NOTICE: For those of you that have been following by blog sitting on the edge of your seat diligently reading, listening and vicariously living my every step, this is harder than it looks! Ha! Ok, on with the story.
Sunday morning, set my alarm for 6:01 AM. The extra minute of sleep seemed appropriate since my schedule was really my own. Doing a long run alone today. Instead of just looping a couple of times around my neighborhood for a long run, I decided I would drive to the local bike trail to run an out and back for 16 miles total.
As I finished an EAS energy bar, I parked my Jeep strategically by the trail so that I could fill up on more Gatoraid later into my run. It was a nice cooler sunny morning. I hit the trail at 6:57 AM. Made some early comments with my iRun podcast Part a as I was just getting going.The trail has nice long flat sections. I snapped a picture around 2 miles into my run. You can see the trail running for a long distance behind me. I had not seen a single soul at this time. Empty trail. Maybe they're all getting ready for church?
I finally passed a couple of ladies out for a stroll then no one again. The trail ran around 4 miles for about 3/4's of mile. I had to run along the road until it picked up again. A mountain biker passed me on this section and then again...no one. The trail ended. My GPS said I was just shy of 7 miles. I turned around, slurped down some Gatoraid and headed back where I came from.My legs were doing fine. My pace was about 9:45/mi. This is 15 seconds slow per mile than last weekend. I didn't really mean to run slower. Just enjoying myself. As the miles continued the Gatoraid was gone. I stopped by a ballpark. Filled up my bottle with water from a bubbler. I goobled down some Accel Gel as I continued on.
I was getting close to my Jeep when I hit 13.1 miles at 2:07:57. Once again I beat my January '05 1/2 marathon time while just doing a nice long run. About 3 more miles to go.I stopped at my Jeep to refill my bottle with Gatoraid and I nabbed a banana to munch. I guzzled the remaining Gatoraid that was in the big bottle. I smiled to myself about the cooler I had packed. Nice planning ahead! Off I went down the trail the other direction.
I watched my GPS as I hit 14.9 miles and then 15.0 miles and then 15.1 miles.
Yes, another personal record for distance! For some reason this made me think back to when I was about 10 years old hitting apples with a stick to see how far I could get them to fly without smashing them with the stick. I set a marker in the yard for the "world record" distance. I like records. ...albums too.I snapped a picture with my Treo coming back across a bridge on the trail as I headed for my final 1-mile sprint. Pace was about 9:45/mi during this mental sprint. I was messing with my phone. I couldn't get it to work. It kept dialing my voice mail over and over. I was trying to do another iRun podcast. My phone dialed another number when I put it back in my Fuel Belt. I heard talking coming from my belt. No, it wasn't 911. Oops, but at least not a big oops!
Finally, 16 MILE! 2 hours 37 minutes and 1 second. I walked the last little ways back to the Jeep.
iRun podcast Part b from my Jeep as I drove home after my first 16-miler!
After burning through about 1800 calories running, I ate some pancakes, scrambled eggs, a biscuit, OJ & coffee for breakfast. The refueling felt good. I only lost 1 lb today. Recovery time was much faster today. Went for a 1.5 mile walk with the dog around noon.
Looking forward to some sushi later this afternoon!
