Going that weeeeee bit further

September 7 Plan: 16k LSD Actual: 16.2k LSD

After getting home around 9pm from a very long day of crewing a major event, we didn't last long and hit the hay rather early. I knew I had this big run the next day and my bed was calling. Which tells you just how hard it was to get out of the next morning, but get out I did.

Had my cup of coffee and some toast, gathered my stuff and was off. Decided not to re-do the same 16k route I'd done the week before thanks to the hills and stuff so tried for an out and back to get me the same distance.

All in all this wasn't a bad run. The temperature was great but the sun, that damned sun, beat down on me and made me hot. Real hot. Like, soul draining hot. Fack.

Thankfully I was wearing a white shirt, the re-registration shirt from the event we'd worked the day before, so that kept the sun at bay a bit. But just a bit.

I decided to pace myself and do the best I could without trying to kill myself. I figured I'd be able to beat my last time at this distance because I didn't have the rolling hills and, fingers crossed, wouldn't have a tweaky knee to walk off for a bit. Sadly that didn't pan out, and while I wasn't off by much, this run did take me longer than my last outing. I attribute this to the fact that going down Brock Street, which I avoided entirely this go around, gained me some serious time since it's so downhill. My first few splits on that run were well faster than my normal pace, so even with kms being slower later, I'd set myself up well for a better pace. And that day was overcast, therefore less sun impact to deal with. So yeah, we'll just go with that.

Passed a good many runners on this jaunt. Pretty sure, in fact, that I passed the Whitby Running Room half marathon clinic as we went in opposite directions up and down Garrard. Runners are the best - always waving and smiling at one another. In fact, I got a great boost from another runner who passed me around my 11k mark. I had slowed to eat a Shot Blok and sip some water and as he ran past he said, 'hang in there, you've got this!!' and kept going. Put an extra bit of spring in my step as I started off again. He was right - I did have this. :)

Legs handled this distance well, too. Not nearly as crampy on the walk intervals as they'd been the week before which was a nice change. And I was careful to stretch and roll and soak and all that good stuff when I got home which I'm convinced plays a huge role in how I feel overall.

Pushed myself to go that tiny bit extra at the very end because I like getting new records. Wasn't by much, but I'll take em!!