Country Running

After my big long run a little over a week ago, my “taper” period officially began.  I had short midweek runs all last week (five miles is short, ha ha!), and then, last Saturday was a nice, simple 12-miler. 😉 

I debated how I wanted the run to go.  I’ve had so many slow runs, and my hopes of a sub 5-hour marathon have been diminishing when the average pace for my long runs has been more in the neighborhood of 5:30 marathon. 🙁  I’ve talked to friends with marathon experience and we’ve agreed that I should probably try not to give myself such a stringent goal for my first marathon.  But although I’ve decided to be a little more laid-back about my goals, the truth is, I still want to try for a sub-5, just because I want to have a stretch goal.  You should always want to do your very best, right?

With that in mind, I decided I would try to do my 12-mile run at a sub-11 pace, which would be a bit more challenging than my previous long runs.  It’s frustrating to know that a sub-11 pace is now a challenge for me, when I was able to run a sub-10 half marathon back in November.  But the reality is this winter has certainly not been a normal one, and the fact that I’ve even been out there running should be a point or two in my favor.  😛

When I got on the road, I was happy to find a temperature in the mid-30s, but not nearly as happy to find the winds were coming from the NNE at around 20 mph. :/ It seems like every time I have a long run, the winds are out to get me.

For my first two miles, I was headed west, so the wind was at my back for the most part.  I ran past a familiar stretch of road, and I was struck by the fact that the mounds of snow that had been piled high for weeks were finally gone!

As a reference, here’s a shot of the same road that I took back in mid-February.

There was a time when I thought that snow was never going to melt!

As I ran along the same stretch of road, I came across something that I had never noticed before.

It might not seem like much to most people, but I found this fence to be quite picturesque.  What really stunned me was that I have lived in this neighborhood for twelve years, and have driven down this stretch of road probably hundreds of times, and yet I never noticed it!  I’ve run down this road plenty of times, too, but always from the opposite direction.  I guess sometimes, it takes a new perspective to see new things!  I really loved this fence, and had fun taking pictures of it later.

One thing you can say about country running is that it’s a different kind of “workout”…while I don’t have specific workouts planned into my runs, I definitely get a variety of them just from the nature of running out in the sticks.  Saturday’s run definitely provided lots of variety for me!

Just past the fence, I had to turn, and then I was headed directly into those NNE winds.  Let me tell you, running directly into 20mph winds for over a mile is not for the faint of heart!  I like to think of it as my own personal version of HIIT (high intensity interval training). 😉

After the wind-run, I had to turn and immediately go over a bridge that crossed the freeway.  Hill work, anyone? 😛 I did it again, later, of course, since I had to cross the freeway again to get home.  (Here in the country, you rarely come across roads that go under the freeway.)

My favorite workout of my 12-mile run came just before the ten-mile mark.  As I was headed along the main road, I suddenly heard the horn of a train.  Now, we have a bazillion train tracks in my neighborhood (okay, it’s really only 3, but it feels like more when I’m late for something), and I couldn’t quite tell if it was on the track that was about ¾ of a mile directly in front of me.  I was doing pretty well with my speed, and I started to panic, wondering if being caught by a train was going to derail (ha!) my efforts to meet a sub-11 overall pace.  About a  quarter-mile later, I heard the horn again, and this time, I knew for sure it was on the track in front of me.

At that point, I was determined—this close to my goal, I’d be damned if I was going to get stopped by a train!  Despite the fact that I was tired after all the windy running and the added hill work, I gave it my all and sprinted for half a mile until I’d crossed those tracks. 😉  I actually beat the train by more than I expected; the gates and lights activated just before I took this picture on the other side.

I wanted to wait for the train so I could get it in the picture, but again—I had a goal to beat!  I was darn proud of myself for beating the train, though!

I slowed down a bit after my sprint, but thankfully, the wind was at my back for most of the remaining distance home, and I was really excited by the time I got back to the house.

I did it!  This was the first long run that I had done at less than an 11-minute-per-mile pace in three months, and the fastest long run of my entire training! I felt really good when I was done, and it gave me some hope that, depending on the weather conditions, maybe I might make that sub-5 goal.

I can’t believe it’s just ten more days until my marathon. (Insert panicked look here.) This coming week’s long run is a whole 8 miles—wow, what will I do with all that free time on Saturday after I run? 😉

Thanks for reading!