October 10th: Going the Distance

Today's run was a total confidence booster after this weekend's wackiness. 11.5 miles!

I had an inkling I was going to go long today, and the weather forecast basically made the decision for me. If I hadn't gotten it in today, I probably wouldn't at all. But when I woke up, it was pretty questionable whether I'd even get it in today. That storm's a-brewin'. The bay is already kicked up significantly. I was frankly
surprised that none of my route was flooded out yet.

But the upside was, aside from the wind, I had a nice, cool day to run. Lily did the first half with me, and I think she appreciated the weather, too -- she was still pulling the leash when we got back to the house. We did the Cliffwood Beach loop, including the seawall path and Pirate's Cove park.

When I dropped Lily off, I also got rid of my sweatshirt, grabbed a quick drink and headed back out for half number-two -- through Keyport to the Henry Hudson rail trail, as far as Union Beach and then back closer to the water. It was somewhere in this leg that I realized just what a confidence booster this run was becoming. I feel like I can do that Seaside Heights half in a week and a half now. After this weekend, I was feeling a lot of doubt about my ability in general.

My split times were really fast, but I promise I wasn't really thinking about pace at all. I was just going at a comfortable pace and trying to focus on form. I'm not 100 percent sure the GPS in my phone is entirely accurate, so that could explain part of it. But I do run all the way into corners and take the outside of curves wherever possible, so it's probably not that far off. The other thing that, in retrospect, must have helped was that I drank about a third of my bottle of Chia Fresca before I headed out. I had serious energy!

Tomorrow is another off day -- I have an obligation in the morning. Based on the weather forecast, it looks like Friday and Saturday are gym days. Maybe Saturday I'll do some incline work on the treadmill -- something I haven't done since before I started talking about the MTSNBN.

Total mileage since starting this blog: 64.7