Long Run (5 miles 7.22.12)

After so much time off 5 miles is a long run again. I miss the days that it was a short run.  I'll get back there again. I'm used to running on pavement and this was not so it was harder to run on. I felt like I was running a bit slower and was running more careful because rocks my go in my shoes.  Based on these observations my first .1 of running, I set some goals.  I put my goals on the table with my actual times.  I didn't do too bad except mile 2.  I still overall hit my goal.   A few times I wasn't sure which path to take or if I picked the right one and those were my slowest splits.  This was my longest run in 1.5 months. The last time I ran this far was June 9 for the Laurel Highlands Ultra Relay.

I ran a small portion of Bay Trail. Looking at the map it seems obvious what path I would have taken but there were actually a lot of choices and they'd end up almost parallel to where I was but 10-20 ft over. I never knew if they'd stay that way or if one of them would head back.  Now that I've done it once I'll know what to expect. 

Dave and I went to the Trail Saturday night so I wasn't so scared to try to run it myself.  They had a map labeled so I thought I'd be running a 4.5 mile loop. I ended up getting back to the parking lot at 4.65 miles so I turned and headed onto the other path for a little so I'd end near 5. It's funny that I allow myself to end a 5 mile run at 5.04 but won't allow myself to end it at 4.96.

I was surprised at my speed and surprised how fast the last mile was. I know it was 4.16 miles in when I picked the one turn that I knew would take me right back to the car.  Maybe the certainty of where I was running took the thought and concern out of my head and so I could just concentrate on running.  My goal is to get my longer runs at 9 minute mile pace but for now I will go with 9:30 until I get into the swing of things.  I have 10 more long runs before the half marathon. I will hopefully do those. I have a lot more of those shorter runs, tempo runs, and interval runs but I bet I will skip well over half of those. 

A few different spots on the trail.

A portion of the map

I'm not used to running in the sun the entire time. I had on sunglasses but it was so bright. I might need to learn how to run in a baseball cap so that I shield my face even more.

The entire time I was running I saw 2 people besides the 20 feet near the car.