Miles Slogged

The training plan called for 18 today. The heavy, wet snow made the going very slow. My feet were wet almost immediately. Because of my last run, I decided to do a loop that was nearly 6 miles, but where I could be back to the house after 3 if necessary. My breathing and heart rate were very elevated the entire time, but, that could have been the trail conditions. I just pretended I was training at altitude.

The fresh snow let me see evidence of all the animals that had been out. I saw skunk, deer, coyote, and lots of squirrel tracks. In person, I saw my red tail hawk pair and heard their screeches too!

That helped pass the first lap which ended up being 5.75 miles but taking a whopping 1:13:26 to complete. I fueled up on Honey Stinger Chews (yum!), pretzels, and Gatorade. I had planned to change shoes as well, but, since they'd be just as wet not long after heading out, I didn't waste the time.

In the second lap "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier" kept running through my head. It became a sort of mantra. I've had that happen at a couple of the Pineland races. One year it was Elvis Costello's "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down". It's never the whole song, just the one line.

The going was a little easier since I had some foot prints to trod in, but, it was also getting slippery. Still, the second lap was actually seconds faster than the first. I filled up with the same goodies and used the foam roller on the ITband - more preventive than anything.

The third lap was more difficult. The path was sloppier yet and I was just tired. Still, the time and miles just went. I was 3 hours and 15 minutes into the run before my feet started to get cold. Not bad for feet that had been wet the entire time and with temps in the mid 30's. I was planning on taking their picture to include because I was sure they'd be special looking. Nope, not even too pruney. It took me almost 3 minutes longer on that lap for a total of 3:42:22. Except for sore big toes, very happy with my effort. Yay!!