Long Run - Top of Freescale Course
Today was a planned 20-22 miler. We started at the top of the Freescale course right outside the Gateway shopping center. The group met at Runtex and drove to the top. I jumped in Jay's rig with Henry and some folks I didn't know. The weather was in the high 40s at the start so I wore shorts, gloves, running cap, a running shirt, and my Gazelle's long sleeve shirt over the top.
I started out running by myself again...surprisingly in front of Alex and Lilian's group. I built a couple of minute spread ahead of them until we were on Burnet. I had to pee as usual and found a friendly tree. When I came out, I waited a few seconds and joined them. We headed down Burnet until the little detour through the industrial park right before 183. We got lost a couple of times and the last time cost us about 3/4 of a mile. We missed the turn at United and had to back track. The first time, we were checking out map and Jay's group caught us. We picked up Patrick and Diana, and Liliana joined them. I think she is nursing a nagging injury and wanted to take it easy. We almost screwed up again right around mile 5 when Alex and Gretchen blew past Shoal Creek. Luckily Gilbert was down the hill and yelled at us. I ate a Carboom and drank some of Gilbert's special sports drink and we were off again.
We headed down Shoal Creek and it was pretty uneventful. I ran a bit with Diana and Anne. Anne was really pushing the group forward. We got onto 45th and ran into some brutal sun. Of course I forgot my sunglasses. Gilbert was waiting at mile 10 with more drinks. I ate my second Carboom. I continued to see the average pace for the total run continue to drop.
We headed down Duval, through the campus and into downtown. We started across 6th street to the out and back part, the worst part of the course, and my mental demons started kicking in. I continued to pace with Ann, Patrick, Diana, and Alex. Alex and I got caught at a couple of lights and chased them down. It wasn't a good thing to do...especially on this stretch. We got to the gas station across from Mangia and had some more sports drink and another Carboom.
There were only about 5 miles left and I was feeling great. I did the out and back at a pretty good clip and was running by myself again ahead of the group by about 30 seconds. I was just feeling it and did some "run as you feel" with a little push. I headed down past the Rock and onto the trail. I had to clear some stomach issues on the trail right at mile 20 and called it a very good day. I did about a mile cool down to get to auditorium shores and then ran 4 strides. My last 8 miles were 8:30, 8:29, 8:30, 9:04, 8:02, 8:07, 8:01, 8:03. I was really happy with the pickup I had over the last 4 miles.
Total Long run Mileage - 20.1
Total Time - 2:57:04
Average Pace - 8:51
Cool down and strides - 1.31 miles
I started out running by myself again...surprisingly in front of Alex and Lilian's group. I built a couple of minute spread ahead of them until we were on Burnet. I had to pee as usual and found a friendly tree. When I came out, I waited a few seconds and joined them. We headed down Burnet until the little detour through the industrial park right before 183. We got lost a couple of times and the last time cost us about 3/4 of a mile. We missed the turn at United and had to back track. The first time, we were checking out map and Jay's group caught us. We picked up Patrick and Diana, and Liliana joined them. I think she is nursing a nagging injury and wanted to take it easy. We almost screwed up again right around mile 5 when Alex and Gretchen blew past Shoal Creek. Luckily Gilbert was down the hill and yelled at us. I ate a Carboom and drank some of Gilbert's special sports drink and we were off again.
We headed down Shoal Creek and it was pretty uneventful. I ran a bit with Diana and Anne. Anne was really pushing the group forward. We got onto 45th and ran into some brutal sun. Of course I forgot my sunglasses. Gilbert was waiting at mile 10 with more drinks. I ate my second Carboom. I continued to see the average pace for the total run continue to drop.
We headed down Duval, through the campus and into downtown. We started across 6th street to the out and back part, the worst part of the course, and my mental demons started kicking in. I continued to pace with Ann, Patrick, Diana, and Alex. Alex and I got caught at a couple of lights and chased them down. It wasn't a good thing to do...especially on this stretch. We got to the gas station across from Mangia and had some more sports drink and another Carboom.
There were only about 5 miles left and I was feeling great. I did the out and back at a pretty good clip and was running by myself again ahead of the group by about 30 seconds. I was just feeling it and did some "run as you feel" with a little push. I headed down past the Rock and onto the trail. I had to clear some stomach issues on the trail right at mile 20 and called it a very good day. I did about a mile cool down to get to auditorium shores and then ran 4 strides. My last 8 miles were 8:30, 8:29, 8:30, 9:04, 8:02, 8:07, 8:01, 8:03. I was really happy with the pickup I had over the last 4 miles.
Total Long run Mileage - 20.1
Total Time - 2:57:04
Average Pace - 8:51
Cool down and strides - 1.31 miles
posted by Paco at 3:44 PM
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