Heading West

Distance: 2 miles
Time: 17:13
Location: Powhatan to Pawnee

Today was a long day. I got up at 7am, headed to Barstow, picked up some members of the track team, drove all the way to Cerritos, watched our shot putter compete in the CIF Championships, then left and headed to Ontario Mills, ate some lunch at BJ's, and finally headed back to Barstow and then home. Last Saturday was similarly busy, except when I got home I was too exhausted to run. This Saturday I wanted to avoid that, so I forced myself out the door. I knew I wanted to get in at least 2 miles but I didn't feel like running my standard Powhatan to Ottawa Route. After searching for some alternate routes I settled on a simple one: 1 mile west on Powhatan to Pawnee and back. Instead of mapping out a winding and complex route I decided on a simple out-and-back. Normally all my neighborhood runs take me east on Powhatan (since that takes me farther away from Central, the closest main, and thus busy, road). But tonight I decided to head west. It meant running along more traffic, but it wasn't all that bad. What was different about tonight's run was the monotony of running one mile in one direction, and the same coming back. It seemed like it took forever to get to the halfway point. My leg muscles hurt and I wasn't able to run on the balls of my feet for as long as some other recent runs. Today was my third straight day of running and I think it's caught up with me. My lower calf muscles especially are feeling the burn, which I think is a result of running on my toes more frequently. All the same, I really tried to push it tonight. During the run I didn't feel like I'd be beating my 16:38 record from Thursday, but I pushed myself as best I could. My tired legs caused my pace to slow, along with all my flat footed running. When I finished I saw my time of 17:13 and was actually rather pleased. It's my 3rd fastest 2-mile time since May 2010, and yet I felt pretty lethargic during the run. I felt like it should have been high 17s. So it's a good feeling to know that I can "mail in" a time that took me all summer last year to achieve. When my muscles heal and my stamina improves, I shouldn't have a problem running in the 16s consistently. Tomorrow I take a much needed rest.