Features of My First Long Distance Run of 2009

I'll preface this entry by saying that this morning's run wasn't a fun one physically. I had to try very hard to keep focused on the ultimate goal--I wanted to give up around mile 6 but I just kept my mind strong and continued to push on. I think this may have been my first time running my LSD on a Sunday, and it wasn't really by choice. I enjoy my Saturday morning ritual but yesterday, I was just too sore from Friday's workout to put my body through the challenge of 10 miles. I'm glad I rested yesterday but now my mileage for last week AND this week will be totally screwy (sorry for last weeks tally, Margaritaville Miles teammates) and I won't be able to do my scheduled run tomorrow because I'll definitely want to recover from today.

There were, however, a couple of highlights of today's run. First of all, when I was running 3.3 mile loop inside of Iroquois Park, I began to focus on the scenery that surrounded me and it was just amazing. There are still trees with leaves on them but their color is an amazing yellow/orange/pink hue. It was just beautiful.

During my first mile, I saw this:



That's a red-headed Woodpecker. It was an awesome sight. I literally stopped running to look at the way this little guy maneuvered up the tree.

On my way off of the loop in the park, I saw a flash of bright blue beside me and I looked over--it was two beautiful blue jays. AMAZING COLOR!



I left the park and headed down a nearby street that is frequented by runners (Southern Parkway) and I was amazed at the smell--apparently everyone was doing laundry this morning. It smelled GREAT!

I also did something I've never done before--I drank out of the dog water fountain. The regular sized fountain was not working and another runner happened to be there and told me that I'd have to use the little one--the "little" one is the one everyone lets their dogs use. But hey, I needed some quick hydration! LOL

I continued running north on Southern Parkway until I got up to Kenton, which isn't quite one block from the boundary of Churchill Downs. I actually picked up the pace for this portion, as I was literally getting tired of being out there. LOL I kept myself going by thinking about running this same route during my the Mini in April--and I thought to myself how I'd be running that in April, thinking back to how I made it through the struggle TODAY. I pushed myself so that I could push it in the race.

I finished up with 10.14 miles in 1:55:00, making my average pace hang around the 11:20/mile mark. That's a little faster still than I'm SUPPOSED to be going but hopefully I won't have any problems and I'll stay healthy.

I hope everyone has had an excellent weekend and will have a great week ahead! I'm going for an ice bath...