Friday, June 11, 2010

Best Long Run Ever.

Well after all my whining about being tired, I took a Nytol last night and slept 8 hours solid. It's amazing what a good sleep can do for one's running!

Woke up this morning with 28 miles (45k) on the schedule, and thought, "If I feel good I'll do 50k."

Ran the first 40 minutes with Sammy, then dropped him off at home and grabbed my nathan pack and my ipod, and set out again. The beginning was a little rough but overall I felt good, and as I continued on I knew I was going to do 50k today. I kept to a MUCH easier route than last week, so it hurt a lot less. Just as pretty though... I ran through an area that I'd never seen before and that was far from other people (not a soul out there except me!), and the forest was unlike anything I'd ever seen--positively enchanting. I was running through there looking at the trees and the tiny purple flowers by the path and smiling to myself, thinking, "This is why I do this." It was lovely. I wish I were an artist (not that any picture could do it justice). I wanted to keep following that path but I was nervous about how far away I was getting, should anything go wrong... so I reluctantly turned around and headed back to civilization, then did another leg to get my distance. I felt GOOD throughout the run. I was so happy to be out there, no major pains or problems, no feeling of exhaustion or fatigue, no slowing down in the second half. When I hit the 24 mile mark I knew that I was going to have a 50k pb, and I did--finished in 6:27:50, which is an 18 minute pb.

Calories consumed: 1215
bears spotted: 0, but they were close by... I received a warning from another person that he'd just seen a cub, so the mama was probably nearby
garmins killed: 1, but fortunately it held off until after the run... I don't have my run data though!

5 comments:

  1. Sounds like a fantastic run Holly! I'm jealous. ;)

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  2. Awesome job - what a great feeling. Enjoy the after glow

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  3. Great job! I can't wait for my marathon to be over so I can convert into trail mode.

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  4. to be fair, I can't really call it a "trail" run per se... not in the sense that I normally would consider a trail run, lol. It was mostly groomed trails, gravel, maintenance/fire roads, some paved trail, etc. Nothing technical and no single-track. But so lovely!

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  5. Nice! Good for you. Always great when you turn things around after a particularly tired period, then get a big confidence building run in.

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