Saturday was my long run. It seems odd to say I was excited for it, but I was. That's because at 8am on Saturday morning I had the pleasure of running one of my favorite trails - The Kelly Drive Loop in Philadelphia.
I used to live in Philadelphia and the Loop was always the site of my long runs. It's a great trail not only because of the scenery and the sheer concentration of people out there hustling just like you. But also because it links up to several other trails so you can run as far as you want -- even an ultra-marathon out to Valley Forge and back. I was staying pretty far from the Loop so I had to walk about 4 miles to get there. An auspicious start. But once I started running, I felt great.
Perfect temperature, bright sunshine. I kept my pace slower for the first mile, let it loose a little in the next couple miles. The Loop itself is about 8 miles or so. I figured I'd run one of the extensions and hopefully bang out 10-12 miles. I was hoping to finish with an 8:30 average mile. But as I ran I kept feeling better. After 5 miles I decided to run up to Manayunk which would extend my total run by about 4 miles which would make a 12 mile run. At Manayunk I got into the "zone." And I just kept running. Finally I looked down at my RunKeeper app and realized I was at 9 miles. Keeping an 8:10 pace. I turned around because I didn't want to end up a 3 hour walk from home and run out of steam.
I decided to stop at 15 miles. It wasn't until mile 13 that I started to really feel tired. In the end I did 15 miles averaging an 8:20 pace. I exceeded my mileage goal and my pace goal. Even a day later I still feel proud of that run. And even more than pride, I enjoyed myself out there.
My goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. As of August 18th I have run 73 miles, my goal for the month is 100 so I'm in good shape.
Day 11: 15 miles, 2:04:59, 8:20 pace.
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