I got out early this morning. What a beautiful day to run. For the middle of June, the dew point was in the low 50s with clear skies and low winds. These are days I dream of running.
I’ve recovered from last weekend’s 5 km and will be another 5 km race this coming weekend in the Battling Cancer Virtual 5 km.
I ran the same route as last week with my 14-mile course through Pratt Park, across the Falmouth Bridge and two loops of the Heritage Trail, before returning home.
I carried two bottles of UCAN and was going to take eight breaks, one every 18 minutes. So, I set my watch timer to 18 minutes and headed out.
Within the first 10 minutes, I started getting old man syndrome. But, I still ran past the bathrooms in Pratt Park, thinking I’d stop at the porta pots in the River Road parking lot.
When I got to the bottom of the Belmont Ferry Farm Trail switchbacks, my split time was slightly slower than last week and at a pace I thought I could maintain.
Crossing River Road and looking for the porta pots, they were gone. The heavy rains at the end of last week either washed them away or at least flooded them. I found a bush and took care of my OMS.
The first Heritage loop was in 36 minutes, and the second was under 34. I got back home without slowing and ran the second half about 3 minutes faster than the first half. I was about 25 seconds slower than last week.
I’ll have to up my mileage next week. I’m thinking of running a long race at the end of the summer.
I stretched for an hour. Everything was done by 10 am—another successful summer long run.