Sunday @#*%*@$ Six! -- May 22

Sunday, I took my back up shoes out for a spin.  After running right out of my shoes on Saturday's run.  I decided to avoid the trails and stick to the Multi-purpose roads.  The heat is becoming more of an issue and a 9:30 am start time was really pushing it.  Our highs have started to reach the low 90's, so I need to get a much earlier start if I want to avoid the very real possibilities of heat exhaustion, dehydration, or sun stroke.  Also, the horse and deer fly plague that infests Umstead through most of the summer seems much worse as the day progresses. 

Sunday, I chose to run six miles.  I was already pretty tired from the five miles that I had done the day before and, I knew that no matter what route I took my last mile would have to be uh hill.  Truth be told I was both dreading and looking forward to that last mile more than anything else.  I wanted to exhaust myself for that last mile because I wanted to suffer.  This may sound odd or just plain dumb, but I have decided that so much of longer distance running is about dealing with suffering, pain, and mental exhaustion that the best way I could train for longer distances is to kind of punish that crap out of myself and just strive to hold it together. 

Sunday, I met that goal.  But, it took me a lot longer to get to the point where I doubted myself than I thought it would, which kind leads me to believe that I have been kind of soft on myself recently.  I choose to run to run a moderately hilly portion of the park that I had been running when I first returned to Umstead a couple of months ago.  At that time the hill kicked the crap out of me, but on Sunday I handled them really well considering I had run five miles the day before.  None of my miles went over 12 minutes, which was pretty shocking to me.  Miles 2, 4, 6 are filled with large uphills and mile 3 is sort of a mixed bag, but I handled all of them but mile six with relatively little foul language, which is a rarity for me.  Most of my runs are fueled by a steady stream of self directed obscenities, which I mutter between and around breaths.  However, as the heat of the day approached and mile six came about the suffer that I sought kicked in and the obscenities became less restrained -- I may have even direct a few slurs at myself as I approached the steepest portion of mile six!  By the time Old Bob beeped for that sixth mile, I was done in and ready to stop! 


6 miles in 1:06:50.2 for a 11:08 pace.

Mile 1 10:49.11
Mile 2 11:40.40
Mile 3 11:20.58
Mile 4 10:47.22
Mile 5 10:18.44
Mile 6 11:53.10