Running: 15 Aug 2010 - Holy Sweat

The 15th was Sunday and probably the first Sunday I have run.  I kinda figured I'd hear from Michelle and Angie as they had said they were going to run on Sunday.  I didn't.  But, as I was up and dressed, how could I not run?  But where?  Blood sugar was low again today, and I almost cancelled using that as an excuse.  I didn't.  So after sucking down 8oz. of OJ, I headed out toward the High School with a slightly wild hair up my butt.
I had driven a route out behind the High School a couple days ago that I figured was about 5.5 miles.  So I thought what the heck.  As I pulled up to the High School parking lot, I saw Dad down on the track doing ladders.  He said he did about 5.5 miles doing those.  There was also another runner on the track that looked a lot like Mike Wells.  But he wasn't running like Mike.  He was a bit slower.  I came to find out later that it was Mike and that he ran 19 miles around the track in preparation for a marathon.  Nineteen miles on a closed circuit track....always making left hand turns.  All that was missing was the smell of fuel, burning rubber, guys named Cletus, Bubba, and Jimmy, and crashes.


So after stretching, I set off west on Husky Drive and north on 8th Ave.  I made a left on Summit and headed out of town.  When I got to Winterset's west 4-way stop, I headed south.  As I headed out, I thought about what I was doing.   Did I really want to do this run?  I have called it Husky Hill Haul on my workout page.  If you look at the elevation chart, you'll see why.  Today, I took the long, not-so-steep hill out and the much-steeper, not so long hill back in.  (I think I'll run it the other way next time).  The run was really not too bad.  Once off the town pavement, the soft shoulders along new Highway 169 were quite nice.  So were the gravel roads.  This is much nicer than running pavement, and definitely more enjoyable and picturesque than running in quarter mile ovals 76 times.


I kept the pace moderate (comfortable) for as long as I could.  I did stop a couple times to walk (especially coming up the much-steeper, not so long hill).  God was it steep!  Especially after 5 miles.  Total run today was 5.73 according to the map on RunningAHEAD.  You can link out to my workouts by selecting the run of the day off to the right.  Run time was 47:18.  Not a bad run.  I think I'll do it again soon.  Gotta run, folks...


myk