Monday, August 8, 2011

Run #20: Double Digits and Chief Dan George

Saturday morning Mihkel and I got in a run in the Great White North of Gwinnett County. This is a complete exaggeration as we were actually only about 15 miles north of the Perimeter...but hey, it was a pretty big scene change.

We went to the Suwanee Creek Greenway with the intention of running 5 miles out and then coming back to get in our 10. A couple of minor problems popped up. First, the cloud cover that made temperatures infinitely more bearable also impeded satellite reception on my 110 and Mihkel's 410. We really had no idea what pace we were going for a while and ended up just having to run by feel.

Chief Dan George was the shiiiiiiiit!
Those of you who know me know that I like when things happen the way they should. I hate when things go wrong out of my control and it has a tendency to get in my head and really screw with me. At this point I started to attempt to channel Chief Dan George from the movie The Outlaw Josey Wales and "Endeavor to persevere".

On a personal note, if you haven't seen this movie, do so as soon as humanly possible. Even if you aren't like me and obsessed with Westerns and know every word in Tombstone....watch it!!

Okay, back to running!

About 3.5 miles in I was just about over the Garmin issue and we were running based on the 1/2 mile markers when we saw a sign letting us know the trail was closed ahead due to bridge repair...GAH! That meant we would not only have to go out and back once, but we'd have to find a way to get in those extra 3 miles.

I know, it doesn't sound like a huge deal. But I like when our runs go smoothly and I like being able to focus on the million of other things in my head during a long run (pace, GU, chafing, perceived effort, training progress, chafing...) and this irritated me to no end. But we needed to "endeavor to persevere" and get our run knocked out. So we ran to 3.5, then back to the 2 mile marker, then back to the 3.5 marker, then back to the car.



Around the final turn around Mihkel's Garmin had finally found satellites, but he had manually set laps for a bit, so, as you can see, our splits and all are weird. But-- we got in the 10, felt good physically and are ready to enjoy this cutback week (LR is 7 miles, with only 18mpw this week).

Overall, a great run and an even more valuable lesson.

Happy running y'all!
Melissa

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