Long and winding road

Pre-workout fuel: English muffin with peanut butter and sliced bananas
Workout: Ran 10.55 miles in 1 hour, 31 minutes and 48 seconds; average pace, 8:42.

I had not run more than 8 miles since the Fort-4-Fitness half-marathon. I hadn't really had a desire to go farther than that.

Yeah ... that was going to have to change.

With my recent impulse decision to sign up for the W.O.O.F., I knew I had to go out there and log some time on my feet. I was hoping to go at least 10, maybe more, but only do what was within my comfort level as to avoid injury.

That was just part of the plan. The other part of today's run was for me to head out around the nearby campus and take the back way into another near-ish park (about ~3.75 miles). Mark would then drive to the park with Denali and would run 5 to 6 miles with me. I would be happy to run with a partner, Mark would be happy not to run 10 miles and Denali would be happy just to run. We all would be happy.

I'd be lying, though, if I said the run was happy-go-lucky. I had moments where I allowed myself to become overwhelmed by not just the distance of today's run but the distance of W.O.O.F. I did my best to snap myself out of it, thinking of how I could dress up Denali to cheer me on in a couple weeks (after all it is a W.O.O.F. race), basked in the beauty of the park and thought of my dad pacing me on his bike.

I let go of most of the anxiety by the time Mark and Denali joined me, settling into an OK pace and focusing on just 5 or 6 miles with him. I took a couple Gu Chomps (Cranberry Apple) around mile 7.5. I wasn't hungry - I could still feel my breakfast in my belly - but I felt some cramping in my legs (I blame some hills) and didn't want to underfuel. I had never tried Chomps before and was quite happy with the flavor and texture.

I started to feel much better after that and by the I rounded to the car at 10.55 miles, I definitely felt like I could have gone farther with some slowing of the pace.

Good - because I'm going to have to next week.