Saturday Long Run Redemption

15 miles.
2:37:26 (10:29 mile pace.)

It was miserably humid and my calves hurt like crap (what does that even mean?). In short, it wasn't fun at all, but this was the comeback run I needed to feel like I'm back on track.

From here on out, I'm going to be like the Mike Vick of running. My days as a loose-cannon, devil-may-care distance runner are over. I'm going to have a positive attitude and stick to the Novice 2 plan as much as my work schedule allows me from here on out. What Hal Higdon says, goes. If I may continue this analogy, Hal Higdon is probably Roger Goodell, my wife would be Tony Dungy, and I'll say that Pooka the Cat is Andy Reid.

In making this comparison please don't think that I'm claiming that I'm fast.I also think I'll skip the whole going to prison part of learning my lesson, though.

(Yes, my arms are a different color than my head. What's it to you?)

The most interesting thing about this run was that it overlapped with a local 5K. I ran in this particular 5K last year, but with a 15-mile run scheduled for today I didn't think I could make it work out. I learned midway through my run that the 5K route had been altered due to flooding from only intersecting with my roughly-planned route at two spots to overlapping with it quite a lot. It was an interesting brain teaser to plan my route on the fly, trying to think of how many loops through the neighborhoods I had time for to make sure that I would avoid the 5K runners. But anyway, if the local fire department could put on a 5K every long run weekend for me to have to run around, it will make my long runs a lot more interesting. Thanks guys!

I ended up with perfect 15-mile route. Sadly, my comfort zone today was really only 12 or 13 miles, those last two were excruciating. If I'm the Mike Vick of running, maybe I can find the Vince Young of running to run the last third of my marathon for me. No? Crap.

(And of course, Go Eagles!)