Stupid is as stupid does

Sun: 6/14/09
14 mile run (1:31:00)
Well, my statement in Friday's blog that I "should be smarter about my running" has obviously held true for a whole 30 hours or so. The zap crew returned in full force last night after most of them had been in Portland for a few races. Unlucky for me they all had their long runs for the week and I decided to tag along. Fellow Ivy alums Frank Tinney and David Nightengale joined Thomas Morgan, Mike Bunker, Ryan Warrenburg, Nate Peck and I for a jaunt up this hills at Moses Cone. The premise of the loop is a gradual climb for the first 2.8 miles, flat for .2 down the other side of the mountain for 2 miles back up a trail for 2 miles, turnaround and repeat. For the first 40mins or so things were going well. I felt good, the convo was hilarious and the company was nice. About half way up the second uphill stage my hamstrings began to give a little tug and the pace became a little more difficult. However, turning around and going back down felt nice. At 55mins or so the climb back to the top started and I was ready for my Tour De France mountain stage. I didn pretty good until the last 4mins or so when we reached 4k feet and I really had to put in an effort to stay with the guys. I am pleased to announce that I stayed with the pack and didn't fall off, an accomplishment in my mind for now. The rest of the way back down felt pretty decent and it was nice to see the 90 minute mak for the second time in 3 days. It's amazing how fast simple mileage can come back after such a long time off. I am in the process of putting together a 2 month training sketch for myself until I feel fit enough to start looking for a coach. The plan will be a rough outline for the first month as a lot will change with the impending job and housing change and it may take a while for me to adjust. In any case, the foot feels really great as I type this and that excites me. I continued my rise to "real runner" status today as I soaked in the creek after the run, which felt amazingly good.

p.s. Props to Jordan and Meagan for their respective runs in the half marathon. I will be putting together a blog update for Premier Coaching soon.