The first 20.
Today's run: Long Run of 20 miles at 8:33 pace
55 miles this week. Marathon is 7 weeks from today!
As it starts to dawn on me that the actual event I have been writing about and preparing for these past several months is less than two months away, it is great to compensate for a burgeoning fear with a week like this (55 miles) and a run like today (the first 20 miles of the marathon course).
Chris, who is on his own crash-course to train for this marathon, agreed to meet me on the uncharacteristic day of Sunday for this long run. We met at the start at around 8am, and, map in hand, energy gels in pocket, and water bottle full, ran the first 20 miles of the course (more or less).
The first five miles or so are easy and familiar, being the same as portions of my Embarcadero routes. The biggest difference today was, due to the early hour, the low-levels of tourists to be found along Fisherman's Warf.
The fog was dense at the bridge. I agree with Thomas here: what is so fantastic about running back and forth across the Golden Gate Bridge if there is so much fog that you can't see the views, or even the top portions of the enormous towers of the suspension bridge?
We took a short break at one end, consuming an energy gel and drinking a little water, then got going again. Ouch. My body just doesn't want to take breaks. I think that, despite Galen's insistence that it doesn't save you much time to try to drink/eat while you run, just the mere stopping and starting trouble may give me reason to do so, even if I just slow down a bit.
We cruised up Lincoln (uphill, starting to feel a little less fresh), and headed down 27th Ave towards the Park. Our usual Golden Gate Park routes don't follow this exact path, so we had to concentrate a bit on the map to find our way. I noticed nine Bison in the paddock. Hi, Bison!
Somewhere coming back up JFK Drive, before the Stow Lake loop (mile 16), I started to notice that my legs were not happy with me. Not yet at the stage of "what the hell are you doing!?!", but getting there. Fortunately, Chris was there to distract with conversation, at this point about urban (and non-urban) living, and the scrapes he's gotten into/avoided.
Finding our way out of the park, we crossed over to Haight Street, discovering the start of a street fair. This actually made it easier to navigate those blocks, as the sidewalks were pretty clear. I picked up the pace here, probably for two reasons:
Thankfully, the corner where we finished (in an admirable time) had a market, and I was able to re-hydrate with Gatorade. I took the bus home (one bus!). Shower, lunch, nap.
My legs are tired, I am tired, but I feel very good about this run. It was great to do the first 20 miles of the course, and Chris was a great running companion.
55 miles this week. Marathon is 7 weeks from today!
As it starts to dawn on me that the actual event I have been writing about and preparing for these past several months is less than two months away, it is great to compensate for a burgeoning fear with a week like this (55 miles) and a run like today (the first 20 miles of the marathon course).
Chris, who is on his own crash-course to train for this marathon, agreed to meet me on the uncharacteristic day of Sunday for this long run. We met at the start at around 8am, and, map in hand, energy gels in pocket, and water bottle full, ran the first 20 miles of the course (more or less).
The first five miles or so are easy and familiar, being the same as portions of my Embarcadero routes. The biggest difference today was, due to the early hour, the low-levels of tourists to be found along Fisherman's Warf.
The fog was dense at the bridge. I agree with Thomas here: what is so fantastic about running back and forth across the Golden Gate Bridge if there is so much fog that you can't see the views, or even the top portions of the enormous towers of the suspension bridge?
We took a short break at one end, consuming an energy gel and drinking a little water, then got going again. Ouch. My body just doesn't want to take breaks. I think that, despite Galen's insistence that it doesn't save you much time to try to drink/eat while you run, just the mere stopping and starting trouble may give me reason to do so, even if I just slow down a bit.
We cruised up Lincoln (uphill, starting to feel a little less fresh), and headed down 27th Ave towards the Park. Our usual Golden Gate Park routes don't follow this exact path, so we had to concentrate a bit on the map to find our way. I noticed nine Bison in the paddock. Hi, Bison!
Somewhere coming back up JFK Drive, before the Stow Lake loop (mile 16), I started to notice that my legs were not happy with me. Not yet at the stage of "what the hell are you doing!?!", but getting there. Fortunately, Chris was there to distract with conversation, at this point about urban (and non-urban) living, and the scrapes he's gotten into/avoided.
Finding our way out of the park, we crossed over to Haight Street, discovering the start of a street fair. This actually made it easier to navigate those blocks, as the sidewalks were pretty clear. I picked up the pace here, probably for two reasons:
- Obstacles have some sort of impact on my pacing
- I knew we were getting close to the end
Thankfully, the corner where we finished (in an admirable time) had a market, and I was able to re-hydrate with Gatorade. I took the bus home (one bus!). Shower, lunch, nap.
My legs are tired, I am tired, but I feel very good about this run. It was great to do the first 20 miles of the course, and Chris was a great running companion.
posted by Brent at
6:08 PM
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