Well.\u00c2\u00a0 Here we go.\u00c2\u00a0 My long runs are getting seriously long at this point.\u00c2\u00a0 And, here I am, out of town at a seminar, and I have to find a way to do a long run.\u00c2\u00a0 Training has officially become somewhat complicated.\u00c2\u00a0 However, I’m ready for it.\u00c2\u00a0 I laid out my running clothes the night before and I planned a route the night before, so all I had to do this morning was roll out of bed, get dressed, and go.<\/p>\n
I already knew I’d be going about 2 miles up an unlight street in the black of the pre-dawn morning, but I figured that when I turned onto the next street, there would be lights on that street.\u00c2\u00a0 Wrong.\u00c2\u00a0 Another 2 miles with no lights.\u00c2\u00a0 I ran just barely putting one foot in front of the other, trying to concentrate on the white line on the side of the road, trying not to turn an ankle most of the time.<\/p>\n
Certainly by the time I get to the next street, there will be street lights.\u00c2\u00a0 Wrong again.\u00c2\u00a0 Are there NO street lights in Tucson?!?!\u00c2\u00a0 I guess not.\u00c2\u00a0 To make that dark street more exciting, there was construction taking 4 lanes down to 2, separated only by flashing orange baracades, with no white line marking the lanes at all.\u00c2\u00a0 I basically had to run in the middle of the lane, hoping a car wouldn’t come up behind me too fast for me to use it’s headlights to carefully find my way into the shoulder.\u00c2\u00a0 What a headache!\u00c2\u00a0 Obviously, I had trouble keeping up my speed.\u00c2\u00a0 I was supposed to be looking at 5.7 mph and I only ended up with about 5.5, which really wasn’t that bad, come to think of it, considering all the trouble I had.<\/p>\n
By the time I rounded the next corner, onto a street called ‘Sunrise Drive,’ it was finally approaching sunrise and I had at least a little light to use to find my way down the street.\u00c2\u00a0 Plus, Sunrise Drive was not under construction, so my run became much more pleasant – except for then it got suddenly and inexplicably colder.\u00c2\u00a0 What the heck?\u00c2\u00a0 I had heard that it is the coldest right before dawn, but I had never experienced it getting both LIGHTER and COLDER at the same time.\u00c2\u00a0 That was sincerely weird.<\/p>\n
I got to witness the entire sunrise, though, since this was really a long run.\u00c2\u00a0 The clouds went from subtly underlit to a pinky-orange to a reddish orange, to orange, as the sun emerged over the mountains.\u00c2\u00a0 It was gorgeous.\u00c2\u00a0 Eventually the temperature got at least back up to what it was, and probably even a few degrees warmer and so by then I could see and it was a comfortable temperature, but I was only at about Mile 9 and it sure seemed like Mile 11 was way too far away.<\/p>\n
I kept pluggin’ along, using my ‘every-mile’ stops as I needed them.\u00c2\u00a0 I was pretty pleased that I had somewhat forgotten about them and had run about the first 4 miles without any stops whatsoever.\u00c2\u00a0 After that, thought, I did stop about every mile or mile and a half.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe one of the stretches was 2 miles, but I don’t think I went more than 2 miles after that without a brief walking, drinking rest.<\/p>\n
I hit the 11.3 mark about a half-mile away from the hotel and walked the rest of the way back.\u00c2\u00a0 I had no motivation to jog the rest of the way back.\u00c2\u00a0 I was pretty wiped out.\u00c2\u00a0 I hit the hot tub, shower, more juice, and then off to my seminar where I was somewhat sleepy much of the day.<\/p>\n
Somehow or another, I am still on track with my training.\u00c2\u00a0 I sure hope I laid it out right!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"