15.3 miles - Saturday, Feb 16

Ice storms, busy schedules, and laziness -- pretty much sums up my exercise week, where I add 0 miles to the tally board. The roads were clear enough on Friday that I could have run, but after last week's decision to take Friday off before the big Saturday run… well, there is that laziness kicking in, I suppose.

Truth be known, I was dreading the long run this week. Since I struggled so much to get 14, I wondered how in the world I would get 15. I tried to do it up right, though. I rested the day before. I prepped my water backpack, so I'd have proper hydration throughout. I packed an energy bar for mid-run. I reviewed the map and satellite images so I'd know exactly what we were running and where to turnaround. I checked the weather. I figured that the more things under control and in my mind for visualization purposes, the better.

We decided to run the Frisco Highline Trail because it is relatively flat and it has a chat/gravel bed. We ran our 11 mile run in January there and loved it. We picked another section of the 35 mile trail for this run.

We started our run at about 1:00 and ran at a solid 9-minute pace. The first two miles are paved until you leave the Willard city limits. Pretty much as soon as we left the pavement, we knew we were in for a long day. A light rain started falling and the ground was not very solid. A trail tractor had been through fairly recently, so we lined up in its tread to get a little stability.

I won't describe the entire run (thankfully, for the one reader), but will call out some highpoints. At mile 3, I was dead tired again. At mile 3.5, I felt great. I'm not sure why, unless it is just that 5K mindset because that was what I ran so much before starting to stretch out the distance. At our turnaround point, we took a breather, shared water and split an energy bar. The eating thing was against all our wishes, but I think it really helped.

Our merry band of three runners is pretty talkative. Jon and Kari are very enjoyable and our conversations make time and miles go by quickly. Jon decided we were going too slowly, so he started the return trip at a much faster pace. After about 10 minutes, he was out of our sight on the tree-surrounded trail.

We noticed that we had had the benefit of a light wind for the first half and were now going back in to the wind, which seemed stronger and a lot colder. Our gloves and top layers came back on after we had said not more than 20 minutes earlier that we should have run in shorts. During the next 30 minutes, I'd say the temperatures dropped about 15-20 degrees. Kari and I just kept plugging and realized that we weren't noticing any of the mile markers. In retrospect, that may have helped us. We didn't have a watch with us either, so we were 'just running'. Kari's goal was to run 12 miles since she is prepping for a half-marathon at the end of March.

We knew we were getting close to the end for her, but were surprised when we saw the mile marker indicating 12 miles. She was still doing well, so she agreed to accompany me for one more mile. Once we hit the pavement, she stopped and I felt a surge of energy. I saw Jon in front of me again, and the solid running surface felt great. I caught up with him because he was walking. He had gashed his Achilles tendon on a rock or something and was really hurting. (He was also cursing me for giving him a water backpack to carry for the run!) I pulled in to the finish line right about 2 hours and 30 minutes. A long, slow run, but I felt good because a) I completed a 15 mile run, b) I had properly hydrated, c) my final two miles were at a faster pace than the previous 13 and d) I had completed it even though the course was so soft -- almost like running on a beach.

I'm going to strive to get my training runs in on Tues, Wed, Thursday this week. I notice that in the waistline more than anything. This lots of running thing is great for guys who like to eat a lot. Congrats to Kari for completing her full half-marathon ahead of her plans and to Jon for looking like a Navy Seal with his "aquamarine" pack.