Running Chick

I finished my final long run on Friday afternoon.  I was supposed to run on Saturday, but the forecast called for rain all weekend so I decided to take a rest day on Thursday and do my long run on Friday.

It was a balmy 67 degrees, so I wore shorts.  I’m sure the oncoming drivers appreciated the glare from my alabaster white legs.  I ran to Chassell and tried to stay on the trail the entire way, but parts were completely swamped and I got tired of running up & down driveways working my way around the water, so mostly I just stuck to the road.  My shins are a little pissed off about that but they’ll get over it.

And, since I’ve been running in frigid temps the last four months not worrying too much about hydration, I completely blew the amount of water I took and ran out around mile 8.  Fortunately I was able to refill my bottle in a car repair shop (unbeknownst to them).  I was totally going to ask permission, but nobody was at the front desk and the water fountain was right there, so I did a quick refill and took off.

Anyway, I ended up doing 11 miles at 10:42.  I was originally intending to do 12, but I was dumb and wore my heavier winter socks instead of my lighter summer ones and I felt hot spots on my feet around 10 miles.  I didn’t want them to turn into monster blisters, so I decided I’d better quit while I was ahead and finished up once I hit 11.  Had it not been for the blisters, I could have made 12 with no problem.

In my quest to collect every single GPS running device Garmin makes, I bought the Forerunner 305 last week when I noticed that the price came way down.  This one’s got a heart rate monitor so I’m able to collect even more data that I have no idea how to interpret!  My average heart rate for this run was 171.  I have no idea if that’s good or bad but I didn’t keel over from a heart attack, so I can only assume it’s okay.  The chest strap is pretty comfortable, I completely forgot I was wearing it once I left the house.

New toys are fun!

This week’s totals:  19.58 miles @ 10:36

Next week’s schedule calls for 16 miles with a long run of 6.  Depending on how my shins are feeling, I might end up cutting back, we’ll see.

After next week, I have two short runs for 5 miles then it’s off to the races!