Long Run Sunday - Ft Snelling ROCKS!

I liked that "musical" post I did yesterday, so here's a song from my run today that really got me going.  You may watch the video or just listen while you read:


6am - wake up!  Most pleasant 6am wake up I've had in quite some time.  The reason, once again, was my uber-expensive, seemingly worth the money, alarm clock that made me feel like it was sunrise.

I had a banana and packed up my goodies.  (Three gel packs?  That's it?  That can't be right.)

I took the Lake Nokomis and Ft Snelling route, slightly modified from the version here because of the Minneapolis Bike Tour.

After I was all packed up, I headed out to watch the real sunrise.  50* isn't so bad I guess.

Lake Nokomis - gorgeous as always.  And the bathroom was open, also a plus.  This makes me know that I have to make a, um, plan for marathon day.  Why?  I'm planning on running with the 12:30 pace group but what if I need to make a stop?  How do I catch back up to them?  Should I run faster and figure if I do stop they'll catch up to me?  Should I plan to run harder if I do have to stop?  Should I use a pharmaceutical intervention to prevent any needs?  Should I just trust God that this will be fine and not think about it anymore?  I am so confused!.

Coming off the lake - ooh, look, they're starting to close the roads.  At the time I thought it was a bike race and not a tour.  The difference became clear to me later.

Minnehaha Falls - Hmmm, perhaps I'll stop a second time.  This pot isn't nearly as bad as Mom described it to me.  Now I really need a plan.

And down awesome hill I went, all comfortable and ready to rock after my second stop.  This is where I had some stride issues and brings me to my thoughts about plan number two.  For some silly reason, I started to change my stride in the midst of training to a more mid-foot strike (versus the traditional heel-strike)  and I'd do shorter runs totally with a mid-foot strike but longer runs were almost always with the old heal-strike because the other muscle set just hasn't had time or training to fully develop yet.

I started this run with the mid-foot strike, actually much easier on my body but after about mile seven (perhaps the longest I'd run with that stride) my body was ready for a switch.  I alternated the rest of the run between the two strides, always using the mid-foot strike for running up hills.

Speaking of hills, up Monster-hill my little legs carried me.  All the way up.  I feel like a million d- no, wait, if I could feel my legs at all, I would feel like a million dollars.  I do believe I was watching the Minnesota Golder Gophers cross-country (track? some kind of running?) team walk down the hill and towards Pike Island as I was running up. That'd be a nice place to train.

Then up to the prettiest view in the Twin Cities.  Now I really feel like a million dollars.  The leaves are starting to change.  I can't wait to see what it looks like next week when I do my 10-miler.

On the way back I actually crossed to the north side of Minnehaha Parkway much eariler than I usually do to accommodate the bike tour.  I was thrilled to learn there were police actually directive traffic at the major intersections and it was only the side streets that were closed.

It was fun to watch all the cyclists go by.  There were kids and families and couples and (how do you say the bike was wearing a costume?) all kinds of bikes and designs.  Plus they were all totally relaxed, not the stress of a race which was fantastic.

Up that one last hill (from the parkway onto 15th which is not long but is quite steep) and headed down and for home.  I was stoked when I got home and thought I'd run a 12:00 mile for 15 miles.  I was bummed to learn my route was only 14 miles.

Then came the best most painful part of the day.  That's right: the ice bath.  Those things are much nicer when my body's been running in 70* temperatures than in 50* temperatures.  10 minutes is long enough.

 I have a hard time figuring out my pace.  In addition to the two stops, I had to stop a third time because I thought I had a rock in my shoe (that was a shorter stop but at least a minute or two).  That rock, by the way, turns out to be a blister in a place it shouldn't be humanly possible to get a blister.  (I'm not making a plan for that.  Neither the socks nor the shoes have ever given me a blister before.)  Also, Monster Hill does tend to monkey with my pace in a way the rolling hills of Marathon Sunday shouldn't.  So, I have no idea my pace.  Also, I started my iPod when I left home but I walked about .4 miles before I started running (or counting mileage) and I don't know how long that took either.

All in all, it was an enjoyable run, despite the pace and distance confusion.