An Education

I really didn't want to run on Saturday morning. Even though the weather on Saturday turned out to be gorgeous it was definitely still winter when the dogs dragged me out of bed 15 minutes before my alarm.

I had a packed day yesterday and in order to get in an 8 mile run I had to be on the road no later than 7:15 AM. Blugh.

Honestly, the only thing that got me out the door was telling myself that I was allowed to run as slow as I wanted. My training plan had me doing 8 miles at a 10:43 minute/mile pace. As of late, that is really slow for me. So, knowing I could shuffle along half asleep, I pulled on my tights (still below freezing at 7AM) and laced up my shoes and headed out the door.

I decided to run to where we start our Monday night runs and go until I hit 4 miles. Then come home on a different street. I hoped that new scenery would help me feel more enthused about my run. The Coach did say that new routes can help make it fun, right?

The run was definitely nice and slow. In fact, at first it was almost a little too slow. But, hey, I was tired and it was cold. At least I was out there running!

When I turned down the new street to head home I faced what passes for in these parts as a hill. However, at the top of that hill I was rewarded with a park and the most curious sign:



Really? The only continental divide I knew of was in the Rocky Mountains. Thankfully the back of the sign gave me some more information.


Click to see larger

Oh, okay. It's only a continental divide not the continental divide.

Who knew runs could be so educational??

As I neared the end of my run I could feel myself fatiguing. So, instead of continuing my shuffling I decided to try out some of the form suggestions The Coach had talked about on Tuesday. And you know what? It worked! My last two miles were a minute faster than any of the previous six miles and I didn't even feel that tired when I hit the 8 mile mark. Fascinating!

As much as I hate dragging myself out of bed and starting my run before I would normally even be out of the shower it does feel good to get it done for the day. That left me the rest of the day to scrapbook, attend my niece's birthday party, and then sit on the couch and watch three hours of the Discovery Health Channel. Hey, I'd say I'd earned it. Plus, it's educational :-)

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Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 626 ft Location: Forest Park, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 03/06/10 Up/Downhill: [+45/-45] Time: 07:07 AM Difficulty: 2.9 / 5.0   Weather: Fair   32 F temp; 84% humidity   32 F heat index; winds Calm Performance Distance: 8.01 miles Time: 1:24:24 Speed: 5.7 mph Pace: 10' 32 /mi Calories: 970 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 52 +0' 20 5.5 -0.2 +3 ft 2 10' 39 +0' 07 5.6 -0.1 +6 ft 3 11' 04 +0' 32 5.4 -0.3 0 ft 4 10' 53 +0' 21 5.5 -0.2 -9 ft 5 10' 36 +0' 04 5.7 -0.0 +10 ft 6 10' 44 +0' 12 5.6 -0.1 0 ft 7 9' 53 -0' 39 6.1 +0.4 -6 ft 8 9' 35 -0' 57 6.3 +0.6 -3 ft end ** ** ** ** ** ft Versus average of 10' 32 min/mile ** Insufficient data to calculate this split

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