Double Digits at the Beach

I was at the beach last Saturday and did some miles in the afternoon - a total of ten, actually. It was my first double digit day running (with a good bit of walking) in I don't know how long. Maybe even since the Seattle half-marathon on June 26, 2010.

My original intent was to take my camera along and snap some pretty photos of running along the beach. But as I got ready to run around 3PM, the weather - which had been nice earlier that day, nice enough for a two mile hike - was threatening. So the camera stayed indoors and dry. Sure enough, about three miles in, the rain started coming down. It would have been easy to turn around at that point and make it a six mile day, but I kept going. Five miles out. Five miles back. Cool and wet. Once, I felt so tired that I took a five minute walk break, and I probably walked half of the last four miles back. I felt really slow for this training - 11.8 minute miles overall. But I did it. Double-digit day at last.

During the week, I ran and walked with my running pal Lelia Monday after work, walking more than running. We had a nice session through Maymont and the neighborhoods around there. Where else in Richmond can you go for a run and see a bison?

Tonight, I managed to get in five miles after work, including two laps along a wooded trail. During the second lap, it was pretty dark and I could barely see where my feet were going, plus the temperature was dropping like a stone. It felt like a pretty good run. I missed my goal of getting in three runs this week before Saturday, where I hope to go for 11 miles. But I did get two good runs in. With the race just five weeks away, each one is important.