Plan: Have a running adventure. It will be hilly but try to keep the heart rate in check. Have fun!
Route: This is a lollipop route, down a long path, around a loop and then back up the path. I've seen and been on parts of the out/back path and the loop in the past. It took me a while to figure out this combination of paths and starting/stopping points to get the correct distance for my current training.
Weather: It was projected to be cloudy. Those clouds were making my crazy nervous. I felt a total of 3 drops of rain, mostly in the cool down. The wind was for real too.
Execution:
Part 1 - Panic and impatience. I started running what I thought was a reasonable pace and my heart rate just kept climbing. It took me several miles to figure out that was mostly up hill. Miles 1-4 did not have a lot of even nice paced running. It was just up or down.
Part 2 - It doesn't look flat, but the running got easier. The 'loop' for miles 4-8 was actually quite runnable except for a couple of awful hills. I was starting to enjoy myself.
Part 3 - Fast finish. I told myself that for the last 4 miles, I could just run and not look at my watch. This always means I go faster than any other time of the run (and my heart rate climbs quite a bit too). It was fun. It was also good to have a push at the end, bit of a confidence builder for the half marathon I just signed up for.
Nutrition:
Note to my future self - I need 2 bottles, 8oz, for a run of this distance. 3 or 4 bottles is overkill for temperatures below 75*. Obviously I carried more water than I needed. I had a bag of gummies too. I took a few at miles 3, 6, and 9.
Bonus: I saw a Pileated Woodpecker. I tried to take a pic but it flew away. But I saw it in real life. So that's two so far this spring. Since I couldn't get a pic of the woodpecker, here's my face when I realized I was almost done running.
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