Run: Capital Mall, 6.75 miles, 60 minutes even
I haven't blogged a run for a while, but I'm really happy about this run. I just was going to go out for an easy 40 minutes at lunchtime, but it was a pretty overcast day and I felt good. When I ran up to the Capitol and looked back over to the Washington Monument, I just thought, yeah, I'm running there. So I took off towards the obelisk.
There really are a lot of runners here in DC. Pretty serious about it, too. That's motivating. I mostly run by myself, but I like seeing other runners out there. When I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 1990, I gravitated to a group of Marines including a Gunnery Sergeant who could not have been more than 5'5" but who was convinced that he was going to win this thing. We all stood in a circle shouting OORAH at each other until the starting gun went off. We took off like the race was 100 yards long. At the first split the Gunny and I had run a 6:15 mile! I had planned on running 10 minute miles for the entire marathon. I shouted over at him, "Gunny, we gotta slow down!" We did; the next split was a 6:45. I paid for that later-- my last miles were like 18 minutes I think. But I guess you could say I lived before I died.
Anyway, back to today. When I got to the Washington Monument, I realized I could possibly get to the Lincoln Memorial before 30 minutes were up, turn around and make an even hour. So I kept going.
Mind that just a few weeks ago I was running five minutes, walking one minute to avoid re-injuring my tender hamstring. Today it didn't seem to be a problem. When I hit the gas my legs just responded. So I went with it. As it turns out, I did a reverse split and ended up back at the Capitol at just 45 minutes. I ran back towards FEMA HQ and did loops around the block to make up the hour.
I mapped out the course on gmap-pedometer (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2267290) and was surprised to see it came out to just at 6 3/4 miles. Cool. I figured I had maybe done five. That works out to 8'53" miles, which is a good deal quicker than my usual ten minute mile. Oorah.
There really are a lot of runners here in DC. Pretty serious about it, too. That's motivating. I mostly run by myself, but I like seeing other runners out there. When I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 1990, I gravitated to a group of Marines including a Gunnery Sergeant who could not have been more than 5'5" but who was convinced that he was going to win this thing. We all stood in a circle shouting OORAH at each other until the starting gun went off. We took off like the race was 100 yards long. At the first split the Gunny and I had run a 6:15 mile! I had planned on running 10 minute miles for the entire marathon. I shouted over at him, "Gunny, we gotta slow down!" We did; the next split was a 6:45. I paid for that later-- my last miles were like 18 minutes I think. But I guess you could say I lived before I died.
Anyway, back to today. When I got to the Washington Monument, I realized I could possibly get to the Lincoln Memorial before 30 minutes were up, turn around and make an even hour. So I kept going.
Mind that just a few weeks ago I was running five minutes, walking one minute to avoid re-injuring my tender hamstring. Today it didn't seem to be a problem. When I hit the gas my legs just responded. So I went with it. As it turns out, I did a reverse split and ended up back at the Capitol at just 45 minutes. I ran back towards FEMA HQ and did loops around the block to make up the hour.
I mapped out the course on gmap-pedometer (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2267290) and was surprised to see it came out to just at 6 3/4 miles. Cool. I figured I had maybe done five. That works out to 8'53" miles, which is a good deal quicker than my usual ten minute mile. Oorah.
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