urban run

I think I recovered pretty well from yesterday, bonus.

So when I got the email from Lane S that he was going to, "run 16 miles at about 7:30 pace with my friend John from college" I was like sure, I'm in.

When was my last run? Oh, about two weeks ago. And it pretty much killed me.

Whatever, nothing like getting in over my head. Again.

I forgot to mention that John ran at the collegiate level with Lane back when they were both in college. Thank goodness for me he was coming back after a 15 year hiatus. Whew!

We met at the Green Lake Starbucks and since everyone arrived promptly we didn't waste any time and headed right out counter-clockwise around the lake. Without looking I had pressed start on my watch and after a couple of minutes I glanced down to see if I had hit the button correctly or not and saw that it was still trying to connect with satellites. Rats. This went on for practically eight minutes until finally it found them and I had press start again. I'm guessing we ran about one mile during this time based on our pace. I guess the cloud cover was pretty thick.

The forecast said upper 30s but I felt fine and was glad I had opted for shorts. I still just hate tights for running… And it was dry. Nice. And, in spite of Lane's message we were doing about 8:00/mile instead of 7:30 so I figured I could hang just fine. It was going to be a good day.

John suggested we loop the lake and then head back down Ravenna and into the Arboretum but that sounded like a super boring route to me so I chimed in with Discovery Park and lucky for me both Lane and John were on board.

I was doing fine to Ballard. The first hill had me worried for some reason but climbing up to Discovery Park was not a problem. And then on the dirt trail I felt a little refreshed! I guess I just like trails more than roads and sidewalks. We made a quick pit stop at the restroom on the bluff in the park where I had my gel and then headed back across the locks this time.

ASIDE - about a third of the loop trail was still covered in snow. Even more fun. :)

As we hit the wood bridge that crosses the train tracks just above the locks no less than three groups of about eight women each were running the other direction. Wow. Must have been a big club or something. The water was thundering through the sluice at the locks - very cool to see!

I had a slight low point as we exited the locks and ran along some train tracks and then the rain started. And it got colder. It felt like my legs were slowing down some but then as we turned left and climbed back up to Green Lake I felt fine! Go figure.

What a relief to be able to log a longer (for me) run and not suffer. Two weeks is about the max I think I can take off and still jump back in. And I will need to get in some shorter/faster runs if I want to do this duathlon thing.

Thanks Lane and John for letting me tag along.

Sleep	7
Waking HR
Body Weight
Body Fat
Breakfast	5:00 AM - half an avocado, apple sauce, protein powder, banana, walnuts
Lunch
Dinner
Workout Food	small bottle w/1 tablet Nuun and 1 scoop Cytomax, 1 gel
Injuries
Therapy
Time of Day	7:30 AM
Workout Type	endurance
Weather	upper 30s, dry at first, some rain by the end
Course
Results
Time	about 2:20
Distance	17 miles
Pace	8:21 min/mile
Equipment	Hoka Combo XT, hand held bottle
Clothing	shorts, Patagonia short sleeve shirt, Patagonia long sleeve Merino wool shirt, SmartWool hat, Patagonia gloves