A story of going from being a non-runner to planning for a marathon in three years...

Monday, May 18, 2009

Hometown Running

This past weekend I was back in my hometown visiting my parents. The training schedule called for a 7 miler so I got to do it in a part of town I hardly ran in even when I lived there.

However, there are some hazards with running in my hometown. They include:


Brick sidewalks


Wind


Sidewalk Lakes


There's also the "hazard" of running into (literally) people you know. However, I actually like doing that. And, yes, I got do to so while out running! I passed a former coworker and we stopped to chat for a bit. I admit that I miss many of my former coworkers and, since I haven't gotten back to town on a weekday, I haven't had a chance to stop in a say "hi". So, it was nice to stop for a few minutes and catch up. Plus, he told me all about all my other coworkers who are on Facebook so now I can stay caught up with them virtually.

It was also nice to stop for a few minutes because I was struggling with the last few miles of my run. I think it was a combination of the 3 Blue Moons I'd had the night before, the lack of a substantial dinner or breakfast, and the fact that I forgot to bring a water bottle with me on the run and the sun came out while I was out there. Combine all those things and you have a run that goes fabulously for the first 4 miles and then comes to slow plod for the last 3 miles. I had to stop and walk twice in those last 3 miles. I know this is not the end of the world, but I still don't have to like it.

Overall, I managed to do all 7 in an average of 10:29 minutes per mile. Not my best time ever, but these are supposed to be the long, slow miles, right?

And, as always, the stats:

Photobucket


Activity
Route:--Elev. Avg:737 ft
Location:Urbana, ILElev. Gain:+3 ft
Date:05/16/09Up/Downhill: [+167/-164]
Time:11:02 AMDifficulty:2.2 / 5.0
Performance

Distance: 7.07 miles
Time:1:14:11
Speed:5.7 mph
Pace:10' 30 /mi
Calories:781
Map
 
Elevation (ft)
 
Pace (min/mile)
 
Splits
MilePace (min/mile)Speed (mph)Elevation
Gain
actual+/- avgactual+/- avg
110' 07-0' 235.9+0.2+43 ft
29' 36-0' 546.2+0.5-6 ft
310' 02-0' 286.0+0.3-13 ft
410' 21-0' 095.8+0.10 ft
510' 53+0' 235.5-0.2+13 ft
611' 34+1' 045.2-0.50 ft
710' 52+0' 225.5-0.2-30 ft
end9' 22-1' 086.4+0.7-3 ft
Versus average of 10' 30 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com



P.S. I am woefully behind on reading blogs. I hope to catch up this week. If not, I'll get caught up this weekend.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Neat :)

Anonymous said...

Erin,
If you were struggling the other morning, it certainly was not noticable to me.
If I had just run 6.5 miles, I would have been horizontal, with a couple of IV's sticking out of me, and a medical helicopter landing on the parking lot nearby.
When I told people at the office, that you had run into me, and said hello, everyone was quite interested. Some thought that I had gone to Chicago over the weekend, I told them no, I had just gone to the store.

Anyway, take care, really love the info from your Garmin. I hadn't actually seen all of the data that one gives you. Very cool!

Best of luck in your quest of a marathon!

Patrick

Bayjb said...

Sidewalk lakes, that looks seriously scary, almost as much as those cobblestones. I would definitely fall from that.

RunningLaur said...

So cool that you got to see a new part of an old place. All those obstacles make you one tough runner!

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.