#janathon – Day 5 – The long run!

I used to hurry a lot, I used to worry a lot
I used to stay out till the break of day
Oh, that didn’t get it,
It was high time I quit it
I just couldn’t carry on that way
Oh, I did some damage, I know it’s true
Didn’t know I was so lonely , till I found you
You can go the distance
We’ll find out in the long run
(in the long run)
The Eagles, The Long Run

So today was on the schedule as my long run.  Of course, I don’t really have a schedule, as I have found that I stress it when I miss something, then get hurt trying to play catch-up.  I suppose it was more of a “plan.”  A plan based on the fact that its Saturday, so I can run while it is still day light out, which means I can GO OUTSIDE!!!!!  We ran our assorted errands (See the previous post for details,) got back to the house – and I gave my phone a chance to charge (after all, if it doesn’t get logged in Runtastic, and posted on Facebook – a run doesn’t really count!) and got ready to head out the door.

And my neighbor stops by.  I love my neighbors. Seriously. Not being the least bit sarcastic.  But when my neighbor shows up we talk.  This was fortunately a short one – only about 20 minutes, and then I got out of the door.  I knew I wanted to do at least five miles today (yes, right now that is my LONG run.. I know, its pathetic,) maybe a teensy bit more – so I decided to go run a 3 mile loop that was reasonably near my house. I thought it was around a mile away.  Now math may not be my strongest point – but if my guesses were correct – 1 + 3 + 1 = 5.  That should be perfect!  It turns out I was off by .5 of a mile to get to Crofton Parkway – not too shabby!

Mile 1– 8:13 – Little Chilly out, but man it feels good to not be on a treadmill!
Mile 2– 8:11 – Not chilly anymore.. In fact, took my gloves off as my hands were getting warm!
Mile 3– 9:12 – Stopped, took phone out and took a picture, followed by a drink.
An interesting thing I noticed here. I have a tendency to switch sides of the road. This normally isn’t a huge deal, as the sides of the road both go up, and both go down.  Well, except for the Crofton Parkway.

The Camera isn’t angled.One side went up higher, then came down and met the other. Guess what side I ran?

Mile 4 – 7:46 – Downhills!  Being on the uphill sides is paying off!
Mile 5 – 9:00 – Drink time! Found out one of my bottles leaked out. 😦  At least I had the other one!
Mile 6 – 8:31 – YAY!!!! Almost home!

Enjoying that post-run feeling!

I followed up the workout with 20 minutes of Yoga (my Quads told me that was enough) to stretch everything out.  The run was in my Saucony Kinvara 2’s – with Orthotics so that I didn’t stress the calves & feet too much. (Interesting thing I noticed around mile 4.  The Saucony’s have some padding to them, but since I pulled out the insoles and put the Orthotics in, I don’t get much benefit from it.  The Orthotics are quite hard with very little padding – and that is what I am running on!)  The Yoga definitely helps stretch out all the major parts I am worried about – Hamstring/Achilles/Foot.

Heck, Downward Facing Dog alone does that!  But the Hip Flexor stretches, and core workouts are awesome!

Man it felt good to be outside!

About Robinson

I run, because I am a runner. Having realized that I have always "been a runner" - even when I went years with out running, I am learning how it has integrated itself in all aspects of my life. When I started running in highschool, my perspective on life changed. Funny that I didn't realize how much it had affected it until just recently.