it did not take me long to want to shed the shirt. Around my waist it went as usual before mile 2! Kellie A., who I had seen in the bathroom zipped past me & said, "We over dressed, didn't we!" She had taken hers off. (Nice seeing ya David. You appeared to be doing great on the hills!) I lost David when we started hitting the hills & then my left shoe came untied TWICE! After the 2nd time, I knew there was no hope of trying to catch him. I settled into a nice pace by mile 4 & I was enjoying myself. As mile 7 approached, I felt my legs going dead. I think it was the combination of last week's 1/2, doing hills/speed this week, & the hills this morning. I don't know, but I kept trotting along. I heard Chuck come up behind me & ask me how I was doing. I can't remember what I muttered. ha! By mile 8 or so, my legs seemed to come back to life a little. As I approached the Musica Statue, I headed back the way we came but I turned one street too early, I think...,but I bet I only lost about 1/2 a mile. I headed UP the concrete sidewalks back down West End. Boy, did the headwinds kick in there & all the way to Centennial. By mile 10.5 on my Garmin, I had the urge to go to the bathroom. I could see the McDonald's so I decided that would be my final destination. I just didn't have it in me to go around Centennial for the last mile. The wind had made me VERY cold at that point. I'm not even going to mention my pace because it involves too many stops for traffic & 2 untied shoelace stops. I will tell you, my hips were feeling the hills, though. I got a reality check! I doubt I'll come anywhere close to the 2:01:46 I did in 2004 on this course but it will NOT be another PW! :P

The rest of my day was VERY productive & fun! :)

Tomorrow I hope to get the new trail shoes out for their first spin on base.

Happy Easter everyone!