May 31 - 16.1 Miles Ran

In one of his early tweets from his journey across American (www.r-u-n.us), Jason Lester asked, "I ran 45 miles in a dust storm...what did you do today?"  Well, I can't compete with that, but after Fri morning I can ask "I ran a marathon over the last two mornings before work, what did you do before work on Th and Fri?"  (That's a rhetorical question, though it would be pretty funny to hear some responses!)

I am ramping up my mileage in the hope that I can get ready for a marathon later in the year, and this week called for a 16 mile run.  With the Race4Chase run in Monroe this Sunday, I didn't want to put in this mileage on Sat before the race, so Fri morning was my only option.  A lot had to go right for this run to happen, and amazingly, it did.  I spent Th night getting my gear together: I need a hydration system for anything over 8 miles, and my Camelbak pack needed a little attention, as did my running shoes (still wet from the previous day's run).   I was also hooked on the Mets game as they closed out a 4-game sweep of the Yanks, and the Heat-Pacers game starting at 8:30pm.  I managed to pull myself away from the TV and went to bed at 10pm, knowing I needed to be on the road no later than 5:30am.  Lo and behold the internal clock was working and I was able to make it happen.

I took it pretty slow, with 14 miles having been my previous longest run of the year, and having run 10 the morning before.  Here's the route:

Cemetery Rd
Day Pond (2 laps + 1 extra straight away (3.8 miles)
Rt. 149
Pine
Pinebrook
Rt. 16
Cemetery Rd (4.2 miles, 8 total)
Rt. 149
Pine
Cato Corner
Prospect Hill
Davidson
Mill Lane
Scoefield
Rt. 16
Cemetery Road (8.1 miles, 16.1 total)

Some stats from the run:

Total time, 2 hours, 17 mins, 50 seconds; Time started: 5:30am; Time completed: 7:47am; Shea's bus sightings: 2; Appeals for Chase to push me on: 5-6; thoughts of how Jason Lester can run 30 more miles than this, everyday: 2-3

I completed miles 588-603.  I took me 84 miles, but I finally reached another sponsored mile.  Mile 527 was sponsored by my sister (actually half of it) and mile 601 was sponsored by Kevin Farkas.  Thanks Kevin!  May was a great month for running...I hit the 500 mile mark on May 11 and 600 on May 31.  Feels like that month in which you get the extra paycheck!

I'm looking forward to seeing Steve and Becky and the rest of the Race4Chase team in Monroe on Sunday.  I may have some mileage withdrawal running a 5K, so if anyone is up for some extra miles after the race, just let me know!

Today's (Fri) Line:

Date

DoW

ToD

Distance

Time

Min/Mile

Notes

Effort

Total Miles

5/31

F

5:30a

16.1

2:17:50

8:33:40

70f

8

603.5

Geared up for a morning 16-miler!