Ten Miles Hard

On Monday night I ran an easy 5 miles in the Merrells with Luff and Hanson. I think this is the last time I’ll run in these shoes because I am ever so afraid of injuring myself in them. Also, I no longer have glute/hammy pain so there doesn’t seem to be a need for them.

On Tuesday morning I met Karl, Hanson and Ben for a loop through Garrett Park. Again it was easy running and I stopped at 7.

I didn’t run again until Wednesday night. I left the apartment at 6:30 and half way down the elevator I decided to hit the “L” for lobby instead of the “1” (my gateway to Rock Creek Park). It occurred to me that I should try and run 10 miles hard, so I bounded out the front door and ran the long way towards Cell Phone Field. I started out running 6:20s but then cut my way down to low 6:10s. By the time I hit Cell Phone Field, some 35 minutes into my run, I was hammering. The soft grass felt good on my asphalt-battered feet but I was careful to watch my step in the darkening twilight. I completed a loop and a half and hightailed it back towards the Fox Den, picking up my cadence as I fled the field. I kept my foot on the gas, and didn’t let up, though I didn’t press the pedal to the metal either. I rolled home in sub-6:00 effort and ended up averaging 6:08s for the 10+ mile loop. It certainly “felt” faster than that, but I suppose MapMyRun doesn’t lie. Regardless, it felt great to go out and just run hard from the get go. It's oldschool and I miss that.

I took Thursday off, but ran an easy 8.5 with Scott on Friday morning. We saw police cuffing a man outside his home and a large dead beaver – apparently struck by an automobile. Just another Friday morning run…