The perfect long run

I had the perfect long run.  Really, it was just perfect and wonderful. I think the 20 mile bike ride yesterday did great things for loosening up my legs. I had a bowl of Quinoa this morning, read some of my book, got ready and headed out by 10:30.

I started off running to Hains Point and getting a lap in, and was up 7 miles. The miles today just piled up without my realizing it.  I had to stop and use the bathroom, which never happens, but I just felt so good and light on my feet. Nothing hurt at all. Halfway in, I was worried because my energy was so high and I thought I'd get burned out. I ran, ran, and all of a sudden looked down and I was close to 12 miles in, and about 7-8 miles away from home. I just couldn't believe I felt so strong. I turned around and ate the rest of my cliff shot bar. These breaks took a little longer since they were the consistency of a soft rock in the cold.  While getting a bottle of water down to chase the shot (haha), a guy ran by me with a giant maple leaf on his jacket and the offensive word "Canada" underneath.

I threw my bottle into its back pocket, which I'm admittedly bad at doing without getting myself wet, and chased him down, passing him easy and maintaining my lead for the rest of the trail (take that, Canada).

This taking a step back and enjoying myself is really going well. I've been really easy on my legs still, and not running very fast. The thing that's frustrating is I'll feel like a 7:30 pace, when I'm at like 8:45. I just can't run very hard anymore. I'm baby-ing my ITB and quads too much. Back to my perfect run, there were no tourists out, I only had one red light, there were only a few cyclists trying to run me down, and a ton of runners out. Mount Vernon trail was finally completely clear, and I naturally got faster, and faster as the run went on. It was a natural progression run!

1- 9:22
2- 9:06
3- 9:07
4- 8:53
5- 8:56
6- 9:08
7- 9:21
8- 9:20
9- 8:47
10- 9:19
11- 9:09
12- 8:48
13- 8:57
14- 8:29
15- 8:52
16- 8:44
17- 8:25
18- 8:55

Yeah, since I didn't feel like stopping I just did 18 miles instead of 16 :) Runner's high lasted for about 8 miles: it was so wonderful.

 I've fallen in love with Garmin Connect's goal system:

Mostly, because you can watch the % completed throughout the week, or month. And it really helps that I want to complete every goal so I try my hardest through the week to get there.

After today, I'm feeling much better about Boston, and it will really be hard to not run the whole National Marathon in a few weekends. We'll see!

The hockey game is back on now... go Team USA!