Long Run, Long Post

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Everybody strap yourselves in for a post full of fun!

Yesterday was officially my last long run before my half-marathon on the 11th. My friend Lindsay was wonderful enough to drive an hour to my house to go running with me. She was also wonderful enough to take a slew of great photographs AND some video! I'll share some of my favorites as we go along.

I drove us over to the bike trail (map pictured above) and we started off around 10:00 AM. There's a saying out there that tells us, "If you want to run fast, go alone. If you want to run far, go together." Well, yesterday we proved that by running together you can go both FAST and FAR.

My training plan called for 11 miles, but Lindsay suggested we just do 10. She's training for her second marathon (the St. Louis GO! race on April 19th. Everyone wish her luck, too!) so I figured that we'd go with her suggestion. She's speedier than me so I had been having some trepidations about slowing her down, being able to keep up, etc. Turns out it wasn't a problem. In fact, she made me even more confident of my ability to finish this half and finish it strong. And at a time significantly faster than I had originally anticipated!

I haven't run with anyone since last June. I forgot how fast the miles fly by when you're chatting. Even when you're chatting about how you're not chatting! The stretch between mile 4 and mile 5 was pretty quiet. But once we hit mile 5 we paused for some sustenance.



Jelly Belly Sports Beans! Lindsay found some in her neck of the woods and was wonderful enough to bring me some! Yay!

After our brief break, we turned around and headed back the way we came. We saw lots of bikers, quite a few runners, dogs, squirrels, people with jogging strollers, but, sadly, no deer. Perhaps it was too early in the day for deer? Running with someone new to my path gives me a nice perspective on it. Sure, it has more people on it than Lindsay's more rural bike path, but it's such a nice respite from the crush of big city (or even big-city suburb) living.



Lindsay's take on our run:


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Every time we glanced at our (matching!) Garmins, we were amazed at our speed. Shortly before mile 3 we decided to try and slow it down for the last few miles. Uh, yeah, that only sort of worked. By the time we hit the giant pile of logs we were really looking forward to the end. Just a little less than half a mile to go!



We tried to kick it hard once the end was in sight. Overall, here's how we did:


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10 miles in 1:36 for an average pace of 9:39! Or, 9:37 as my Garmin Training Center indicated. We really pushed each other!

Originally I had thought I would be lucky to run my half-marathon at a 10:00 minute/mile pace. Now I'm thinking that I should be able to easily hit a 10:00 minute/mile pace and will probably be able to go even a little bit faster! Crazy!

Although we were tired after our run, we were both very happy with the results.


Me on the left and Lindsay on the right

Afterward, we headed back to my house for showers and then it was off to Sports Authority to check out visors, hydration packs and random on-the-run supplements. I ended up buying a visor. I hate to veer away from my trademarked bandannas, but I love the thought of my head being able to breath. Plus, on the off chance that it rains, I want something to help keep the rain off my face. I'll try it out on my last two runs this week and see what I think.

Once we finished our shopping trip, we returned to my house for Italian Ravioli Casserole, a nice chilled white wine, and a screening of Spirit of the Marathon. I didn't cry at the movie, but it certainly was inspirational. I LOVED that it was focused around training for the Chicago Marathon and they did a great job of making me truly care about the people they were following. Highly recommended for all runners!

Lindsay also helped me plot out my "what to bring" list and "things to remember" list. She's full of good tips that you won't necessarily see in a magazine or on-line checklist. Things like remember to turn off the auto-pause function on your Garmin and tell your family/friends which side of the street you plan to run on. Things I never would have thought of.

And now, after recapping my fabulous run and my fabulous day, I leave you with the nitty gritty details of the run itself. By the way, according to Lindsay one of the reasons the Bones in Motion splits table tends to vary so much from the Garmin one is that the BIM one doesn't subtract the pause time. Good to know!

Garmin Training Center data:



Bones in Motion Data:

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 623 ft Location: Brookfield, IL Elev. Gain: -4 ft Date: 04/04/09 Up/Downhill: [+232/-236] Time: 10:06 AM Difficulty: 2.9 / 5.0   Weather: Mostly Cloudy   46 F temp; 39% humidity   46 F heat index; winds Vrbl 6 Performance Distance: 10.01 miles Time: 1:36:19 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 37 /mi Calories: 1089 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 40 +0' 03 6.2 -0.0 -7 ft 2 10' 37 +1' 00 5.7 -0.6 +13 ft 3 9' 28 -0' 09 6.3 +0.1 +7 ft 4 9' 44 +0' 07 6.2 -0.1 -7 ft 5 9' 23 -0' 14 6.4 +0.2 +3 ft 6 11' 25 +1' 48 5.2 -1.0 -3 ft 7 9' 29 -0' 08 6.3 +0.1 +3 ft 8 9' 41 +0' 04 6.2 -0.0 -7 ft 9 9' 52 +0' 15 6.1 -0.2 -7 ft 10 9' 26 -0' 11 6.4 +0.1 +3 ft end 8' 03 -1' 34 7.4 +1.2 -3 ft Versus average of 9' 37 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Oh, one more thing. If you want to see more pictures, check them out here.