Wednesday, February 15, 2006

100 minutes

Today I ran 100 minutes non-stop. Not sure how far I got but that's not as important as the fact that I ran 100 minutes without stopping!

I was going to run the Nimitz but at the last minute decided to check-out Wildcat Canyon.
I didn't hit the trail until 10:35 am, I was moving extra slow from the having taken a night time cold med lastnight, I just couldn't get going. The sluggish feeling had me hemming and hawing about where to run, how hard I was willing to work, which shoes to wear....

Wildcat is off road and the dirt was hard packed, I wore my Keyano's instead of my Montrails and felt the difference right away. My feet felt lighter but my footing wasn't as sure, so I avoided rough spots.
I also tried a new hydration system today, my camelbak dream. It's intended for cycling but I gave it a try on the trail, it worked out well after a few tweaks here and there, I like it much better than my hand-held system and will most likely use it on race day.

This trail is a lot flatter than Strawberry, but without distance markers I can't say for sure how long it is but it felt further. I turned around after about 45 minutes. At 90 minutes my legs grew tired but I felt like I could keep going, a voice in my head kept whispering something about a 10% rule, (up till now the longest I've run is 85 minutes) so,15 extra minutes didn't feel like I was overdoing it.

I was sure to walk a good while afterwards, I thought about what David said(Adventures in the thin trade David) when he couldn't get his stride back after stopping during the marathon, I really understand that after today, my legs felt wobbly and I couldn't of run again if I had wanted to. I found a picnic table and stretched for a good long time, then layed back and closed my eyes feeling the sun on my face and for a little while basked in the utter contentedness of it all.