All Downhill From Here

We had yet another GORGEOUS weekend. All this lovely fall weather is starting to make me anxious – I’m worried that we’re using up all the good stuff now, and that we’ll end up with nasty, awful weekends the rest of the winter. Oh well, “make long runs while the sun shines”, eh?

Krista came over at 8 a.m. and we headed out the door shortly thereafter. I took her on a tour of my neighbourhood and the next one over, noting for her the well-appointed homes that struck my fancy. The first couple of miles entailed some deceivingly gradual uphill, but we took it slowly, and enjoyed a very long down after that. The weather channel had mentioned a wind chill, but the sun shone and the breeze was almost nil (temp at around freezing), so I played the mitts-on, mitts off game, depending on whether my hands were in sun or shade.

We made it back from that first loop in about an hour and 10 minutes, and I waved goodbye to Krista. She apologized for making me walk so much and slowing me down, but that was really my plan all along. I’d wanted a long, SLOW run. It had been a while since I’d done a very long run. I took a little break between loops to search for any remaining Powergels hiding in my dresser. No such luck, so I settled for a Wildberry Nutrigrain and headed out for another 45 minutes. I’m pretty sure I didn’t get in all of the 16 km I was aiming for, but I was out there for a good 2+ hours total, and that was the other goal of today’s run. In the second, shorter loop I only walked on uphills or while crossing streets on the flat parts.

I was glad to take this one “as it came”, instead of pushing myself really hard, as it was my first run longer than an hour in 3 weeks. This was just what I needed. I’m looking forward to another, more solid effort next weekend, as the next XC race isn’t until November 12th.

After the run I had brunch with the kids and checked Holly’s progress in the Marine Corps Marathon online. I cheered as I noted her half-way time. Dianne called me a little later and clued me into the maptrack function, so I was able to watch Holly’s yellow dot cross the finish line. Woohoo Holly!

Skatemom also finished MCM yesterday, too. Check out her initial Flickr pics.