Saturday, August 05, 2006

17 miles

Our club started from the Seabrook trails today for a change of pace. The main group was going 6 miles for the first time, and our little TMC group was going 17, so we started a couple hours earlier, and ran down and over the bridge, and then one extra loop on the trails.

It was still completely dark when we got back to the trails for the first loop, so we ran with flashlights, and a couple peepul had the kind that strap on to their heads. It's a lot of fun, running in the dark, when you can only see what the little spot of light in front of you allows you to see. The miles seem to go by faster and easier.

I was struggling early on, with rubbery legs and everything, but somehow it passed, and around 8-10 miles I started feeling pretty good, and it lasted the rest of the run. I think the reason I felt so good was that I was staying better hydrated because the trails have water fountains every couple of miles, and I didn't have to conserve like I usually do. I had also refilled with gatorade a couple times, when usually I run with plain old water.

I got back to the trails in time to see the main pack of runners running the Maribelle's 5K at their turnaround point, and caught a glimpse of several familiar faces, including a fellow charter member of HRB, and former star of You Can't Do That On Television, Sarah.

Afterwards, I tried to go to work, but was only mildly productive. I stared into space for quite a while, and I experimented with different positions where I might be able to sit at my desk and sleep. However, I did manage to re-familiarize myself with the binomial distribution, so it wasn't a complete waste.

Next week is the Blogger Challenge at the Run the Woodlands, so I guess I'll be doing my 17 miler alone on Sunday. I would consider running a bunch of early miles and then running the 5K, but apparently, one day when I was loopy with Vodka and Cheez-its, I said something on the message board about possibly being able to maybe tie my PR or something.

I might change my mind, maybe I will run 14 early and then the 5K, it's not like we have any chance of winning or anything.

Listening to: Beck - Nobody's Fault But My Own (When the moon is a counterfeit; Better find the one that fits; Better find the one that lights; The way for you.
)

Keith.

4 comments:

Humble Runner said...

That is serious mileage. Congrats, Keith. Wish I could run past ten miles without feeling like I was hit by a mack truck.

Anonymous said...

Nice to see you are getting on track again. I started to feel like I was a bad influence on you. Oh, I thought you were just staring off into space at the lab...I am getting good at this keith alarm thing...I was going to say something but I thought your buddha impression would be wasted on just a minor goodbye so I just left...I left you something on you space... ;P

Crosstrain said...

I'll run with you next Sunday morning if that is your plan. Not sure I'll make 17 but I might.

Sarah said...

Whoa! If I'd known you were running 17, I would've yelled something more than "Hey Keith." You know, something like "You're a ROCK STAR!" Cuz you are.