Trail Running

Back on the road and a new PR

Well, it’s been 12 days since I ran the Soulstice (yes, the final report is coming as soon as I can get the friggin’ picture issue resolved with MyRacePics.com) and tonight was my first run since that 11.5-mile trail run. I didn’t plan on taking so long, but hey, that’s the way life goes sometimes.

Much to my surprise, I received a promotion of sorts at work (new assignment and questionable on whether or not more dinero is involved) and had to move offices pronto. As result of this little drama, I ended up showing up about an hour late to the Thursday night group run and just took off on my own for the three-mile loop.

I felt great.

I felt like I was running instead of shuffling for the first time this year.

Did I say I felt great?

I kept with the standard 4-minute run, 1 minute walk routine throughout the three miles. As I was approaching the turnaround, I decided to turn this recovery run into a bit more of a challenge. I wanted to crack that elusive 10-minute mile.

The first 1.5 miles of this course is slightly uphill, which naturally means the return 1.5 miles is downhill. Ahhhh…the downhill is where I felt the lingering spirits of Soulstice in my knees. Still not fully recovered there.

Oh well.

Although I didn’t crush the 10-minute mile barrier, I did crack it at 9:59. Exclude the walk breaks and the pace was definitely faster.

Methinks I’ll keep the Thursday night runs to three-mile time trials and see what I can do to drop that time.