Saturday, December 10, 2005

A Great 27K/17M Long Run!

This morning I was up before the break of dawn, 5:30 a.m., had a light breakfast, saddled up and hit the running trail by 6:00 for my 26K/16M long run. It was a fresh crisp -1C/30F, no wind, the stars and moon were looking down on me, I was dressed warm but not too warm. I was earlier this morning than most Saturdays, so it was still quite dark. As I left the town behind after the first kilometer, I flicked on my running headlamp. I ran the first 11K with my lamp on, it was pretty dark and there were a lot of patches of ice, mud puddles that froze over during the night.

I reached the 11K point and my turn around point in Karlsruhe, time about 68 minutes, I actually managed to keep my pace under marathon pace up to this point – first time I think :-) Shortly after this I switched off my headlamp, it was light enough for other people to see me. This morning I decided to bring my MP3 player, which I turned on at this point. So I had Toby Keith keeping me company for a while.

After a couple right turns a few hundred meters I was on my return trail. After a few kilometers I finally saw another person, a dude riding to work I think, we pass each other almost every Saturday that I run this route. He recognized me right away and said hi as he sped by, I mean how many other crazy people are out in the middle of the woods before the sun is out.

I cruised on down the asphalt path until about the 19.5K/12M point then took a right and headed down a bike path that paralleled a main road that runs by my town. I needed to add 6.5 more kilometers to my route, so I followed this path for about 10 minutes until I reached the original path that I started out on a couple hours earlier. Here I turned left and ran the 3.5K’s back to my house, then took a two kilometer loop around town to finish off my run.

I ran for 2:46:39, or a distance of around 27K/17M, which would be an average pace of 6:10/K (9:56/M), give or take a little.

In any case I met my goal of 26K, and also managed to run slightly slower than my marathon pace, which was my second goal. This time I ran 100% asphalt, and let me tell you my calves are crying. Otherwise I feel really good, lots of energy, I’m sure I could have ran quite a bit farther. No if I can just restrain myself from eating everything in the house this weekend I’ll be fine. Have a nice weekend.

P.S. I wore my new ASICS GT2100 shoes this morning – absolutely no problems, I very happy with the shoes.

Comments:
Jack - you're a monster machine! Or a glutton for punishment. Or both!
 
Wonderful workout, I think I know your secret, you are preparing a 100 km not a marathon!!!
 
Fantastic run!! 27k is a loooong way to run by yourself!
 
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