13 Miles - And On Pace For 1,000!

Today's run was a 13 miler. I had planned to run with HH - meeting at a nearby coffee house at 6am. I ran up there with a few minutes to spare and started waiting. A few minutes after 6, she pulls up and comes out of her car in jeans and a sweatshirt - oh no! She had been up all night with a stomach issue and couldn't run (I told her she didn't need to drive over to tell me, but she said that she was already up and wanted to get out of the house anyway).

So my run was solo. And since it was supposed to be with someone, I didn't bring my iPod. I guess it's good practice for the big day, right?

I hadn't run this route since training for the Frederick Marathon. It was a bit odd running it again, as I was used to running it in the winter - with tights, gloves, beanie and jacket. This morning had a slight chill in the air - but the welcome kind that comes just as autumn arrives.

I felt really tight at the beginning of this run, so I took it nice and easy. Luckily, my body got into the groove eventually. Since there was no music, I was able to concentrate on me and how my body felt - 7 of the first 10 miles had average HRs under 150 (the other three were 151s and a 152). Mile 11 and 12 were quite hilly (I didn't remember this route being so hilly, but it definitely was!).

During my last mile, a neighbor who is a lot faster than me came up behind me. I decided to be neighborly and strike up some conversation for a bit....which meant I needed to go a bit faster! I took a look at my Garmin stats and found that I was doing around an 8:00/mile pace at that point - and I lasted a little more than 1/4 mile, that's it (OK...I already had 12.5 miles in the tank at that time).

All and all it was a nice run - 13.25 miles in 2:21:19 with an average HR of 149. If I can run the first half of NY in that (and keeping my average HR in the first half under 150), I should be in very good shape.

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When I put my run in my RunningAhead log, I found that I am now ahead of the Pace Bunny for 1,000 miles for 2009!!! With the marathon training I'll definitely surge ahead for a few weeks. I just hope that I can stay consistent with my running (and not get sick) through the end of the year and hit 1,000 this year. I just missed it last year.