Long Run Thursday - Finding Peace in running along the river

I'm declaring "make peace with the river" runs a success, so much so that I now actually look forward to running those routes. My favorite part is the Franklin St bridge and running on the east bank of the river into St Paul. (I'd show you on a map but for reasons passing all human understanding, Gmaps isn't remembering my saved routes right now.) I think I should run by the Chain of Lakes sometime just so I remember I like them too.

The run this morning was a blast. It was hot so I was liberal in my water stops and took a second to re-fill my bottles at the Summit/River Parkway water fountain. I also tried new nutrition. I'm prepared to declare Cliff Bodybuilding Protein Bars a winner. While Gu is great, I do enjoy eating real food. These things are 270 calories (and 23g of sugar) per bar so they can really only be consumed on long runs.

I walked a little bit of this run, not at much as last week. (Was it really just last week that I ran this far? It feels like longer.) At least, not as much as I walked at the end of last week's run. I didn't have a time/speed goal in mind today since I wasn't sure what my body was going to do with the heat.

After the run, it seemed like the perfect time to stick my legs in a tub full of ice. (Remember winter running when this stuff was completely not necessary?) Getting into an ice tub is one of the more uncomfortable experiences that I've voluntarily endured in my life. They do work. I didn't have any leg pain the entire rest of the day.

I went to my new neighbor in Richfield, Chipotle for lunch (it was my breakfast too). I was reminded that running in the heat (it's not even that hot yet) gives me low grade nausea the rest of the day. I could only eat half of my Chipotle and I did not get hungry at work at all. Blech.

After work I did manage to get down some Chinese food and made plans with Amanda for the weekend. Then, sadly, I came home and did more work. Now I am thinking about the awesome amount of sleep I'm about to enjoy. I don't need to be at work until 9:30 tomorrow and I'm sure I'll pull myself out of bed around 8:45 to accommodate that schedule.